Diet and Diseases

rinking cola may not be good for bone health, according to a study published recently in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The study led by Tucker KL from Tufts University and colleagues showed drinking cola is associated with lower bone mass in women. Read the rest of this entry »

Curcumin found in turmeric may help fight diabetes, according to a new study published in the journal Molecular Nutrition & Food Research. The study of diabetic mice showed mice fed diet supplemented with curcumin experienced lower blood glucose levels than controls.  The animals also lost less weight. Read the rest of this entry »

A new study published in the May 13, 2008 issue of Carcinogenesis suggests that high intake of carotene may reduce risk of gastric cancer. The study showed those who had high levels of alpha-carotene and beta-carotene were at lower risk of gastric cancer. Read the rest of this entry »

Perhaps the aging process can’t be stopped. But it can be predicted, and new research from Tel Aviv University indicates that people may live longer and lead healthier lives as a result. Researchers have developed a new biological marker that represents the age of a body’s bones. It reveals that the speed of physical aging is strongly influenced by genetics. Read the rest of this entry »

he vitamin industry has long touted antioxidants as a way to improve health by filling in gaps in diet, but a new review of studies found no evidence that the nutrition supplements extend life. Worse, the review authors said that some antioxidants could increase risk for death. Read the rest of this entry »

People with Alzheimer’s disease who take vitamin E appear to live longer than those who don’t take vitamin E, according to new research. For the study, researchers followed 847 people with Alzheimer’s disease for an average of five years. About two-thirds of the group took 1,000 international units of vitamin E twice a day along with an Alzheimer’s drug (a cholinesterase inhibitor). Less than 10 percent of the group took vitamin E alone and approximately 15 percent did not take vitamin E. Read the rest of this entry »

Depending on which variant of a certain gene a woman has, a coffee consumption rate of at least two-three cups a day can either reduce the total risk of developing breast cancer or delay the onset of cancer. This is shown in new research from Lund University and Malmo University in Sweden.The effect of coffee is related to estrogens, female sex hormones. Certain metabolic products of these hormones are known to be carcinogenic, and various components of coffee can alter the metabolism so that a woman acquires a better configuration of various estrogens. What’s more, coffee contains caffeine, which also hampers the growth of cancer cells. Read the rest of this entry »

A gluten-free vegan diet full of nuts, sunflower seeds, fruit and vegetables appears to offer protection against heart attacks and strokes for people with rheumatoid arthritis, Swedish researchers said on Tuesday. The diet appeared to lower cholesterol and also affect the immune system, easing some symptoms associated with the painful joint condition, they said. Read the rest of this entry »

Apple extracts full of polyphenols may protect cells against some toxicological insults that would otherwise potentially lead to development of colon cancer, according to a study scheduled to be published in the June 15, 2008 issue of International Journal of Cancer. Read the rest of this entry »

Not getting enough vitamin D may increase your risk of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) — a condition where the arteries in the legs are narrowed or clogged with fatty deposits, reducing blood flow to the legs. Researchers from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City analyzed data from a national survey that measured vitamin D levels and screened for PAD in nearly 5,000 adults. Read the rest of this entry »

Tea drinkers who opt for black, oolong, green or white teas may find that these beverages offer health benefits. The April issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter covers what is — and isn’t — known about the health effects of drinking tea.

Black, oolong, green or white teas have a common origin. Each is produced from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis bush. The leaves are loaded with flavonoids and other polyphenols that work as antioxidants, possibly lowering the risk of some diseases. Read the rest of this entry »

Choline, an essential nutrient found in foods such as eggs, is associated with a 24 percent reduced risk of breast cancer, according to a study supported by a grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), to be published in The FASEB Journal’s print issue in June. This study adds to the growing body of evidence that links egg consumption to a decreased risk of breast cancer.

In this new case-control study of more than 3,000 adult women, the risk of developing breast cancer was 24 percent lower among women with the highest intake of choline compared to women with the lowest intake. Women with the highest intake of choline consumed a daily average of 455 mg of choline or more, getting most of it from coffee, eggs and skim milk. Women with the lowest intake consumed a daily average of 196 milligrams or less. Read the rest of this entry »

Contrary to popular opinion, not all trans fats are bad for you.

University of Alberta researcher Flora Wang found that a diet with enriched levels of trans vaccenic acid (VA) - a natural animal fat found in dairy and beef products - can reduce risk factors associated with heart disease, diabetes and obesity

Results indicated this benefit was due in part to the ability of VA to reduce the production of chylomicrons - particles of fat and cholesterol that form in the small intestine following a meal and are rapidly processed throughout the body. The role of chylomicrons is increasingly viewed as a critical missing link in the understanding of conditions arising from metabolic disorders. Read the rest of this entry »

Bisphenol A, a chemical that leaches into food and beverages from many consumer products, causes normal, non-cancerous human breast cells to express genes characteristic of aggressive breast cancer cells. That’s the finding of a “Priority Report” in the latest issue of the journal Cancer Research, the official journal of The American Association for Cancer Research. Read the rest of this entry »

If identical twins eat and exercise equally, must they have the same body weight” By analyzing the fundamental equations of body weight change, NIH investigators Carson Chow and Kevin Hall find that identical twins with identical lifestyles can have different body weights and different amounts of body fat. Read the rest of this entry »

Chemotherapy would have fewer side-effects and save more lives if patients fasted for two days before receiving treatment, suggest tests in animals. Mice injected with cancerous cells and then given chemotherapy died after around 60 days. But animals that were starved for 48 hours prior to treatment typically lived 10-20 days longer, says Valter Longo of the University of Southern California in Davis, US. The longest-lived of the 16 mice that fasted did not die until around 14 weeks after being injected. Read the rest of this entry »

Softening of the skull bones in normal-looking babies might reflect vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy, according to a new study. Furthermore, breast-feeding without vitamin D supplementation could prolong the deficiency, which might lead to a risk of serious health problems later in life, including type 1 diabetes and decreased bone density. Read the rest of this entry »

Large doses of vitamin E - widely touted as an elixir of youth - do not protect against heart attacks and cancer and might actually raise the risk of heart failure in people with diabetes or clogged arteries, a study found. The study, published in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association, is just the latest to cast doubt on the safety and effectiveness of vitamin E supplements and other antioxidants. Read the rest of this entry »

Folate — vitamin B 9 – potentially may be used to limit the damage of a heart attack, U.S. researchers say.  The study, scheduled to be published in the April 8 edition of the journal Circulation, finds the vitamin blunted the damage from heart attack in animal studies. Read the rest of this entry »

Rochester researchers showed for the first time that a natural antioxidant found in grape skins and red wine can help destroy pancreatic cancer cells by reaching to the cell’s core energy source, or mitochondria, and crippling its function. The study is published in the March edition of the journal, Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology. Read the rest of this entry »