A new approach to the treatment of acute infection diseases with antibiotic-pectin formulae.

INTRODUCTION: Intestinal infections are a significant health issue; antibiotics are essential in treating acute intestinal infections. However, evidence in the literature shows that the excessive use of antibiotics has created many threats to human health. This work aimed to study the impact of apple pectin in combination with antibiotics on treating patients with amebiasis and dysentery. METHODOLOGY: Patients suffering from acute intestinal diseases (amebiasis and dysentery) were treated with traditional antibiotic therapy and a new formula containing antibiotics with low and high methoxylated apple pectin in a randomized block design. Four clinical trials were performed at the Infection Disease Hospital from 1998 until 2013. RESULTS: The study demonstrated that the antibiotic-pectin formulae (APF) significantly reduced the severity of acute intestinal infection diseases and allowed patients to recover faster than conventional treatment. APF reduced the patient's stay in the hospital by 3.0 ± 1.0 days. The clinical trial findings demonstrated that applying APF in intestinal infection diseases helped maintain a constant concentration of the antibiotic in the blood and accelerated the clinical recovery of the patients. CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that using pectin with antibiotics could improve clinical outcomes in patients with acute infectious diseases. Research on elucidating the mechanisms of pectin digestion in the colon, polyphenol content, and its role in dysbiosis recovery, etc., is also considered.

Structural characterization of pectin obtained by different purification methods.

Commercial pectin production is based on vacuum evaporation and alcohol precipitation (VEAP) using large quantities of expensive and flammable alcohol. This process has high production costs that have greatly limited the commercial use of refined pectins. This study demonstrates a new technology using a diaultrafiltration (DUF) process in a pilot plant, which is a low-cost, green, and ecologically friendly way to produce pectin. In terms of the structure and quality of their products, a comparison of the two methods suggest that DUF provides significant (p < 0.05) flux enhancement, high pectin purity, and separation of the main pectin backbones, with higher molar mass (Mw) and less polydispersity (Mw/Mn) of pectin samples. An analysis of the 1D and 2D NMR spectra reveals that the DUF process removes most free impurities extracted along with the pectin macromolecules, making this method preferable to use. An analysis of power and chemical consumption demonstrates that the new process is preferable over existing methods due to lower energy consumption and higher product quality. It also possesses a flexible technical design that allows it to produce semi-products from various raw materials.

Fabrication, characterization and stability of oil in water nano-emulsions produced by apricot gum-pectin complexes.

In this study, the effects of apricot gum-apple pectin (AG/pectin) complex as an emulsifier and stabilizer on the sunflower oil in water nano-emulsion parameters including droplet size, zeta-potential, and the creaming index was investigated. The first independent variables were AG concentration in AG/pectin complex. Applying a 21.4 (w/w) ratio of AG/pectin resulted in nano-emulsions with the highest creaming stability, and most stable droplet size and zeta-potential during 10days storage. Then, droplet size, zeta-potential, and stability of this emulsion (21.4 (w/w) ratio) were further investigated under environmental and process stresses including thermal processing, sonication, and pH changes. Emulsions with smaller droplet sizes, higher zeta-potentials, and higher creaming stability were obtained by applying sonication treatment. A 10min ultrasound treatment with the amplitude of 25% was proposed as the optimum conditions for ultra-sonication. Also, emulsions prepared by AG/pectin ratio of 21.4 (w/w) showed best stability at 60°C and pH of 2.