You want to stop that diarrhoea quickly? Drink Ewedu soup, say scientists

If you’ve ever tried the delicious soup called ‘ewedu’ in Yoruba or ‘rama’ in Hausa, you know how slimy it is. Now, experts have said this ewedu soup might come useful to treat diarrhoea.

Scientists in a study found Corchorus olitorius leaf, which is commonly called jute leaf, a better treatment option to control diarrhoea than Scoporia dulcis. Only a small amount of jute leaf is required to stop diarrhoea.

Diarrhoea is one of the main causes of deaths in developing countries causing about eight million deaths a year; mainly among children under the age of five.

The green, leafy vegetable is rich in beta-carotene for good eyesight, iron for healthy red blood cells, calcium for strong bones and teeth, and vitamin C for smooth, clear skin, strong immune cells and fast wound-healing.

Its slimy consistency when cooked is used to treat various digestive problems such as diarrhoea, stomach ache, dysentery, constipation and ulcers.

Scoporia dulcis, commonly known as sweet broom-weed (Olorunyinni, or eso ojuologbo in Yoruba), is a widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical region. In these regions fresh or dried S. dulcis plants have been traditionally used as remedies for stomach troubles, hypertension, diabetes, and bronchitis as an analgesic (pain killer) and antipyretic (fever-lowering) agent.

The results showed non-dose dependent but highest protections of 75 per cent and 61.27 per cent respectively at the same dose of 300 mg/kg per body weight for jute leaf and S. dulcis.

Comparatively, jute leaf extract showed a significantly low severity of diarrhoea relative to S. dulcis from diarrhoea induced by castor oil in rats under laboratory conditions, thus corroborating their use as anti-diarrhoeal agents in African Traditional Medicine especially in Nigeria where the plants are used.

The researchers at the University of Maiduguri had induced diarrhoea in rats by castor oil-induced method. The 2020 study was in the Advanced Journal of Chemistry-Section A.

The rats were grouped into three rats of five groups for each extract; groups I and II served as a negative and positive control, while groups III, IV and V as treatment groups. The number of watery faecal material and number of defecation were determined.

Both extracts produced a non-dose dependent anti-diarrhoeal effects and protection against the castor oil-induced diarrhoea by prolonging and reducing the number of diarrhoea faeces.

The plant extract at low dose displays higher anti-diarrhoeal effects but with increasing dose, the anti-diarrhoeal effects decreases.

Jute leaf (Ewedu ) extracts were more effective than the S. dulcis extract against castor oil-induced diarrhoea at all doses. However, their effects are significantly lower than that observed by standard drug (Diphenoxylate hydrochloride 5 mg/kg body weight).

The researchers suggested that the presence of chemical substances such as flavonoid and tannins may be the reason why the plants are considered as medicinal plants and also responsible for these plants anti-diarrhoeal effect.

They stated, “The extract meets some of the criteria for acceptance of a drug as an anti-diarrhoeal; these criteria include inhibition of the production of wet or unformed faeces in animals and inhibition of gastrointestinal propulsive action.

“These results reveal that C. olitorius and S. dulcis extracts maybe used especially in rural settings for short-term symptomatic relief of non-specific acute diarrhoea and in the management of related cases.”

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