Snails are known for his or her lack of speed and skill to bother gardeners. But there's growing scientific interest within the familiar slimy trail of slime they leave behind — and the medicinal value it accommodates.
For centuries It has been thought That eating snails is sweet for you – and never simply because they're a very good source of protein and a few people consider them a delicacy.
Both the traditional Greeks and Romans advocated eating snails to treat a wide range of ailments. These include fainting, abdominal pain and coughing up blood, in addition to general pain relief. After boiling, snails could be eaten either whole or in crushed pulp (shell included).
Consider munching on these molluscs for his or her medicinal properties Continued. In the 18th century it was prescribed as a treatment for anthrax and within the nineteenth century for tuberculosis. “Snail broth” constituted of the mucus is alleged to stimulate the regeneration of injured skin, reduce redness and smooth the skin.
Since publication My own work Regarding the chemical properties of snail mucus, I used to be contacted by individuals who described how this natural product has been utilized in the twentieth century to treat skin inflammations and wounds.
Most of those remedies include the burgundy or edible snail, and its close relative the brown garden snail, each of that are native to Europe.
And lately, slime from Helix snails has made its way into creams, gels, and face masks. Popular beauty treatments. But can any claim be substantiated with scientific evidence?
There was interest in lazy mud as a skin treatment. Recently revived From observations of staff cultivating edible snails in Chile. After their skin got here into contact with the mud during handling, they reported that cuts and scars healed easily and quickly. This led to the event of creams and gels that may now be found on the shelves of chemists and health food shops.
Mucus is a really viscous and biologically complex substance. The snail uses it to help in locomotion, to stick to hard surfaces (when resting or hibernating) and to defend itself from predators by forming a sticky environment around itself and blocking the doorway to the shell. uses
Secrets of the Snail
It is over 90% water, but accommodates many other compounds. Manufacturers of snail slim creams and gels claim that the important thing ingredients are allantoin (which is added to cosmetic products in addition to toothpaste and shampoo) and glycolic acid (again commonly present in skincare products).
A research team in Italy Recently investigated this. They found that a preparation constituted of snail mucus showed significant effects in laboratory tests that may explain the observed skin healing properties.
Shutterstock / Andy Shell
So it looks like there's something to it. However, allantoin and glycolic acid were present in very low concentrations. This suggests that either they aren't as necessary in skin healing as previously thought or that they're only effective when working with other components throughout the mucus.
I Our work, we found that mucus from brown garden snails kills a selected kind of bacteria in laboratory experiments. This is an organism that may cause bloodstream infections, pneumonia, chronic wound infections, and respiratory infections in individuals with cystic fibrosis.
We tested 20 different strains of this bacteria and the mucus stopped all of them from growing. But we haven't seen that mucus works reliably against another kind of bacteria.
We are also trying to seek out key lively ingredients. The stickiness of the mucus makes it difficult to work with, but to date we've got identified three latest proteins that we wish to research, and we hope that this may lead to the creation of a brand new antibiotic. .
University of Brighton, The creator provides.
However, currently, we don't know if making them artificially from snail mucus will work. It's a slow process (perhaps appropriately for snail products) – but given time, we may find a way to clarify why the Romans and Greeks gave snails the credit they deserve. will pay in kind.