Starfish Slime May Be Used to Fight Diseases like Arthritis Asthma and Hayfever

There has been a lot of astonishing news in the health field lately. Recently, I wrote about scientists discovering taste glands in the lungs. The taste glands can only detect bitter tastes, nothing else. I wrote how researchers think that the discovery may lead to better, more natural treatments for asthma without the use of drugs.

Then I wrote about how worms may be used in the fight against ulcerative colitis. One man took it upon himself to swallow a bunch of pig worm eggs, a practice that has been used for a long time in Thailand. He says that the treatment is working, but the jury is still out on that one.

For years now, I have had a mummified starfish sitting on a shelf near my desk. A friend brought him back from the beach when he vacationed in California. I never thought that the little starfish might hold the key to treating disease.

Now, according to Medical News Today:

"A non-stick slime made by starfish may lead to new treatments for asthma, arthritis, hay fever and other inflammatory conditions, say marine biologists in Scotland."

"The scientists, from the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) in Oban, Argyll, have been studying the slime produced by the spiny starfish, Marthasterias glacialis, commonly found in the waters around Scotland."

It seems that as we discover more and more diseases are caused by inflammation, we find more and more natural cures or treatments for them.

The goo from the starfish is a defense mechanism that protects the starfish and keeps debris from the ocean from sticking to them. They are hoping that the gooey compound will do for our blood vessels what it does for the starfish: keep things like clots from sticking to them.

Our immune system protects us from disease every day. But sometimes it overreacts and causes disease instead of protecting us against them. Everything from Lupus, arthritis, asthma, and type 1 diabetes can be caused by an overactive immune system.

Starfish are continually bombarded by parasites and germs that want to set up shop on their spiny exteriors, but the slim prevents them from being able to take hold. The researchers hope that the starfish slime will have the same effect on human blood vessels and keep the bad stuff from sticking while allowing the white blood cells to flow through.

So, sometime in the future you may be taking pills filled with starfish slime compounds to help cut down on inflammation and keep everything flowing freely in your circulatory system and keep you healthy. Then that little oddly-shaped creature will truly become a star and save people's lives.

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/211027.php