Index
How do supplements work to promote and regulate intestinal transit?
There are numerous types of intestinal transit supplements, each with specific mechanisms of action, advantages, and contraindications.
Constipation is an ever-increasing problem that affects mainly
the elderly and adult women, producing a sense of discomfort and malaise that negatively affects the quality of life.
Approximately 2 out of 8 adults are affected by constipation, a third of young women and half of middle-aged and older women seek help for constipation, which is also common during pregnancy.
Approximately 33% of adults aged around 60 years and the elderly experience symptoms of constipation.
Among the most frequently used remedies we can find supplements to aid intestinal transit, but in choosing a remedy, too often the focus is given only on the efficacy of the product and pays little attention to its contraindications.
The class of supplements most frequently used against constipation is supplements of soluble fibers: they increase the volume of stools by absorbing water; in this way they promote peristalsis.
They are the best tolerated and most easily managed in the long term. It is essential for their effectiveness to take them with plenty of water. The best and most used soluble fibers are those of plant seeds that contain mucilage. The cuticles of these plants, i.e. the mucilaginous coating that covers the seeds, expands when in contact with water and increases its volume by more than 25 times, consequently, increasing faecal mass and stimulating intestinal motility. Faeces become softer and can be expelled more easily.
Since the action of mucilage is milder than that of stimulating supplements, their use is recommended as first remedy.
MALLOW MUCILAGE: WHAT IT IS AND ITS BENEFITS
The laxative effect can be achieved in 2 different ways:
- Softening the end part of the stool to facilitate its transit;
- Attracting water into the intestinal site, a pharmaceutical mechanism.
There are many products on the market that contain mallow mucilage, especially liquids because the mucilage is presented as a soft extract.
The Malvaceae family is typical of the Mediterranean region, involving 240 genera and more than 4,200 species.
They have diuretic, soothing, spasmolytic and laxative effects, as well as being used as an anti-diarrhoeic.Mallow has a wide variety of chemical constituents (such as polysaccharides, coumarins, flavonoidspolyphenols, vitamins, terpenes, and tannins) found in various plant organs, especially in leaves and flowers, related to their biological activity. In general, Mallow has rather moderate antimicrobial activity, a high anti-inflammatory and healing activity and a strong antioxidant activity.
The results of in vitro and in vivo experiments encourage more in-depth studies, in particular clinical studies, aimed at improving knowledge on the use of Malva for the treatment of various health conditions in humans.
Malva sylvestris is a plant commonly found in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The leaves and flowers of this plant have been used for centuries in traditional medicine to treat various diseases such as coughs, colds, diarrhoea and constipation.
Mallow was described by Pythagoras as a sacred plant. It is a plant that can grow anywhere in bushes. It has properties in both its leaves and flowers, which refer to its mucilage; by creating a mucilaginous mass, it creates a beneficial jelly that is emollient, soothing and anti-inflammatory.
Mallow and its mucilage can physiologically protect the mucous membranes that coat our main organs: the gastric and intestinal apparatus, but also the bronchial and pulmonary respiratory apparatus, thus all organs that have an important internal mucosa.
MALLOW MUCILAGE SUPPLEMENTED WITH OTHER ACTIVE INGREDIENTS: WHAT WE TESTED AT VIFRA
At VIFRA we have tested that mallow mucilage supplemented with other plants and natural extracts, which we are going to list, can have many benefits.
MALLOLAX
Mallolax is a brand of Malva Sylvestris mucilage, aerial dry extract cultivated in North Africa.
Published preliminary studies attribute to Mallolax a physiologically laxative effect due to the presence, in addition to the polyphenolic component, of mucilage that recent studies have shown to have a laxative effect thanks to their mechanical action in softening stools and thus favoring intestinal transit.
Mallolax is an osmotic laxative that acts against intestinal dysmotility thanks to its antioxidants components.
- ≥ 7,5 % Total polyphenols
- ≥ 5,0 % polyphenols as malvidin
- ≥ 30,0 % Mucilage
Mallow is titrated to 30 % mucilage and to polyphenols such as malvidin, which is a specific polyphenol with physiologically laxative action.
LAXATIVE BY VIFRA INTEGRA AS A NEW NATURAL REMEDY FOR CONSTIPATION
This supplement from the VIFRA INTEGRA line is a natural remedy for reducing or eliminating occasional constipation.
In this case it is used in powder form, thus representing a market innovation as generally used in liquid form.
In the new VIFRA INTEGRA formulation, in addition to Mallolax, we find other elements such as zinc, milk thistle, vitamin E, and fumaria officinalis.
Zinc is a trace element responsible for most enzymatic reactions;
Milk thistle with silymarin is a plant containing a depurative substance especially at the hepatic level;
Vitamin E has an antioxidant effect.
Fumaria officinalis is a plant to which the literature attributes laxative effects, even if mild, as well as diuretics.
It is recommended for adults suffering from constipation, also useful during pregnancy. The mucilage in fact, besides being an absolutely natural active ingredient, it has no particular contraindications.
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