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Cutting Salt Could Prevent Deaths

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Cutting just half a teaspoon of salt a day from the intake of most U.S. adults would prevent 92,000 deaths, 99,000 heart attacks and 66,000 strokes according to predictions from computer models that used actual clinical data to judge the effects of the change.

Less salt is as big a benefit to health as is quitting smoking, according to work that appears in the January 20, 2010 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

“The [heart] benefits of reduced salt intake are on par with the benefits of population-wide reductions in tobacco use, obesity, and cholesterol levels,” explains Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD. Limiting your daily salt intake by half a teaspoon (3 grams) isn’t enough of a reduction to bring many diets to the 3.7 grams a day that’s the recommendation for about 70% of adults, or the 5.8 grams a day suggested for high risk adults.

In fact, the average U.S. man gets 10.4 grams of salt a day; the average U.S. woman gets about 7.3 grams a day.

Some of the biggest reductions in dietary sodium would need to come from food makers who would have to stop adding so much to processed foods.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 77% of the salt in our diet comes from these types of foods. Surprisingly, the salt shaker accounts for just 6% of our daily intake, while salt used in cooking accounts for a mere 5% of intake.

Would we miss the salt if it were removed? “In the United Kingdom, a population-wide reduction in dietary salt of 10% was achieved in four years without a reduction in sales of the food products included in the initial effort and without consumer complaints about taste,” Bibbins-Domingo and her colleagues point out.

Another plus, once you cut back on the salt (even if you don’t know you’re doing so) this encourages you to prefer less salty foods. The change in your taste for salt comes in just a few weeks.

In an editorial published along with the study, Johns Hopkins researcher Lawrence J. Appel, MD, MPH and Cheryl A.M. Anderson, PhD, MPH call for more regulations.

Of course such restrictions would certainly be opposed by industry, as we’ve seen with the effort by New York City to regulate sale in prepared foods. Opposition to the measure comes from the Salt Institute, a trade group that represents the industry.

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Cutting Salt Could Prevent Deaths Continued…

Representative for the salt industry aren’t convinced that the moderate reduction in blood pressure from cutting salt is worth the risks to health that come from depriving our bodies of this natural, necessary nutrient used for many thousands of years.

Morton Satin, speaking for the Salt Institute says, “Mediterranean diet consumers, such as the Italians, consume 40% more salt than Americans, but because they eat a balanced diet with plenty of salads and vegetables, they have the best cardiovascular figures in the world. I’m concerned that the reduction in salt in canned vegetables could lead to less vegetables being consumed. This would be harmful to consumers, especially children.”

Making the change, even cutting just 1 gram of salt from your diet, would have quite an impact on the health of many of us according to the researchers.

If you have risk factors for early death or heart problems, limiting your salt intake could be a very smart move and natural too. What’s more, you don’t need to do anything beyond making the change in your salt intake to get the benefit to your health.


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Short Breaks Boost Memory

Thursday, March 4, 2010

When it comes to giving your brain an edge in digesting new information, and perhaps improving your memory, a study by researchers at New York University to be published in the January 28, 2010 issue of journal Neuron finds that resting while awake, as you might during a coffee break, a walk or as you meditate, helps consolidate memory and improves recall.

Earlier work has shown that processes that improve memory go on while we sleep, but this is the first study to look at what happens during times of so-called wakeful rest.

“Taking a coffee break after class can actually help you retain that information you just learned,” explains researcher Lila Davachi, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at the Center for Neural Science at New York University. “Your brain wants you to tune out other tasks so you can tune in to what you just learned.”

For the project, 16 adults, aged 22 to 34, were shown pairs of images (a human face and an object, or a human face and a scene) and told to associate the object with the person in the picture, but not told they’d be tested on this later on.

This learning period was followed by a time of wakeful rest (about 8 minutes) where the subjects were told only to relax and think about whatever they liked. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to measure the brain activity before, during and after the testing.

The researchers found that the activity between the hippocampus and neocortex – two areas of the brain known to be involved in memory and processing – increased as the subjects were shown the images and during the resting phase as well.

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Short Breaks Boost Memory Continued…

The subjects who had the greatest increases in activity between the two brain areas while resting and looking at the images did better on associative memory tests than those who had weaker reactions.

It seems the greater the activity in the two regions of the brain, the stronger the memory.

“Your brain is working for you when you’re resting, so rest is important for memory and cognitive function,” Davachi says. “This is something we don’t appreciate much, especially when today’s information technologies keep us working around the clock.”

So, could taking a short break and letting the brain relax when studying for an exam or getting ready for a business presentation be a better way to learn and memorize?

Study leader Dr. Davachi says, “People tend to think that if we want to remember something, you should do something active, like rehearse the material. And you can do that – we know it helps, but my suspicion is just letting your mind wander is going to be okay.”

For now researchers can’t say that one type of wakeful rest is better than another for enhancing memory. Your best bet might be to sit quietly and do nothing, just letting the information sink in.

The researchers involved in this work hope their findings will be of value to anyone trying to improve their memory, and help science further understand memory and how it works.


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Vitamin D Protect Against Colon Cancer

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

In one of the largest studies ever on vitamin D and colon cancer, researchers have found that high levels of vitamin D in the blood might offer protection from cancers of the colon and rectum.

The work, appearing online in the British Medical Journal, involved more than 1,200 subjects who had colorectal cancer and 1,200 controls that were free of the disease.

Those with the highest levels (100 nanomoles per liter) of vitamin D in their bloodstream had an almost 40% lower risk of colorectal cancer compared to those who were at the lowest levels (under 25 nanomoles per liter) of vitamin D.

The findings come out of the EPIC study (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. This study has more than half a million adult subjects from 23 centers in 10 western European countries, all who were free of cancer at the start of the research.

After several years follow up, 1,248 subjects were diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and these participants were matched to the same number of participants (1,248 cancer free participants).

The researchers had collected very detailed diet and lifestyle information, and noted blood levels of 25-hydroxy vitamin D, a reliable marker for the amount of the vitamin in the body from all sources, including diet, supplements and sunlight.

The results of the research “support a role for vitamin D in the accepted causes of this form of cancer.” EPIC investigator Dr. Mazda Jenab of the International Agency for Research on Cancer in France tells Reuters Health. “But this has to be balanced with caution regarding the potential toxic effects of too much vitamin D and the fact that very little is known about the association of vitamin D with either increased or reduced risk of other cancers.”

EPIC coordinator Dr. Elio Riboli of Imperial College, London, added, “There is consistent scientific evidence that low circulating vitamin D concentration is a marker of increased risk for developing colon cancer.” Riboli hopes that future work in this area would examine if vitamin D supplements would cut cancer risk without bringing on serious side effects.

You can get vitamin D naturally in one of three ways…

· From the sun: 15 minutes in the sun a few times a week, without sunscreen to block the natural absorption of vitamin D.

· From your food: 400-600 IU of vitamin D each day from natural sources such as egg yolks, saltwater fish, liver and fortified milk is a good start. Per the Institute of Medicine, the upper limit for vitamin D intake is 2000 IU per day, and more is NOT better.

· From supplements: Shop with care and look for USP (United States Pharmacopeia) standards. Talk with your doctor before beginning any supplement program, and be sure to take only the recommended amount, no more.

There is as yet no consensus on optimal vitamin D levels in adults. Some work has suggested that for colon cancer prevention, blood levels of vitamin D should be kept in the mid range, at about 50 nanomoles per liter or more.

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Vitamin D Protect Against Colon Cancer Continued…

The researchers did compare low and high levels of vitamin D to a mid level (50-75 nanomoles) and found that anything over 75 nanomoles brought a reduction in risk, while levels under 50 nanomoles were associated with higher risk of colorectal cancers.

Inadequate vitamin D levels in both Europe and North America may be the bigger issue.

Experts believe that large proportions of both these populations are likely to fall into the deficient or insufficient category. And since few foods are natural sources of vitamin D, fortified foods must provide most of what we get from our diet.

Experts believe you can get the vitamin D your body needs from a healthy, balanced diet, as well as regular, moderate exposure to natural sunlight.

While we wait for the word on vitamin D supplements, your best bet if you’re concerned about your risk of colorectal cancer is to see that your levels of this important nutrient are as high as they should be by including vitamin D rich foods into your diet.

Eat a balanced diet, stop smoking, get more active, manage your weight – Especially abdominal fat, and limit your intake of red/processed meats and alcohol to do all you can to keep yourself healthy and cancer free.


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A Good Night’s Makes Us Better

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

If you’re searching for a way to be more creative, more innovative, more on your game, an unexpected bit of advice is to get a good night’s sleep.

An abundance of research now proves that getting enough sleep gives you the edge to help you perform at your best, be more creative, have stronger long-term memory and preservation of important memories.

Where once sleeping was dismissed as down time, research now knows that sleep has distinct stages that cycle through the night, and that your brain does stay active during sleep, with different things happening during each stage of sleep.

“It turns out we are not like TiVo,” explains Dr. Robert Stickgold of Harvard Medical School who also serves as director of Boston’s Center for Sleep and Cognition at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, comparing our mind to the video recording device. “TiVo is good at recording one station while it shows you another. We can’t do that. We can’t simultaneously take in information and process it.”

He believes that sleep helps in the information processing part of the equation, maybe giving the brain a chance to go “offline” for a while and then shift into a different mode that’s evolved over time to help us perform memory processing.

Research points to REM sleep (the stage of rapid eye movement) as being the time when issues are resolved and new information tucked away or discarded.

Stickgold points out that when faced with a big decision, few of us say, “I’ll go out for a hamburger.” What do we do? We sleep on it…

Just why sleep is so crucial for memories is still a mystery, although the mystery is starting to be unraveled.

Another researcher in the area of sleep and memory, assistant professor of psychology Jessica Payne of the University of Notre Dame, has found that a good night’s sleep can result in better inferential ability.

Evidence from her work suggests that when you sleep you learn the hierarchy of information and the more sophisticated relationships. “Sleep is not only important for your ability to remember,” Payne says, “but it also helps you be more creative, find more interesting and distant connections and be more innovative.”

And while there’s no public service initiative to promote the benefits of a good night’s sleep, the experts are calling for that to change.

Sleep depravation has been linked to all kinds of troublesome conditions, not just obesity (because it disrupts insulin regulation), but high blood pressure and heart disease as well.

Continues below…

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Ex-soldier Fitness Trainer Reveals Military’s Top Secret…

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You too can enjoy:

- Leaner, abs and butt!
- Women… eliminate “cottage cheese thighs”
- Guys…Get that 6-pack you’ve always wanted
- Unstoppable energy all day long

These military fat burning tips are guaranteed to banish ugly belly fat once and for all… And get you in the best shape of your life!

If you want to know how to lose weight, while building lean muscle and getting into the best shape of your life, you can’t beat the billions of research dollars behind the U.S. Military’s most powerful fat-burning strategies used to keep its soldiers lean, healthy & strong!

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A Good Night’s Makes Us Better Continued…

Beyond this, lack of sleep also has well documented ties to weakened immunity and memory. Accidents are a well-known risk of driving or operating machinery when people are routinely not getting the amount of sleep they need – in fact, drowsy driving has been shown to be the same as driving drunk.

So what’s the right amount of sleep to get? The amount varies from person to person and needs change throughout our lives. Most adults require 7 to 8 hours each night -newborns sleep 16-18 hours a day; preschooler’s 10-12 hours a day; school age and teens need about 9 hours a night.

Stickgold has a suggestion to see if you’re getting the amount of sleep you need. “Watch what happens on the weekend if you don’t set an alarm,” he advises. “If you sleep more than you sleep during the week, you aren’t getting enough sleep. Try for one week to sleep for eight hours a night and see if things get better or worse.”

Once you do, Stickgold believes you’ll see for yourself how things you do every day get easier. And you might find some life saving health benefits as well, all without pills and just as close as your bedroom.


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Obesity Boosts Kidney Cancer

Monday, March 1, 2010

If your BMI has crept up there, here’s yet another reason to take action.

Being obese increases your risk of developing a nasty form of kidney cancer according to a new study published in the January 2010 issue of the UK urology journal BJUI.

The researchers out of New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center examined 1,640 male and female (average age 62) patients who had surgery to remove kidney tumors at the facility between January 2000 and December 2007.

They found that obese patients (BMIs over 30) were 48% more likely to have a clear cell renal cell cancer (RCC) – one of the more deadly varieties of kidney cancer, than those with a body mass index under 30. The odds went up by 4% for each extra BMI point.

As a result of their work, the scientists found that malignant tumors with clear cell RCC appeared in 67% of obese patients who had malignant tumors, compared to 57% of non-obese patients with malignant tumors.

The extra pounds added a full 10% increased risk in the study subjects, even after adjustments for tumor size, age, gender, hypertension, diabetes and smoking had been made.

Obese and non-obese patients had similar rates for other kinds of malignant tumors including papillary, chromophobe and collecting duct.

The American Cancer Society estimates 57,760 new kidney cancers will be diagnosed in the United States in 2009. Renal cell carcinoma accounts for almost 9 out of every 10 kidney cancers; with the subtype from the research, clear cell, appearing in about 8 of 10 of those with RCC.

Most of those who have this cancer are older – the average age at diagnosis is 65, with the incidence highest between the ages of 55 and 84.

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Obesity Boosts Kidney Cancer Continued…

An ultrasound or CT scan can usually spot a tumor, while the cancer cells themselves have a very pale or clear appearance when examined under a microscope.

Abdominal imaging has helped when it comes to increased detection of RCC, but can’t account for all the cases doctors see – rates of kidney cancer have been rising since the 1970s.

According to the researchers, the only other factors that appeared as independent predictors of RCC were being male and the size of the tumor.

This is the reason researchers concluded that BMI is likely to be another independent predictor of this form of cancer – as BMI goes up, so do your odds of developing RCC.

The team hopes that this work will help in determining a patient’s risk of having a clear cell RCC, and the treatments that might be recommended.

“A number of studies have suggested that obesity could be a risk factor for RCC, but the exact reason is unknown. Researchers suggest it might be secondary to hormonal changes, decreased immune function, hypertension or diabetes in obese patients,” says study author Dr. William T. Lowrance of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. While more work needs to be done to understand the pathology of clear cell RCC, this study offers a strong association between obesity and the most dangerous of the kidney cancers.

If you’re worried, and your BMI number is higher than you would like, now’s the time to make the changes to get your weight under control.


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Tea Helps Trim Waistline

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Men looking for a way to slim down at the waistline might have an added, though unexpected, weapon. Tea. A study presented at the First International Congress on Abdominal Obesity finds that men who drink over 2 cups of tea a day have slimmer waistlines than those who drink coffee or nothing at all.

It’s not the same for women.

Earlier research had examined coffee and tea drinking habits and obesity, but not much is known about what beverage we choose and how this contributes to the weight we carry around the belly.

This latest study involved 3,823 adults who were part of the 2003-04 U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a program of studies created to assess the health and nutrition of adults and children in the U.S. The unique thing about this survey is that it combines interviews and physical exams.

The researchers found that coffee drinking wasn’t related to abdominal obesity in either men or women, even after adjusting for other risk factors. Using sugar instead of artificial sweeteners did appear to have a role in fat in this area.

In men, the use of sugar in tea was linked to a nearly 1 inch smaller waistline – the use of artificial sweeteners was associated to a nearly 2 inch larger waist measurement. In women, using milk in tea was linked to a 2/3-inch smaller waistline – but those who used artificial sweeteners had a 1-inch larger, on average, waist measurement.

“The potential association between coffee/tea and abdominal obesity is not trivial considering that more than 60% of the adult population drinks coffee/tea, that these beverages can be consumed as frequently as 10 times per day, and that a high percentage of coffee and tea drinkers use additives in these beverages,” explains D. R. Bouchard of the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

Fat at the waistline, beyond making you look and feel bad, has also been tied to more than a few serious health risks, conditions like heart disease and diabetes, as well as high blood pressure, sleep apnea, some cancers and degenerative diseases like arthritis and spondylosis.

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Tea Helps Trim Waistline Continued…

Known to your doctor as visceral fat, fat in this area has been shown to be more biologically active, bringing on inflammation and affecting the liver. Worse yet, large belly fat cells release more toxins and waste products that can get tucked in between internal organs, turning on the immune system.

The link between tea drinking and a slim waist calls for more study. In the meantime, men especially might benefit from replacing a cup (or two) of coffee with tea, or adding tea to your beverage intake and watching what happens to your waistline.

You might also want to up your intake of unprocessed, natural foods and make sure you’re getting regular exercise to make a more serious dent in any fat you’re carrying around the middle.

Remember too that in the end, it doesn’t matter where your fat is located – carrying more than you should is not good for your heart.

You should take steps to reduce the demands you’re placing on this very vital organ by giving your body good for you nutrients and also making healthier lifestyle choices.


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Why “Get Fit” Resolutions Don’t Stick

Thursday, February 25, 2010

As the end of January passes, many of our most well intentioned “get fit” resolutions have been broken, and new research to appear in the January 2010 issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior might help to explain why this happens.

It’s not that we don’t know exercise is good for us, that it might help to improve our self image, our mood and how we sleep, we do; but we struggle to stick to those fitness goals.

Surprisingly, those who believe most strongly in the importance of exercise are the obese and overweight according to a survey of more than 1,500 men and women conducted by researchers at George Washington University Medical Center.

The trouble is that many who are carrying extra weight cringe at the thought of huffing and puffing in front of more fit gym goers according to the poll. No surprise there. And it’s not just the gym patrons, many feel intimidated about sweating it out in front of the in shape health club staff.

Compared to men of any size, women are more likely to feel overwhelmed by complicated gym equipment, to feel the need for trendy clothing and the added discomfort of exercising in front of men.

In the end, it’s these feelings, not a lack of determination or willpower, that might be keeping resolution breakers from regular exercise. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, two thirds of American adults are either overweight or obese. Since 1980, obesity rates have doubled for adults and tripled for children.

“Overweight people have received the message from their physicians and all the publicity about the importance of exercise,” explains study author Wayne C. Miller, a professor of exercise science at George Washington University Medical Center. “Most of the negativism or barriers that are associated with not participating in exercise are emotional, and there are differences between men and women.”

In the study, about 18% of respondents belonged to a health club; 82% did not. Much like the U.S. population, about two thirds of the survey respondents were considered obese or overweight.

The more a subject weighed, the lower their assessment of their own health, yet despite being aware that they needed to exercise, negative feelings about the health club environment, for both men and women, kept them from working out there.

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Why “Get Fit” Resolutions Don’t Stick Continued…

Health club owners take note – look for ways to make overweight or obese patrons feel welcome, rather than self conscious or intimidated by the environment or equipment, and you’ll have a steady supply of clients.

The survey also found that just about 30% of those who are trying to lose weight meet the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recommendations for exercise – that’s 2½ hours a week of moderate aerobic activity.

While experts can’t say just how much exercise is needed, we do know that being active on a regular basis helps to reduce obesity related diseases, and has been shown to help those who do lose weight, to keep it off.

The key might be to stay away from the all-or-nothing approach to exercise, and fitness. Don’t expect a daily commitment to spinning classes at the health club to work – Instead start by making smaller changes like taking the stairs, parking far away from the entrance, or enjoying a walk at lunch to get a few extra minutes of exercise in each day. Once you’ve reached this goal, move forward – slow, steady steps to get more activity into your day so that in six months you can take, and enjoy, that class.

This approach also works when it comes to what you eat. A few small changes can add up to big ones over time. Try to eat a bit less each day and substitute low calorie, healthy options for the richer, bad-for-you choices you’re used to making.

Drink more water and keep an eye on your portion sizes. Make changes that are gradual, heading in the right direction and not too restrictive, and you’ll be taking healthy steps that are good for your body today and in the future.


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5 Foods For Improved Health

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

If improving your diet is on your list of resolutions for the new year, here are five foods that you can add to your diet that taste great and might also help you avoid certain diseases.

While no one food is going to magically make you invincible in terms of getting sick – moderation and balance in good foods are important when it comes to living healthier.

Everyone agrees that eating well, drinking in moderation and staying active all lead to a healthier body.

Start by adding a little bit of any (or all) of these healthy foods to your diet.

1. Dietary fiber

That means eating oats, barley and rye to as part of your diet. Doctors know that oats can bring down cholesterol, and rye can do the same. In a study in the current issue of Nutrition, Finnish researchers found that eating dense rye bread lowered borderline high cholesterol in men. The American Diabetes Association also suggests upping your dietary fiber to prevent type 2 diabetes – rye lowers cholesterol and evens out blood glucose levels for diabetics.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture found diets high in barley lowered total cholesterol levels and cut the risk factors that are linked to extra weight – type 2 diabetes and heart disease being the two biggest. Barley can be cooked and eaten as a side dish just like potatoes or rice, or used in soups, stews, casseroles or salads. Rather than buying regular rye bread, buy rye mixed with whole wheat, found in dense, whole grain breads and specially made crackers.

Long story short, expert Dr. Peter Shields, professor of medicine and oncology and deputy director of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University Medical Center, says any diet with fiber (from fruits, veggies or grains) is good for your body.

2. Soy

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says that foods rich in soy proteins may cut the risk of coronary heart disease – 25 grams of soy protein a day can reduce heart problems by lowering cholesterol. You’ll find soy in lots of things – tofu burgers, soy meats and milk. When introduced to children soy can have a very strong protective effect against breast and prostate cancers. It also helps in the fight against childhood obesity and has vitamins, minerals, fiber and protein.

3. Salmon and other oily fish

“Wild salmon is a wonderful dish that’s not only tasty but is great for you,” explains Katherine Tallmadge, national spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association and a registered dietitian in Washington, D.C. “It cuts inflammation in the body that can lead to heart problems. It’s a good source of vitamin D and also contains omega-3 fatty acids that keep the brain and heart healthy.”

The American Heart Association suggests we eat oily fish two times a week. This type of fish has omega-3 fatty acids (known to be beneficial for heart disease, triglyceride levels and the growth rate of atherosclerotic plaque) as well as being one of the few food sources of vitamin D. A 3.5 ounce fillet of cooked salmon has 360 IUs of the vitamin, almost a full days supply for anyone under 70 years old.

Still there is a note of caution – some oily fish (swordfish and fresh cuts of tuna) might be contaminated with mercury. This heavy metal is known to interfere with the brain and nervous system – high levels can cause serious problems for pregnant women and children.

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5 Foods For Improved Health Continued…

4. Red wine

While nutritionally red wine might be a perfect drink, it does have alcohol, which means you need to drink it in moderation – that’s about 5 ounces a day for women, 10 ounces a day for men. If you drink wine for heath, stick to red because red grapes have 10 times more health benefits than white grapes do. While your own doctor (and others) might hesitate to recommend an alcoholic beverage to patients, most agree that red wine is okay in moderation.

The antioxidants in red wine known as polyphenols help protect the lining of blood vessels in the heart. Resveratrol, one of the antioxidants is a key ingredient in red wine that seems to protect blood vessels from damage, reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol and prevent blood clots. There is some current research that shows this antioxidant may cut inflammation and blood clotting both which can bring on cardiovascular disease.

There have been studies linking any alcohol, including wine, to increases in the risks of breast cancer. A recently published study found that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol does raise the risk of a breast cancer recurrence.

5. Green tea

Another drink that’s loaded with antioxidants, green tea is believed to be able to ward off some cancers. Japanese work involving nearly 500 women with stage I and II breast cancer found that those who drank more green tea, before and after surgery, had a lower rate of cancer recurrence. Chinese studies have found that the more green tea patients drank, the lower the risk for stomach, esophageal, prostate, pancreatic and colorectal cancer compared to those who didn’t drink the tea.

Green tea has also been shown to keep you leaner by helping to lower body fat. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that green tea extract increased energy expenditure, a measure of metabolism. It also had a significant effect on fat oxidation, which is how much fat your body actually burns.

But you need to drink more than a cup or two, at least three to six cups a day. Plus how you make the tea counts – you need to use bags or loose tea – you can’t just buy a bottle of iced green tea and get the benefit, the tea must be brewed.

It’s also important to understand that a lot of the research on green tea’s benefits has been done on animals. And though this is an accepted way to conduct research, the data on humans isn’t there to back up the claims. That’s why you won’t see such claims on green tea products, the FDA believes there’s not enough human evidence to support them.


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Pomegranates Stop Growth Of Breast Cancer

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Eating or drinking this tasty, nutrient rich fruit might help to prevent, or slow the growth of some breast cancers according to a new study published in Cancer Prevention Research.

The work identifies a group of phytochemicals known as ellagitannins, abundant in pomegranates, that inhibit the growth of estrogen responsive breast cancers in the lab.

The researchers believe the ellagitannins in pomegranates work by inhibiting a key enzyme (known as aromatase) the body uses to make estrogen, which is suspected of a role in breast cancer growth.

“Phytochemicals suppress estrogen production that prevents the proliferation of breast cancer cells and the growth of estrogen-responsive tumors,” explains researcher Shiuan Chen, PhD, director of the Division of Tumor Cell Biology and co-leader of the Breast Cancer Research Program at City of Hope in Duarte, California.

For this work, the researchers examined the impact of 10 ellagitannin-derived compounds from pomegranates on hormone activity and breast cancer cell growth. The results showed that of the ten compounds, urolithins B most significantly inhibited the growth of the breast cancer cells in the laboratory testing.

The results are promising, though more work will be needed to see if eating or drinking pomegranate-derived products will have any effect in people.

Pomegranates have gotten a lot of attention recently – becoming one of the most talked about “superfoods” out there because of both the heart healthy and anti-cancer benefits.

This latest work is the first to look at breast cancer growth, and we’ll likely hear of other studies as the year 2009 saw no fewer than 20 clinical trials registered with the National Institutes of Health to look at pomegranate consumption on many diseases.

If you’re concerned about your cancer risk, or just want to take advantage of the potential health benefits, consider making pomegranates a regular part of your diet – Even at the risk of pink hands, a juice splattered shirt and the effort needed to enjoy the fruit. If you’ve never tried one, pomegranates have a unique, very pleasant flavor. You can eat the seeds themselves, or add them to salads, meats, or other grain pilaf dishes, even deserts.

If you have the option between the fruit and its juice form, always try to choose the fruit, as it has natural fiber as well as antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.

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Pomegranates Stop Growth Of Breast Cancer Continued…

You can buy the fruit in juice form, though it can be expensive and comes with more than its share of calories.

Often it’s easy to drink a lot more calories than you realize, so watch your portion sizes and keep your intake to 1.5 ounces of the juice.

If the taste is too strong for you, try mixing it with mineral or seltzer water, or with blueberry or cranberry juice for a super rich antioxidant drink.

It’s also a great addition to your favorite smoothie recipe, or mix it with plain yogurt or cottage cheese. There are even pudding recipes out there that are delicious and healthy too.

There are stores where you can buy pomegranate paste that’s made with molasses. This lends itself to glazes, dips and salad dressing recipes.

No matter what form you choose, enjoying delicious, good for you pomegranates might be one of the best, most natural ways to give your body healthy nutrients and perhaps women might also protect themselves from cancer.


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FDA Has Concerns About PBA But No Bans Yet

Monday, February 22, 2010

The latest FDA advice on controversial chemical Bisphenol A, or BPA, suggests that we should all take “reasonable” steps to avoid it, though this won’t be easy as the substance is used to make plastics that are virtually everywhere.

Baby bottles, water bottles, sports equipment, medical and dental devices, dental fillings and sealants, lenses in glasses, CDs and DVDs and electronics in the home all have BPA’s.

The chemical is also used in the coatings of almost all food and beverage cans. What’s worse, more than 90% of American have detectable levels of BPA in their bodies, and some estimates suggest the amount of BPA used in the U.S. is equal to about 6 pounds per person, per year.

Back in 2008 the FDA issued a draft assessment that assured us BPA was safe. Only a short time later the National Toxicology Program disagreed and voiced “some concern” that BPA exposure during pregnancy or infancy might be troublesome for long-term health. Official agreement that there is reason for concern over fetus/infant exposure to BPA has just come from the FDA.

What are the worries over BPA?

Experts believe that there are key periods of development when exposure to BPA may lead to certain health effects – behavioral effects, diabetes, reproductive disorders, development of certain cancers, asthma and heart disease that can pass from one generation to the next.

Two earlier National Institutes of Health studies focused on the effects on development and reproduction. The research didn’t look at effects in adults, which is why the NIH officially has “negligible concern” over adult risk of exposure from BPA.

In a news conference in mid January 2010, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, MD, announced the change, and the beginning of a BPA research program costing $30 million, at a news conference. “At this time, we share the perspective of the NTP of some concern of health effects of BPA. This means we need to know more,” Hamburg said. “In the interim, as a precaution, the FDA is taking reasonable steps to help reduce human exposure to BPA.”

This does not mean BPA is banned, or that BPA-containing products are unsafe. Today the FDA is seeking greater regulatory powers to track and control the use of the chemical in industry.

The regulations in place today date from the 1960s, and allow manufacturers to use BPA without telling the agency they are doing so.

At present, the FDA believes the risk of BPA exposure from canned formula is far less than the risks that come from feeding a baby less nourishing food.

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FDA Has Concerns About PBA, But Bans Yet Continued…

What to do if you’re the parent of an infant or toddler concerned about BPA?

- Breastfeed infants for at least a year, if this isn’t possible, iron-fortified infant formula is a safe, nutritious option.

- Inspect your baby bottles or sippy cups for scratches and throw them away.

- Don’t put boiling water in BPA plastic bottles, and mix powdered formula with water boiled in a BPA-free container cooled to lukewarm.

- Warm baby formula by running warm water over the outside of the bottle as opposed to microwaving.

- Be sure bottles or cups are labeled “microwave safe” and “dishwasher safe” before putting them into these appliances.

The American Chemistry Council, a plastic industry group, is disappointed by the FDA recommendations, saying in a statement, “Plastics made with BPA contribute safety and convenience to our daily lives because of their durability, clarity, and shatter resistance.

Can liners and food-storage containers made with BPA are essential components to helping protect the safety of packaged foods and preserving products from spoilage and contamination.”

Also good to know, the six largest manufacturers of baby bottles (about 90% of the U.S. market) are now making bottles without BPA.


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