Grape seed and chocolate as prescriptions for pain? MSU research looks at 'nutraceuticals'

Paul Durham is passionate about preventing pain.

Durham is a distinguished professor of cell biology and director for the Center of Biomedical and Life Sciences at Missouri State University, a multidisciplinary laboratory housed in Jordan Valley Innovation Center.

In his lab, he researches brain signals and how they can block pain involved in migraines, jaw pain and other conditions. Pain and inflammation go hand in hand, so he’s interested in substances with anti-inflammatory properties, as well.

For the last 15 years, Durham has been researching nutraceuticals — products derived from food sources that have additional health benefits.

He’s found three nutraceuticals that have excellent anti-inflammatory properties and can help block pain: cacao, bone broth and grape seed extract.

“All these natural products/supplements are beneficial because of their ability to block pain pathways and decrease inflammation, so they benefit multiple physiological systems, including nervous, digestive, immune and cardiovascular,” Durham said. “They help to maintain and restore healthy systems — if one is out of balance, it can cause imbalance and dysfunction in another system.”

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Food instead of pharma

There are many benefits to using nutraceuticals, Durham said.

First, they are more natural and readily available.

Secondly, pharmaceuticals are often designed to target one specific issue, but nutraceuticals may have several simultaneous benefits.

Nutraceuticals are often less expensive and don’t have the side effects that drugs can have.

Aside from helping people live healthier, more pain-free lives, Durham hopes his research can help reduce opioid use and addiction. He’s found grape seed extract to be a powerful pain blocker.

“If we partner up nutraceuticals with pharmaceuticals, you can reduce pharmaceutical dependence,” he said.

There is a huge market for pain relief. Chronic pain plagues 50 million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Cacao for migraines

Durham grew up in a family of migraine sufferers, which piqued his interest early on.

Then he became friends with Dr. Roger Cady, who founded Clinvest, a medical research facility whose early focus was migraines.

The two men talked about how native people in South America ate cacao and lived to old age with minimal signs of cardiovascular disease, which is an inflammatory disease.

Since migraine is considered a neurovascular disease — involving both systems — it made sense to test if cacao could be beneficial to the nervous system and could block migraines, Durham explained.

Cacao is the raw, unprocessed version of cocoa, and it’s what chocolate is made from.

Cacao is anti-inflammatory and also contains beta-sitosterol, a natural pain reliever found in aloe vera.

Durham’s research has provided insight into how cacao can alter the function of the nervous system and why it can be beneficial for migraine patients.

The key is it must be dark chocolate, 70 percent or higher, but closer to 100 percent is best.

He’s also studied Askinosie Chocolate’s cocoa nibs because of the purity. Milk chocolate does not work because it has added sugar and not enough concentrations of the good stuff.

For some, eating dark chocolate at the onset of a migraine attack can actually make it less severe. People have to try it to see if it works for them, Durham says.

In terms of dosing, he recommends a serving of dark chocolate, the size of your palm, three times a week. If you use cocoa nibs, eat a couple tablespoons.

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Ryan Cady is CEO of Clinvest Research and son of Roger Cady, the original company founder.

Ryan worked in Durham’s lab during his senior year of high school and then as a graduate student when he earned his master’s degree.

Aside from applying the research in his professional life, Ryan decided to try nutraceuticals for his own migraines.

“I can tell you I eat cocoa nibs, and it does help my migraines. They have gotten better over time,” Cady said.

The two men continue to collaborate.

“I like his passion for science,” Cady said of Durham. “Every time I talk to Paul, I get inspired. I like his approach to the nutraceutical world.”

Grape seed extract for pain

About 12 years ago, one of Durham’s graduate students became interested in grapes. The French eat high fat diets but don’t have a lot of cardiovascular disease.

“The idea was drinking wine was beneficial,” Durham said.

He had a plethora of materials at Missouri State’s Mountain Grove campus, where researchers grow grapes and make wine.

Durham’s team collected the local grapes, ordered extras from California and got to work.

“We took the skin off and compared the skin to the pulp and seed. The seed is throwaway product, so we were shocked when we found the amount of antioxidants in the seed were much higher than in the skin. Antioxidants reduce oxidative stress. That shifted our whole way of thinking. This is a throwaway product in the wine industry so why can’t we use this?" he said.

Durham would love to find someone interested in creating a wine where they add grape seed extract, but he said it can be bitter, so he hasn’t had any takers yet.

After the initial research, Durham began to study Healthy Origins 300 mg grape seed extract, a commercial product already on the market. He found it be to consistent for more than a decade. If anyone wants to try it, he recommends this brand since he’s studied it for so long. It’s available on Amazon.

Grape seed extract can block pain and is anti-inflammatory.

Sophia Antonopoulos has worked with Durham for five years, first as an undergraduate student and now as a lab manager. Her research is focused on understanding the mechanism of how grape seed extract helps reduce pain in chronic pain models.

“The most exciting thing about research is that I can help work towards a better understanding of how the world works in a way that can help people. Research is the first step to helping people — it provides a way to apply scientific knowledge to real world problems,” she said.

Their research helped her own boyfriend, who found relief from his migraines after incorporating grape seed extract into his life, she said.

By improving gut health, bone broth can block pain

Another nutraceutical that shocked Durham was ancient bone broth. He studied one product from International Dehydrated Foods.

“I was surprised how anti-inflammatory it was,” Durham said. “It helped the gut. Bone broth is not something we get a lot of nutrition from. The bacteria in our gut make chemicals that quiet down our nervous system. If you want a healthy brain, you have to have a healthy gut. We were shocked it worked on the nervous system.”

The key is it must be a natural bone broth, without additives. Those are usually available at health food stores. For dosing, it only takes 2-3 tablespoons in the morning and again at night.

“Bone broth helps to maintain the right bacteria in our gut that make chemicals that can enter our blood, and since they are anti-inflammatory, they can benefit our nervous system by making it more difficult to turn on nerve cells that send pain signals to our brain,” he said.

People with Irritable Bowel Syndrome may find relief, too.

“Chicken and turkey bone broth are what we tested and found to alter the gut bacteria and also block pain signaling,” he said.

Durham has authored or co-authored 86 peer-reviewed research publications, numerous book chapters and almost 200 published abstracts.

He has received roughly $15 million in external grants to support his various research.

He’s also a frequent guest lecturer, and his research has been the subject of many articles, but he would like to get more awareness to the public and see more clinical trials featuring nutraceuticals.

“I am not a clinician, so I can isolate the compounds and see how it works, but I still have to get a doctor to do a clinical trial, and that is difficult to get funded. My goal is to get information out to clinicians so they can help their patients,” he said.

Another challenge is getting pharmaceutical companies to invest in nutraceutical research. They generally don’t want to. So, he plugs away at his research and tries to share the benefits of eating healthier and nutraceuticals.

“People have more control over their bodies than they think they do,” Durham said. “I think there is more common sense about nutrition that we have lost over the years. The more we can get back to basics, the better.”

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri State research looks at nutraceuticals, foods that block pain