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IKAN HARUAN / SNAKEHEAD
You have probably heard your mum or grandma asking you to slurp down your haruan fish soup after a surgery. That’s because they often contain more than a grain of truth. Take the one about “An apple a day keeping the doctor away,” for example. Well, everyone knows that fresh fruit is packed with flu-fighting vitamin C, which is great at preventing all kinds of illnesses, so munching on an apple on a regular basis makes sense. Then there’s the one that every kid knows. “Eat up your fish. It’s brain food.” Well, the evidence on that saying is a bit sketchier. However, according to Dr. Ahmad Faroukh Musa, from the Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University, Malaysia, a fish diet does make a huge difference. But the biggest beneficiaries aren’t children. They are people who have just had heart surgery!
Local fish performs a medical miracle
It’s not just any old fish either. The one that works best is the Channa Striatus. Or, as it is more commonly known in Asia, the Haruan fish. “It has long been ‘known,’ although without any actual evidence, that patients who eat Haruan after surgery tend to heal better and faster. To find out why, we conducted a scientific study on wound healing after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery,” said Dr Musa. The study, which included a randomized controlled trial, looked at whether patients who were given Haruan fish extract in capsule form healed better and faster, than those who received a placebo. And the results were stunning. “It turns out that grandma was right. The Haruan extract accelerated the speed with which wounds healed significantly. What’s more, the extract has a marked anti-nociceptive effect. Which means, it helps to block out pain, so the patient is more comfortable and less stressed, so they recover faster,” said Dr Musa.
What is Haruan?
Haruan, also known as the snakehead fish, is a freshwater carnivore. Which means that it eats other, smaller fishes and sometimes even frogs. And since it is a freshwater fish, you can find it in lakes and small rivers, streams or creeks. It can also be farmed, although that isn’t as popular in Malaysia as farming, say, Keli or Tilapia. But, after the Monash University study, that could change if-and-when Haruan extract is commercialized for nutraceutical applications.
Why does Haruan extract work?
Haruan extract has several properties that help wounds to heal. The fish contains all the essential amino acids needed, glycine. It also has high-levels of arachidonic acid and polyunsaturated fatty acids that create an anti-inflammatory effect and promote the synthesis of prostaglandins, which are critical in helping the body to deal with tissue damage or infection. It also promotes remodeling of collagen by the synthesis of inter and intramolecular protein cross-linking. This produces a marked increase in the tensile strength that accentuates wound healing. “Haruan extract may have applications beyond surgical use. In fact, theoretically, it could help any skin wound to heal,” said Dr Musa.
You are what you eat
You know the old saying, you are what you eat? Well, Haruan may not necessarily make you any smarter, but it can certainly be tasty. According to Dr Musa, the best way to cook it, and get the best nutritional effect, is to prepare it as a hot soup or as a porridge-style dish. It is occasionally fried, but soup in the most common. However, its nutraceutical potential looks likely to far outweigh any culinary charms.
“While faster recovery from surgical procedures is good for patients, the extract also offers other advantages in terms of resources and overall economic benefits. The reduction in the percentage of wound infections also results in reduced hospital costs,” said Dr Musa, who is very much looking forward to the successful commercialization of Haruan as a medical product.
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