Benefits of Fruits and Vegetables

Introduction

Intake of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables have been said to improve the physical and mental health of individuals (Hervert- Hernandez et al., 2011). The high intake of fruits and vegetables has been shown to reduce the risk of hypertension, and other diseases of the heart, such as stroke. High intake of fruits and vegetables has been found to be beneficial for certain cancer types such as breast cancer (Farvid et al., 2019). High consumption of fruits and vegetables lowers digestive problems, and keeps appetite in check through balancing the levels of blood sugar. This assists in the management of weight (Ruel et al., 2014). The recommended intake of fruits by the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture arm of the United Nations is five intakes of fruits and vegetables daily non inclusive of starchy vegetables (Slavin & Lloyd, 2012). The many health benefits of fruits and vegetables is thought to be because they contain a higher concentration of vitamins such as C, E, niacin, A, B6, and thiamine, minerals, dietary fibers and antioxidants (Slavin & Lloyd, 2012). Polyphenolic compounds in fruits and vegetables play the important role of scavenging free radicals in the body before the radicals cause serious health effects. The major class of polyphenolic compounds responsible for the radical scavenging ability is the flavonoids. Flavonoids function as antioxidants in vitro because of the phenolic hydroxyl groups which act as metal chelators and hydrogen donors. They also exhibit the ability to expel lipid peroxyl radicals in oxidizing pure lipid systems and low-density lipoprotein (LDL). Flavonoids are also able to inhibit peroxynitrite-mediated nitration of tyrosine (Perez-Garcia, et al., 2018). The mechanism of its antioxidant effect is still being discussed however there are proposals that flavonoids exert their effect by interacting with receptors, transcription molecules, and enzymes in a way to modulate and inhibit them (Fernandes et al., 2017) Fibers from fruits and vegetables form bulk, reducing intestinal passage and by thus doing lead to a gradual absorption of nutrients and in so doing prevents constipation. Fermentation of fibers in the colon produces short chain fatty acids which have anti-carcinogenic properties (Zhang et al., 2018). The effect of reduction of cardiovascular risk reported in fruits such as pomegranates, berries, and grapes are thought to be due to the presence of secondary metabolites such as flavanols, procyanidins and anthocyanins. Sufficient consumption of vegetables and fruits has proved beneficial on mental health. They lower the risk of cognitive decline, increase the level of optimism and promoteself-sufficiency among those with mental health challenges (Glabska et al., 2020). Fruits and vegetables are low in calories. They can therefore be consumed in large quantities for satisfaction without the risk of weight gain (Pem & Jeewon, 2015).Despite the health benefits of fruits and vegetables there is however still a low consumption of vegetables and fruits. The insufficient intake of vegetables and fruits is noted in the top 10 risk factors resulting to unwarranted deaths (WHO | Promoting Fruit and Vegetable Consumption around the World, n.d.) (Slavin& Lloyd, 2012).In the UK the National Health Service (NHS) and the Food Standards Agency developed a national guideline of consumption of fruits and vegetables called the Eatwell plate. Where they recommend eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, the intake of five portions of fruits and vegetables in a day, each portion contains 80g leading to 400g in a day.

Parts of artichoke

This plant is widely consumed across the world, and especially in the Mediterranean countries where it originates from. Its growth as a food crop has seen an increase in the recent past. To date the largest producers of artichoke are Italy, and Spain, (Tang et al, 2017). Other countries in which artichoke is grown include Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Morocco, Argentina, Algeria, Chile, Tunisia, Peru, United States, and California and its cultivation is spreading in china

Types of artichoke

Globe artichoke

This type of artichoke is considered the original artichoke. It is the major vegetable countries bordering the Mediterranean. The part which is consumed is its immature flower. The roots, stems and leaves of globe artichoke that are non- edible and therefore discarded can also find use as feed for livestock (Tang et al, 2017). The economic gain from growing globe artichoke has increased tremendously because of an increase in its consumption in the near past. This plant is rich in phenolic compounds and other bioactive components (Lattanzio et al., 2009).

Jerusalem artichoke

This is a dietary tuber which is generated using seeds, slips, stem cuttings, tubers, tissue culture and rhizomes (Chang et al., 2014). Jerusalem artichoke is closely related to sunflower and is a native plant of Eastern North America. This type of artichoke is highly intolerant to pests and diseases and grows well in poor soils. It is a perennial plant and is grown on an annual basis. The tubers are harvested in early winter just about the time its leaves die.

Cardoon artichoke (Cynara cardunculus)

This is the oldest artichoke that was cultivated as a vegetable. Just like globe artichoke it is also rich in bioactive compounds especially phenolic compounds. It has the highest concentrations of chlorogenic acid. This type of artichoke is adapted to dry climates, and ha large edible flower parts (Sonnante et al., 2007).it is also known as an artichoke thistle in the sunflower family, which is native in the western and central Mediterranean region.raw cardoon, is composed of 94% of water, 4% carbohydrates, 1% protein component with negligible fat content.

History and cultivation of artichoke

Artichokes have that not all thistles are nuisance as it was largely eaten by ancient Greek and Romans and now largely grown at the United States of America growing zones (Globe Artichoke (Cynara Scolymus) | Plant Profiler, n.d.). Artichoke seeds numbers approximately 800 per ounce, crowns and dormant roots can also propagate for example suckers can be carefully removed and replanted in a new location for Jerusalem artichokes. Propagation is best done before winter or in early spring (Chang et al., 2014). Artichokes are well nourished and thrive on deeply drained, fertile, loamy or sandy soils full on organic matter. They produce high yields in Calcium rich soils and on a PH range between 6.5-8. Stratification of seeds by placing them in a freezer for a week or two before planting is beneficial to trick the plant by thinking it has already survived winter, making it produce buds in its first year (Ruel et al., 2014). Artichokes are planted in rows at a space of 3-5 between rows, 3-4 space between plants and a seed depth of 1\4. Germination occurs after 10-15 days of planting at a soil temperature of 60-80 (Sonnante et al., 2007).Being plants native to the Mediterranean, artichokes are best suited to humid climates with cool days and nights and mild winters. They can be grown as both annual and perennial crops in climatic zones below USDA zone 7 and zone 7-11 respectively. They are grown naturally under plenty of sunlight and artificially 10 hours per day because sitting in moisture damages artichoke crowns and root system. Although somewhat drought tolerant, artichokes naturally prefer moist climates especially while flowers are forming hence require moderate to heavy watering. Mulching is also practiced enhancing retention of water and to protect artichokes from frosts during winter (Lattanzio et al., 2009). High levels of nutrients are essential for high yields in artichokes hence application of fertiliser during planting and each 2–3-weeks of active growth.

Pruning is done on artichokes in the late fall in preparation for winter dormancy in perennial crops. In cultivation of nearly all crops, crop rotation is essential and in growing artichokes, it is advised not to grow them where sunflowers had previously been grown because they are susceptible to the same diseases (Slavin& Lloyd, 2012). Artichokes are greedy plants as they can deplete all Nitrogen from the soil hence should be accompanied by peas, cabbage, marigold, yarrow, Queen Anne’s Lace because they don’t compete for nutrients and the flowers will attract beneficial predatory insects (Chang et al., 2014). They are usually disease and pest free. Addition of wood ash, dolomitic or calcite lime raises the PH hence avoids deficiencies caused by low soil Ph. Artichokes are harvested when flower buds have attained full size but before they have begun to bloom and are cut 1 below their base (Sonnante et al., 2007). When grown as perennial, main harvest will be during late spring and while grown as annual, late fall will be the harvest time. Artichokes are best stored in high humidity after harvesting, can also be put in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks and rubbing with lemon at the cut end avoids discoloration.

Components of artichoke

(Recommended Diet Intake RDI)

Bioactive components in artichoke

The bioactive components of artichoke are composed of different types of phenols such as cynarin, luteolin, cynardoside, scolymoside and chlorogenic acid (Tang et al, 2017). Cynarin is most concentrated in the leaves and it’s the most common component of artichoke. Luteolin aids in the synthesis of cholesterol. Luteolin (27.71-215.53mg/kg) and glycoside luteolin-7-0 are two active components of luteolin (Rangboo et al 2016). All these components of artichoke leaves have recently shown that they can modulate the vascular endothelial function by regulating the production of nitric acids in the human umbilical cells. The dry extracts of these plants are currently commercialized as medicines for treatment of the diseases of the liver. The brand names are Cynara, which is a 200mg extract of extract of artichoke that is being sold by the Vesta pharmaceuticals international corporation (Diaz et al, 2019). Artichoke leaflets contain 0.3% of flavonoids expressed as luteolin -7-0 glycoside and 2.5% caffeoylquinicacid expressed as cholorogenic acid which include the extracts of the flowering head of the artichoke with a caffeoylquinic acid content of 13-18 % sold.

Aims and objectives of the research

This report aims to review recent developments in knowledge about artichoke. The report has three objectives.

To provide a review of the bioactive compounds which have been reported in literature to have been obtained from artichoke.

To create recommendations about the dietary intake of artichoke based on literature.

To assess the importance of growth and utilization of diverse food crops, when it comes to food sustainability.

Methods

Search strategy

Literature reviewed was obtained from data bases such as Websience, PubMed and Science direct (Ali & Usman, 2018). Pub med was also used along with science direct search as it contained all the biomedical literature from Medline, life science journals and online publications. All this contained relevant information that informed this research. A search on the protective compounds such as polyphenols that included flavonoids and caffeoylquinic acids was used to inform the research. In order to prove the beneficial effects of the subject under study, Pub Med was used. A web science search engine was used in this review to cover the literature about artichoke. The search was sorted by relevance and “custom ranged” to cover literature that was published from the years 2010 to 2020 Keywords that were used in this search included words such as were artichokes and chronic diseases, the protective nature of artichoke, cardiovascular diseases and artichokes. Only relevant studies were used in this paper with Boolean expressions such as ‘AND’, ‘OR’. These conjunctions were used to combine words for the research and search engine. These operators helped to save on time and eliminate irrelevant data. A total of 450 studies were obtained from these search engines (Aveyard & Bradbury, 2021). Peer reviewed articles were eligible for inclusion in this study. Studies published in the UK were considered. Magazines, reports and newspapers were excluded from this research and only English papers were used.

Critiquing tool

These papers were evaluated to assess for the reliability, validity and relevance by used of the critical appraisal skill program commonly known as the CASP tool (Larsen et al, 2019). These tools are used I research in order to appraise the chosen literature. Irrelevancy in research is evaluated using this tool as the tool has proven to be very useful in assessing research papers. Similarities in research papers were identified using the CASP tool and enabled the inclusion of relevant data. The results and discussion section shows that the literature has been comprehensively structured enhancing accuracy and quality of this research (Long t al, 2020). However there are gaps that have been identified in this research which have been centered on the publication dates, language and geographical location. There is limited research in United Kingdom concerning the research question. The publication dates restricted the use of information that could be valid hence biasness.

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Only 8 papers were used in this research after a total such of 450 articles from Websience, science direct and PubMed. 300 papers were removed due to duplication, while 130 papers were omitted as they did not meet all the predetermined selection criteria. 20 studies were retrieved and 12 of them were omitted due to the inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Results

From the combined search of all the databases and biographies, 4550 studies were found. Only 12 studies were used as they met the eligibility criteria hence relevant to the topic of study. This section is composed of the principle outcomes of the research displayed in tabular form. It represents what was proposed from the research, the outcomes and what is recommended for the research.

Effect of artichoke on liver disease - vitro

The effect of artichoke on cancer

Results on the effect of artichoke on cardiovascular disease

Discussion

Effect on liver disease- in vivo

This research focuses on the protective health compounds that are found in the globe artichoke. It contains different bioactive components that can help in fighting diseases such as cancer, liver disease and other heart diseases which were both found in vivo and vitro scientific studies. (Adzet et al, 2020). A lot of scientific publications were associated with hepaprotective nature of the artichoke. The Isochlorogenic acid causes the glutamic oxaloacetic translaminase to increase in the body and these helps in the indication of diseases of the liver because it is a biomarker. Studies were also able to prove that the cynarin can be hydrolysed to caffeic acid during the experiments (Huber et al, 2017)). The in vivo studies showed that artichoke contains bioactive compounds that protected human beings against infections. People suffering from chronic hepatitis C were tested with the artichoke capsule drug as which in turn proved to be effective. Wang et al was able to deduce that cynarin components in the artichoke showed the highest antioxidant activity in rats’ hepatocyte models. Other researches from other scholars had different results on the same subject matter at it was deduced that cynarin had different impacts on other investigative samples. (Gerschenson et al, 2020) et al, )The beneficial effects of the luteolin and chlorogenic acids were observed in this model. Luteolin had a much more impact on the cholesterol synthesis as compared to the chlorogenic acid.

Animal studies that were conducted by Qiang et al suggested that luteolin inhibits the carbon acetate, which is considered a principle enzyme in the cholesterol synthesis in the human body (Qiang et al, 2016). However other inhibiting factors may also be activated and play a vital role in inhibiting the carbon acetate. In this study, luteolin was used in higher quantities compared to those composed in the blood and if lower concentrations were used the luteolin might not show protective effects. Most of the protective health benefits of the artichoke have been linked to the presence of the phenolic secondary metabolites in this plant (Rudic et al, 2021)). These include the phenolic acids, flavournoilds, sesquiterpenes, lactones and aliphatic acids In the studies detailed above different types of liver diseases were covered and these include Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) which is a range of illnesses mainly manifested by steatosis and infiltration of fat in the liver (Bensalem et al 2019). The infiltration can develop oxidative stress and cause liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The results of the current researches showed applaudable changes in serum AST and ALT levels and a reduction in mean weight while other bio markers such as lipid profile and blood sugar remained unaltered (Abu-Reidah et al, 2013). The study showed that artichoke extract administered to the patients caused an improvement in the amount of liver enzymes, triglyceride profiles and cholesterol. ALT is an enzyme which is majorly found in the cell cytoplasm, and AST is a mitochondrial enzyme secreted mainly in some organs in the body but mainly in the liver. The choice of the two biomarkers, serum ALT, and AST is because their elevation is an effective biomarker of the damage of the liver (Rangboo et al., 2016). (Alarcon-Flores et al, 2014)) on the other hand studied the effect of ethanol artichoke extract on alcoholic liver disease. It is a disorder resulting from long term excessive intake of alcohol (Caccarelli et al, 2010) This study, in addition to studying the effect of artichoke leaf extract on the levels of serum TC, ALT, TG and AST explored the cause of alcoholic steatohepatitis to be as a result of the activation pathway involving the binding of lipopolysaccharide to receptor stimulated nuclear factor-kappa B, with specific focus on toll-like receptor (TLR4). The research on NF-kB and TLR4was achieved by fixing liver tissues in a neutral formalin buffer at 10% and then embedding them in paraffin (DeFalco et al, 2015)The liver tissues that were 5 mm thick after being embedded in paraffin were then cut, deparaffinized and heated in an unmasking solution at 95°Cfor 15 minutes. Non specific binding sites were blocked using goat serum. After this, there was incubation of the sections inside a humidified chamber at a temperature of 4°C containing the antibodies rabbit anti-NF-κB p50 (1:250) and rabbit anti-TLR4 (1:50). (D-Antuono et al, 2018) Counting of the cells with labels of NF-κB p50 and TLR4 was carried out in regions through five random lesions in the stained areas under a light microscope of 200x and the integrated optical density (IOD) was used to analyze the expression levels. This study found out that the preventive measures of artichoke leaf extract in protection from acute alcohol-induced liver injury is characterized by the down regulation of TLR4 inhibiting the activation of NF-κB and as a result restriction the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (DeAncos et al, 2015). This resulted in the ultimate suppression of the inflammatory effect. An increase in serum transaminase is as a result of realizing AST and ALT in the blood and leads to destruction of liver cells such as necrosis and inflammation. TC and TG are manifested as evidence of fat accumulation in the liver and results from alcohol consumption. (Ferracane et al, 2008) The study showed that the ethanol extract of artichoke evidently controlled the levels of SAT, TC, ALT, and TG was in agreement with the other studies shown above.

These effects could be credited to the antioxidant constituents and characteristics of artichoke leaf extract for example, chlorogenic acid being the most active antioxidant flavonoids including the glycosides luteolin-7-𝛽-rutinoside (scolymoside), luteolin-4-𝛽-D-glucoside that are the main compounds in Cynarascolymusextract mono- and dicaffeoylquinic acid (cynarin and chlorogenic acid) and caffeic acid and luteolin-7-𝛽-D-glycoside (Rangboo et al., 2016).

Effect of artichoke on cancer- vitro

Cancer is a disease which occurs as a result of uncontrolled growth of normal body cells. While there exist different modalities of control of cancer, the effectiveness of these methods have been unsatisfactory .This is a result of the side effects such as hair and weight losses. It is in this regard that phytochemical search of possible anticancer therapeutic agents emerged. Plants containing phenolic compounds have been at the center of this renewed interest in phytochemicals because of their antitumor and anti-metastatic potential. Artichoke is one such plant (Hassabou & Farag, 2020). The leaves of artichoke have been reported to have anticancer activity against skin, breast, cervical, leukaemia and hepatocellular carcinoma cancer cell lines. The anticancer activity has been found to differ depending on the method of extraction used, the solvent used for the extraction and the conditions applied during extraction (Sokkar et al., 2020). (Hassabou & Farag, 2020), conducted a study in which they tested the effect of the extract from artichoke on oral squamous cell carcinoma. The indicators of the anticancer effects of artichoke extract was evident on it’s apoptotic, cell cycle arrest and cytotoxic results. Programmed cell fatality is equated to an extract known as apoptosis and it entails genetically planned exclusion of cells. It is a normal process occurring during development and aging. It is a homeostatic process that maintains the population of cells in tissues (Schutz et al, 2004) It can also occur as a defense mechanism such as is the case in response to damage of cells by diseases or noxious agents or as an immune reaction there exists a variety of conditions and stimuli for apoptosis ranging from pathological to physiological stimulus. The inhibition of apoptosis promotes the beginning of tumor genesis. Apoptosis is associated with two genes which act synergistically and encode for proteins which are anti or pro apoptosis. An example of a pro apoptosis gene is Bax gene while Bcl-2 gene is an anti-apoptosis gene (Saucier et al, 2014) Alteration of the p53 tumor suppressor gene involves one of the major events in the development of cancer. This is because cells with a mutated p53 tumor suppressor gene have a tendency of escaping from apoptosis. The apoptosis pathway is controlled by the caspase family proteases and enzymes, hence an elevation in the manifestation of Baxand CASP-9 enzymes used in this study to represent the antiproliferative potential and the apoptotic frequency (Wang et al, 2003). The expression of Bax and CASP-9 enzymes were found to be inversely proportional to the decrease in the manifestation of Bcl-2 gene. The study found out that artichoke leaf extract stimulated G2/M cell cycle arrest and apoptosis of SCC-25. This implies that the extract of artichoke has the ability to inhibit cell proliferation in cancer cells through apoptosis. In similar studies, the anticarcinogenic effect of artichoke has also been noted and accredited to the phenolic compounds found in the plant(Salem et al, 2015). These include caffeoylquinic acids, triterpenoid saponins and flavones with their glycosides, which have several antigenotoxic and antioxidant activities. The studies have identified chlorogenic acid as the most abundant constituent of the polyphenolic portion of artichoke. ChA has been reported to trigger apoptosis via a pathway involving mitochondria and death receptors . This is evidenced by actuation of a loss of mitochondrial transmembrane potential, an increase of the Bax-Bcl-2 ratio, CASP-8 and caspase-9 (CASP-9), WAF1 and upregulation of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21 (Mileo et al., 2012).

Effect of artichoke on cardiovascular diseases-vitro

Cardiovascular diseases refer to the disorders related to the heart, blood and blood vessels. They include Coronary heart disease, Cardiac arrest, Stroke, High blood pressure, Cardiac arrest, Peripheral artery, Heart failure, Arrhythmia and congenital heart (Martinez-Espla et al, 2017). The result of this study shows the effect of artichoke on heart failure. It is a clinical syndrome resulting from impaired cardiac structure and function, which impair ventricular filling and cardiac ejection through initial myocardial damage (e.g. myocardial infarction, cardiomyopathy, hemodynamic overload, etc.) for various reasons and finally contribute to the weakening of the heart’s pumping function, characterized by tiredness, shortness of breath and fluid retention (Lupatelli et al, 2005). Chronic heart failure (CHF), one of the main syndromes of organic cardiovascular disease resulted from diseases of various causes and a common clinical critical disease, is the final stage of most heart diseases and main cause of death. In a study conducted by (Li et al., 2020) Sprague-Dawley rats (10 rats in each group) were used. All animals were kept in a confined place with food and water. A 12 h dark cycle followed by a light cycle at a consistent temperature. They were then hardened for 7 days before the experiment. The I/R injury model stabilized by the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery ligation for 30 minutes and 1 hour reperfusion consequently (Pagano et al, 2016). Anesthetization with a 30 mg/kg pentobarbital sodium was done followed by ventilation with a positive pressure respirator at a volume of 12 mL/kg and a rate of 60 strokes per minute with 95% O2 and 5% CO2 throughout the experiment. In the present study, the proceedings manifested that preconditioning with artichoke sufficiently integrated the I/R-induced cardiac injury by inhibiting inflammation and relieving oxidative stress, while artichoke altered the pathway of JAK2/STAT3 (Pasphel, Tatdao& Sherkad, 2009). Furthermore, the content of artichoke which subdued the myocardial size effectively functions as a cardio-protective agent.

Inulin is a fructan, Fructans are a group of polysaccharides formed from polymerization fructose units. The polymers contain beta linked fructose units. Fructans act as substrates for enterobacterial growth and are able to selectively stimulate bifidobacteria, making them the pre-dominant species (Ivaporda et al, 2019). Inulin refers to a major carbohydrate reserve that is water soluble and common in the family Astraceae, and thus also found in artichoke. Human beings lack enzymes that are needed to hydrolyze fructans. This prevents their hydrolysis in the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract and leads to them being transported all the way to the colon (Joy & Haber et al, 2007). In the colon, saccharolytic bacteria perform the work of hydrolyzing and extensively fermenting the fructans. There is a growing interest in inulin, because there have been reports that they have a positive effect on gut microflora and are beneficial for absorption of minerals, composition of lipids in the blood. Inulin is also used to inhibit the growth of ice in foods which are frozen (Pandino, Lambardo & Mauromicale et al., 2013). Chemical components of artichoke majorly include mono- and dicaffeoylquinic. The Caffeoylquinic acids are associated with chloroplasts hinting at them having a role in protection against damage caused by light. Cynarin is a prominent caffeoylquinic acid in artichoke and has been found to improve cholesterinic metabolism and biliary secretion (Jimenez-Monero et al, 2019). In addition to this 1-O-caffeoylquinic acid; 4,5-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 3-O-caffeoylquinic acid (chlorogenic acid), 4-O-caffeoylquinic acid (cryptochlorogenic acid), 3,4-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid (neochlorogenic acid) which is the most abundant single component, 1,4-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 3,5-Odicaffeoylquinic acid and 1,3-Odicaffeoylquinic acid have been identified from both the leaves and heads of artichoke. The content of Caffeoylquinic acid in the tissues depend on the physiological stage of the tissues with young tissues having about 8 percent dry weight Caffeoylquinic acid while senescent tissues contain less than 1% Caffeoylquinic acid per dry weight (Gostin & Waisundara, 2019)) (Lattanzio et al., 2009).Globe artichoke is a diploid plant (2n =2x =34) it is estimated genome size is 1.0 Gb. The inhibitory effect of the artichoke on leukemia cells was investigated by Novada et al. it was established that hydeoxycinnamic acid had antiproliferative activity hence it prevented further multiplication of the cancer cells. Cytotoxic effects against leukemia cells at concentration of 3.44% were inhibited by the hydroxycinnamic acid present in the human cells (Rudic et al, 2021). Antioxidant effects can be shown by components of the artichoke. A good example of the artichoke compound is the Silymarin; it has very strong antioxidant properties. It inhibits the growth of cancer cells by blocking the cells at G1 and G2 cycles (LIorach et al 2002). Despite conflicts between articles from different scholars on the effects of the artichoke, it can be concluded that artichoke contain the bioactive elements that have shown protective health activities in the human body. Studies I the vivo and vitro have supported these findings, however more evidence is required. Studies in vitro are considered to be overestimated and hence inaccurate as they have not accounted for the effects of the chemicals and the substances that were used in the lab to conduct the experiments and hence inaccurate.

Limitations of the study

During this study, there were a number of limitations that I came across. Time constraint was the, there was limited time at conduct the study and hence only three scientific sources were used, more could have been used. There were more articles and journals on the same and hence it was difficult to perform a more comparative and comprehensive as they were long are required more time to analyze them and since time was the major constrain in these research. The availability of journals was another constrain that was encountered during the research. It was difficult to obtain full information on the topic of study. The search terms such as liver disease were a limitation as it is also known as hepatic disease; hence a search done on the former would not display the results of the latter.

Ethical considerations in research

The most fundamental part of research is the ethical considerations, and according to Bryman and bell 2007, the most important principles related to research include, not submitting participants to harm’s way whatsoever. During this research l was keen on the sources of data as there is no particular time a researcher came into contact with the participants as data was obtained from secondary sources and already existing research. There was adequacy in the level of confidentiality of the data as most of the data was obtained from sources that were already certified and verified by other researchers. Research ethics is basic requirement of daily work as protection of dignity of subjects and publication of the research information should be verified by the morals of conducting the research. Participating in research requires one to be conversant with the societal systems and values.

Conclusion

Artichokes have been considered to be rich in medicinal compounds and have widely been used as an herbal medicine. Beneficial oxidants such as flavonoids and phenols are vital in the regulation of liver diseases, leukemia and heart diseases (Ghosh and Deb, 2014). The beneficial effects, as well as the chemical compounds producing this effect are well documented in the literature covered. The most active components of the plant are phenolic compounds such as flavonoids and their glycosides, caffeoylquinic derivatives as well as insulin which is a frusta. In most studies covered artichoke extract was used (Guida et al, 2013). The results indicate that artichoke extract is effective and that artichoke extract was effective against both Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and alcoholic liver disease by reducing the levels of SAT, TC, ALT, and TG. It is effective cancer by causing apoptosis of the cancer cell lines through the activation of caspase-9 (CASP-9) and CASP-8, an increase of the Bax-Bcl-2 ratio, upregulation of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21, WAF1, and a loss of mitochondrial transmembrane potential (Gerschenson et al, 2020). It is effective against cardiovascular disease through inhibiting inflammation and relieving oxidative stress. Both clinical and non clinical trials have confirmed the therapeutic effects of globe artichoke by reducing the cholesterol levels in the human body, artichokes have reduced atherosclerosis. Studies by the vivo and vitro have continued to increase the anti-carcinogenic effect of artichoke.

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