Scientific Journals

Melanin is a substance in your body that produces skin pigments. The more melanin you produce, the darker your skin will be. The amount of melanin in your body depends on a few factors, including genetics and how much sun exposure your ancestors had.

Melanogenesis is the process of the production of the melanin pigments inside our bodies. 

Source: Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand 104(10):1610-6, Dec 2021, published in Research Gate.

Background: Volten VR4® capsules contain extract of Kaempferia parviflora (KP), which has been claimed to reduce blood glucose in patients with diabetes. 

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of Volten VR4® on healthy individuals and Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus volunteers.

Results: It had been shown that the specificity of KP reduced blood glucose levels and has associated with the flavonoids and polymethoxyflavones components. The results showed that consuming VR4® capsules significantly reduced blood glucose, either at the state of fasting or postprandially in diabetic individual.

Conclusion: Volten VR4® Kaempferia parviflora extract is safe to be consumed at 400mg at one time. The study also has shown that the participants are free from adverse reactions and hypoglycaemia. 

Keywords: Kaempferia parviflora; Blood  glucose; Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus; Flavonoids;  Polymethoxyflavones; Hypoglycemia and heavy metal elements

Source: Published online Aug 2011 in National Library of Medicine (NLM) of National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA. 

Background:  The "PDE5 inhibitor" is currently used for erectile dysfunction as it induces vascular smooth muscle relaxation, vasodilation and increases blood flow to penile tissue. However, it also inhibits PDE6 which is present in the retina of our eyes and this may give rise to visual disturbances as an unavoidable side effect of this treatment.

Objective: A number of medicinal plants are used in traditional medicine to treat erectile dysfunction. We sought to show whether these plants might contain substantial amounts of PDE5 inhibitors.

Conclusion: Kaempferia parviflora rhizome extract and its 7-methoxyflavone constituents had moderate inhibitory activity against PDE5. This finding provides an explanation for enhancing sexual performance in the traditional use of Kaempferia parviflora. Moreover, 5,7-dimethoxyflavones should make a useful lead compound to further develop clinically efficacious PDE5 inhibitors.

Keywords: Kaempferia parviflora, Phosphodiesterase5 (PDE5), Methoxyflavones, Traditional sexual performance enhancer, Erectile Dysfunction

Source: Published online April 2017 in National Library of Medicine (NLM) of National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA. 

Background: Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a common disease which affects about 50% of men aging from 40 to 70 years in America, and the prevalence is almost the same in China, and close to 70% in Malaysia. Various alternative or complementary therapies are being investigated to increase the curative effect for ED, with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) at the forefront of this trend. 

Objective: A great number of traditional Chinese herbs have been used to treat ED in the form of single or compound formulas. Black Ginger (or Kaempferia parviflora) is one of these traditional Chinese herbs used for ED treatment.

Conclusion: TCM is an effective alternative therapeutic method for ED. Nowadays various Chinese herbs are used for patients with ED in clinical practice and show satisfying outcomes. 

Keywords: Acupuncture, Chinese herbs, erectile dysfunction (ED), traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)

Source: Published online Jan 2021 in at Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).

Background: Visceral fat (fat around internal organs) is a more important factor in obesity-associated disorders in Japanese individuals than in Caucasian individuals. Obesity increases the risk of metabolic disorders, such as insulin resistance hyperlipidaemia, and hypertension.

Objective: Evaluated the effect of continual intake of polymethoxyflavone (PMF) purified from black ginger (KP) for 12 weeks, on abdominal visceral fat in Japanese individuals without changing their usual lifestyle.

Conclusion: This study revealed that regular ingestion of KP extract reduces visceral fat in Japanese overweight adults without the need of any lifestyle changes. Intake of purified KP (12 mg) per day was sufficient to achieve this effect.

Keywords: Visceral Fat Area (VFA), Body Mass Index (BMI), polymethoxyflavone (PMF)