From rhino horn and tiger bones to treating fever, migraines and even cancer; going through pangolin scales for asthma, rheumatism or arthritis; even injections with Malay bear bile powder, to treat the coronavirus, among many others … Like it or not, traditional Chinese medicine, originated more than 2,000 years ago, is on the rise and moves about 52.5 billion euros yearly. Although some of its healing properties have been demonstrated, in turn, it has brought multiple species to the brink of extinction.
How can we forget that time, at the beginning of 2010, in which a curious product of traditional medicine “a la española” flooded our telemarketing channels. I remember the faces of admiration and disgust of my sisters when they saw how smiling actresses smeared their faces with the apparently miraculous cream of … snail slime extract. The voice-over of the ad claimed that the product regenerated and rejuvenated the skin “like no other product”, in addition to curing acne and eliminating wrinkles and scars.
That same year, while multiple clients assured excellent results, some dermatologists from the Spanish Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (AEDV) affirmed that the benefits to which the advertising was committed were exaggerated. “Such benefits cannot be produced only with the administration of a cream,” said Elia Roo, coordinator of the Aesthetics Unit of the Hospital Sur de Alcorcón for a report in El Mundo. “We must not forget that it is a cosmetic product, not therapeutic, that is, it only acts on the superficial layer of the skin and its effects are limited. It can be a good moisturizing product and reduce wrinkles precisely because of this property, but it does not eliminate them. Nor does it manage to make stretch marks or scars disappear completely; it is impossible, “he added.
Eleven years later, studies are still being published in which the efficacy of this substance is scientifically confirmed. An example would be the Indonesian researchers from the School of Health Sciences Kusuma Husada Surakarta, who in 2016 demonstrated the healing properties of snail slime, thanks to its anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial content. Another example would be the one published in the journal Biomedical Materials by Turkish scientists from the University of Dokuz Eylül, in which its regenerative properties are reflected in in vitro tissues such as bone or cartilage.
But the story does not end here. Recently, a group of researchers from the University of Bologna has discovered that the saliva of these mollusks, combined with certain drugs, can be very useful to extend the healing properties of certain drugs over time. In addition, in another of their studies, they have shown that by combining cellulose derivatives with snail slime, a new ecological and disposable material for food packaging can be created, which in addition to being resistant, has antibacterial properties and acts as a barrier against UV light.
At this point, we can only ask ourselves, did reality surpass fiction in the advertisements of a decade ago? How many more surprises await us in the saliva of these mollusk currents?
References:
di Filippo, MF, Dolci, LS, Liccardo, L., Bigi, A., Bonvicini, F., Gentilomi, GA, Passerini, N., Panzavolta, S., & Albertini, B. (2021). Cellulose derivatives-snail slime films: New disposable eco-friendly materials for food packaging. Food Hydrocolloids, 111 , 106247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2020.106247
Perpelek, M., Tamburaci, S., Aydemir, S., Tihminlioglu, F., Baykara, B., Karakasli, A., & Havitcioglu, H. (2021). Bioactive snail mucus-slime extract loaded chitosan scaffolds for hard tissue regeneration: the effect of mucoadhesive and antibacterial extracts on physical characteristics and bioactivity of chitosan matrix. Biomedical Materials. Published. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-605x/ac2352
