January 15, 2010

New Alzheimer disease research has been reported by scientists at Boston University, Medical Department
NewsRx.com 01-14-10
According to recent research published in the Jama - Journal of the American Medical Association, "The adipokine leptin facilitates long-term potentiation and synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus, promotes beta-amyloid clearance, and improves memory function in animal models of aging and Alzheimer disease (AD). To relate baseline circulating leptin concentrations in a community-based sample of individuals without dementia to incident dementia and AD during follow-up and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of brain aging in survivors."
"Prospective study of plasma leptin concentrations measured in 785 persons without dementia (mean [SD] age, 79 [5] years; 62% female), who were in the Framingham original cohort at the 22nd examination cycle (1990-1994). A subsample of 198 dementia-free survivors underwent volumetric brain MRI between 1999 and 2005, approximately 7.7 years after leptin was assayed. Two measures of brain aging, total cerebral brain volume and temporal horn volume (which is inversely related to hippocampal volume) were assessed. Incidence of dementia and AD during follow-up until December 31, 2007. During a median follow-up of 8.3 years (range, 0-15.5 years), 111 participants developed incident dementia; 89 had AD. Higher leptin levels were associated with a lower risk of incident dementia and AD in multivariable models (hazard ratio per 1-SD increment in log leptin was 0.68 [95% confidence interval, 0.54-0.87] for all-cause dementia and 0.60 [95% confidence interval, 0.46-0.79] for AD). This corresponds to an absolute AD risk over a 12-year follow-up of 25% for persons in the lowest quartile (first quartile) vs 6% for persons in the fourth quartile of sex-specific leptin levels. In addition, a 1-SD elevation in plasma leptin level was associated with higher total cerebral brain volume and lower temporal horn volume, although the association of leptin level with temporal horn volume did not reach statistical significance," wrote W. Lieb and colleagues, Boston University, Medical Department (see also Alzheimer Disease).
The researchers concluded: "Circulating leptin was associated with a reduced incidence of dementia and AD and with cerebral brain volume in asymptomatic older adults. JAMA. 2009;302(23):2565-2572."
Lieb and colleagues published their study in Jama - Journal of the American Medical Association (Association of Plasma Leptin Levels With Incident Alzheimer Disease and MRI Measures of Brain Aging. Jama - Journal of the American Medical Association, 2009;302(23):2565-2572).
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=9205&Section=Aging

St. John's wort may cool hot flashes
Last Updated: 2010-01-15 10:00:24 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The popular herbal remedy St. John's wort may help ease menopausal hot flashes, a small study suggests.
St. John's wort is probably best known as an herbal antidepressant, with some clinical trials suggesting that it can help relieve mild to moderate depression symptoms.
A few studies have also investigated the herb's effects on menopausal symptoms, but have focused on its impact on mood -- and not the so-called vasomotor symptoms of menopause, which include hot flashes and night sweats.
"(The) findings of our study suggest that this herbal medicine can be used to treat hot flashes due to menopause, and it is a new finding about the usage of St. John's wort," Marjan Khajehei, of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Iran, told Reuters Health in an email.
Khajehei and her colleagues found that among a group of women they randomly assigned to take either St. John's wort or an inactive placebo for eight weeks, those using the herb saw a greater reduction in daily hot flashes.
Among women taking St. John's wort, the average number of hot flashes declined from roughly four per day at the start of the study to fewer than two per day at week eight. In contrast, women in the placebo group were having an average of 2.6 hot flashes per day by the eighth week.
The herb also appeared to lessen the duration and severity of the women's hot flashes, Khajehei and her colleagues report in the journal Menopause.
The study included 100 women who were 50 years old, on average, and had been having moderate to severe hot flashes at least once per day. The women were randomly assigned to take either drops containing St. John's wort extract or placebo drops three times a day for eight weeks.
While women in both groups saw their hot flashes improve, those taking the herbal extract had a better response, on average.
St. John's wort contains estrogen-like plant compounds called phytoestrogens, and it's possible that these compounds explain the benefits seen in this study, according to Khajehei.
However, she said, further research is needed to confirm that the herb eases hot flashes and that phytoestrogens are the reason.
St. John's wort is generally considered safe when taken as directed, Khajehei noted. Still, she added, since phytoestrogens have mild estrogen-like effects in the body, women who have any contraindications to using estrogen -- such as a history of breast or endometrial cancers -- should talk with their doctors before starting St. John's wort.
The herb has also been shown to interact with certain medications, including antidepressants, the heart medication digoxin and the blood thinner warfarin. Experts generally recommend that people on any medication talk with their doctors before starting an herbal remedy.
SOURCE: Menopause, February 2010.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2010/01/15/eline/links/20100115elin002.html

No link seen between flu outbreak, schizophrenia
Last Updated: 2010-01-14 15:30:09 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Questioning the theory that prenatal exposure to the flu virus might be a risk factor for schizophrenia, a new study finds no link between the flu pandemic of 1957 and later schizophrenia rates.
In an analysis of studies from Europe, Australia, Japan and the U.S., researchers found no higher-than-normal risk of schizophrenia among people born in the nine months after the 1957 flu pandemic.
The findings, reported in the Schizophrenia Bulletin, conflict with those from some earlier studies linking the same pandemic to a heightened schizophrenia rate.
While the exact causes of schizophrenia are not clear, it is considered a disorder of disrupted brain development, and researchers have long believed that schizophrenia arises from a combination of genetic susceptibility and environmental factors.
Among the suspected environmental factors is fetal exposure to a mother's infection during pregnancy, with the influenza virus being one of the potential culprits.
The first evidence came from a 1988 Finnish study that found an increased rate of schizophrenia among people who were in the womb at the time of the 1957-58 Asian flu pandemic that killed about 2 million people worldwide.
Since then, studies have come to conflicting findings as to whether prenatal flu exposure might contribute to schizophrenia. However, some smaller studies that have used mothers' blood samples to measure flu exposure during pregnancy have supported a link.
One theory is that inflammatory substances released in the mother's blood in response to the infection may cross the placenta and affect fetal brain development in a way that makes the child more vulnerable to developing schizophrenia later in life.
These latest findings, however, "do not support this hypothesis," report the researchers, led by Dr. Jean-Paul Selten of the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands.
The results are based on 11 international studies that compared rates of schizophrenia among people who were in the womb during the 1957-58 pandemic with those of people born within the few years before and after the outbreak.
The researchers also analyzed two studies that included women who were pregnant and reported having the flu during the pandemic.
Overall, Selten's team found no increased schizophrenia risk among people who were in the womb during the flu pandemic, at any trimester of pregnancy.
According to the researchers, the original Finnish study that focused on the 1957 pandemic used an "inappropriate statistical method" to arrive at its conclusions. Their re-analysis of that data, they add, uncovered no increased risk of schizophrenia.
"We conclude that the evidence to support the maternal influenza hypothesis is insufficient," the researchers write.
SOURCE: Schizophrenia Bulletin, online December 3, 2009.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2010/01/14/eline/links/20100114elin001.html

Study in mice shows why antidepressants often fail
Last Updated: 2010-01-14 9:28:05 -0400 (Reuters Health)
* Findings may lead to new, better treatments
* May help doctors identify those unlikely to get relief
By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Antidepressants fail to help about half of the people who take them, and a study in mice may help explain why.
Most antidepressants - including the commonly used Prozac and Zoloft - work by increasing the amount of serotonin, a message-carrying brain chemical made deep in the middle of the brain by cells known as raphe neurons.
Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center in New York said on Wednesday that genetically engineered mice that had too much of one type of serotonin receptor in this region of the brain were less likely to respond to antidepressants.
"These receptors dampen the activity of these (serotonin-producing) neurons. Too much of them dampen these neurons too much," Rene Hen of Columbia, whose study appears in the journal Neuron, said in a telephone interview.
"It puts too much brake on the system."
Hen said the finding may be useful in giving doctors an idea of whether a patient will respond to an antidepressant.
And it could also help drugmakers populate better clinical trials to help identify new drug compounds that work for people who are unlikely to benefit from conventional antidepressants.
"The goal is to figure out something that is useful for the non-responders," he said.
For the study, Hen and colleagues needed to reach serotonin receptors in just the right part of the brain.
To do this, the team used mice that were genetically altered to have fewer serotonin receptors only in the region where the serotonin-producing raphe neurons are located.
Once the team had mice that had different levels of serotonin receptors in different parts of the brain, they did a behavior test that assesses boldness when mice get food in a brightly lit area.
Mice on antidepressants usually become more daring, but the drugs had no such effect on mice with surplus serotonin receptors.
"The most dramatic finding is that the mice that have high levels of receptors in these serotonin neurons do not respond to fluoxetine or Prozac," Hen said.
But when they reduced the number of these receptors - or molecular doorways - they were able to reverse the effect, he said.
"By simply tweaking the number of receptors down, we were able to transform a non-responder into a responder," Hen said.
At least 27 million take antidepressants in the United States, nearly double the number that did in the mid-1990s.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2010/01/14/eline/links/20100114elin007.html

Battle of the bulge a global issue - poll
Last Updated: 2010-01-14 16:54:37 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Brazilians feel the most pressure to be thin, the Finns are acutely aware of the dangers of obesity and Americans have the toughest struggle to lose weight, according to a global survey.
The Reader Digest poll also revealed that Russians smoke the most to try to drop excess weight, and along with Germans and Indians they are most likely to blame genetics for their penchant for piling on the pounds.
"Our poll makes it clear that people around the world are struggling with their weight," said Peggy Northrop, the vice president and global editor-in-chief of the magazine.
"People are both very concerned about weight and think that people pay too much attention to weight," she added in an interview.
About 1.6 billion people around the world are overweight or obese. Excess weight also contributes to 2.5 million deaths globally each year, according to the WHO.
But people are trying to lose weight.
More than 80 percent of Finns have tried to slim down, followed by 73 percent of the Dutch and 72 percent of Australians and Americans.
But Mexicans had one of the best approaches to losing weight.
"In Mexico, people have a healthy attitude about what you're supposed to do if you want to lose weight. The majority of people there understood that eating a healthier diet was key and getting more active was key," Northrop said.
"In the United States people were still on the deprivation cycle and we know that doesn't work," she added.
Around the globe women were more likely than men to diet, according to the survey of 16,000 people in 16 countries.
In the United States, 85 percent of women have tried to diet at some time during their life, and 70 percent thought there was too much of a focus on weight.
In Brazil, the land of the bikini, 83 percent of people said there is too much emphasis on weight.
IT'S NOT JUST WOMEN
In addition to being unhappy with their own weight, 51 percent of wives in the United States thought their husbands could benefit from dropping some weight.
It was also an issue in India where 48 percent of men and 46 percent of women admitted to being dissatisfied with their spouse's weight.
People around the globe had excuses for their bulging bulk, but the Russians topped the chart at 70 percent in blaming their problem on genes, followed by 61 percent of Germans and 50 percent of Indians.
In the Philippines lack of willpower was cited as the main culprit for the battle of the bulge, while 20 percent of Americans blamed their parents.
The magazine also cited cultural tips for a gaining and maintaining a healthy weight.
In Thailand it said spicy food was recommended, including hot peppers that raise metabolism and burn extra calories. High-fiber muesli is a favorite in Switzerland to control weight, while in Brazil rice and beans is a staple.
Exercise is also a key component to a svelte physique, with yoga a favorite activity in India, walking in Finland and cycling in the Netherlands.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2010/01/14/eline/links/20100114elin025.html

Vitamin D plus calcium may protect everyone from fracture: Study

Nutraingredients, 15-Jan-2010

Daily supplements which combine vitamin D and calcium may reduce the risk of fractures for everyone, regardless of age or gender, say the results of a huge study.
Almost 70,000 people participated in the US and Europe and found that the vitamin-mineral combination significantly reduced fractures by 8 per cent, and hip fractures by 16 per cent, according to results of a pooled analysis published in the British Medical Journal.
However, supplemental vitamin D on its own in daily doses equivalent to 10 to 20 micrograms had no effects on fracture prevention, said the study, led by researchers at Copenhagen University in Denmark.
“What is important about this very large study is that goes a long way toward resolving conflicting evidence about the role of vitamin D, either alone or in combination with calcium, in reducing fractures,” said co-author of the study, Professor John Robbins from the University of California, Davis.
History of use
The combination of vitamin D and calcium has long been recommended to reduce the risk of bone fracture for older people, particularly those at risk of or suffering from osteoporosis, which is estimated to affect about 75m people in Europe, USA and Japan.
The action of the nutrients is complimentary, with calcium supporting bone formation and repair, while vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium.
Indeed, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) accepted a health claim linking calcium and vitamin D to bone health in older women in 2008 following a disease-reduction claim application, made under article 14 of the European Union’s nutrition and health claims regulation and submitted by Abtei Pharma Vertriebs, a GlaxoSmithKline company.
The dossier claimed that chewing tablets with calcium and vitamin D improves bone density in women over the age of 50, and may reduce the risk of osteoporotic fractures and hip fractures. The proposed dosages were 1000mg calcium and 800 IU vitamin D3.
The new study reports that the bone boosting effects of vitamin D plus calcium may also extend to other age groups and to both sexes.
Study details
The researchers used data from seven major randomised trials of vitamin D with calcium or vitamin D alone, providing data from 68,517 people. The average age of the participants was 69.9, and 15 per cent of the people were men.
According to findings published in the BMJ, trials which used only vitamin D at a dose of 10 or 20 micrograms showed no significant reductions in fracture risk. When 10 micrograms of the vitamin was taken with calcium, however, reduced risks of fracture and hip fracture of 8 and 16 per cent, respectively. The combination was effective “irrespective of age, sex, or previous fractures”, said the researchers.
“This study supports a growing consensus that combined calcium and vitamin D is more effective than vitamin D alone in reducing a variety of fractures,” said Robbins. “Interestingly, this combination of supplements benefits both women and men of all ages, which is not something we fully expected to find. We now need to investigate the best dosage, duration and optimal way for people to take it,” he added.
Estimates suggest that in the absence of primary prevention the number of hip fractures worldwide will increase to approximately 2.6 million by the year 2025, and 4.5 million by the year 2050.
Osteoporosis weakens bone strength which increases the likelihood of hip fracture, a problem that increases with age.
No benefits from higher doses
Commenting independently on the results, Rob Dawson, senior communications officer for UK charity the National Osteoporosis Society told NutraIngredients:“The research highlights the important role that vitamin D and calcium play in bone strength.
“Of course, many people will not need a calcium and vitamin D supplement. If you already get all the calcium that you need from your diet, and vitamin D from exposure to sunshine, then a supplement will not be necessary. There is no evidence to suggest that taking more than the required level will provide any extra benefit for your bones.
“However, when it comes to fracture prevention, this study does suggest a very small protective benefit of combined calcium and vitamin D supplementation in older people,” he added.
Source: British Medical Journal “Patient level pooled analysis of 68 500 patients from seven major vitamin D fracture trials in US and Europe”  B. Abrahamsen for the DIPART (vitamin D Individual Patient Analysis of Randomized Trials) Group
http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Vitamin-D-plus-calcium-may-protect-everyone-from-fracture-Study

Grapefruit juice may boost CoQ10 uptake: Study

Nutraingredients.com , 15-Jan-2010

A glass of grapefruit juice may improve intestinal absorption of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) by almost 50 per cent, says a new study from Japan.
The juice appears to inhibit a protein in the membrane of cells called P-glycoprotein (P-gp), which thereby leads to an increased absorption of CoQ10, according to results of a laboratory study published in Food Chemistry.
“We have demonstrated that a higher cellular uptake of CoQ10 was achieved in the presence of grapefruit juice,” wrote the Japanese researchers, led by Ken Iseki from Hokkaido University.
The formulation of the CoQ10 is known to play a key role in its bioavailability. Since the coenzyme is lipophilic (fat-loving) its absorption is enhanced in the presence of lipids. Therefore, when taken as a supplement apart from meals, the absorption of some formulations is lower.
“It is possible that co-administration of CoQ10 with grapefruit juice constitutes an easily accessible way to improve the intestinal absorption of CoQ10,” added Iseki and his co-workers.
Grapefruit juice is well-known to interact with other compounds in the digestive system. Chemicals in juice and pulp of the fruit are reported to interfere with the enzymes that metabolise certain drugs in the digestive system, including statins to lower cholesterol. This results in potentially toxic quantities of drugs circulating in the blood.
The new study, however, suggests that grapefruit juice’s inhibiting effects may actually benefit CoQ10 absorption.
Vitamin-like
CoQ10 has properties similar to vitamins, but since it is naturally synthesized in the body it is not classed as such. Our ability to synthesise the compound peaks at the age of 20 and amounts in our body decrease rapidly after we pass the age of 40.
With chemical structure 2,3-dimethoxy-5-methyl-6-decaprenyl-1,4-benzoquinone, it is also known as ubiquinone because of its 'ubiquitous' distribution throughout the human body.
The coenzyme is concentrated in the mitochondria - the 'power plants' of the cell - and plays a vital role in the production of chemical energy by participating in the production of adenosince triphosphate (ATP), the body's co-called 'energy currency'.
There is an ever-growing body of scientific data that shows substantial health benefits of CoQ10 supplementation for people suffering from angina, heart attack and hypertension. The nutrient is also recommended to people on statins to off-set the CoQ-depleting effects of the medication. Other studies have reported that CoQ10 may play a role in the prevention or benefit people already suffering from neurodegenerative diseases.
Study details
The Japanese researchers used Caco-2 cells, a cell line used to model the lining of the human intestine. Cells were cultured in the presence of CoQ10 powder (10 micromoles, supplied by Kougen Co. Ltd.) and grapefruit juice (diluted to a concentration of 1 per cent, purchased from the Dole Food Company Inc., USA).
Results showed that CoQ10 uptake in the presence of grapefruit juice was increased by almost 50 per cent. “These results indicate that the combined administration of CoQ10 and grapefruit juice could enhance CoQ10 absorption,”said the researchers.
“Taking these findings into consideration, it is possible that co-administration of CoQ10 with grapefruit juice will be an easily accessible way to improve the pharmacological effects of CoQ10,” they added.
The researchers concluded that additional studies are required in order to investigate the pharmacological effects of CoQ10 when administration with grapefruit juice. “Such investigations will provide important information for improving the pharmacological effects of CoQ10,” concluded Iseki and his co-workers.
Source: Food Chemistry 2010, Volume 120 (2010) 552–555 “Grapefruit juice enhances the uptake of coenzyme Q10 in the human intestinal cell-line Caco-2” S. Itagaki, A. Ochiai, M. Kobayashi, M. Sugawara, T. Hirano, K. Iseki
http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Grapefruit-juice-may-boost-CoQ10-uptake-Study

Merck Sat on Data Showing Vioxx Risks for Years Before Pulling Drug
E. Huff, NaturalNews.com  January 15, 2010 

(NaturalNews) A recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine has revealed that information about heart risks from pharmaceutical giant Merck's Vioxx drug was available in 2000, four years before the Merck pulled the drug from the market. Because the information was not published and made public, Merck sat on it until a later clinical trial openly revealed that the drug was causing strokes and heart attacks.

Dr. Harlan Krumholz, study author from the Yale University School of Medicine, noted that he obtained pertinent safety data about Vioxx only after a lawsuit was filed against Merck by those who had been injured by the drug. It was discovered that out of the 30 studies conducted by Merck prior to when Vioxx was withdrawn, only 18 of them had been published. Six were published after the drug was withdrawn and six were never published at all.

After mulling through the study data, one trial at a time, Krumholz and his team clearly identified a link between Vioxx usage and increased heart attacks and strokes in patients. Based on when the studies were conducted, the connection was visible as early as December of 2000. 

Ron Rogers, a Merck spokesman, denied the claims that any link could be observed and decried the methods used by researchers to come to this conclusion, despite acceptance of the findings following a rigorous peer review process. Rogers stated that the company's own extensive analysis showed no connection between Vioxx usage and increased cases of heart attack and stroke prior to the time when it was removed from the market, emphasized that the company had no prior knowledge of Vioxx's dangers.

However in 2004, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that it had seen internal Merck emails exchanged between company executives that expressed concern over Vioxx's tendency to increase the risk of heart attack. The entire series of emails clearly indicated that Merck knew about the dangers of Vioxx and was doing its best to conceal the information.

Dating back to the late 1990s, early emails contained dialogues about how to craft a study that would minimize the truth about Vioxx. An email from March of 2000 sent by Merck's research chief, Edward Scolnick, expressed clear affirmation that heart problems associated with Vioxx were "clearly there" and that it was a "shame."

When questioned about the emails, Merck once again denied the allegations, claiming that the emails were taken out of context. Merck never provided an explanation as to what the emails were referring to in their supposed proper context.

Thousands of injured patients and company shareholders filed a class action lawsuit against Merck following its removal of Vioxx from the market. Merck appealed the lawsuit on the grounds that "sufficient" information about the drug's risks were available when the drug hit the market. Merck succeeded in convincing a U.S. district judge to dismiss the lawsuit because it was filed after the two-year statute of limitations ended.

However an appeals court in Philadelphia reversed the decision on behalf of the many shareholders who lost a great deal when Vioxx was suddenly removed from the market, which caused Merck's stock values to plummet. Since it was determined that shareholders could not have known what was coming based on the information that was made publicly available, the Supreme Court is going to evaluate the case and make a decision on it next year.

Merck also agreed to a $4.85 billion settlement, one of the largest in history, on behalf of the thousands who filed personal injury lawsuits against the company due to serious injuries caused by Vioxx. (These cases were different from the ones included in the initial class action suit). The drug giant said it agreed to the settlement because the litigation process would have taken countless years to resolve, most likely hurting the company's reputation even further.

At the very least, drug safety tracking once receiving approval from the FDA to go to market needs a major overhaul. Dr. Krumholz and his colleagues stressed this point following their Vioxx discoveries. When fraud and criminal behavior are involved, as has shown to be the case with Merck, justice must be served.

The Vioxx scandal illustrates an important fact about the drug industry in general. Big Pharma continually gets away with massive impropriety. Its business practices, from research and development to marketing, are wrought with dishonesty, manipulation and downright fraud. There is arguably no other industry that gets away with its crimes as much as the pharmaceutical industry does. The consequences are also the most severe, costing millions of people their health and oftentimes their lives.

Bringing the issue to light as often and loudly as possible will only go so far. Massive reform, in some way, shape, or form, must be implemented if there is ever going to be an end to the madness.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027946_Merck_Vioxx.html

America Must Reform Its Food Industry or Go Broke With Health Care Costs: Michael Pollan
David Gutierrez, NaturalNews.com  January 15, 2010 

(NaturalNews) Health care reform in the United States is impossible without tackling the country's obesity epidemic, author and food activist Michael Pollan has warned.

"Even the most efficient health care system that the administration could hope to devise would still confront a rising tide of chronic disease linked to diet," Pollan wrote recently in The New York Times.

"That's why our success in bringing health care costs under control ultimately depends on whether Washington can summon the political will to take on and reform a second, even more powerful industry: the food industry."

Pollan notes that it costs the U.S. health care system $147 billion every year to treat obesity. It costs another $116 billion each year to treatdiabetes, "and hundreds of billions more to treat cardiovascular disease and the many types of cancer that have been linked to the so-called Western diet." According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 75 percent of U.S. health care spending goes to treat "preventable chronic diseases," including those linked to diet. A recent study found that obesity is responsible for 30 percent of the increase in health care costs in the last 20 years.

"But so far, food system reform has not figured in the national conversation about health care reform," Pollan writes. "To put it ... bluntly, the government is putting itself in the uncomfortable position of subsidizing both the costs of treating Type 2 diabetes and the consumption of high-fructose corn syrup."

According to Pollan, widespread food reform is an essential part of health care reform, "everything from farm policy to food marketing to school lunches." He notes that a recent study from M.I.T. and Columbia University concluded that the best way to reduce rates of childhood obesity would be to develop a diverse, regional food economy and move away from globalized agriculture.

"Passing a health care reform bill, no matter how ambitious, is only the first step in solving our health care crisis," Pollan says. "To keep from bankrupting ourselves, we will then have to get to work on improving our health -- which means going to work on the American way of eating."
http://www.naturalnews.com/027945_Michael_Pollan_health_care_costs.html

IF YOU WANT TO INTRODUCE RESEARCH on ROOBIOS TEA

SUMMARIES OF ROOIBOS HEALTH RESEARCH FINDINGS FROM PEER-REVIEWED SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE

• Rooibos as a source of antioxidants and cancer-fighting and anti-ageing agents 

In 2003, the American Botanical Council published a comprehensive review of Rooibos research. It summarises the scientific evidence that Rooibos (scientific name = Aspalathus linearis) is a source of flavonoid antioxidants and protects against cancer, heart disease and stroke. The authors cite many studies showing that Rooibos contains antioxidants that have positive effects when tested as isolated substances and that the tea as a whole has good antioxidant activity in laboratory tests (in vitro). They list all the antioxidants found in Rooibos and confirm that Rooibos is the only known natural source of the antioxidant aspalathin, and that it also contains the rare antioxidant nothofagin. The review refers to several studies that have found that Rooibos contains polyphenol antioxidants that are potent free radical scavengers. [Free radicals (unstable molecules that have lost an electron) can damage the DNA in cells, leading to cancer, and they can oxidize cholesterol, leading to clogged blood vessels, heart attack, and stroke. Antioxidants can bind to free radicals before the free radicals cause harm.] The research captured in this review shows that fermented Rooibos reduces cancer-associated changes in animal cells exposed to the chemical mutagens (cancer-causing substances), and also reduces the cancerous transformation of mouse cells exposed to X-rays. Rats given free access to Rooibos over a period of 21 months also showed much lower age-related lipid peroxidation in the brain compared with rats that drank water. The review concludes that Rooibos appears to be safe and free of adverse side effects and "may help protect against free radical damage," which can lead to cancer, heart attack, and stroke. They add that more research is needed to confirm that these benefits observed in animal studies are also true in people.
 Several animal studies around the world have confirmed the cancer-fighting ability of Rooibos:

• In 2003 a team of South African researchers from several universities and research institutions published a comprehensive study confirming that Rooibos can protect the liver against oxidative damage and mutagenesis (a change in the cell that may lead to cancer).
  Reference for supporting scientific article: J Agric. Food Chem. 51, 8113 – 8119 (2003)

• Rooibos protects against some forms of chemically induced liver cancers in rats: This was the conclusion of a study published in 2003, based on a collaborative study between researchers at South Africa’s Medical Research Council and other research organisations.
  Reference for supporting scientific article: Mutation Research 558, 145 – 154 (2004)

• The ability of South African herbal teas (Rooibos and Honeybush extracts) to act as “chemopreventors” in skin cancer was also highlighted in an article published in 2005, once again as the result of the work of a South African research team. They showed that topical (external) application of the tea fractions significantly suppressed tumour growth in mice with skin cancer, when using processed and unprocessed tea.
  Reference for supporting scientific article: Cancer Lett 224, 193 – 202 (2005)

• In 2006 several South African researchers collaborated to compare the potential of different kinds of tea (Rooibos, honeybush, black oolong and green tea) to suppress mutations, and thereby prevent cancer. Their results confirmed that the phenolic compounds in herbal tea extracts have a strong anti-mutagenic effect. 
  Reference for supporting scientific article: Mutation Research/Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis, Vol 611, 42 –53 (2006)

• Researchers at the Medical Research Council and Stellenbosch University worked together to try and understand which compounds in Rooibos are specifically responsible for its antimutagenic properties. They found that the antimutagenic potency of the flavonoids in Rooibos is reduced during fermentation (oxidation).
  Reference for supporting scientific article: Mutation Research  631, 111 – 123 (2007)

• The ability of Rooibos to scavenge free radicals was confirmed in collaborative study between researchers in South Africa (Stellenbosch University and the Agricultural Research Council) and the United States (University of Mississippi). They also investigated the relative potency of the different antioxidants in Rooibos and confirmed that fermentation (or the processing of green Rooibos) decreases its anti-radical capacity.
  Reference for supporting scientific article: Food Research International 37, 133–138 (2004)

• Rooibos as a treatment for stomach cramps and diarrhoea

Acknowledging that Rooibos is widely used to treat gastrointestinal upsets, researchers in Pakistan, Canada and Germany joined forces to explore the mechanism of this effect of Rooibos. Their results, published in 2006, explain the biochemistry of how the flavonoids and other active ingredients in Rooibos achieve this calming effect on the digestive system and concludes that it is justified to use Rooibos for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders, such as gut spasms.
Reference for supporting scientific article: Basic and Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology, 99, 365 – 373 (2006).

• Rooibos recommended as a treatment for respiratory disease and to lower blood pressure

Based on a study published in 2006, researchers at the Aga Khan University Medical College in Pakistan found a sound basis for the wide medicinal use of Rooibos. They found that chrysoeriol, one of the bio-active components of Rooibos, acted effectively as a bronchodilator, with an associated effect on lowering blood pressure and relieving spasms. They also state in the article that chrysoeriol is already known for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, antimicrobial, antiviral and free radical scavenging abilities.
Reference for supporting scientific article: Eur J Nutr, 45, 463 – 469 (2006)

• Rooibos protecting against liver disease

Researchers in Slovakia and Japan agreed that Rooibos is a safe and effective treatment to protect the liver (also known as a hepatoprotector) in patients with liver disease, mostly because Rooibos is such a rich source of natural antioxidants. They found that Rooibos offers specific protection when the liver is already damaged or experiencing oxidative stress. They published their results and made this recommendation, based on a study of the effect of Rooibos on the antioxidant status of the liver in a rat study.
Reference for supporting scientific article: Physiol. Res. 53, 515 – 521 (2004)

• Rooibos restoring immune function

Research teams at the Okyama University in Japan demonstrated that the active ingredients in a Rooibos extract restored immune-function in immune-suppressed rats.  These results hold significant potential for future research into the immune-boosting properties of Rooibos that could potentially benefit people living with HIV/AIDS.
References for supporting scientific article: Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem. 65 (1), 2137 – 2145 (2001) and 
Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem 71 (2), 698 – 602 (2007)

• Rooibos as an anti-ageing agent

Fascinated by the wide range of beneficial properties of Rooibos, Japanese researchers have also studied to potencial of Rooibos to delay the effects of ageing. They recently demonstrated its anti-ageing effect in a study with Japanese quails. These birds were given Rooibos to drink and also had ground Rooibos added to their food. The hens on the Rooibos diet laid more eggs and kept on laying eggs as they were getting older, compared to quail hens on a standard diet.
Reference for supporting scientific article: British Poultry Science, 49 (1) 55 – 64 (2008)

• Rooibos protecting red blood cells

Rooibos inhibits free radicals in the blood stream and prevent them from destructing red blood cells. This was shown in a joint study between researchers in Japan and Slovakia, published in 2000.  They used Japanese quails for this in vivo study and found that a boiled water extract of Rooibos, fed to the quails, protected red blood cells against hemolysis (breaking up of red blood cells).
Reference for supporting scientific article: Gen. Physiol. Biophys. 19, 365 – 371 (2000)

• Rooibos may help to fight allergies

Japanese researchers at Showa University found that when Rooibos is consumed regularly as a beverage, it helps to improve allergy status, by boosting the production of Cytochrome P450, an important enzyme in the liver and many other tissues that helps to metabolise allergens.
Reference for supporting scientific article: J Pharmacol Sci 103, 214 – 221 (2007)

• Rooibos and honeybush: Protective partners

A review of the bioactivity of South African herbal teas, published by researchers at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Centre on Aging in Washington DC during 2003, confirms that Rooibos and Honeybush differ in composition, but share potentially beneficial activities in laboratory studies. Several animal model studies are quoted showing that both herbal teas possess potent antioxidant and immune-boosting components, and that both can protect against cancer-causing chemicals.
Reference for research review article: Phytother. Res. 21, 1 – 16 (2007)
http://www.advanced-antioxidant.com/antioxidant-rooibos-red-bush-tea.html

Climate Conditions in 2050 Crucial to Avoid Harmful Impacts in 2100
ScienceDaily (Jan. 14, 2010) — While governments around the world continue to explore strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a new study suggests policymakers should focus on what needs to be achieved in the next 40 years in order to keep long-term options viable for avoiding dangerous levels of warming.
The study is the first of its kind to use a detailed energy system model to analyze the relationship between mid-century targets and the likelihood of achieving long-term outcomes.
"Setting mid-century targets can help preserve long-term policy options while managing the risks and costs that come with long-term goals," says co-lead author Brian O'Neill, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).
The study, conducted with co-authors at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria and the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands, is being published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It was funded by IIASA, a European Young Investigator Award to O'Neill, and the National Science Foundation, NCAR's sponsor.
The researchers used a computer simulation known as an integrated assessment model to represent interactions between the energy sector and the climate system. They began with "business as usual" scenarios, developed for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2000 report, that project future greenhouse gas emissions in the absence of climate policy. They then analyzed the implications of restricting emissions in 2050, using a range of levels.
The team focused on how emissions levels in 2050 would affect the feasibility of meeting end-of-century temperature targets of either 2 or 3 degrees Celsius (about 3.5 degrees or 5.5 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively) above the pre-industrial average.
Mid-century thresholds
The study identifies critical mid-century thresholds that, if surpassed, would make particular long-term goals unachievable with current energy technologies.
For example, the scientists examined what would need to be done by 2050 in order to preserve the possibility of better-than-even odds of meeting the end-of-century temperature target of 2 degrees Celsius of warming advocated by many governments.
One "business as usual" scenario showed that global emissions would need to be reduced by about 20 percent below 2000 levels by mid-century to preserve the option of hitting the target. In a second case, in which demand for energy and land grow more rapidly, the reductions by 2050 would need to be much steeper: 50 percent. The researchers concluded that achieving such reductions is barely feasible with known energy sources.
"Our simulations show that in some cases, even if we do everything possible to reduce emissions between now and 2050, we'd only have even odds of hitting the 2 degree target-and then only if we also did everything possible over the second half of the century too," says co-author and IIASA scientist Keywan Riahi.
The research team made a number of assumptions about the energy sector, such as how quickly the world could switch to low- or zero-carbon sources to achieve emission targets. Only current technologies that have proven themselves at least in the demonstration stage, such as nuclear fission, biomass, wind power, and carbon capture and storage, were considered. Geoengineering, nuclear fusion, and other technologies that have not been demonstrated as viable ways to produce energy or reduce emissions were excluded from the study.
The 2-degree goal
Research shows that average global temperatures have warmed by close to 1 degree C (almost 1.8 degrees F) since the pre-industrial era. Much of the warming is due to increased emissions of greenhouse gases, predominantly carbon dioxide, due to human activities. Many governments have advocated limiting global temperature to no more than 1 additional degree Celsius in order to avoid more serious effects of climate change.
During the recent international negotiations in Copenhagen, many nations recognized the case for limiting long-term warming to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, but they did not agree to a mid-century emissions target.
"Even if you agree on a long-term goal, without limiting emissions sufficiently over the next several decades, you may find you're unable to achieve it. There's a risk that potentially desirable options will no longer be technologically feasible, or will be prohibitively expensive to achieve," O'Neill says.
On the other hand, "Our research suggests that, provided we adopt an effective long-term strategy, our emissions can be higher in 2050 than some proposals have advocated while still holding to 2 degrees Celsius in the long run," he adds.
Cautions
The researchers caution that this is just one study looking at the technological feasibility of mid- and end-of-century emissions targets. O'Neill says that more feasibility studies should be undertaken to start "bounding the problem" of emissions mitigation.
"We need to know whether our current and planned actions for the coming decades will produce long-term climate change we can live with," he says. "Mid-century targets are a good way to do that."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100111154912.htm

Arctic Could Face Warmer and Ice-Free Conditions

ScienceDaily (Jan. 14, 2010) — There is increased evidence that the Arctic could face seasonally ice-free conditions and much warmer temperatures in the future.
Scientists documented evidence that the Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas were too warm to support summer sea ice during the mid-Pliocene warm period (3.3 to 3 million years ago). This period is characterized by warm temperatures similar to those projected for the end of this century, and is used as an analog to understand future conditions.
The U.S. Geological Survey found that summer sea-surface temperatures in the Arctic were between 10 to 18°C (50 to 64°F) during the mid-Pliocene, while current temperatures are around or below 0°C (32°F).
Examining past climate conditions allows for a true understanding of how Earth's climate system really functions. USGS research on the mid-Pliocene is the most comprehensive global reconstruction for any warm period. This will help refine climate models, which currently underestimate the rate of sea ice loss in the Arctic.
Loss of sea ice could have varied and extensive consequences, such as contributions to continued Arctic warming, accelerated coastal erosion due to increased wave activity, impacts to large predators (polar bears and seals) that depend on sea ice cover, intensified mid-latitude storm tracks and increased winter precipitation in western and southern Europe, and less rainfall in the American west.
"In looking back 3 million years, we see a very different pattern of heat distribution than today with much warmer waters in the high latitudes," said USGS scientist Marci Robinson. "The lack of summer sea ice during the mid-Pliocene suggests that the record-setting melting of Arctic sea ice over the past few years could be an early warning of more significant changes to come."
Global average surface temperatures during the mid-Pliocene were about 3°C (5.5°F) greater than today and within the range projected for the 21st century by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091229105913.htm

Vitamin D levels not enough for winter: Study

Nutraingredients.com 14-Jan-2010

Current recommended intake for vitamin D during winter months and need to be at increased by five, says a new study from California.
Recommended intakes for people with darker skins should be increased to a whopping 2100 to 3100 International Units per day all year-round, up from the current adequate intakes set at 5 micrograms per day (200 International Units).
Researchers from University of California, Davis report their findings in theJournal of Nutrition. The study, led by Laura Hill, represents the latest in a long line of studies calling for increases in the recommended levels for vitamin D.
Concerns are growing over the health implications of living with insufficient and deficient vitamin D levels. A recent study from China reported that 94 per cent of people aged between 50 and 70 enrolled in the study were vitamin D deficient or insufficient, which may increase their risk of metabolic syndrome.
In adults, it is said vitamin D deficiency may precipitate or exacerbate osteopenia, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, fractures, common cancers, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases and cardiovascular diseases. There is also some evidence that the vitamin may reduce the incidence of several types of cancer and type-1 diabetes.
According to the new study, in order to achieve vitamin D sufficiency, defined as blood vitamin D levels of at least 75 nanomoles per litre, people of European ancestry with a high sun exposure need 1300 IU per day of the vitamin during the winter. People of African ancestry with low sun exposure would require much higher intakes, from 2100 to 3100 IU per day throughout the year, report the researchers.
The conclusions were based on data from four cohorts of participants involving 72 people. The participants, from Davis, California, were followed for up to two months during each of the four seasons.
Vitamin D levels were predicted using a computational model, based on sun exposure and skin reflectance. Blood levels of vitamin D, measures of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) – the non-active storage form of the vitamin – showed that
Some experts define an optimal vitamin D status as at least 100 nanomoles per litre (nmol/L) of 25(OH)D. Vitamin D deficiency is defined by some as 25(OH)D levels below 50 nmol/L.
People of African ancestry with low and high sun exposure in the winter were predicted to have 25(OH)D levels of 24 and 42 nmol/L, respectively. These levels were predicted to increase to between 40 and 60 nmol/L in summer.
People of European ancestry with low and high sun exposure in the winter were predicted to have 25(OH)D levels of 35 and 60 nmol/L, respectively. These levels were predicted to increase to between 58 and 85 nmol/L in summer.
“To achieve 25(OH)D over 75 nmol/L, we estimate that European ancestry individuals with high sun exposure need 1300 IU/d vitamin D intake in the winter and African ancestry individuals with low sun exposure need 2100-3100 IU/d year-round,” concluded the researchers.
Data on D
Vitamin D refers to two biologically inactive precursors - D3, also known as cholecalciferol, and D2, also known as ergocalciferol. The former, produced in the skin on exposure to UVB radiation (290 to 320 nm), is said to be more bioactive.
While our bodies do manufacture vitamin D on exposure to sunshine, the levels in some northern countries are so weak during the winter months that our body makes no vitamin D at all, meaning that dietary supplements and fortified foods are seen by many as the best way to boost intakes of vitamin D.
Source: Journal of Nutrition
Published online ahead of print, doi: 10.3945/jn.109.115253
"Vitamin D Intake Needed to Maintain Target Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentrations in Participants with Low Sun Exposure and Dark Skin Pigmentation Is Substantially Higher Than Current Recommendations"
Authors: L.M. Hall, M.G. Kimlin, P.A. Aronov, B.D. Hammock, J.R. Slusser, L.R. Woodhouse, C.B. Stephensen

Green tea may slash lung cancer risk

Nutraingredients.com, 14-Jan-2010

Smokers who did not drink green tea at all may have a 13-fold increased risk of lung cancer, compared with those who drank at least one cup per day, suggests a new study from Taiwan.
Although expert advice is clearly to avoid tobacco smoke altogether, the results suggest smokers could benefit from upping their intake of green tea, according to findings presented at the AACR-IASLC Joint Conference on Molecular Origins of Lung Cancer.
One in three Europeans are smokers, while the US figure is one in five. Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 compounds, of which 60 are known carcinogens. The oxidative stress levels of smokers are significantly greater than non-smokers, and as such there is a bigger drain on the levels of antioxidants in the body.
The new study, a hospital-based, randomised trial, builds on earlier research from epidemiological studies which reported potential lung cancer risk reductions in smokers.
The benefits may extend to non-smokers, researchers told attendees at the conference, with non-green tea drinkers, both smokers and non-smokers, associated with a 5.2-fold increased risk of lung cancer, compared with those who drank at least one cup of green tea per day.
I-Hsin Lin, MS, a student at Chung Shan Medical University in Taiwan told attendees that both green tea consumption and genotype may influence lung cancer risk. The study involved 170 lung cancer patients and 340 healthy patients as controls. Questionnaires revealed tea drinking habits, along with other demographic and lifestyle data. The researchers also genotyped the participants according to their insulin-like growth factors (IGF), all of which have all been reported to be associated with cancer risk.
The results showed that, in addition to an increase in risk for non-green tea drinkers, genetics seemed to affect the cancer risk. Green tea drinkers with specific types of IGF1 reported a 66 per cent reduction in lung cancer risk as compared with green tea drinkers with another form of IGF1.
"Our study may represent a clue that in the case of lung cancer, smoking-induced carcinogenesis could be modulated by green tea consumption and the growth factor environment," said Lin.
No mechanistic data was provided to explain the observations and NutraIngredients has not seen the full data.

Healthy diet may benefit women's mental health
Last Updated: 2010-01-13 15:07:57 -0400 (Reuters Health)
By Joene Hendry
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who suffer from depression and anxiety may want to take a look at their diet as possible contributors to these conditions, study findings hint.
Dr. Felice N. Jacka, at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues report mood disorders were more common among women 20 to 93 years old who, over 10 years, ate primarily processed, refined, high-fat foods.
"There's no magic diet," Jacka commented in an email to Reuters Health. But eating a diet mainly of vegetables, fruit, whole grain foods, low fat dairy products, and lean meat, and reserving processed and sweet treats to "sometimes foods," will aid physical health and may also support mental well-being, she said.
Jacka's team assessed diet and psychiatric evaluations gathered over 10 years from 1,046 women representative of the general Australian population. A total of 925 women were free of mood disorders, whereas 121 had depressive and/or anxiety disorders, the researchers report in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
When they assessed how diet might relate to mood disorders, they found that a "Western" diet -- eating primarily hamburgers, white bread, pizza, chips, flavored milk drinks, beer, and sugar-laden foods -- was associated with more than a 50 percent greater likelihood for depressive disorders.
By contrast, both depression and anxiety disorders appeared about 30 percent less likely among women eating a more "traditional" Australian diet --- mostly of vegetables, fruit, beef, lamb, fish, and whole-grain foods.
These associations remained when the research team allowed for a variety of factors including age, body weight, social and economic status, education, physical activity, smoking, and alcohol drinking habits. But similar "adjusted" analyses in women mainly consuming fruits, salads, fish, tofu, beans, nuts, yogurt, and red wine showed no similar associations.
Taken together, the findings highlight the need for additional investigations to determine whether unhealthy eating leads to declining mental health or vice versa, the researchers say.
Given that diet is modifiable, finding evidence of a causal tie between diet and mental health seems worthy of pursuit, the researchers conclude.
SOURCE: American Journal of Psychiatry, published online January 4, 2010

One in eight Americans receives food stamps: U.S
Last Updated: 2010-01-13 14:42:27 -0400 (Reuters Health)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some 37.9 million people - one in eight Americans - received food stamps to help buy food at latest count, the government said on Tuesday as enrollment set a record for the ninth month in a row.
Food stamps are the primary federal anti-hunger program. It helps poor people buy groceries. The economic stimulus package boosted benefits by $80 a month for a family of four.
Participation has surged since the financial-market turmoil more than a year ago and has set a record each month since December 2008. The Agriculture Department said enrollment reached 37.9 million in October, the latest month for which figures are available, up 746,000 from the previous month.
The average monthly benefit was $133.60 per person in October.
The Food Research and Action Center, an anti-hunger group, said enrollment of one in eight Americans "is the highest share of the U.S. population" ever in the program, which was renamed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in mid-2008.

Thyme Oil Can Inhibit COX2 and Suppress Inflammation

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Thyme growing. Researchers have found that six essential oils -from thyme, clove, rose, eucalyptus, fennel and bergamot -- can suppress the inflammatory COX-2 enzyme, in a manner similar to resveratrol, the chemical linked with the health benefits of red wine. (Credit: iStockphoto)
ScienceDaily (Jan. 14, 2010) — For those who do not drink, researchers have found that six essential oils -from thyme, clove, rose, eucalyptus, fennel and bergamot -- can suppress the inflammatory COX-2 enzyme, in a manner similar to resveratrol, the chemical linked with the health benefits of red wine. They also identified that the chemical carvacrol was primarily responsible for this suppressive activity.
These findings, appearing in the January issue of Journal of Lipid Research, provide more understanding of the health benefits of many botanical oils and provide a new avenue for anti-inflammatory drugs.
Essential oils from plants have long been a component of home remedies, and even today are used for their aromatherapy, analgesic (e.g. cough drops), or antibacterial properties. Of course, the exact way they work is not completely understood. However, Hiroyasu Inoue and colleagues in Japan believed that many essential oils might target COX-2 much like compounds in wine and tea.
So, they screened a wide range of commercially available oils and identified six (thyme, clove, rose, eucalyptus, fennel and bergamot) that reduced COX-2 expression in cells by at least 25%. Of these, thyme oil proved the most active, reducing COX-2 levels by almost 75%.
When Inoue and colleagues analyzed thyme oil, they found that the major component -carvacrol- was the primary active agent; in fact when they use pure carvacrol extracts in their tests COX-2 levels decreased by over 80%.

Yoga Reduces Cytokine Levels Known to Promote Inflammation, Study Shows

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ScienceDaily (Jan. 14, 2010) — Regularly practicing yoga exercises may lower a number of compounds in the blood and reduce the level of inflammation that normally rises because of both normal aging and stress, a new study has shown.
The study, done by Ohio State University researchers and just reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, showed that women who routinely practiced yoga had lower amounts of the cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) in their blood.
The women also showed smaller increases in IL-6 after stressful experiences than did women who were the same age and weight but who were not yoga practitioners.
IL-6 is an important part of the body's inflammatory response and has been implicated in heart disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes, arthritis and a host of other age-related debilitating diseases. Reducing inflammation may provide substantial short- and long-term health benefits, the researchers suggest.
"In addition to having lower levels of inflammation before they were stressed, we also saw lower inflammatory responses to stress among the expert yoga practitioners in the study," explained Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, professor of psychiatry and psychology and lead author of the study.
"Hopefully, this means that people can eventually learn to respond less strongly to stressors in their everyday lives by using yoga and other stress-reducing modalities."
For the study, the researchers assembled a group of 50 women, age 41 on average. They were divided into two groups -- "novices," who had either taken yoga classes or who practiced at home with yoga videos for no more than 6 to 12 sessions, and "experts," who had practiced yoga one of two times weekly for at least two years and at least twice weekly for the last year.
Each of the women was asked to attend three sessions in the university's Clinical Research Center at two-week intervals. Each session began with participants filling out questionnaires and completing several psychological tests to gauge mood and anxiety levels.
Each woman also was fitted with a catheter in one arm through which blood samples could be taken several times during the research tasks for later evaluation.
Participants then performed several tasks during each visit designed to increase their stress levels including immersing their foot into extremely cold water for a minute, after which they were asked to solve a series of successively more difficult mathematics problems without paper or pencil.
Following these "stressors," participants would either participate in a yoga session, walk on treadmill set at a slow pace (.5 miles per hour) designed to mirror the metabolic demands of the yoga session or watch neutral, rather boring videos. The treadmill and video tasks were designed as contrast conditions to the yoga session.
Once the blood samples were analyzed after the study, researchers saw that the women labeled as "novices" had levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6 that were 41 percent higher than those in the study's "experts."
"In essence, the experts walked into the study with lower levels of inflammation than the novices, and the experts were also better able to limit their stress responses than were the novices," Kiecolt-Glaser explained.
The researchers did not find the differences they had expected between the novices and experts in their physiological responses to the yoga session.
Co-author Lisa Christian, an assistant professor of psychology, psychiatry and obstetrics and gynecology, suggested one possible reason:
"The yoga poses we used were chosen from those thought to be restorative or relaxing. We had to limit the movements to those novices could perform as well as experts.
"Part of the problem with sorting out exactly what makes yoga effective in reducing stress is that if you try to break it down into its components, like the movements or the breathing, it's hard to say what particular thing is causing the effect," said Christian, herself a yoga instructor. "That research simply hasn't been done yet."
Ron Glaser, a co-author and a professor of molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics, said that the study has some fairly clear implications for health.
"We know that inflammation plays a major role in many diseases. Yoga appears to be a simple and enjoyable way to add an intervention that might reduce risks for developing heart disease, diabetes and other age-related diseases" he said.
"This is an easy thing people can do to help reduce their risks of illness."
Bill Malarkey, an professor of internal medicine and co-author on the study, pointed to the inflexibility that routinely comes with aging.
"Muscles shorten and tighten over time, mainly because of inactivity," he said. "The stretching and exercise that comes with yoga actually increases a person's flexibility and that, in turn, allows relaxation which can lower stress."
Malarkey sees the people's adoption of yoga or other regular exercise as one of the key solutions to our current health care crisis. "People need to be educated about this. They need to be taking responsibility for their health and how they live. Doing yoga and similar activities can make a difference."
As a clinician, he says, "Much of my time is being spent simply trying to get people to slow down."
The researchers' next step is a clinical trial to see if yoga can improve the health and reduce inflammation that has been linked to debilitating fatigue among breast cancer survivors. They're seeking 200 women to volunteer for the study that's funded by the National Cancer Institute.
Researchers Heather Preston, Carrie Houts and Charles Emery were also part of the research team which was supported in part by a grant from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health.

How One Form of Natural Vitamin E Protects Brain After Stroke

 — Blocking the function of an enzyme in the brain with a specific kind of vitamin E can prevent nerve cells from dying after a stroke, new research suggests.
In a study using mouse brain cells, scientists found that the tocotrienol form of vitamin E, an alternative to the popular drugstore supplement, stopped the enzyme from releasing fatty acids that eventually kill neurons.
The Ohio State University researchers have been studying how this form of vitamin E protects the brain in animal and cell models for a decade, and intend to pursue tests of its potential to both prevent and treat strokes in humans.
"Our research suggests that the different forms of natural vitamin E have distinct functions. The relatively poorly studied tocotrienol form of natural vitamin E targets specific pathways to protect against neural cell death and rescues the brain after stroke injury," said Chandan Sen, professor and vice chair for research in Ohio State's Department of Surgery and senior author of the study.
"Here, we identify a novel target for tocotrienol that explains how neural cells are protected."
The research appears online and is scheduled for later print publication in the Journal of Neurochemistry.
Vitamin E occurs naturally in eight different forms. The best-known form of vitamin E belongs to a variety called tocopherols. The form of vitamin E in this study, tocotrienol or TCT, is not abundant in the American diet but is available as a nutritional supplement. It is a common component of a typical Southeast Asian diet.
Sen's lab discovered tocotrienol vitamin E's ability to protect the brain 10 years ago. But this current study offers the most specific details about how that protection works, said Sen, who is also a deputy director of Ohio State's Heart and Lung Research Institute.
"We have studied an enzyme that is present all the time, but one that is activated after a stroke in a way that causes neurodegeneration. We found that it can be put in check by very low levels of tocotrienol," he said. "So what we have here is a naturally derived nutrient, rather than a drug, that provides this beneficial impact."
Sen and colleagues had linked TCT's effects to various substances that are activated in the brain after a stroke before they concluded that this enzyme could serve as an important therapeutic target. The enzyme is called cystolic calcium-dependent phospholipase A2, or cPLA2.
Following the trauma of blocked blood flow associated with a stroke, an excessive amount of glutamate is released in the brain. Glutamate is a neurotransmitter that, in tiny amounts, has important roles in learning and memory. Too much of it triggers a sequence of reactions that lead to the death of brain cells, or neurons -- the most damaging effects of a stroke.
Sen and colleagues used cells from the hippocampus region of developing mouse brains for the study. They introduced excess glutamate to the cells to mimic the brain's environment after a stroke.
With that extra glutamate present, the cPLA2 enzyme releases a fatty acid called arachidonic acid into the brain. Under normal conditions, this fatty acid is housed within lipids that help maintain cell membrane stability.
But when it is free-roaming, arachidonic acid undergoes an enzymatic chemical reaction that makes it toxic -- the final step before brain cells are poisoned in this environment and start to die. Activation of the cPLA2 enzyme is required to release the damaging fatty acid in response to insult caused by high levels of glutamate.
Sen and colleagues introduced the tocotrienol vitamin E to the cells that had already been exposed to excess glutamate. The presence of the vitamin decreased the release of fatty acids by 60 percent when compared to cells exposed to glutamate alone.
Brain cells exposed to excess glutamate followed by tocotrienol fared much better, too, compared to those exposed to only the damaging levels of glutamate. Cells treated with TCT were almost four times more likely to survive than were cells exposed to glutamate alone.
Though cPLA2 exists naturally in the body, blocking excessive function of this enzyme is not harmful, Sen explained. Scientists have already determined that mice genetically altered so they cannot activate the enzyme achieve their normal life expectancy and carry a lower risk for stroke.
Sen also noted that the amount of tocotrienol needed to achieve these effects is quite small -- just 250 nanomolar, a concentration about 10 times lower than the average amount of tocotrienol circulating in humans who consume the vitamin regularly.
"So you don't have to gobble up a lot of the nutrient to see these effects," he said.
The National Institutes of Health supported this work.
The study was co-authored by Savita Khanna, Sashwati Roy and Cameron Rink of the Department of Surgery and Narasimham Parinandi and Sainath Kotha of the Department of Internal Medicine, all at Ohio State; and Douglas Bibus of the University of Minnesota.

'Smoked' flavour food concerns
BBC News, January 13, 2010
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) says one of the flavourings used to give smoke flavour to meat, cheese or fish, may be toxic to humans.
The authority looked at 11 smoke flavourings commonly used in the European Union.
It says several of the flavourings are dangerously close to levels which may cause harm to humans.
The European Commission will now establish a list of smoke-flavouring products that are safe for use in food.
The smoke flavourings are products which can be added to foods to give them a "smoked" flavour, as an alternative to traditional smoking.
EFSA says it "cannot rule out concerns" about a flavouring called Primary Product AM 01, which is obtained from beech wood.
The wood particles are burnt under controlled conditions and the hot vapours are dissolved in a solvent.
The Panel says the use of the substance "at the intended levels is a safety concern".
Safety
Klaus-Dieter Jany, the chair of EFSA's expert panel on flavourings (CEF Panel) said: "The Panel based its conclusions on the limited data which are currently available as well as conservative - or cautious - intake estimates.
"The Panel expressed safety concerns for several smoke flavourings where intake levels could be relatively close to the levels which may cause negative health effects.
"However, this does not necessarily mean that people consuming these products will be at risk as, in order to be on the safe side, the consumption estimates deliberately over-estimate intake levels."
A spokesperson for the Food and Drink Federation which represents smoked food manufacturers said: "We shall be working with FSA and the European Commission in the coming weeks to consider how smoke flavourings may continue to be used safely, noting EFSA's previous statements in respect of smoke flavourings that their safety is relatively high compared to traditional smoking methods."

Plastic Chemical Bisphenol A (BPA) Linked to Cardiovascular Disease in Adults, Analysis Confirms

ScienceDaily (Jan. 13, 2010) — Researchers from the Peninsula Medical School and the University of Exeter, UK, have found more evidence for a link between Bisphenol A exposure (BPA, a chemical commonly used in plastic food containers) and cardiovascular disease. The team analysed new US population data and their results are published by the online journal PLoS ONE.
The new study uses data from NHANES 2006-2006 US population study. While the new study found that urinary BPA concentrations were one third lower than in 2003-2004, higher BPA concentrations in urine samples were still associated with heart disease in 2005-2006. Associations with some liver enzymes were also present. Their original paper in 2008 was the first to find evidence of associations between BPA and heart disease, and this new data confirms their earlier findings.
In 2008 the team believed that higher urinary BPA concentrations might be associated with adverse health effects in adults, especially in relation to liver function, insulin, diabetes and obesity. By using data from the US government's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2004-2004, which for the first time measured urinary BPA concentrations, the research team found that a quarter of the population with the highest levels of BPA were more than twice as likely to report having heart disease or diabetes, compared to the quarter with the lowest BPA levels. They also found that higher BPA levels were associated with clinically abnormal liver enzyme concentrations.
Professor David Melzer, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Peninsula Medical School (Exeter, UK), who led the team, commented: "This is only the second analysis of BPA in a large human population sample. It has allowed us to largely confirm our original analysis and exclude the possibility that our original findings were a statistical 'blip'"
Professor Tamara Galloway, Professor of Ecotoxicology at the University of Exeter and senior author of the paper added: "We now need to investigate what causes these health risk associations in more detail and to clarify whether they are caused by BPA itself or by some other factor linked to BPA exposure. The risks associated with exposure to BPA may be small, but they are relevant to very large numbers of people. This information is important since it provides a great opportunity for intervention to reduce the risks."
BPA is a controversial chemical commonly used in food and drink containers. It has previously caused concerns over health risks to babies, as it is present in some baby's bottles. Several nations have moved to ban BPA from the manufacture of baby's bottles and other feeding equipment.
BPA is used in polycarbonate plastic products such as refillable drinks containers, some plastic eating utensils and many other products in everyday use. It is one of the world's highest production volume chemicals, with over 2.2 million tonnes (6.4 billion pounds) produced annually, and it is detectable in the bodies of more than 90% of the population.

Vitamin E may boost brain health after stroke

Nutraingredients.com, 13-Jan-2010

Tocotrienols may prevent nerve cell death in the brain following a stroke, suggests new research on this emerging form of vitamin E.
Alpha-tocotrienol, one of eight forms of vitamin E, was found to inhibit an enzyme from releasing fatty acids that eventually kill neurons, according to findings from a study with mouse brain cells published in the Journal of Neurochemistry.
The beneficial effects are observed at low levels of the nutrient, researchers from Ohio State University report following their National Institutes of Health-funded study.
“Our research suggests that the different forms of natural vitamin E have distinct functions. The relatively poorly studied tocotrienol form of natural vitamin E targets specific pathways to protect against neural cell death and rescues the brain after stroke injury,” said Professor Chandan Sen, lead researcher of the study.
“Here, we identify a novel target for tocotrienol that explains how neural cells are protected.”
“We have studied an enzyme that is present all the time, but one that is activated after a stroke in a way that causes neurodegeneration. We found that it can be put in check by very low levels of tocotrienol,” he said. “So what we have here is a naturally derived nutrient, rather than a drug, that provides this beneficial impact.”
Industrial welcome
The study’s results were welcomed by Carotech, the producer of the tocotrienol ingredient used in the study. Dr Sharon Ling, vice president, scientific affairs, sales & marketing (Europe) for Carotech Ltd (London) told NutraIngredients that the company is “very excited that tocotrienol - a natural dietary nutrient from palm oil - can be just as effective [as drugs or other therapeutic agents], if not more so, in neural protection.
“This should open up new possibilities into prevention and even treatment of stroke and other neurodegenerative diseases,” she added.
Dr Ling added that the potential neuroprotective effects of nanomolar levels of tocotrienol were first reported a decade ago. “This latest study from The Ohio State University elucidates how very low levels of tocotrienol, which are readily achievable by daily supplementation, protects the brain in artificially induced stroke,” she added.
“It shows tocotrienol inhibits the enzyme cPLA2 from releasing arachidonic acid into the brain. The release of arachidonic acid is an important step in causing neuronal death from glutamate induced state which mimics stroke,” explained Dr Ling.
The vitamin E family
There are eight forms of vitamin E: four tocopherols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta) and four tocotrienols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta). Alpha-tocopherol is the main source found in supplements and in the European diet, while gamma-tocopherol is the most common form in the American diet.
Tocotrienols (TCT) are only minor components in plants, although several sources with relatively high levels include palm oil, cereal grains and rice bran.
While the majority of research on vitamin E has focused on alpha-Toc, studies into tocotrienols account for less than one per cent of all research into vitamin E.
Study details
Sen and his co-workers looked at the effects of alpha-tocotrienol to inhibit the action of the enzyme called cystolic calcium-dependent phospholipase A2, or cPLA2. Following the trauma of blocked blood flow associated with a stroke, an excessive amount of the neurotransmitter glutamate is released in the brain. Despite playing an important role in learning and memory, too much glutamate can trigger the death of brain cells, or neurons, said to be the most damaging effects of a stroke.
By introducting excess glutamate into the brain cells of mice, the Ohio-based researchers mimicked the brain’s environment after a stroke. In the presence of excess glutamate, cPLA2 released arachidonic acid into the brain, which subsequently underwent an enzymatic chemical reaction to become toxic.
When tocotrienol was introduced to cells exposed to the high levels of glutamate arachidonic acid levels decreased by 60 per cent, said the researchers. This resulted in a cell survival rate four times higher than cells exposed to glutamate alone.
Prof Sen noted that the effects were observable with a 250 nanomolar dose of tocotrienol. This is equivalent to a concentration about 10 times lower than the average amount of tocotrienol circulating in humans who consume the vitamin regularly.
“On a concentration basis, this finding represents the most potent of all biological functions exhibited by any natural vitamin E molecule,” wrote the researchers in the Journal of Neurochemistry.
“This work provides first evidence in recognizing inducible cPLA2 activity as a key target of tocotrienol in protecting against glutamate-induced neurotoxicity,”they added.
Amazing potential
The new findings come after seven years of collaboration between Prof Sen and Carotech, said Mr W.H. Leong, vice president of Carotech Inc.
“The science generated with Tocomin and Tocomin SupraBio for the last seven years has been amazing especially on the potent neuroprotective effect of tocotrienols,” Mr Leong told NutraIngredients. “Being the largest and only GMP-certified tocotrienol producer, it underscores Carotech’s commitment to on science and clinical trials to bring this unique form of vitamin E to our customers.”
Source: Journal of Neurochemistry "Nanomolar vitamin E alpha-tocotrienol inhibits glutamate-induced activation of phospholipase A2 and causes neuroprotection" Authors: S. Khanna, N.L. Parinandi, S.R. Kotha, S. Roy, C. Rink, D. Bibus, C.K. Sen
http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Vitamin-E-may-boost-brain-health-after-stroke

Vitamin E May Help to Shrink Tumours
Evening Times  01-12-10
AN extract of vitamin E could be used to shrink cancerous tumours, say researchers from Strathclyde and Glasgow universities.
They have developed a way of using the vitamin extract, which has previously been known to have anti-cancer properties, to target the tumours without damaging surrounding healthy tissue.
They discovered the tumours began to shrink within one day and almost disappeared within 10 days of being treated with the extract tocotrienol.
Dr Christine Dufes, a lecturer at the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, led the research.
She said: " We have so far tested it in laboratory settings on just one type of cancer - skin cancer - but are nvestigating other therapeutic systems that give promising results as well."
Although the tumours grew back again after the treatment ended, they did so at a much slower rate than had been seen in other trials.
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=9195&Section=Vitamins

Scientists link plastics chemical to health risks
Last Updated: 2010-01-13 9:00:49 -0400 (Reuters Health)
LONDON (Reuters) - Exposure to a chemical found in plastic containers is linked to heart disease, scientists said on Wednesday, confirming earlier findings and adding to pressure to ban its use in bottles and food packaging.
British and U.S. researchers studied the effects of the chemical bisphenol A using data from a U.S. government national nutrition survey in 2006 and found that high levels of it in urine samples were associated with heart disease.
Bisphenol A, known as BPA, is widely used in plastics and has been a growing concern for scientists in countries such as Britain, Canada and the United States, where food and drug regulators are examining its safety.
David Melzer, professor of epidemiology and public health at the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, England, who led the study, said the research confirmed earlier findings of a link between BPA and heart problems.
The analysis also confirmed that BPA plays a role in diabetes and some forms of liver disease, said Melzer's team, who studied data on 1,493 people aged 18 to 74.
"Our latest analysis largely confirms the first analysis, and excludes the possibility that the original report was a statistical blip," they said in a statement.
BPA, used to stiffen plastic bottles and line cans, belongs to a class of compounds sometimes called endocrine disruptors.
The U.S. Endocrine Society called last June for better studies into BPA and presented research showing the chemical can affect the hearts of women and permanently damage the DNA of mice.
"The risks associated with exposure to BPA may be small, but they are relevant to very large numbers of people. This information is important since it provides a great opportunity for intervention to reduce the risks," said Exeter's Tamara Galloway, who worked on the study published by the Public Library of Science online science journal PLoS One.
URGING BANS
U.S. environmental health advocacy groups are urging a federal ban on BPA.
"There's enough research to take definitive action on this chemical to reduce exposures in people and the environment," Dr. Anila Jacob of the Environmental Working Group, a non-profit organization, said in a telephone interview.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering whether any action needs to be taken.
U.S. government toxicologists at the National Institutes of Health concluded in 2008 that BPA presents concern for harmful effects on development of the prostate and brain and for behavioral changes in fetuses, infants and children.
Canada's government plans to outlaw plastic baby bottles made with BPA. The charity Breast Cancer UK last month urged the British government to do the same because they said there was "compelling" evidence linking the chemical to breast cancer risk.
Experts estimate BPA is detectable in the bodies of more than 90 percent of U.S. and European populations. It is one of the world's highest production volume chemicals, with more than 2.2 million tonnes produced annually.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2010/01/13/eline/links/20100113elin012.html

Longer breastfeeding good for kids' mental health
Last Updated: 2010-01-12 13:01:14 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children who are breastfed for longer than six months could be at lower risk of mental health problems later in life, new research from Australia suggests.
"Breastfeeding for a longer duration appears to have significant benefits for the onward mental health of the child into adolescence," Dr. Wendy H. Oddy of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in West Perth and her colleagues report in The Journal of Pediatrics.
Breastfeeding could help babies cope better with stress, the researchers note, and may also signal a stronger mother-child attachment and these benefits may last.
Oddy and her colleagues studied 2,366 children born to women enrolled the Western Australia Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study. Each of the children underwent a mental health assessment when they were 2, 5, 8, 10, and 14 years old.
Eleven percent were never breastfed, 38 percent were breastfed for less than six months, and just over half were breastfed for six months or longer.
The mothers who breastfed for less than six months were younger, less educated, poorer, and more stressed, and were also more likely to be smokers, than the moms who breastfed for longer. They were also more likely to suffer from postpartum depression, and their babies were more likely to have growth problems.
At each of the assessments, the researchers found, children who were breastfed for shorter periods of time had worse behavior. Differences were seen for internalizing behavior, in which negativity is directed inwards, for example depression; and in externalizing behaviors, such as aggression.
For each additional month a child was breastfed, behavior improved.
Breastfeeding for six months or longer remained positively associated with the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents after the investigators adjusted for social, economic and psychological factors as well as early life events.
They conclude: "Interventions aimed at increasing breastfeeding duration could be of long-term benefit for child and adolescent mental health."
SOURCE: The Journal of Pediatrics, online Dec. 14, 2009.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2010/01/12/eline/links/20100112elin001.html

"Extraordinary" increases in drug prices: report
Last Updated: 2010-01-12 11:08:48 -0400 (Reuters Health)
* Number of drug price hikes doubled from 2000 to 2008
* Industry says GAO analysis too narrow
* Senators see need for Medicare drug negotiations
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prices for hundreds of brand-name drugs have soared since the beginning of the decade, especially those that treat depression, infections and heart disease, according to a U.S. government report on Monday.
The nonpartisan General Accountability Office said it found "extraordinary price increases" for 321 brand-name drugs, with prices jumping by 100 percent to 499 percent - and in a few cases by more than 1,000 percent.
The number of drug price increases more than doubled from 2000 to 2008 with most drugs maintaining their higher prices over time, the investigative arm of Congress said.
GAO's findings came as lawmakers work to finalize Senate and House versions of legislation overhauling the nation's healthcare system. Some critics say both proposals are too generous to the pharmaceutical industry and fail to do enough to rein in costs.
Lawmakers have also raised concerns that drug companies such as Pfizer Inc and Merck & Co Inc raised some drug prices ahead of anticipated reforms.
Drugmakers in June made a $80 billion, 10-year pact with Senate Democrats and the Obama administration that could limit concessions from the industry, which agreed to pay millions of dollars in annual taxes as well as help lower prices for some seniors in the Medicare prescription drug program.
Democratic senators Charles Schumer and Amy Klobuchar requested the GAO analysis and said it shows more must be done to make medicines affordable, including allowing the federal government to negotiate prices.
"This is further proof that Medicare should be allowed to negotiate drug prices, just as the Veterans Administration does. It would help save taxpayers a lot of money," Klobuchar said.
The influential industry group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) criticized the GAO report for focusing "only on a small number of selected brand medicines rather than the entire prescription drug market."
The GAO itself noted that the number of products that saw increases - as many as 416 products when different doses and formulations were factored in - represent only about half of 1 percent of all brand-name drug products.
It also said about half of the price hikes were seen with products that are repackaged in smaller amounts for use by hospitals or physicians.
It is unclear what, if any, changes the $315 billion pharmaceutical industry could see in the final version of a healthcare reform bill expected before President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech in early February.
PhRMA has made clear it supports the Senate's bill rather that the House version, which would cost drug companies more.
Several other investigations into drug prices are pending, including another GAO report requested by House Democrats and a review by the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general sought by Democratic Senator Bill Nelson.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2010/01/12/eline/links/20100112elin016.html

Economic, health worries make 35 the new 40: report
Last Updated: 2010-01-12 8:00:17 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Worries about the economy and healthcare are pushing people into middle age earlier, making 35 the new 40, according to a new report.
Research by the Philips Center for Health and Well-Being showed that 40 was previously widely considered as the milestone that defined middle age but this has been lowered to 35.
"Thirty five is the new 40 as Americans feel the pressures of middle age earlier than ever," the Amsterdam-based center said in a statement.
Katy Hartley, the director of the center which aims to improve quality of life, said stress about the economy and healthcare that you would typically associate with turning 40 is starting at a younger age.
"The data suggests the new age for middle age is 35," she said in an interview.
Nearly 80 percent of 35 year olds questioned for the Philips Index said they were concerned about the economy, and three-quarters were also worried about healthcare. These stresses, according to the study, have contributed to the feeling of early onset of middle age or the loss of five years of youth.
The report showed the economy topped the list of stressors for most Americans at 74 percent which was nearly double from a 2004 survey. A nearly equal amount said they feel positive about their overall health and well-being.
But many Americans may not be realistic about their health.
Only 39 percent of Americans consider themselves to be overweight, according to the index while a report by the National Center for Health Statistics showed 67 percent of Americans are overweight or obese.
Americans seem to accept being overweight as normal.
"I think the data would support that," said Hartley.
Although most Americans said they are in good health, only 51 percent think they are as fit as they could be and 66 percent wished they exercised more.
When they do get sick, more than half of the 1,503 Americans who were questioned for the index said a doctor would be their first choice for getting information, followed by the Internet.
"The role of doctors remains important. Fifty-three percent of people still see their doctor as the first source of information and the second source of information is the Internet," said Hartley.
But most people seek the company of family and friends to improve their health and well being, while job and salary were far less important.
"Initially it looks fine. We all feel great about our health and well being. I think when you dig a level deeper that Americans are struggling to balance spending time with their family, with their jobs, with the economy and with stress levels," said Hartley.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2010/01/12/eline/links/20100112elin022.html

Rosemary may stop carcinogen formation in cooked beef

Foodnavigator.com, 12-Jan-2010

Extracts from rosemary may prevent the formation of mutagenic compounds formed during cooking meat at high temperature, says a new American study.
Levels of mutagenic and carcinogenic compounds called heterocyclic amines were decreased by up to 92 per cent when rosemary extracts were added tobeef patties prior to high temperature cooking, according to findings published in the Journal of Food Science.
“The data obtained in this study suggest that the addition of rosemary extracts is an important factor in decreasing carcinogenic compounds in cooked beef patties,” wrote Kanithaporn Puangsombat and J. Scott Smith from the Food Science Institute at Kansas State University.
“The use of rosemary extracts, which have less volatile compounds than natural rosemary, provides the additional advantage of not affecting the flavor or odor of meat products,” they added.
The study adds to the reputation of rosemary as natural alternatives to chemical preservatives in a range of food applications, particularly meat and meat products.
Consumers are increasingly wary of E-numbers and chemical-sounding ingredients lists. A recent study of Mintel’s Global New Product Database found that 36 per cent of all food and beverage products launched in the UK in 2008 made ‘natural’ claims, including ‘‘no additives/preservatives’, ‘organic’, and ‘wholegrain’.
On a global basis, 23 per cent of products launched in 2008 made ‘natural’ claims.
Study details
Puangsombat and Smith used rosemary extracts obtained from Japan’s Mitsubishi-Kagaku Foods Corp and tested them in beef patties cooked at 191 °C (375 °F) for and 204 °C (400 °F).
Results showed that levels of heterocyclic amines such as 2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo [4,5- f ] quinoxaline (MeIQx), and 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo [4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) were reduced by up to 92 and 85 per cent, respectively when the beef patties were formulated with a 40 per cent ethanol extract of rosemary and cooked at high temperature.
The researchers note that the inhibiting effect of rosemary extracts on heterocyclic amines formation was related to the antioxidant activity of the rosemary extract.
“A synergistic antioxidant effect between phenolic compounds in rosemary may play an important role in heterocyclic amines inhibition,” concluded the researchers.
Source: Journal of Food Science  “Inhibition of Heterocyclic Amine Formation in Beef Patties by Ethanolic Extracts of Rosemary” Authors: K. Puangsombat, J.S. Smith
http://www.foodnavigator.com/Science-Nutrition/Rosemary-may-stop-carcinogen-formation-in-cooked-beef

Mango Effective in Preventing, Stopping Certain Colon, Breast Cancer Cells, Food Scientists Find
ScienceDaily (Jan. 12, 2010) — Mango fruit been found to prevent or stop certain colon and breast cancer cells in the lab.
That's according to a new study by Texas AgriLife Research food scientists, who examined the five varieties most common in the U.S.: Kent, Francine, Ataulfo, Tommy/Atkins and Haden.
Though the mango is an ancient fruit heavily consumed in many parts of the world, little has been known about its health aspects. The National Mango Board commissioned a variety of studies with several U.S. researchers to help determine its nutritional value.
"If you look at what people currently perceive as a superfood, people think of high antioxidant capacity, and mango is not quite there," said Dr. Susanne Talcott, who with her husband, Dr. Steve Talcott, conducted the study on cancer cells. "In comparison with antioxidants in blueberry, acai and pomegranate, it's not even close."
But the team checked mango against cancer cells anyway, and found it prevented or stopped cancer growth in certain breast and colon cell lines, Susanne Talcott noted.
"It has about four to five times less antioxidant capacity than an average wine grape, and it still holds up fairly well in anticancer activity. If you look at it from the physiological and nutritional standpoint, taking everything together, it would be a high-ranking super food," she said. "It would be good to include mangoes as part of the regular diet."
The Talcotts tested mango polyphenol extracts in vitro on colon, breast, lung, leukemia and prostate cancers. Polyphenols are natural substances in plants and are associated with a variety of compounds known to promote good health.
Mango showed some impact on lung, leukemia and prostate cancers but was most effective on the most common breast and colon cancers.
"What we found is that not all cell lines are sensitive to the same extent to an anticancer agent," she said. "But the breast and colon cancer lines underwent apotosis, or programmed cell death. Additionally, we found that when we tested normal colon cells side by side with the colon cancer cells, that the mango polyphenolics did not harm the normal cells."
The duo did further tests on the colon cancer lines because a mango contains both small molecules that are readily absorbed and larger molecules that would not be absorbed and thus remain present in a colon.
"We found the normal cells weren't killed, so mango is not expected to be damaging in the body," she said. "That is a general observation for any natural agent, that they target cancer cells and leave the healthy cells alone, in reasonable concentrations at least."
The Talcotts evaluated polyphenolics, and more specifically gallotannins as being the class of bioactive compounds (responsible for preventing or stopping cancer cells). Tannins are polyphenols that are often bitter or drying and found in such common foods as grape seed, wine and tea.
The study found that the cell cycle, which is the division cells go through, was interrupted. This is crucial information, Suzanne Talcott said, because it indicates a possible mechanism for how the cancer cells are prevented or stopped.
"For cells that may be on the verge of mutating or being damaged, mango polyphenolics prevent this kind of damage," she said.
The Talcotts hope to do a small clinical trial with individuals who have increased inflamation in their intestines with a higher risk for cancer.
"From there, if there is any proven efficacy, then we would do a larger trial to see if there is any clinical relevance," she said.
According to the National Mango Board, based in Winter Park, Fla., most mangoes consumed in the U.S. are produced in Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Guatemala and Haiti. Mangoes are native to southeast Asia and India and are produced in tropical climates. They were introduced to the U.S. in the late 1800s, and a few commercial acres still exist in California and Florida.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100111154926.htm

Pycnogenol pine bark extract shown to protect diabetics from swelling, circulation and vision problems
Mike Adams, NaturalNews.com  January 13, 2010 

(NaturalNews) A research study conducted by G D'Annunzio University in Italy evaluated the benefits of a popular form of pine bark extract in helping diabetics. Published in the Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics, findings revealed that people with diabetes can avoid developing retinopathy and maintain proper micro-circulation by supplementing with pine bark.

A total of 46 diabetic patients were involved in the randomized, controlled study. Twenty-four of them were treated with pine bark extract once a day for three months while the remaining 22 were given a placebo. All the patients had diabetes for at least four years and all were beginning to developretinopathy. Seventy-five percent of patients in the pine bark group experienced improvement in their vision while none in the placebo group did.

Dr. Robert Steigerwalt, one of the lead researchers of the study, confirmed that not only does pine bark extract halt the progression of diabeticretinopathy, it can cause it to regress by sealing the leaky blood vessels in the eye that lead to the disease. Such results were witnessed in as little as two months. He also noted that diabetics in the early stages of the disease can prevent such complications from ever occurring by supplementing with pine bark extract.

Pycnogenol, the branded formula of the antioxidant plant extract derived from the French maritime pine tree, has proven itself time and time again to be a powerful protective nutrient, particularly for diabetics. When administered during the early stages of diabetes, many studies have shown that pine bark is effective at preventing and treating the diabetic retinal diseases.
Comments by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Pycnogenol is one of the "miracle nutrients" we've been blessed with on this planet. Time and time again, it has been proven to offer truly remarkable health benefits to those people who taken the supplement.

Now, this research shows how beneficial pycnogenol can be for diabetics. It's an important piece of research showing how this tree-derived nutrient helps increase circulation that can ultimately help save lives.

It's not just an antioxidant, you see: It's also a potent circulation booster. Combined with other circulation-boosting herbs like ginger and ginkgo, it could be an extremely effective natural remedy for preventing diabetic neuropathy (degradation of the nerves) and retinopathy (degradation of the retina).
http://www.naturalnews.com/027920_pycnogenol_diabetes.html

Lead Levels Previously Considered "Safe" Now Found to Harm Children
David Gutierrez, NaturalNews.com  January 13, 2010

(NaturalNews) Children can suffer cognitive and behavioral damage from lead exposure at half the blood levels currently considered safe, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Bristol Center for Child and Adolescent Health and published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood.

"Lead in the body is one of many factors that [has an] impact on education, but this is a reminder that environmental factors are important and pediatricians must test more children with behavioral problems for lead," said lead researcher Alan Emond.

Researchers tested the blood of 582 children, all of whom were 30 months of age, then followed them until they were seven or eight years old. After adjusting for other factors, they found that children who had blood lead levels between 5 and 10 micrograms per deciliter scored an average of 49 percent lower on reading tests and 51 percent lower on writing tests than children with levels below 5 micrograms.

The maximum level considered safe by the British and U.S. governments is 10 micrograms per deciliter. Lead is a neurotoxin that is especially damaging to fetuses and young children, although it can harm the brains and nervous systems of adults, as well.

Children with blood lead levels higher than 5 micrograms per deciliter were also significantly more likely to exhibit antisocial behavior and hyperactivity than children with lower lead levels. Children with levels above 10 micrograms per deciliter scored even worse on hyperactivity, antisocial behavior, and educational performance tests than children in the 5 to 10 microgram per deciliter group.

"We did our blood survey when the children were about two-and-a-half years old," Emond said. "We think this is quite close to the peak age for lead ingestion when the children are putting everything in their mouths as they explore their environment."

Twenty-seven percent of the children tested had lead levels higher than 5 micrograms per deciliter.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027917_lead_poisoning_children.html

Acai Assault: The Acai Berry may Regulate Cholesterol
Frank Mangano, NaturalNews.com  January 13, 2010

(NaturalNews) The laundry list of acai berry benefits to the body just got a bit longer. According to a recent study published in the journal Nutrition, the awkward-to-pronounce berry is great for cholesterol regulation.

There's no shortage of health claims when it comes to the acai berry (pronounced ah-sigh-EE, not ack-EYE), the berry that's been billed as the "Superfood of superfoods" by doctors and nutritionists alike. From better digestion to improved circulation, the acai berry could very well be the "berry best" in a family that's already bursting with nutritional heavyweights.

The latest study to tout the acai berry's benefits comes out of Brazil, the berry's native land, where the pulp of acai was fed to two groups of rats. One of the groups had a standard rat diet, while the other had a high fat diet. The remaining rats had high fat diets but without the accompanying acai (there were four groupings of rats).

After six weeks of observation, the researchers found distinct differences in the blood work of the rats that supplemented with the acai and those that didn't. Both acai supplementing groups had improvements in their cholesterol profile, but what really took the researchers by surprise was that the high fat rats had the best cholesterol profile (i.e., total cholesterol levels AND non-HDL levels dropped).

The researchers believe the acai berry was the catalyst, but it could also have been due to the fact that those fed the high fat diet consumed lessfood in terms of quantity (i.e., less food consumed, but more calories consumed).

Granted, this test was performed on rats, but observers of the study have every reason to suspect that the results can be translated to humans. More long-term studies are in the offing.

The acai berry is not something you'll find nestled next to blueberries or strawberries at your local farmer's market. Ninety percent of the berry is the pit, which may explain why you've seen people drinking acai berry juice but not eating the actual berry. But what an acai berry lacks in plumpness, it makes up for in nutrients. The flesh of one acai berry has 10 times the antioxidant content found in a grape, and two times the antioxidant content found in a blueberry.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027928_acai_cholesterol.html

Nine meals from anarchy
A cold snap shows how fragile our supply of food and fuel is. We need a more sustainable system
guardian.co.uk, Monday 11 January 2010

'Man has lost the capacity to foresee and forestall," wrote Albert Schweitzer. A colossal banking crisis and a big freeze in the middle of what was meant to be a mild winter don't encourage confidence to the contrary.
Reassurance is fine as long as it's well founded. And in the midst of fears about gas supplies and the panic buying of food Gordon Brown is hardly likely to scream that we are all doomed. It is, after all, his job to tell us that all will be well. But will it? People were shocked at the scale of social breakdown when Hurricane Katrina revealed a long-term, creeping erosion of civic resilience. Are we just waking up to the fact that several wrong turns have left our essential supplies much more vulnerable than they need to be?
In 2004 Britain ceased to be able to meet its energy needs domestically. Since then our dependence on imports, particularly of natural gas, has risen dramatically. The situation can only worsen as gas is subject to the same iron law of depletion as oil, and its moment of peak production lags not far behind.
Similarly, Britain's ability to feed itself has been in long-term decline, and food prices are reportedly rising in the cold spell. It was only two years ago that droughts in Australia caused a crisis in world grain supplies; in April 2008 food crises affected at least 37 countries and there were related riots in many. As climate change and volatile oil prices destabilise global agriculture, we are becoming more dependent on food and energy imports just as the geopolitics of both make it less likely that the world will generously meet our needs.
This year is the 10th anniversary of the fuel protests, when supermarket bosses sat with ministers and civil servants in Whitehall warning that there were just three days of food left. We were, in effect, nine meals from anarchy. Suddenly, the apocalyptic visions of novelists and film-makers seemed less preposterous. Civilisation's veneer may be much thinner than we like to think.
Part of the problem lies in the infrastructure that emerges from a market system focused on narrow cost savings. The result is easily disrupted just-in-time supermarket food supply lines, and a risky assumption that anything we need can easily be bought on global markets. The latter becomes problematic when in response to global shortages, governments around the world understandably choose to meet their domestic needs first. In Britain, not only are our strategic fuel reserves low by international comparison, our strategic food reserves are history.
One response to the vulnerability revealed in 2008 has been the rise of the so-calledland grab. Several wealthy countries and companies have targeted up to 20m hectares of productive farmland in poor countries for acquisition and control. In Madagascar, public outcry led to the government's fall.
As a child I was quietly haunted by Doris Lessing's book The Memoirs of a Survivor. Society had broken down, and people were on the move, displaced amid an increasingly brutal disorder. The presiding government was useless but just about able to "adjust itself to events, while pretending probably even to itself that it initiated them".
Events are revealing that many of the things we take for granted, like bank accounts, fuel and food, are vulnerable. If we value civilisation, the litmus test for economic success should not be short-term profitability, but resilience in the face of climatic extremes and resource shortages. When Gordon Brown meets Cobra, the civil contingencies committee, this week, item one should be the transition to a more sustainable food and energy system.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/11/nine-meals-anarchy-sustainable-system/print

Swine flu 'a false pandemic'?

Times of India, 13 January 2010
A leading Australian expert has said that the outbreak of H1N1 was falsely exaggerated by pharmaceutical industries to create a huge market for vaccines. 

According to The Sun , Wolfgang Wodarg, head of health at the Council of Europe, insists that major firms organised a "campaign of panic" to put pressure on the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare a pandemic. 

Wodarg has also called for an inquiry into what he calls a "medical scandal". In an interview with France’s L’Humanite, Dr Wodarg also raised concerns about the swift release of swine flu vaccines. 

"The vaccines were developed too quickly. Some ingredients were insufficiently tested," News.com.au quoted Wodarg as saying. 

However Australia’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Jim Bishop, has strongly discarded the accusations. 

"The recognition and declaration of a pandemic by the World Health Organization occurred in response to cases and deaths in Mexico and the USA not because of drug companies input or influence," said Bishop. 

He also refuted Wodarg’s claims that swine flu: "Was a normal kind of flu. It does not cause a tenth of deaths caused by the classic seasonal flu." 

"Swine flu is similar to ordinary flu but with some dangerous differences," said Bishop. "Swine flu affected a much younger age group.” Bishop also says that the development of a swine flu vaccine was not rushed. 

"In Australia the vaccine has gone through a rigorous safety assessment by the Therapeutic Goods Administration,” he said. 

"The safety profile of the Australian CSL vaccine is very well established from clinical trials and world wide use with millions of doses being safely administered," he added.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/health-fitness/health/Swine-flu-a-false-pandemic/articleshow/5439522.cms

Yoga ‘cuts inflammation’

Times of India, 12 January 2010

Incorporating yoga sessions in your daily routine could lower a number of compounds in the blood and reduce the level of inflammation that normally rises because of both normal aging and stress, revealed a new study. 

Conducted by Ohio State University researchers, the study showed that women who routinely practiced yoga had lower amounts of the cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) in their blood. 

The women also showed smaller increases in IL-6 after stressful experiences than did women who were the same age and weight but who were not yoga practitioners. 

IL-6 is an important part of the body’s inflammatory response and has been implicated in heart disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes, arthritis and a host of other age-related debilitating diseases. 

Reducing inflammation may provide substantial short- and long-term health benefits, the researchers suggest. 

“In addition to having lower levels of inflammation before they were stressed, we also saw lower inflammatory responses to stress among the expert yoga practitioners in the study,” explained Dr. Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, professor of psychiatry and psychology and lead author of the study. 

“Hopefully, this means that people can eventually learn to respond less strongly to stressors in their everyday lives by using yoga and other stress-reducing modalities,” she added. 

For the study, researchers assembled a group of 50 women, age 41 on average. Ron Glaser, a co-author and a professor of molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics, said that the study has some fairly clear implications for health. 

“We know that inflammation plays a major role in many diseases. Yoga appears to be a simple and enjoyable way to add an intervention that might reduce risks for developing heart disease, diabetes and other age-related diseases. This is an easy thing people can do to help reduce their risks of illness,” he said. 

The study was published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/health-fitness/health/Yoga-cuts-inflammation/articleshow/5435962.cms

Cocaine changes how genes work in brain
Last Updated: 2010-01-08 10:35:13 -0400 (Reuters Health)
* Findings help explain why people become addicted
* May lead to new areas of addiction research
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Prolonged exposure to cocaine can cause permanent changes in the way genes are switched on and off in the brain, a finding that may lead to more effective treatments for many kinds of addiction, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.
A study in mice by Ian Maze of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and colleagues found that chronic cocaine addiction kept a specific enzyme from doing its job of shutting off other genes in the pleasure circuits of the brain, making the mice crave the drug even more.
The study helps explain how cocaine use changes the brain, said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health, which funded the study published in the journal Science.
"This finding is opening up our understanding about how repeated drug use modifies in long-lasting ways the function of neurons," Volkow said in a telephone interview.
For the study, the team gave one group of young mice repeated doses of cocaine and another group repeated doses of saline, then a single dose of cocaine.
They found that one way cocaine alters the reward circuits in the brain is by repressing gene 9A, which makes an enzyme that plays a critical role in switching genes on and off.
Other studies have found that animals exposed to cocaine for a long period of time undergo dramatic changes in the way certain genes are turned on and off, and they develop a strong preference for cocaine.
This study helps explain how that occurs, Volkow said, and may even lead to new ways of overcoming addiction.
In the study, Maze and colleagues showed these effects could be reversed by increasing the activity of gene 9A.
"When they do that, they completely reverse the effects of chronic cocaine use," Volkow said.
She said this mechanism is likely not confined to cocaine addiction, and could lead to a new area of addiction research for other drugs, alcohol and even nicotine addition.
"One of the questions we've had all along is, after discontinuing a drug, why do you continue to be addicted?
"This is one of the mechanisms that probably is responsible for these long-lasting modifications to the way people who are addicted to drugs perceive the world and react to it," she said.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2010/01/08/eline/links/20100108elin009.html

Help End the Government’s Shameful Silence About Vitamin D—the Natural Way to Prevent and Treat Flu Including Swine Flu!
Alliance for Natural Health, January 5, 2010
With hundreds of thousands of seasonal flu-related complications, more than 35,000 deaths from the flu, and countless more from the H1N1 flu expected this season, ANH-USA asks the obvious question: What are the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Health and Human Services (HHS) doing about it? The answer: Not much!
Our goal is to persuade the CDC, FDA, NIH, and HHS to step up to the plate and help educate the public about the critical role Vitamin D plays in preventing and treating the seasonal and H1N1 flus along with many other health problems. In particular, we are asking the CDC, FDA, HHS, and NIH to issue statements outlining the immense benefits to be gained from supplementation during the flu season. In addition, HHS should update the government’s web site, www.flu.gov to include well established facts about Vitamin D.
Studies show that least one-third of Americans are wholly deficient in Vitamin D. We all need to maintain adequate levels of Vitamin D year-round, not just during flu season. The government has an important role to play in getting this message out, but says nothing at all.
In anticipation of the government’s programmed response – that even more research needs to be done – we are also asking the CDC, FDA, NIH, and HHS to support and fund additional research on the importance of maintaining adequate levels of Vitamin D, including the link between Vitamin D and flu prevention and treatment.
Why is the government utterly silent about Vitamin D and its benefits? Could it be because big corporations are not pushing such an inexpensive and readily available form of prevention and treatment? Whatever the reason, the government’s silence is shameful. Please sign our petition to these agencies now. 
Visit the Alliance for Natural Health website   www.anh-usa.org to sign petition
http://www.anh-usa.org/new_site/?p=1570

Report calls for research on nanoparticles in food
Last Updated: 2010-01-08 11:01:22 -0400 (Reuters Health)
* Report says use of nanoparticles in food set to increase
* Global market seen growing to $5.6 billion by 2012
* Novel approach may bring benefits or risks, studies needed
* Food industry "should be more open" about nanoparticle use
LONDON (Reuters) - A global scarcity of scientific research on using nanotechnology in foods means food safety authorities are unable to properly regulate products that may be beneficial or harmful, a British science panel said on Friday.
The science and technology committee of Britain's upper house of parliament said in a report that use of nanoparticles in food and food packaging is likely to grow dramatically in the next decade, but too little is known about their safety.
"The technologies have the potential to deliver some significant benefits to consumers, but it is important that detailed and thorough research into potential health and safety implications ... is undertaken now to ensure that any possible risks are identified," said Lord Krebs, chair of the Science and Technology Committee which produced the report.
Nanotechnology is the design and manipulation of materials thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair, called nanoparticles.
The technology has been hailed as a new way to make stronger and more lightweight materials, better cosmetics and tastier or healthier foods, but Friday's report said a paucity of scientific research across the world meant its potential benefits and risks in food were largely unknown.
According to Krebs whose committee heard evidence from food producer groups, regulators and scientific experts from across the world, the global market for nanotechnology in food was $410 million in 2006 and is set to grow to $5.6 billion in 2012.
"We are on the cusp of a potentially explosive growth in this novel approach to food manufacture and processing," he told a news briefing.
There are currently at least 600 products involving nanomaterials on the market but only around 80 of them are food or food-related and only two of those are available in the UK.
The report called for new rules to compel food companies to tell regulators about any work they are doing with nanoparticles in food, and also called for a voluntary public register of food products and packaging containing nanomaterials available.
Krebs said the food industry in Britain and worldwide was being "quite obscure" about any work they are doing on using nanotechnology for products or packaging - an attitude he described as "exactly the wrong approach".
"The food industry must be much more open with the public about research it has undertaken in this area and where it sees nanomaterials being used in food production in future," he said.
Stephen Holgate, a clinical professor of immunopharmacology at the University of Southampton, who advised the committee on its report, said some studies suggest nanoparticles behave differently in the body than larger ones.
"Most of the research so far... has shown that these particles can penetrate barriers and get into the system - and they can find their way into the liver, into the kidney and even into the brain," he told reporters. "Knowing that, we really need now to concentrate on finding out what their effects are."
The report's authors warned that the lessons of a public backlash against genetically modified food in Europe showed that "secrecy breeds mistrust, and that openness and transparency are crucial to maintain public confidence."
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2010/01/08/eline/links/20100108elin010.html

Tea may prevent endometrial cancer, but needs study
Last Updated: 2010-01-08 15:45:15 -0400 (Reuters Health)
TORONTO (Reuters Health) - Tea may protect against endometrial cancer, but more research is needed before it's clear if the antioxidant-rich beverage offers a real benefit, a recent analysis found.
Tea is the second most-consumed beverage in the world, after water, and multiple studies have looked into whether or not the drink brewed from the plant Camellia sinesis protects against various types of cancer. Animal studies have shown that the polyphenols found in tea may have a tumor-shrinking effect, but results focusing on endometrial cancer haven't shown a clear benefit.
Endometrial cancer - which forms in the lining of the uterus - is the fourth most common cancer in American women. The National Cancer Institute says there are 42,000 new cases in the United States each year, and nearly 7,800 deaths.
Researchers from the National Shanghai Center for New Drug Safety Evaluation and Research in China analyzed several published studies looking at the role of green and black tea in the prevention of endometrial cancer.
While the researchers found that existing research indicates that drinking tea - particularly green tea -- may offer some protection against endometrial cancer, they cautioned that the limited number of overall studies means that more investigation is needed.
The analysis of existing research, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, included seven studies. The researchers first compared people who consumed tea regularly with those with the lowest or no tea consumption, and then compared low-consumption, moderate-consumption and high-consumption tea drinkers.
After accounting for the different ways the studies measured tea drinking, the researchers found that an increase in tea consumption of two cups daily was associated with a 25-percent reduced risk of developing endometrial cancer. The association was significant for green tea but not for black tea. There was also a protective effect shown in the Chinese and Japanese studies but not the American studies.
The researchers cautioned that the risk reduction seen in Asian studies but not the American studies may be the result of some other unexamined factor, such as diet, lifestyle or genetic differences. For example, American tea drinkers tend to drink black tea while most of tea drinkers in China and Japan drink green tea.
Finally, simply measuring tea exposure is difficult. Tea consumption in the different studies was measured by cups consumed daily, but cup size could vary among participants and across different countries.
If tea does offer a protective effect against endometrial cancer, it's likely due to a number of factors, the researchers suggested. Endometrial cancer is associated with late menopause or infertility, and the caffeine in tea can affect hormone levels.
Also, earlier research indicates that tea contains antioxidants that may affect cancer development. Tea also contains phytoestrogens, compounds that might protect against endometrial cancer because they could interfere with estrogen receptors.
It's difficult to apply the results of this analysis globally because the studies involved only looked at three countries, and because the researchers only found seven studies to review. However, the researchers said that because tea drinkers showed some evidence of a reduced risk of endometrial cancer, further investigation of the possible connection is worthwhile.
SOURCE: American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, December 2009.

Acupuncture eases tamoxifen-related hot flashes
Last Updated: 2010-01-08 13:00:44 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study provides more evidence that acupuncture can help ease hot flashes in women with breast cancer who are being treated with the "anti-estrogen" drug tamoxifen. Acupuncture, researchers found, is free of side effects and has a side benefit for some women: an increased sex drive.
"Acupuncture appears to be at least as effective as drug therapy," Dr. Eleanor M. Walker of Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and her colleagues report, "and it may provide additional and longer-term benefits without adverse effects."
Breast cancer patients with estrogen-sensitive tumors are typically given estrogen-blocking drugs for years at a time. These drugs, which include tamoxifen, bring on menopausal symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats.
The antidepressant drug Effexor (venlafaxine) is the standard treatment for these symptoms, Walker and her team note in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, but it can have unpleasant side effects, including dry mouth, nausea, and constipation. Non-drug treatments with few or no side effects are "urgently needed," they add.
To investigate whether acupuncture might be an option, Walker and her team randomly assigned 25 women to receive Effexor or acupuncture for 12 weeks, following them for up to year after the end of treatment.
Both treatments reduced hot flashes, night sweats, and symptoms of depression to a similar degree, and also significantly improved mental health, the researchers found. But within two weeks after treatment ended, women in the Effexor group saw their hot flashes increase; this didn't happen in the acupuncture group.
Eighteen women in the Effexor group had side effects, such as dizziness and anxiety, while none of the women given acupuncture had such side effects. About a quarter of the women given acupuncture said their sex drive had increased. "Most women also reported an improvement in their energy, clarity of thought, and sense of well-being," Walker and her team note.
The researchers also point out that Effexor could impair the effectiveness of tamoxifen in some patients, because it can block the body's metabolism of the drug.
Acupuncture, they conclude, is a "safe, effective and durable treatment" for hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms stemming from anti-estrogen hormone therapy in women with breast cancer. They hope this study will "lead to a change in the pattern of practice" of treating these symptoms in patients with breast cancer.
In traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture has been used for hot flashes. The current findings showing that acupuncture has the ability to cool breast cancer-related hot flashes build on findings reported by the same researchers in 2008. (See Reuters Health report, Sept. 22, 2008).
SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Oncology, online December 28, 2009.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2010/01/08/eline/links/20100108elin022.html

Natraceutical: Cocoa fibre shows potential for blood pressure cuts

Nutraingredients.com, 11-Jan-2010

A fibre from cocoa husks may reduce blood pressure and boost heart health, suggests new research with rats from Natraceutical.
Supplements of the soluble fibre-rich cocoa husk extract reduced systolic blood pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats by 10 to 15 mmHg, according to findings published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
The soluble cocoa fibre product (SCFP) is reportedly rich in soluble fibre, antioxidants and polyphenols. Using a patented enzymatic process the product is obtained from cocoa husks. “This new source of soluble fibre was shown to have potential application as a functional food ingredient,” said the researchers.
Researchers from Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Natraceutical Group, and the Instituto de Fermentaciones Industriales (CSIC) fed rats genetically predetermined to develop high blood pressure (hypertension) a daily supplement of the soluble fibre-rich cocoa husk extract for 17 weeks. Improvements in the animals’ blood pressure were reversed, however, when the SCFP was withdrawn after 20 weeks, said the researchers.
“We have shown that the antioxidant properties of SCFP and the polyphenolcontent of this fibre could be in part responsible for its antihypertensive effect,”wrote the researchers, led by Marta Miguel from the CSIC.
“The fibre may also benefit hypertension through the control of body weight, and it may also control increased angiotensin II in the hypertensive condition by inhibiting [angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE)],” they added.
ACE inhibitors work by inhibiting the conversion of angiotensin I to the potent vasoconstrictor, angiotensin II, thereby improving blood flow and blood pressure.
High blood pressure (hypertension),defined as having a systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) greater than 140 and 90 mmHg, is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) - a disease that causes almost 50 per cent of deaths in Europe, and reported to cost the EU economy an estimated €169bn ($202bn) per year.
Study details
Miguel and her co-workers divided 20 male spontaneously hypertensive rats into two groups. The animals were randomly assigned to receive either tap water (control) or a solution of SCFP (0.75 grams per day) for 17 weeks. The animals received only tap water for four weeks after this.
Improvements in systolic and diastolic blood pressure were observed in the group receiving the cocoa extract, but not in the control group. Withdrawal of the cocoa extract led to blood pressure increases, said the researchers.
Levels of malondialdehyde (MDA - a reactive carbonyl compound and a well-established marker of oxidative stress) were lower in the SCFP group, while ACE activity was also “slightly decreased”, said the researchers.
“We have demonstrated the antihypertensive and antioxidant properties of SCFP,” wrote the researchers.
“The control of body weight and the control of increased angiotensin II may be involved in the antihypertensive effect of this product.”
The need for clinical trials
The researchers noted that the exact mechanisms involved in the antihypertensive effect of SCFP have not been fully elucidated, and that more studies are recommended. “Therefore, further clinical trials should also be carried out before suggesting SCFP as a functional ingredient to prevent and/or attenuate the development of hypertension,” they concluded.
Cocoa powder benefits
Natraceutical, recently acquired by French botanicals giant Naturex, has been investing in the science behind its cocoa-derived products. An earlier study from the company and using its CocoanOX powder found that rodents fed 300 milligrams of cocoa powder per kilogram of body weight experienced a reduction in blood pressure similar to a 50 mg/kg dose of Captopril, a well-known pharmaceutical anti-hypertensive (Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Vol. 57, pp. 6156-6162).
Source: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry “Changes in Arterial Blood Pressure of a Soluble Cocoa Fiber Product in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats”Authors: D. Sanchez, M. Quinones, L. Moulay, B. Muguerza, M. Miguel, and A. Aleixandre
http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Natraceutical-Cocoa-fibre-shows-potential-for-blood-pressure-cuts

Blueberries may boost memory in older adults: Study

Nutraingredients.com, 11-Jan-2010

Supplemental blueberries for only 12 weeks may boost memory in older people with early memory problems, says a new study from the US.
A daily drink of about 500 mL of blueberry juice was associated with improved learning and word list recall, as well as a suggestion of reduced depressive symptoms, according to findings published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
The study is said to be the first human trial to assess the potential benefits ofblueberries on brain function in older adults with increased risk for dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia and currently affects over 13 million people worldwide. The direct and indirect cost of Alzheimer care is over $100bn (€ 81bn) in the US alone. The direct cost of Alzheimer care in the UK was estimated at £15bn (€ 22bn).
“These preliminary memory findings are encouraging and suggest that consistent supplementation with blueberries may offer an approach to forestall or mitigate neurodegeneration,” wrote the researchers, led by Robert Krikorian from the University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center.
“Interpretation of our findings should be tempered because of the relatively small sample size and the absence of a blueberry-specific control, although comparison with the analogous placebo beverage data provides some assurance that the observed changes in memory performance were not attributable to practice effects,” they added.
Berries are booming
Blueberry consumption has previously been linked to reduced risk of Alzheimer’s, with reports in 2003 leading to a boom in sales in the UK, going from £10.3m (€14.9m) in 2003 to almost £40m (€58m) in 2005, according to UK supplier BerryWorld.
The beneficial effects of the blueberries are thought to be linked to their flavonoid content - in particular anthocyanins and flavanols. The exact way in which flavonoids affect the brain are unknown, but they have previously been shown to cross the blood brain barrier after dietary intake.
It is believed that they may exert their effects on learning and memory by enhancing existing neuronal connections, improving cellular communications and stimulating neuronal regeneration.
Study details
Krikorian and his co-workers recruited nine older people with an average age of 76.2 and an average educational level of 15.6 years. Subjects were assigned to receive a daily dose of blueberry juice equivalent to between 6 and 9 mL per kilogram of body weight per day. The juice used in the study was provided by the Wild Blueberry Association of North America.
Results showed significant improvements in improved learning and word list recall. There was also a trend towards reduced depressive symptoms and lower glucose levels. Krikorian and his co-workers added that it would be interesting in future studies to examine if changes in cognitive function are associated with metabolic improvements.
“Replication of the findings in a larger, controlled trial will be important to corroborate and amplify these data,” wrote the researchers. “On balance, this initial study establishes a basis for further human research of blueberry supplementation as a preventive intervention with respect to cognitive aging,”they concluded.
The other researchers were affiliated with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging and Tufts University.
Source: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry “Blueberry Supplementation Improves Memory in Older Adults”Authors: R. Krikorian, M.D. Shidler, T.A. Nash, W. Kalt, M.R. Vinqvist-Tymchuk, B. Shukitt-Hale, J.A. Joseph
http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Blueberries-may-boost-memory-in-older-adults-Study

Brazilian fruit oil shows sports supplement potential

Nutraingredients.com, 08-Jan-2010

Oil from the pequi fruit may reduce inflammation following exercise, as well as reducing bad cholesterol levels in older men over 45 years of age, says a new study from Brazil.
High concentrations of monounsaturated fatty acids in oil of the pequi fruit (Caryocar brasiliense) were associated with beneficial effects to cholesterol levels in men over 45 years of age, while the oil’s antioxidants were linked to the anti-inflammatory response in a study involving 76 men and 49 women aged between 15 and 67.
Researchers led by Ana Miranda-Vilela from the University of Brasilia report their findings in Nutrition Research.
“We accept our initial hypothesis that C brasiliense fruit pulp oil presents anti-inflammatory effects similar to those demonstrated for C coriaceum, besides reducing significantly the total cholesterol and LDL in the age group older than 45 years, mainly for men,” report the researchers.
“Thus, pequi oil, as well as possessing other nutritional properties, is a good candidate as a supplement for athletes,” they added.
The market for sports nutrition is growing. Frost & Sullivan estimates the European sports nutrition market will surpass the €4 billion by 2010 – and it is a food industry segment that is growing more rapidly than most.
Study details
Miranda-Vilela and her co-workers prepared pequi oil capsules by extracting the oil from pequi pulp using cold maceration. The daily dose was set at 400 mg of pequi oil.
Athletic participants were evaluated after races before and after ingestion of pequi oil for 14 days. The races were run in the same environment and under the same type, intensity, and length of weekly training conditions, said the researchers.
Reductions in markers of inflammation, such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and number sof neutrophils and lymphocytes, following exercise were seen in all the age groups, but predominantly in the over 45 age group.
The pequi oil supplements were also associated with reductions in total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol in the over 45s, and mainly for men, said the researchers.
Furthermore, a general trend for reduced blood pressure was observed, but the researchers said this finding needed additional investigation.
“In this study, the general tendency of arterial pressure (systolic and diastolic) to decrease after pequi oil supplementation supports the previous suggestion that a higher intake of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) is inversely related to blood pressure and that not only a diet with a high polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA)/ saturated fatty acids (SFA) ratio, but also a diet with high PUFA-MUFA/SFA ratio, can exert a hypotensive effect;” said the researchers. “Although these results support our hypothesis that pequi oil can reduce blood pressure, a future study involving systematic measurement of arterial pressure can help to elucidate this question further.”
Adverse effects
The researchers report that no participants withdrew from the study, but some adverse effects were reported, including drowsiness, insomnia, and gastrointestinal discomfort. “All symptoms were noticed within the first 3 to 4 days of [supplementation], disappearing soon afterward,” added Miranda-Vilela and her co-workers.
Source: Nutrition Research Volume 29, Issue 12, Pages 850-858  “Pequi fruit (Caryocar brasiliense Camb.) pulp oil reduces exercise-induced inflammatory markers and blood pressure of male and female runners” Authors: A.L. Miranda-Vilela, L.C.S. Pereira, C.A. Goncalves, C.K. Grisolia
http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Brazilian-fruit-oil-shows-sports-supplement-potential

TSA lies exposed: Full-body scanner machines do save and transmit images, secret documents reveal

Mike Adams, NaturalNews.com January 11, 2010 

(NaturalNews) The TSA has been lying to the American people about full-body scanners. The agency has insisted that these "digital strip search" machines are incapable of saving, storing or transmitting the images they take. This, we are told, makes it okay for people to be digitally strip-searched.

But secret documents uncovered by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (www.EPIC.org) have revealed that these machines do indeed posses precisely such capabilities. According to TSA specification requirement documents that have been uncovered by the EPIC, all full-body scanners purchased by the TSA must have the ability to both save and transmit the scanned images of air passengers.

The documents were obtained by EPIC through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. They have also been shared with CNN, which has viewed the documents and published a story about what they reveal.

These documents contradict the claims of the TSA, which include the statement that "the system has no way to save, transmit or print the image."

TSA misleads the public

The TSA's own "imaging technology" page (http://www.tsa.gov/approach/tech/im...) claims, "This state-of-the-art technology cannot store, print, transmit or save the image. In fact, all machines are delivered to airports with these functions disabled."

That in itself is an interesting statement because by stating those functions are "disabled," it also admits that the machines inherently have these functions. And just because the machines are delivered with the functions disabled doesn't mean those functions can't be re-enabled at the flick of a switch.

In other words, these machines are designed and constructed with the ability to save, store and transmit the images.

"I don't think the TSA has been forthcoming with the American public about the true capability of these devices," said the Executive Director of EPIC, Marc Rotenberg in a CNN interview. "They've done a bunch of very slick promotions where they show people -- including journalists -- going through the devices. And then they reassure people, based on the images that have been produced, that there's not any privacy concerns. But if you look at the actual technical specifications and you read the vendor contracts, you come to understand that these machines are capable of doing far more than the TSA has let on." (http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/...)

In other words, the TSA is telling the public and the press one thing, but the machines they're buying are capable of something far more insidious, these documents reveal. Is the TSA intentionally lying to the public in order to mislead people over the real capabilities of these machines?

If these full-body scanners can save, store and transmit images, then it's only a matter of time before some rogue TSA employee finds a way to copy off the images or display them on the screen so that they can take snapshots with their own portable cameras.

The TSA says it's protecting your privacy. But its own scanner specification documents tell a different story: The TSA won't even buy these machines unless they can save, store and transmit revealing images of air passengers.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027914_TSA_full-body_scanners.html

New study: omega-3s may treat schizophrenia, ADD, Huntington’s and other nervous system diseases

S. L. Baker, NaturalNews.com January 11, 2010 

(NaturalNews) Research just published in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience provides evidence that adequate omega-3 fatty acids are needed for healthy nervous systems. That could explain why low levels of omega-3s are associated with the information processing difficulties experienced by people with bipolar, obsessive-compulsive, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders; schizophrenia; Huntington's disease and other illnesses affecting the nervous system. What's more, this research suggests that increasing dietary omega-3s may be a natural way to prevent and treat those conditions.

Scientists at the Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism studied two forms of omega-3 essential fatty acids found in certain foods including fatty fish and some algae: docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). The human body can only acquire these key nutrients by metabolizing their precursor, linolenic acid (LNA), or from foods or dietary supplements with DHA and EPA in a readily usable form. 

EPA has been shown in numerous previous studies to have anti-inflammatory and cardiovascular protective effects (http://www.naturalnews.com/027036_o...). DHA, although less studied, is also crucial to the body. In fact, it makes up more than 90 percent of the omega-3s in the brain, retina and the nervous system. 

For their study, the research team fed four groups of pregnant mice and their offspring four different diets with no or varying types and amounts of omega-3s. Then, after the newborn mice grew into mature animals, the scientists recorded how they responded when exposed to a sudden loud noise.

This classic test of nervous-system function normally makes healthy animals flinch. However, if animals with a normal nervous system are exposed first to a softer tone before the loud one, they flinch much less. Scientists believe that's due to an adaptive process known as sensorimotor gating which causes an initial stimulus to prepare the body for future stimuli.

The results of the tests showed that only the mice raised on DHA and EPA, but not their precursor of LNA, demonstrated normal, adaptivesensorimotor gating. These healthy animals responded in a significantly calmer way to loud noises if they had first heard softer tones. The mice in all other groups, however, were startled almost as much by the initial soft sound as by the loud noise that followed.

The reason? The scientists concluded that when DHA was deficient the nervous system was in an abnormal state that left the animals almost constantly startled and easily overwhelmed by sensory stimuli. "It only takes a small decrement in brain DHA to produce losses in brain function," lead researcher Norman Salem Jr., PhD. said in a statement to the media.

The researchers think this important information may be very significant for humans -- because weak sensorimotor gating is a hallmark of many nervous-system problems including Huntington's disease, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. And they've suggested that omega-3s could have therapeutic potential for these and other diseases marked by nervous system problems.

Moreover, the research underlines the dangers of the typical American diet of processed foods and lots of meat -- making it far higher in omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3s. That imbalance reduces the body's ability to incorporate omega-3s and, as a result, "we have the double whammy of lowomega-3 intake and high omega-6 intake," stated Dr. Salem. "It is an uphill battle now to reverse the message that 'fats are bad' and to increase omega-3 fats in our diet." 

Editor's note: NaturalNews is opposed to the use of animals in medical experiments that expose them to harm. We present these findings in protest of the way in which they were acquired.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027912_omega-3s_nervous_system.html

Researchers Reluctantly Admit Mediterranean Diet Beats Diabetes Drugs for Controlling Blood Sugar

David Gutierrez, NaturalNews.com January 11, 2010 

(NaturalNews) For the first time, a long-term health study has demonstrated that the Mediterranean diet may help diabetes patients control their blood sugar without the use of medication.

"A Mediterranean-style diet is a very important part in the treatment of diabetes," said endocrinologist Loren Greene of New York University Medical Center, who was not involved in the study. "We knew that, but there just hasn't been a good study to confirm this before."

In a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers assigned 215 overweight, adult residents of Naples, Italy, to adhere to one of twodiets. Participants in one group were assigned to follow a Mediterranean diet -- eating large quantities of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and certain healthy fats such as olive oil; favoring lean protein sources such as nuts, poultry and fish; and gaining no more than half their daily calories from carbohydrates. Participants in the other group were assigned to follow a low-fat diet similar to that recommended by the American Heart Association -- with no more than 30 percent of its daily calories from fat and 10 percent from saturated fat; low in sweets and high-fat snacks; and high in fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

All participants were instructed to limit their caloric intake to 1,800 calories per day for men and 1,500 per day for women. They were given regular nutrition counseling and urged to exercise regularly.

After four years, 56 percent of the participants in the Mediterranean diet group were able to manage their diabetes without drugs, compared with only 30 percent of those in the low-fat group. Participants eating a Mediterranean diet also maintained more weight loss and more improvement in levels of HDL ("bad") cholesterol and triglycerides.

Greene noted that as most patients dislike taking medication, the new study might provide an incentive for more diabetics to watch their diets.

"If you are told, 'If you don't want to go on medicine, stick to this diet,' then that's a pretty valuable tool at least for patient compliance," she said.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027903_Mediterranean_diet_diabetes.html

Moderation of Caffeine in Women Proven to Boost Memory

Andréanne Hamel, NaturalNews.com January 9, 2010 

(NaturalNews) Women over the age of 65 have a head start when it comes to mental faculties... if they drink 3 cups of coffee per day, that is. Caffeine consumption in moderation is now a proven boost to women's mental health.

When taken in moderation, it appears that caffeine can actually be a boost to women's health - and in particular, their capacity for memory. A report published in the August 2007 issue of the American Academy of Neurology's medical journal revealed the results of a study conducted by the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM), which focused on the impact of caffeine in both men's and women's health.

Three Cups a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

The study by INSERM included around 7,000 individuals over the age of 65, and checked a number of variables for each participant before the study began - things like medical histories and how much coffee or tea they tended to drink on a daily basis. Initially, participants took several tests to determine their level of mental skill, which centered around the use of memory. These tests were repeated two and then four years after the first test.

The women who had originally reported that they drank three or more cups of tea or coffee each day at the start of the study actually had less of a reduction in their test score than those women who consumed a maximum of one cup daily.

Memory Boost Only Impacts Women

Regardless of whether the women drank coffee or tea, it was the amount of caffeine which entered a person's system on a daily basis that made the significant difference – but in women alone.

As for the men, the test scores showed absolutely no benefits to males in terms of regular caffeine consumption, a factor which seems to indicate that women have a higher sensitivity to caffeine than men. The data indicates that caffeine is a psychostimulant which appears to reduce the amount of cognitive decline for females only.

The amount of memory impact also increased in parallel with age; for women around the age of 65, there was a 30% lower likelihood of memory loss, whereas women over the age of 80 were 70% less likely to have memory loss.

Everything in Moderation

The next step is to determine whether caffeine has any significant impact on more severe mental diseases, such as dementia. The study conducted by INSERM did not reveal any effects on degenerative mental diseases when combined with caffeine consumption, however the duration of the study may have simply been too short to effectively produce results in this area.

While doctors do not recommend that women dramatically increase their caffeine consumption as a preventative measure against mental decline, the study certainly indicates that caffeine taken in moderation by women is one way in which women can help boost their memories for significant and proven health benefits.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027900_caffeine_memory.html

Food costs to soar as big freeze deepens

guardian.co.uk, Saturday 9 January 2010

Britons have been warned to brace themselves for an increase in food prices as plunging temperatures leave farmers unable to harvest vegetables and hauliers struggle to distribute fresh produce.
Gordon Brown, who will chair a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee early this week to discuss the freeze, was today forced to reassure the country that it would not run out of gas or grit for its roads during the coldest weather in 30 years.
Police confirmed today that the weather-related death toll had risen to 26. A 90-year-old woman froze to death in her garden near Barnsley after falling in the snow. Widow Mary Priestland was discovered when her neighbour called round to make her tea. A 42-year-old Newcastle woman died after being found lying in the snow this morning. She had told her family she was going for a walk at 7pm on Friday.
Concerns have now switched to food supply. Sub-zero temperatures have made it impossible to extract some vegetables from the ground. Producers of brussels sprouts and cabbages are all reporting problems with harvesting. Cauliflowers are said to have turned to "mush" in the sustained frost, with the result that only imported ones are available – at more than £2 each.
"Food is selling fast and there is a problem with replenishing it," said Stephen Alambritis of the Federation of Small Businesses. "One business I spoke to said it was like Christmas Eve, with people rushing to buy up food. This will inevitably have an impact on food prices."
Food prices had already started to edge up after a sustained period of low inflation. Food inflation increased by 3.7% in December, up from 2.8% in November, said the British Retail Consortium.
In Ireland, 6,000 acres of potatoes remains unharvested and there are claims that up to three-quarters of the crop may be ruined. Potato growers in Northern Ireland say they are facing some of the biggest losses in recent history because of frost damage.
Meanwhile, greengrocers in some of the worst-hit areas are reporting shortages, with the price of carrots and parsnips reportedly rising by 30% in some small shops. A spokesman for the National Farmers' Union said: "There are isolated examples of farms struggling to get milk supplies out, but so far the majority of farmers, although finding it difficult, are getting on with the job." Milk suppliers in Somerset said they feared they may have to dump 100,000 litres of organic milk because tankers could not get through.
In a move that underscores the severity of the situation, on Monday the government will permit an emergency relaxation of European laws regulating the driving hours for hauliers involved in the distribution of animal feed. Under the temporary rules, the hauliers will be allowed to drive for 10 hours rather than the EU maximum of nine. There will also be a reduction in their mandatory daily rest requirements, from 11 to nine hours.
Today, the prime minister insisted gas supplies were not running out, despite record levels of demand. In a podcast from Downing Street, Brown said: "I can assure you: supplies are not running out. We've got plenty of gas in our own backyard – the North Sea – and we also have access to the large reserves in Norway and Netherlands."
Last week, nearly 100 large businesses were forced to stop using gas in an attempt to conserve supplies.
Brown also tried to allay concerns over salt stocks. "Working with the suppliers and the highway authorities, we are making sure stocks of salt to grit roads and pavements get to where they're most needed," he said.
On Friday, a government emergency planning committee met to discuss the UK's state of preparation if the cold weather continues. The committee heard the country has a stockpile of 320,000 tonnes of gritting salt, but transport sources suggest the UK is getting through 60,000 tonnes a day, more than four times the amount produced.
Further supplies are due to arrive from Spain and the US later this month. However, some have questioned how the UK will cope if these supplies prove insufficient and the cold snap returns. "The government has failed to build up a strategic Highways Agency reserve and ministers have sat on their hands," said the Conservatives' local government spokeswoman, Caroline Spelman.
Edmund King, president of the AA, said he had raised concerns about salt supplies before Christmas. "We were not assured that everyone was as prepared as they should have been… and that's why I wrote to the Local Government Association in November, prior to the cold snap," King told the BBC. "There is more we could have done."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/09/food-costs-soar-big-freeze

Is this the end of food as we know it?

A new film paints an apocalyptic picture of a world reduced to tinned goods. But could it ever happen here, asks Bee Wilson

The Telegraph UK, 10 Jan 2010

In Cormac McCarthy's The Road, (the film of which is out this weekend), the only food left is in cans. In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a father and son scavenge for tinned goods. "Chili, corn, stew, soup, spaghetti sauce. The richness of a vanished world."
Is this a vision of our not-too-distant future? Will we soon be stockpiling canned mandarin segments and clawing one another's eyes out for the last tin of powdered milk in Tesco? It's not a nice thought, but it's one that food campaigners have been begging us to face up to for some time now. In this uncertain world, we can no longer take our food supply for granted. For years, academics such as Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy at City University, gave warning that we were "sleepwalking" into a future where our food security was likely to be seriously undermined, whether by natural disasters, rising fuel costs, climate change or the massive pressures placed on the global food system by a rising population. We shrugged it off, setting off in our cars for another wasteful trolley of ready-meals.

In 2008, American pundit Paul Roberts published The End of Food. Roberts argued that the "bullet" attacking the world's food system could come from any number of sources: avian flu, "a sharp spike in the price of oil, a series of extreme weather conditions, an outbreak of some new plant disease". Any one of these, and we'll be scrabbling in the canned goods aisles. More than one at once, and there might be no canned good aisles left to scrabble in. In April 2008, when spiralling food prices led to riots around the globe, people in Haiti were reduced to eating mud cakes.
At least that level of food anxiety could never happen in Britain. Or could it? For years, the Government told us everything was fine. This was a land of plenty. Only four years ago, Gordon Brown's Treasury assured us that food security in Britain was not an issue because we were a rich country, and could buy food from wherever we chose, as if the world were our personal larder. Now, finally, as The Sunday Telegraph reported last week, the Government has woken up to the problem. A new report launched on Tuesday entitled Food 2030 gives a warning that Britain can no longer afford to be complacent. "We need to think differently about food," said Gordon Brown in his foreword to the report, produced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Setting out a new food strategy for the next two decades, the report says that the industry needs to prepare for "sudden shocks" such as natural disasters or price spikes. Britain will need to produce more food, we are told, but will have to do so sustainably, "without damaging the air, soil, water and marine resources, biodiversity and climate that we all depend on".
Here was a long overdue acknowledgment that farming is actually pretty essential. Unlike Gordon Brown, food is something we can't do without. Labour has hardly been the countryside's best friend. But at last, the "2030" report tells us the obvious truth that "the natural environment and the economy are intrinsically linked". The food and farming sector employs 3.6 million people. It is in everyone's interests to see this sector thrive. Britain will never be 100 per cent self-sufficient: life would be miserable without the imported pleasures of coffee, tea or spice. But the more food we can produce locally, the more secure our food supply will be in the event of sudden blips in the supply chain. UK farming, states the Defra report, "should produce as much food as possible, as long as it is responsive to demand".
Well said! Except that very little in the report suggests that this dying Labour government is going to take any serious steps to make the necessary renaissance in British farming come about. The Government wants us all to eat a "healthy and sustainable diet". Yet instead of any real reform, we are directed to "an enhanced eat-well website". There is a pointed lack of any mention of organic food. The report blethers about such things as the "milk roadmap" and the "fruit and vegetable task force". But there is no serious new injection of either money or laws to aid farmers. Sustain, a lobbying alliance for better food and farming, has already attacked the report as "soft", complaining that it constitutes a "series of minor tweaks to our fundamentally unsustainable food system".
By raising the idea of improving self-sufficiency, the "2030" report only brings home the extent to which we have moved in the opposite direction in recent years. The problem of food security goes far beyond this country, but even by the standards of our European neighbours, Britain performs badly.
Look at fruit. In 1963, we grew around 30 per cent of our own fruit; now it is closer to 5 per cent. Compare this with France, which in 1963 grew enough fruit to feed 90 per cent of the population and still produces enough to feed 80 per cent; or Italy which produced around 110 per cent of its fruit needs in 1963 and still does today. We may not have Italy's sun-kissed orange groves, but we could still do better with the land we have. Over the past 13 years, our self-sufficiency in food overall has plummeted from 75 per cent to 60 per cent.
Take dairy. Our milk and cream are among the best in the world. Give a spoonful of British double cream to a Frenchman and he will swoon. Yet our dairy farmers are in a quandary, unable to sell their delicious product for more than it costs them to produce it. A litre of milk costs the consumer 70-80p, of which the farmer gets only 21-28p, the same as it costs to produce. No wonder countless dairy farmers leave the industry.
There is a similar predicament in the honey industry. There is huge demand for British honey, boosted partly by awareness of the worrying collapse in honeybee colonies. Yet in many shops, all native honey is gone by halfway through the year. Of the 400g of honey per person we consume every year, only 80g is British. The reason? We currently have a mere 300 professional beekeepers in this country, many of them nearing retirement age. It will only get worse unless something is done. When I attended a forum on the future of honeybees at No 10 Downing Street last September, many well-intentioned words were spoken about saving British bees and honey. Yet when I suggested to a Government advisor that they might think of subsidising honey farmers, he laughed nervously.
It is all too easy to attack the "2030" report for its typical Brownian mix of hypocrisy and impotence. I wonder, though, how many of us really have the stomach for root-and-branch reforms of our farming system. The Conservatives have said that they want action on sustainable food "with a supermarket ombudsman and legislation to enforce honest labelling if the retailers won't act". But David Cameron has stopped short of spelling out what the "sustainable farming" he favours might really entail.
Biologist Colin Tudge, organiser of the Campaign for Real Farming, says that our politicians are "dangerously deluded" about farming. "Feeding people is easy," says Tudge, but only if our farmers switch to a "maximum variety" system of agriculture which puts plants first and meat second. This would involve a complete redesign of agriculture.
The odds are, we won't get the crisis measures we need for our food system until the crisis has already hit. So let's hope that The Road is just a scary story, not a prophecy.
Bee Wilson writes The Kitchen Thinker column in Stella and is the Guild of Food Writers' food journalist of the year
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/6958025/Is-this-the-end-of-food-as-we-know-it.html

Micro RNAs Can Turn Genes Off

ScienceDaily (Jan. 10, 2010) — RNA molecules are the mobile messengers of genes. They carry information on the production of proteins from the DNA to the ribosomes. In addition to these messenger RNAs all living beings have micro RNAs that can hinder the messenger RNAs and thus the production of proteins. Biologists at the University of Freiburg, Germany, around Lecturer Dr. Wolfgang Frank und Professor Dr. Ralf Reski from the Chair Plant Biotechnology have discovered that such micro RNAs also come into direct contact with genes, effectively turning off the genes in the process.
Their findings have now been published in the current issue of the scientific journal Cell.
With the exception of some viruses all living beings store their hereditary information, the sum of all their genes, as DNA. Active genes are transcribed into messenger RNAs (mRNAs) that function as blueprints for the production of proteins on ribosomes. Inactive genes are not transcribed into mRNAs. The fine balance between switched-on and switched-off genes differs between organs and changes during development and under varying environmental conditions. When this balance is disturbed disfiguration and illnesses such as cancer occur. In 2006 the American biologists Mello & Fire were awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery that minute RNA molecules in the worm C. elegans can attach themselves to mRNAs und thus hinder their translation into proteins.
The biologists in Freiburg together with researchers from the Max-Planck-Institute for Developmental Biology in Tuebingen have now described how microRNAs not only indirectly turn off genes by obstructing mRNAs, but can also turn off genes directly. In the process the genes are silenced chemically by adding methyl groups. In the world of Biology such changes are termed as Epigenetics.
The researchers at the Freiburg Chair Plant Biotechnology have found this novel mechanism for gene regulation in their favoured object of research, the mossPhyscomitrella patens.
Besides Dr. Frank and Prof. Reski, Dr. Basel Khraiwesh, M. Asif Arif, Dr. Gotelinde I. Seumel from Freiburg, and Stephan Ossowski and Prof. Detlef Weigel from the MPI Tuebingen were involved in this study.
When the biologists in Freiburg created so called knockout-mosses, they were surprised by the effect because it contradicted all existing expectations. Now they suspect that their newly discovered mechanism for gene regulation occurs not only in moss, but also in many other life forms, including us humans.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100108093815.htm

An apple a day reduces bowel cancer risk

Times of India 11 January 2010
Tucking in an apple with its skin on could help trim the risk of bowel cancer by more than a third, say researchers. 

Polish experts from Jagiellonian University in Krakow found that eating two could almost cut down the chances of getting the disease by almost half. 

“Neither the consumption of vegetables nor other fruits have shown beneficial effects on the risk of bowel cancer. But a reduced risk of 35 per cent was observed with the consumption of at least one apple a day. With the intake of more than one apple a day, the risk was reduced by about 50 per cent,” the Daily Express quoted the team as saying. 

Dr Rachel Thompson, the World Cancer Research Fund, recommended a fibre-packed diet that could help prevent bowel cancer cases. 

She said: “Getting more fibre into your diet is not rocket science. It is simply a question of eating more fruits, vegetables and pulses, and choosing the wholegrain option when it comes to things like rice and bread. Any increase in the amount of fibre in your diet can make a difference.” 

Dr Alison Ross, senior science information officer at Cancer Research UK, added: “When it comes to reducing the risk of cancer, it’s best to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables rather than relying on any single type.” “We know that bowel cancer is less common among Europeans who eat the most fibre.” 

The findings were published in the European Journal of Cancer Prevention .

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/health-fitness/health/An-apple-a-day-reduces-bowel-cancer-risk/articleshow/5432841.cms

Plastic baby bottles ‘harmful’

Times of India, 11 January 2010
The chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) used to make plastic baby bottles is harmful, according to experts. 

British scientists have announced that there is "compelling" evidence that the chemical is linked to breast cancer, sex hormone imbalances and has adverse health risks to babies. 

United States of America has already banned these bottles, while the health authorities in countries like Australia and Britain are under pressure to remove it from shelves. Also, the item is unavailable in France and Canada, reports the Daily Telegraph . 

Australia’s Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon has put the responsibility to do away with the BPA bottle on Therapeutic Goods Administration. However, TGA has hinted that the Federal Health department needs to deal with the issue. 

Meanwhile, Queensland grandmother and anti-BPA in bottles campaigner Nadia Duensing warned that Australia could become the "dumping ground,” while authorities bicker. 

Also, European scientists may soon launch a campaign to get rid of the BPA containing bottles.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/health-fitness/health/Plastic-baby-bottles-harmful/articleshow/5432863.cms

IVF babies at higher diabetes, obesity risk

Times of India, 11 January 2010
A new study by scientists at Temple University in Philadelphia has shown that the DNA of babies conceived through IVF differs from that of other kids, putting them at higher risk of diseases such as diabetes and obesity later in life. 

According to researchers, their study could explain why IVF babies tend to be at higher risk of low birth weight, defects and rare metabolic disorders. 

The changes are not in the genes themselves but in the mechanism that switches them on and off, the study of which is known as epigenetics. 

"These epigenetic differences have the potential to affect embyronic development and foetal growth, as well as influencing long-term patterns of gene expression associated with increased risk of many human diseases," Times Online quoted Professor Carmen Sapienza, a geneticist at Temple University in Philadelphia, who jointly led the research, as saying. 

There is a possibility that such changes could be transmitted to the children of IVF babies, meaning they could spread through the human gene pool. 

For the study, Sapienza and his colleagues took blood samples from the placenta and umbilical cords of 10 IVF children and 13 children who were naturally conceived. 

They studied the DNA of cells taken from the blood to see if there were differences in the level of methylation. 

This is the process by which molecules known as methyl groups are attached to genes to shut them down when they are not needed. 

The results showed that the level of methylation in the cells taken from IVF babies was significantly lower - implying that some genes were becoming active at the wrong times. 

"We have shown that in vitro conception is associated with differences in gene methylation and that some of these differences may affect gene expression," said Sapienza. 

According to the researchers, the findings could have serious implications for the booming industry in assisted reproduction. 
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/health-fitness/health/IVF-babies-at-higher-diabetes-obesity-risk/articleshow/5430340.cms