Spruce HMR lignan may slow development of hormonal cancers: Health effects from bioactive substances in tree knots

29 May 2006

Knot heartwood, i.e. the knot or branch section contained within the tree stem, has been found to contain considerably large amounts of phenolic protective agents. These bioactive substances contained in knot heartwood can be isolated and utilised e.g. in health foods and medicines or as special chemicals in other products. This year has seen the first tree knot extract product brought onto the market. Current interest is centred around HMR lignan, which has been isolated from spruce knot heartwood. Experimental research shows HMR to have a slowing effect on the development of e.g. hormonal cancers.

"Knot heartwood is easily utilised because it's delivered along with the wood raw material to pulp and paper mills, where it can be separated out via a relatively simple process," says Professor Bjarne Holmbom of Åbo Akademi University. Holmbom's team at the Centre of Excellence in Process Chemistry has been researching components derived from wood and their properties as a part of the Wood Material Science and Engineering Research Programme of the Academy of Finland and Tekes, Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation.

The study, led by Holmbom, has analysed the knot heartwood of the main wood species in Finland as well as a number of foreign species. The first knot derivative product brought onto the market this year, HMR lignan isolated from spruce knot heartwood, will be marketed as a food additive. According to research carried out under the direction of Professor Risto Santti and Professor Sari Mäkelä at the University of Turku, HMR lignan slows down the development of hormonal cancers under test conditions. The substance may also have positive affects on cardiovascular diseases and other oestrogen dependent health problems such as menopause related conditions and osteoporosis.

"We don't know whether this will be the next global brand after Benecol or Xylitol, but
it has all the potential and there's hope that it will," says Holmbom.

Antioxidants in tree bark

Research by the Wood Material Science and Engineering Research Programme has, under Holmbom's direction, also focused on derivatives of tree bark. Tree bark contains a variety of bioactive protective substances. For example, spruce bark contains large quantities of stilbenes which have numerous beneficial health effects.

"Research into natural sources of stilbenes has intensified in recent years. Studies are concentrated primarily on resveratrol, which has proven to be a strong antioxidant. It's been shown to prevent the development of cancer and prolong cell lifespan," Bjarne Holmbom says. Resveratrol is also found in the peel of black grapes and thus also in red wine.

Spruce bark contains small amounts of resveratrol but huge quantities, as much as ten percent of its own weight, of similar types of stilbenes. Holmbom's team has analysed the components of spruce bark and isolated the most important stilbenes to undergo biotesting.

Towards natural chemistry

Professor Bjarne Holmbom believes that chemical production is currently entering a threshold of change. Today, demand is increasingly for more natural materials and chemicals in place of synthetic ones. In addition, the rising price of oil is threatening the petrochemistry industry.

"It's now high time to develop new chemical production based on wood and other biomass-based natural materials in which renewable raw materials are produced using environmentally friendly processes and natural materials and natural chemical products. In other words, the chemicals industry must move gradually from "petro to bio", i.e. from brown synthesis chemistry to green, natural chemistry," Holmbom concludes.

Holmbom points out that the bulk of the world's biomass is held in forests and the forest is the only really significant renewable organic raw material. "We now need to focus development on forest-based speciality materials and chemical production. Here in Finland we're well positioned to be at the forefront of this development."

Further information:

Professor Bjarne Holmbom, Åbo Akademi University, Process Chemistry Center,
Tel. +358 40 541 3121, bjarne.holmbom (at) abo.fi

Regarding health effects of HMR lignan:
Professor Sari Mäkelä, University of Turku
Department of Biochemistry and Food Chemistry & 
Functional Foods Forum (FFF), tel. +358 2 333 6837, sarmak (at) utu.fi

Wood Material Science and Engineering Research Programme 

The multidisciplinary projects focusing on basic research within the Finnish-Swedish research programme Wood Material Science and Engineering have investigated raw material properties of wood as well as means to improve the material properties of wood and fibres. The ongoing projects focusing on innovation-targeted research and development are concerned to modify and process wood raw material into innovative and eco-efficient products, materials and processes, e.g. for the use in construction, packing, pharmaceutical and food industries. The programme is scheduled to end in 2007. Projects within the programme are funded with a total of 20 million euros.

The Wood Material Science Research Programme is jointly funded by Finnish and Swedish funding bodies and industry. Research projects within the sub-programme for basic research are funded by the Academy of Finland, Tekes, Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland and the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (Formas).  The sub-programme for innovation-targeted research and development is funded by Tekes and the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems (Vinnova).

For more information, please contact:
Programme Manager Leena Paavilainen,
leena.paavilainen (at) metla.fi
www.woodwisdom.fi/en/

Academy of Finland Communications
Communications Specialist Riitta Tirronen
Tel. +358 9 7748 8369, +358 40 828 1724, riitta.tirronen (at) aka.fi