TY  - EJOU
AU  - Fu, Huiling 
AU  - Peng, Mijun 
AU  - Tang, Qiuwen 
AU  - Liang, Haojun 
AU  - Liang, Yanli 
AU  - Fang, Jiali 
AU  - Wang, Xuesong 

TI  - Comprehensive Assessment of the Safety of <i>Eucommia ulmoides</i> Leaf Extract for Consumption as a Traditional Chinese Health Food
T2  - Journal of Renewable Materials

PY  - 2023
VL  - 11
IS  - 7
SN  - 2164-6341

AB  - To ensure the export quality of <i>Eucommia ulmoides</i> leaf extract (ELE) and facilitate E. ulmoides leaf inclusion in
the directory of traditional Chinese health foods, an overall safety assessment of ELE was performed, including
genotoxicity and long-term toxicity, according to the national food safety standards of China. No variations in the
reverse mutation number of the nominal bacterial strains were observed under ELE treatment in comparison with
the solvent control. Additionally, the micronucleus rates of <i>in vivo</i> mammalian erythrocytes and in vitro mammalian cells under ELE treatment were equivalent to or significantly lower than those of the solvent control. The
fold change in the trifluorothymidine resistance mutation frequency of the thymidine kinase gene under ELE
treatment was less than three times in comparison with the solvent control, suggesting that ELE did not cause
genotoxicity. Moreover, animal experiments showed that the growth performance of rats under ELE treatment
was enhanced because the body weights of rats increased. No oxidative injury or inflammatory responses were
induced and no histopathological lesions of tissues were detected under ELE treatment. In addition, plasma triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels significantly decreased, and plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels significantly increased with ELE treatment, suggesting that ELE was health-promoting.
Furthermore, moderate to excellent antimicrobial activities, a favorable anticancer capacity, and superior antioxidant abilities of ELE were found, implying ELE possesses good bioactivities. Therefore, we affirmed ELE is safe to
consume as a traditional Chinese health food.
KW  - <i>Eucommia ulmoides</i> leaf extract; genotoxicity; long-term toxicity; growth performance; bioactivity

DO  - 10.32604/jrm.2023.026689