Rooibos, Cardiovascular and Cognitive Health
Rooibos and Exercise: an “omics” approach
PhD candidate: Mr Oiva Kamati
AMHBI Affiliated Member: Prof Simeon Davies
The health benefits of rooibos are attributable to its unique combination of chemical compounds, referred to as polyphenolics. This human intervention study is aimed at establishing if consuming green or fermented rooibos for three months may improve certain risk factors of heart disease, such as blood lipid profile, oxidative stress status, inflammation and heart function parameters to ultimately be able to reduce one’s risk for developing heart disease and/or increase your heart health. Cardiovascular disease and its risk factors are also associated with cognitive decline and dementia and as a result, this study also includes assessing cognitive health in the study participants. This transdisciplinary project is cofunded by the Department of Science and Innovation, South African Rooibos Council, Medical Research Council and the CPUT. Collaboration includes experts from across three CPUT Faculties, Stellenbosch University, University of Cape Town, North West University and University of Vienna.
Postdoctoral fellow: Dr Donné Minné
Postdoctoral fellow: Dr Shanika Reddy
Doctorate candidate: Ms Maria Hartnick
AMHBI Affiliated Member: Prof Penelope Engel-Hills
PhD candidate: Ms Zaakiyah Emjedi
PhD candidate: Ms Amanda Kuit
Master’s candidate: Ms Chrisone Smit
Impact of Covid-19 on neuropsychological functioning and late- life dementia risk: The role of inflammation and oxidative stress
Postdoctoral fellow: Dr Donné Minné
PhD candidate: Mr Elias Chipofya
AMHBI Affiliated Member: Prof Penelope Engel-Hills
Stemming from the recent Covid-19 pandemic, this transdisciplinary project aims to examine the degree to which severity of COVID-19 predicts cognitive changes and acceleration in inflammation and oxidative stress, as well as serum levels of key biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease including amyloid beta plaques and tau protein. Additionally, we aim to look at clotting pathology to determine the nature of hypercoagulation in the study population and to determine whether screening for genetic risk factors could explain/predict a diagnosis or the severity of post COVID-19 neurological complications. This is a multicentre collaboration including experts from CPUT’s AMHBI, Stellenbosch University, University of Cape Town and University of Vienna (Austria) with funding from the South African Medical Research Council and Africa-Uninet.
This multicentre project, involving CPUT’s AMHBI and the Centre for Sport Business and Technology Research (CSBTR), North West’s Centre for Human Metabolomics and Stellenbosch University’s Human Genetics is focussed to investigate how Rooibos with its unique bioactive compounds may impact submaximal exercise performance in adult males and the effect on the human metabolome while also elucidating the influence of genetic variations in genes related to oxidative stress and muscle damage susceptibility. Rooibos has the potential to facilitate improved physical performance in humans, with an application as an ergogenic sport drink and/or supplement. This study further aims to standardise a human exercise-induced oxidative stress model which may serve as a repeatable and controllable non-pathology-related method of inducing oxidative stress and assessing the efficacy of herbal preparations. Outcomes may have economic benefits to the sport drink industry by establishing Rooibos as a niche product. This project is financially supported by the South African Rooibos Council and in part the National Research Foundation of South Africa (grant no: 116063) as part of a South Africa/Austria Joint Scientific and Technology Collaboration initiative.
Current AMHBI Research Projects (Part 1 of 6) Contacts:
Prof Jeanine Marnewick (MarnewickJ@cput.ac.za); ORCiD: 0000-0002-1819-1699
Dr Taskeen Docrat (DocratT@cput.ac.za); ORCiD: 0000-0003-2468-6054
CPUT Research Focus Area: Bioeconomy and Biotechnology
CPUT Research Niche Areas: Oxidative Stress in Health and Disease Development