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United Laboratories, Inc. (Unilab), the leading pharmaceutical and healthcare company in the Philippines, announced that its affiliate, the Sentrong Katutubong Yaman (Sekaya), is tapping into the country’s rich biodiversity to develop natural medicinal products with the help of science and technology (S&T).

Sekaya signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) enhance research and development (R&D) on health, especially in medicinal plants.

The signing was held during the recent inauguration of the Sekaya Research and Development Plant at the Unilab Pharma Campus in Mamplasan, Laguna. The facility is envisioned to become a collaborative R&D center for local medicinal plants and as a platform to develop natural products based on science to help the indigenous communities and small farmers benefit from the country’s rich resources.

Present during the signing and the inauguration of the Sekaya R&D Plant were Dr. Rowena Guevara, DOST undersecretary for research and development; Gov. Carmencita Ongsiako Reyes of Marinduque; Dr. Fabian Dayrit, professor at the Ateneo de Manila University Department of Chemistry; Dr. Dolores Ramirez, National Scientist; Dr. Teresita Borromeo, professor and head of the Plant Genetic Division of UP Los Banos; and Dr. Cecilia Maramba, director of the National Institutes of Health.

“Indigenous communities and farmers, who are among the poorest in the country, have a lot to gain from the development of plant-based natural products in terms of livelihood and health benefits,” said Dr. Eliseo Banaynal, executive director of Sekaya.

Lack of access to modern technology and technical expertise are among the barriers that prevent Filipino farmers from being competitive and from increasing their income, he said. Through the Sekaya facility, small farmers can tap the expertise of scientists and gain access to innovative technologies and processes.

The Philippines is one of the 17 megadiverse countries in the world or the world’s top biodiversity-rich countries which contain about 70 to 80 percent of the world’s plant and animal species. The Philippines ranks fifth in terms of number of plant species and is home to 5 percent of the world’s plants (about 10,000 to 13,000 species of plants described and recorded).

“The Philippines’ rich biodiversity should be protected at all costs; at the same time we should make sure that benefits from it will redound to the Filipinos,”  Joey Ochave, senior vice president of Unilab, said. Unilab, through Sekaya, will support communities in cultivating and developing practical applications for the country’s natural resources that will be beneficial to them,” said

For the DOST’s part, PCHRD Executive Director Dr. Jaime Montoya underscored the government’s call for continuous development of the country’s biodiversity for health-related discoveries, particularly plant-based medicines. DOST, through PCHRD, has been at the forefront of the government’s efforts to develop herbal medicines to maximise the potential of medicinal plants which abound all over the country.

According to PCHRD, experts have identified over 1,500 indigenous medicinal plants in the Philippines. Globally, there is renewed interest and demand for herbal medicines in recent years. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that eight out of 10 people worldwide use herbal medicines.

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“BISAG saging, basta labing” is a Cebuano phrase that makes light of the pain of want. It means something like, “even if we only have bananas to eat for as long as we have love, everything will be fine.” The rhyme gets lost in the translation, but the sense remains. Life is tolerable if you have bananas.

The plant grows easily and bears fruits in clusters or tiers or sipi (hands) attached to a bulig or stem. It can feed the whole family. Ripe bananas can be paired with boiled rice. Boiled green sab-a (also saba) or cardaba is often boiled and dipped in oil mixed with salt, or ginamos (fermented anchovies or bolinao) mixed with lemonsito juice.

Bananas are a blessing to the country, not just because it’s a cash crop, but because being common, many people can go on being labing (loving). This popular fruit has a lot of varieties to choose from like tundan or latundan, lakatan and bungan; and less common seniorita, tindok, morado and pitogo (round and small like the pitogo palm, which can be fashioned into keychains once the woody core is removed).

One folk belief attached to the fruit swears that a pregnant woman eating twin bananas will produce twin babies. I remember a GMA 7 Brigada feature on the explosion of twins in a town in Pampanga. If memory serves me right, the small community had 16 pairs of twins or triplets. According to a geneticist, twinning can be found in large communities but not in wide incidence. What happened probably had to do with the migration of people into that sitio who have the genetic factor of bearing twins, thus the big concentration of double-kids, so to say.

For the benefit of good health, the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) published online why it’s good to eat bananas.

1. Bananas are good for heartburn, which the PCHRD based on a study published in The Journal of Nutritional Biochemisty (February 2001). The article said bananas have anti-ulcer properties. There was no mention of which type of banana was most effective, perhaps because a banana is a banana is a banana.

2. It seems that two bananas a day will keep the doctor away because the fruit is high in fiber and vitamins (C, potassium, iron and B6). It has soluble fiber, like oats, which may help lower blood cholesterol and lower the risk of heart disease and stroke.

3. Bananas help drive out stress and insomnia. Have you ever seen monkeys acting out? Terrible joke aside, bananas have serotonin, a hormone known to make you feel happy and improve your mood.

4. Bananas are good for fatigue and anemia (charge it to iron). Its carbohydrate content boosts energy. Perhaps, this is the fruit Pambansang Kamao Manny Pacquiao takes before a game.

The PCHRD forgot that bananas are versatile. You can sip them in shakes; snack on them as chips or splits or cakes (banana cake and linuyang or mashed sab-a mixed with sugar and grated young coconut); nibble as “banana-que” or candied banana; cubed to give halo-halo texture; or added to soup (pochero) or curries (green banana curry with chicken). Maybe we should start calling the banana King of Fruits. Do I hear amens?
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Asia-Pacific is at a risk of poor nutrition as modern trade policy opens the region to a flood of ultra-processed food and drinks, according to a study published in Globalization and Health, a conclusion supported by a study by University of the Philippines researchers, who found young people here are at greater risk of noncommunicable diseases from consuming fast food.

In a study by Australian researchers that looked at sales and company data from transnational food and beverage companies, it was found that in China, expenditure on food services from companies such as KFC and McDonald’s increased eighteen-fold from $1.90 per person in 1999 to $34.80 per person in 2013. The research also revealed that the Coca-Cola Company alone had sales in 2013 of more than $16 billion in the Asian region, or 18 percent of their world sales.

“It is a health disaster waiting to happen. Companies are focusing their efforts in Asia because of the large market opportunities and growth in consumption that has still to happen,” said study co-author Sharon Friel, a professor at the Australian National University. “Many countries, particularly lower-middle income ones, are having increasing issues with diet related diseases such as cardio-vascular disease, heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers.”

Friel called for stronger health regulations across the region, including in Australia. “We need to start looking at policies that mitigate the health risks of these types of products,” Friel said. “We need to look at introducing a tax on sugary drinks.”

Investment by food and beverage companies is facilitated by trade and investment agreements, the study noted. Friel also called on governments “to think about the trade and investment agreements they are signing, what they will mean for domestic health policy, and how they can protect human health.”

Growing problem in PH

The findings of the Australian researchers echoed those of researchers from the University of the Philippines-Diliman, who found that most of the commonly consumed fast food products among youth could increase risks of developing noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).

NCDs are cardiovascular diseases like heart attacks and stroke, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes, and are responsible for more than 36 million annual deaths worldwide, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO stressed that NCDs are highly preventable, but that unhealthy diets are the most significant contribution to their development.

In the UP study, researchers surveyed 1,030 college students aged 16 to 20 years to determine their commonly consumed fast food products. The Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) then analyzed the most preferred foods.

The FNRI found that the most consumed fast food products of young people were energy-dense but low in fiber.
“Meaty dishes exceed the recommended amount of energy, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, and cholesterol for ages 16-18 years old. Side dishes and condiments also contained considerable amounts of saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium while sweetened beverages and desserts contributed to the total amount of energy from meals,” the FNRI conclusions said.

Previous research has linked excessive energy content, cholesterol, fats, and sugar with increased risks of NCDs, researcher Cecile Klaudine C. Cabigas said.

To promote healthier food choices among the youth and reduce the incidence of NCDs, researchers advised fast food establishments to provide nutrition labels on their food products and develop healthier combinations in “value meals.” Also, the young must be educated with physical activity pointers, the researchers suggested.

The UP study was funded by the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development under the Department of Health’s Health Systems Research Management Program.

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The Philippines should adopt policy-driven health priorities to better utilize the research being done in the country, the Department of Health (DOH) stressed in a recent forum.

Although the country’s strong showing in a recent study by the Brookings Institution indicated the Philippines has a good environment for medical research and development, there is still a gap in translating research into policy, current and former DOH officials said at the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) 35th Anniversary Research to Policy Forum held last month.

Dr. Gloria Nenita Velasco, Medical Officer IV of the Department of Health – Health Policy Development and Planning Bureau, cited limited research production due to poor data collection and limited funds; low research credibility due to poor evidence; and limited appreciation of research to policy impacts as challenges affecting research uptake as challenges the government and healthcare sectors are still facing in translating research outcomes to effective policy.

Velasco suggested that health priorities should be policy-driven to ensure that health research would be utilized through policy implementation. Research co-production and increased support for evidence-based research were also cited as strategies to effectively turn research into concrete policies.

Apart from data and findings, Dr. Fely Marilyn E. Lorenzo, former Professor of the Department of Health Policy and Administration of the University of the Philippines Manila said that policy documents must be able to capture the views and wishes of the beneficiaries, as well as opinions of the researchers and testimonials. Effective policy research must be problem-driven, multi-dimensional, flexible, and strongly evidence-based, she stressed.

On the issue of policy adoption as a major challenge in implementing research-based policies, “It’s always prudent to consult with stakeholders/end-users,” said Dr. Lorenzo.

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Approval of the medicinal marijuana bill before the end of the first regular session of the 17th Congress in June is being eyed by its author, Isabela Rep. Rodito Albano.

Albano said he would exhaust all means to ensure that House Bill 180, the proposed Philippine Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act, will be passed by the House plenary before June.

“I think the majority will vote for it. There’s a strong clamor now to support the bill,” he said in an interview with the Manila Bulletin.

“I’ll try to do it (plenary approval) before June,” Albano said.

Congress is on a month long break and will resume session on May 2, then adjourn on June 2.

The House Committee on Health, chaired by Quezon Rep. Angelina “Helen” Tan, created a technical working group (TWG) to scrutinize and hammer out the provisions of HB 180, which seeks to legalize the medicinal use of cannabis or marijuana in the country.

The Departments of Health (DOH) and of Science and Technology (DOST)-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) proposed that safeguards be put in place to ensure the medicinal use of marijuana would not be abused.

Albano expressed optimism that his proposal would finally see the light this 17th Congress amid President Duterte’s intensified war on illegal drugs.

He said Congress should pass his measure to help thousands of patients in the country suffering from serious and debilitating diseases.

“We are not decriminalizing marijuana,” he said, hopeful that the Duterte administration will include his proposal in its list of priority measures.

Albano maintained that his measure contains very stringent control provisions on the use of medical marijuana to prevent any abuse.

“I have high hopes under the Duterte administration that this measure would be enacted into law. Finally, there is hope for our people, especially our children, who suffer from medical conditions like epilepsy, cancer, and multiple sclerosis,” he said.

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