You might have encountered jackfruit in tropical areas or as a meat substitute in vegan tacos. Boasting a mild flavor and greenish-yellow textured skin, it’s the largest fruit to grow on trees. The heaviest specimen recorded weighed in at just over 119 pounds.
But take heed — if you want to eat it, you’ll need to oil up your knife and hands before slicing the fruit open. Jackfruit’s latex is known for its persistent residue, and it’s also why researchers from Brazil turned to the sticky substance when looking for a means of adhering a healing substance to diseased gums.
They added a couple of other key ingredients, too: extract from the peel of a pomegranate, which has antimicrobial properties when used as a topical agent; and simvastatin [sim-vuh-sta-tin], an anti-inflammatory medication that also stimulates bone formation. The adhesive formed from these ingredients was designed to stick to damaged tissues, prolonging the time its therapeutic properties had to work.
Researchers tested the newly made biomaterial in stem cells. In two weeks, they saw cells shift into bone-forming tissue; after three, this effect was even stronger.
In advanced gum disease, persistent inflammation erodes the structures holding teeth in place, eventually causing bone loss and loose links between teeth and tissue. This new biomaterial, researchers say, has the potential to address both restoring the injured tissue and lowering the levels of surrounding inflammation — all without needing to resort to expensive and painful measures like bone grafting.
We can only assume your dentist would support the fruits of this particular labor.