Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medical Research

Warm Foot Bath for Supportive Fever Management: A Narrative Review of Clinical Evidence

J. Divine King, Vanitha S. Shetty, K. V. Jyothi — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Background. A warm foot bath (WFB) has been used as a supportive hydrotherapeutic measure for febrile patients, but its clinical evidence base is heterogeneous and largely derived from small nursing studies. This narrative review critically evaluates the available human evidence for WFB in fever, focusing on short-term temperature response, patient comfort, methodological limitations, and safety reporting.

Methods. The targeted narrative literature search was updated through 10 September 2026 using PubMed/MEDLINE, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, publisher platforms, and backward citation searching. Eligible reports were peer-reviewed human clinical studies involving febrile or hyperthermic participants that evaluated warm or hot foot immersion and reported quantitative temperature outcomes. Evidence was appraised narratively for design, allocation, comparator quality, co-interventions, temperature measurement, follow-up, between-group analysis, and adverse-event ascertainment.

Results. Twenty verifiable clinical studies involving 1,300 participants were retained: nine paediatric studies (n = 650) and eleven adult studies (n = 650). Most reports described reductions in body temperature after WFB, and several controlled studies reported larger short-term reductions than routine care or control conditions. However, the evidence was dominated by small, single-centre quasi-experimental studies, inconsistent intervention temperatures and durations, frequent co-administration of routine care or antipyretics, short follow-up, and incomplete adverse-event reporting. One comparative study showed only a minimal short-term temperature change in the WFB arm, illustrating that the findings are not uniformly strong.

Conclusion. Low-certainty clinical evidence suggests that WFB may produce a modest short-term reduction in measured body temperature and may improve comfort when used as an adjunct to usual care. The available literature does not establish WFB as a substitute for diagnosis, cause-directed treatment, or evidence-based antipyretic management, and it is insufficient to define an optimal protocol or confirm safety across patient groups. Better-controlled trials with standardised exposure, clinically meaningful outcomes, and explicit safety monitoring are needed.

Effects of Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods on Lipid Profile and Atherogenic Indices in Isoniazid-exposed Rats

M. H. Abdullahi, Dallah Aminu, Abdullahi Halimatu Sadiya — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Oxidative stress can alter lipid metabolism and promote changes in circulating lipoproteins that may increase atherogenic risk. Isoniazid, although an essential first-line antituberculosis agent, has been associated experimentally with oxidative stress and disturbances in lipid homeostasis. This study evaluated the effects of nutraceutical antioxidants and functional foods comprising tomato, cabbage and Moringa oleifera on the serum lipid profile and derived atherogenic indices in isoniazid-exposed rats. Experimental rats were allocated to normal control, isoniazid control, nutraceutical, functional-food, concurrent isoniazid plus nutraceutical, concurrent isoniazid plus functional-food, post-oxidative-stress nutraceutical and post-oxidative-stress functional-food groups. Total cholesterol and triglycerides were determined by enzymatic colourimetric methods, HDL-C was determined using a precipitation-based method, and LDL-C was estimated using the Friedewald equation. Cardio risk ratio (CRR), atherogenic coefficient (AC) and atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) were calculated from the lipid measurements. Data were expressed as the mean ± standard deviation, and the level of significance was set at p < 0.05. Isoniazid administration increased total cholesterol from 2.817 ± 0.121 to 3.533 ± 0.095 mmol/L, triglycerides from 3.333 ± 0.115 to 4.610 ± 0.090 mmol/L and LDL-C from 1.210 ± 0.110 to 2.020 ± 0.095 mmol/L. CRR increased from 2.480 to 2.765, AC from 1.480 to 1.765 and AIP from 0.461 to 0.566. Antioxidant interventions produced treatment-dependent changes in the lipid profile. Functional-food treatment during isoniazid exposure reduced total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL-C to 1.813 ± 0.158, 3.097 ± 0.100 and 1.017 ± 0.100 mmol/L, respectively. The lowest CRR and AC occurred in the post-oxidative-stress functional-food group, whereas AIP remained variable because of concurrent changes in triglycerides and HDL-C. Isoniazid exposure was associated with an adverse shift in the serum lipid profile and increased atherogenic indices. Nutraceutical and functional-food interventions ameliorated several of these changes, although the magnitude and direction of effect varied across lipid fractions. Functional foods showed particularly strong effects on total cholesterol, LDL-C and derived CRR/AC. These findings suggest that antioxidant-rich foods may modulate isoniazid-associated dyslipidaemia, but interpretation of atherogenic risk should consider the complete lipid profile rather than isolated lipid fractions.

Phytochemicals, Antioxidant, Anti- Salmonella paratyphi Activities of Cameroonian Plant Based Formulations and Conventional Drugs Resistant Patterns

T. R. Tikum, N. S. Menyen, P. V. Tsouh, G. N. Teke — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Enteric fever caused by Salmonella paratyphi is endemic in tropical areas and is a public health concern. This is due in part to the widespread use of antibiotics in the community, often without a prescription or without proper supervision. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the phytochemicals, antioxidant potential and susceptibility/resistance patterns of Salmonella paratyphi to plant-based formulations. The plant-based formulations, African panaxia (P1) and Body Disease Killer (P2), were analysed for phytochemicals and assayed for antioxidant and antibacterial activities. The MIC and the MBC were also determined using the broth microdilution method. A resistance index was used to assess the activity of the formulations relative to the reference drugs. Data were analysed using SPSS version 22 and significant differences were considered at p≤0.05. Both plant based products contained bioactive secondary plant metabolites with phenols having the highest content (1.02± and 0.859± mg GAE/g for P1 and P2 respectively). The extracts exhibited radical scavenging activity (RSa), with RSa50 values of 73.59 and 44.50 mg/ml for Products P1 and P2 respectively. P₂formulation (Body Disease Killer) had a significantly similar bacterial growth-inhibitory effect (13.79 ± 3.56^a mm zone of inhibition) to that of ceftriaxone (15.55 ± 6.92^a mm) but with a higher resistance rate (38.46%). P₁ formulation (African panaxia) had 11.00 ± 2.62^bmm and amoxicillin gave 10.68 ± 5.02^b mm, which were comparable. The MIC value for BDK was 0.64 mg/ml and 5.12 mg/ml for African panaxia. The MIC values for ciprofloxacin, gentamycin, cefixime and ceftriaxone were <0.0039 mg/ml while amoxicillin had 0.0156 mg/ml. The overall resistance of S. paratyphi isolates to the standard drugs was 76.92%. The resistance rates to conventional antibiotics were 0 and 100% for ciprofloxacin and amoxicillin, respectively. These plant-based formulations were rich in phenols and possessed antioxidant and antiparatyphoid activities. Most of the Salmonella paratyphi isolates were resistant.