Health Zones

Obesity causes over 100,000 cancers per year

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 11:16:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

(NaturalNews) As it turns out, fat tissue isn't just a dormant storage depot for calories. According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, more than 100,000 cancer cases in the U.S. are linked to excess body fat - most of them are preventable.

The data shows that on top of the list of obesity-linked cancers is endometrial cancer, followed by esophageal, pancreatic and kidney cancers, among others. Increased body fat is linked to:

49% of endometrial cancers (20,700 cases/year)

35% of esophageal cancers (5,800 cases/year)

28% of pancreatic cancers (11,900 cases/year)

24% of kidney cancers (13,900 cases/year)

21% of gallbladder cancers (2,000 cases/year)

17% of breast cancers (33,000 cases/year)

9% of colorectal cancers (13,200 cases/year)

A groundbreaking - and startling - study published in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research proved that fat cells actively secrete dozens of hormones that act as chemical messengers in various parts of the body. Scientists suspect that these chemical signals may promote not only cancer, but also a wide range of other chronic diseases, including diabetes and heart disease.

Read the complete news here.

Artificial sweeteners may be to blame for inflammatory bowel disease

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 10:30:00 +0000

Posted by: Neill Abayon

(NaturalNews) The cause of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes both ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, has been toted as 'unknown' by mainstream medical establishments for years. Emerging in the past century and spiking in the 1950's, IBD is responsible for the suffering of countless individuals worldwide. A letter published in the journal Inflammatory Bowel Diseases may have the answer to the cause of IBD, and particularly the explosion of IBD in the 1950's. The artificial sweetener saccharin as well as sucralose (Splenda) may be the hidden culprit behind the development of IBD.

Dr. Xiaofa Qin, the author of the letter, details in his writings that a series of findings originally led him to suspect saccharin as the main cause of IBD. The problem? Canada, despite limiting saccharin use more than most Western countries, was still experiencing high rates of IBD. Despite this problematic fact, Dr. Qin kept up his research. What he found was quite startling not only to citizens of Canada and health officials, but also to the world. Sucralose, also labeled as Splenda in many products, was the answer. According to Dr. Qin's research, there was evidence that sucralose could lead to IBD through the very same mechanism as saccharine.

Read more here.

Younger schoolchildren more likely to be falsely diagnosed with ADHD

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 04:10:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

Children born during the summer are more likely to be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) than children born later in the school year, according to a study conducted by researchers from North Carolina State University and published in the Journal of Health Economics.

"What our research shows is that similar students have significantly different diagnosis rates depending on when their birthday falls in relation to the school year," said lead researcher Melinda Morrill.

The researchers found that children who had been born close to the cut-off date for admission to kindergarten (who would be among the youngest in their classes) were 25 percent more likely to receive an ADHD diagnosis than children born just a few days later (who would start school a year later as the oldest in their classes).

Read the full article here.

Daily dose of beet juice promotes brain health in older adults

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 03:50:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

The memory and mind-destroying disease known as Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia are often seen as terrifying consequences of aging that strike out of the blue -- and supposedly little can be done to prevent or treat these horrible conditions. But while Big Pharma has consistently failed to come up with drugs that halt or reverse cognitive decline, at least for long, research into natural therapies continues to provide tangible evidence that much can be done to fight dementia using exercise, diet and supplements.

For example, vitamin D deficiencies have been linked to declining mental abilities (http://www.naturalnews.com/025807_V...) and researchers have also found that ancient meditation and exercise techniques, including qigong and Tai Chi, slow physical, mental and psychological decline in people with dementia (http://www.naturalnews.com/025040_A...). And now, for the first time, scientists have discovered that drinking beet juice can increase blood flow to the brain in older adults and may combat the progression of Alzheimer's and related conditions.

Read the full article here.

Eating Peanuts While Pregnant May Raise Child's Allergy Risks

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 06:59:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

Link found between moms-to-be who consumed them and nut sensitivity in infants.

(HealthDay News) -- Women who eat peanuts during pregnancy may be putting their babies at increased risk for peanut allergy, a new study suggests.

U.S. researchers looked at 503 infants, aged 3 months to 15 months, with suspected egg or milk allergies, or with the skin disorder eczema and positive allergy tests to milk or egg. These factors are associated with increased risk of peanut allergy, but none of the infants in the study had been diagnosed with peanut allergy.

Blood tests revealed that 140 of the infants had strong sensitivity to peanuts. Mothers' consumption of peanuts during pregnancy was a strong predictor of peanut sensitivity in the infants, the researchers reported in the Nov. 1 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

"Researchers in recent years have been uncertain about the role of peanut consumption during pregnancy on the risk of peanut allergy in infants. While our study does not definitively indicate that pregnant women should not eat peanut products during pregnancy, it highlights the need for further research in order to make recommendations about dietary restrictions," study leader Dr. Scott H. Sicherer, a professor of pediatrics at Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, said in a journal news release.

Sicherer and his colleagues recommended controlled, interventional studies to further explore their findings.

"Peanut allergy is serious, usually persistent, potentially fatal, and appears to be increasing in prevalence," Sicherer said.

(SOURCE: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, news release, Nov. 1, 2010)

For Many Teens, Oral Sex Leads to Riskier Activity

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 06:44:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

Most on to vaginal intercourse within six months, study finds.

(HealthDay News) -- Most teens who engage in oral sex for the first time will have vaginal intercourse within six months, a new poll indicates.

And half the teens who initiate oral sex in ninth grade will have vaginal intercourse before the end of junior year, the survey of California high school students finds.

"Oral sex among adolescents happens," said study lead author Anna V. Song, an assistant professor in the school of social sciences, humanities, and arts at the University of California, Merced. "But there's two contradictory ways it can go from there: There's the possibility that for adolescents oral sex is a gateway to vaginal sex, or instead that it's being used to stave off vaginal sex."

What the researchers actually found was less clear-cut. "Most of the kids report that they're having oral sex and intercourse for the very first time within the same six months," Song said.

Freshman and sophomore years appear to be the critical time period. "Among those who initiate oral sex between 9th and 10th grade, we found that oral sex is significantly related to vaginal sex," she noted. "But once you get through that particular period, that relationship is not there anymore. And that's also true among kids who initiate oral sex before the 9th grade. They are also no more or less likely to engage in vaginal sex."

Read the full article here.

Researchers Spot New Risk Factors for Breast Cancer

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 06:32:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

Dense breasts, no lobular involution increase odds, researchers find.

(HealthDay News) -- Women with dense breasts and no lobular involution -- an age-related change in breast tissue -- are at increased risk for breast cancer, a new study finds.

It included 2,666 women, aged 18 to 85, with benign breast disease who were followed for an average of 13.3 years. During that time, 172 (6.5 percent) of the women developed breast cancer.

The Mayo Clinic researchers found that breast density and lobular involution were independent risk factors for breast cancer.

The study appears online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

"Our findings also reveal that having a combination of dense breasts and no lobular involution was associated with higher breast cancer risk than having non-dense or fatty breasts and complete involution," they wrote in a news release from the publisher.

"Lobular involution is the physiological atrophy of the breast epithelium [the top layer of cells] and is known to increase with increasing age," the news release explained.

Breast density and lobular involution are factors that "hold promise for improving [breast cancer] risk prediction, particularly since they reflect the cumulative interplay of numerous genetic and environmental breast cancer risk factors over time," Gretchen L. Gierach, of the U.S. National Cancer Institute, and colleagues wrote in the news release.

Other known breast cancer risk factors are age, family history and age at first menstrual cycle.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about breast cancer risk.

(SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, news release, Nov. 1, 2010)

High blood pressure on the rise among young adults

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 08:13:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

Rates of high blood pressure have remained fairly steady over the past ten years in every category except one: young adults between the ages of 18 and 39. According to a new report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), increasing numbers of young adults are developing high blood pressure, and more young people than ever are now taking blood pressure medication for the condition.

"[I] got upset when I first found out because I automatically associated it with people who are overweight or old," explained Kristen Pessalano, a 23-year-old woman with high blood pressure, in an ABC News article. "I would have never associated high blood pressure with someone my age, especially when I appeared to be totally healthy."

And there are likely millions of other young adults like Kristen who think they are safe just because of their age, without taking into account their dietary and lifestyle habits. The modern American diet is loaded with high levels of bad fat, processed sodium, highly-refined sweeteners, and artificial chemical additives, all of which contribute to high blood pressure and heart disease.

Read the full article here.

Turn off the lights when you go to bed - Even dim light at night may trigger obesity

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 07:55:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

You are getting the same amount of exercise as always, you aren't taking in any more calories than usual and yet you keep on gaining weight. So you may be wondering what on earth is going on with your body. Maybe the question you should be asking yourself is this one: what lights are on in your bedroom at night? According to new research, persistent exposure to light at night may lead to weight gain, even without decreasing physical activity or eating more food.

The study, just published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, involved animals. However, the findings raise serious questions about whether the human body is also at risk from altered metabolism and weight gain from too much light exposure at night.

An Ohio State University research team found that mice exposed to a fairly dim light at night over about a two month period experienced a gain in body mass that was approximately 50 percent more than other mice who lived and slept in a normal light-dark cycle. "Although there were no differences in activity levels or daily consumption of food, the mice that lived with light at night were getting fatter than the others," Laura Fonken, a doctoral student in neuroscience at Ohio State who headed the study, said in a statement to the media.

Read the full article here.

Coconut nectar, coconut liquid aminos, coconut vinegar and coconut flour all come from coconut trees

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 08:11:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

I really find a lot of joy in bringing you some of the most unique and amazing natural food products from around the world, and this week I've got something so unusual and delightful that you'll be amazed it even exists. It turns out that coconut trees produce a lot more than just coconuts and coconut oil. A whole spectrum of surprising food ingredients are derived from coconut trees, and you've probably never heard of most of them.

For example, did you know that coconut trees produce their own soy sauce? It's not really made from soy, of course. It's called Coconut Aminos, and it's a dark, amino acid liquid harvested directly from coconut tree sap. Containing 17 naturally-occurring amino acids, this sap is combined with mineral-rich sea salt to create a soy-sauce-like "aminos" liquid that can help flavor salads, raw vegan dishes, sauces or even Chinese stir-fried cuisine.

Think of it as a natural replacement for soy sauce, but with a deeper and more complex taste. You've got to try this to believe that it really comes from coconut trees!

And there's another huge benefit, too: This "liquid aminos" product has absolutely no reactive MSG-like effects. That's rare because even in the natural products industry, there are amino acid products that contain a small amount of naturally-occurring glutamic acid that can have an MSG-like effect on those who are sensitive to it (like me). But the aminos from this coconut sap are completely unadulterated and non-hydrolyzed, so they remain in their natural form and have no negative effects on people sensitive to MSG. You can read more about this here:http://coconutsecret.com/Tappingthe...

Read the full entry here.

Drinking tea cuts risk of heart disease by one-third

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 07:54:00 +0000

Posted By Neill Abayon

Drinking several cups of tea or coffee daily appears to cut your risk of heart disease by more than one-third, Dutch researchers have found.

"It's basically a good news story for those who like tea and coffee," said lead researcher Yvonne van der Schouw. "These drinks appear to offer benefits for the heart without raising the risk of dying from anything else."

The study appeared in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, a journal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers followed 40,000 healthy people for 13 years, then compared rates of heart disease with consumption of coffee and tea. They found that participants who drank between three and six cups of tea per day were 45 percent less likely to die from heart disease than those who drank less than a cup a day.

Drinking coffee or larger amounts of tea was also protective against death from heart disease, but not as strongly. People who drank more than six cups of tea a day reduced their risk by 36 percent compared with the low tea-drinking group, while those who drank between two and four cups of coffee daily reduced their risk by 20 percent compared with those who drank either more or less coffee. These effects remained after researchers adjusted for other heart disease risk factors, such as smoking and exercise level.

Read the full article here.

Blueberries halt hardening of the arteries

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 06:57:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

Atherosclerosis is a disease marked by plaque in the arteries. Made up of fat, cholesterol, calcium, and other substances found in the blood, plaque hardens overtime not unlike concrete -- and that narrows arteries and limits the flow of oxygen-rich blood throughout the body. The result can be potentially fatal strokes and heart attacks.

But now, for the first time, scientists have direct evidence that a side-effect free natural substance exists that can help prevent these harmful atherosclerotic plaques from increasing in size and narrowing arteries. What is this powerful hardening of the arteries fighter? Blueberries.

Principal investigator Xianli Wu, who works with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center in Little Rock and with the University of Arkansas Center for Medical Sciences, led the new study which was just reported in the current issue of the Journal of Nutrition. Dr. Wu's research team compared the size of atherosclerotic lesions in 30 young laboratory mice with this form of heart disease. These animals were deficient in apolipoprotein-E (which helps regulate fats in the body), making them highly susceptible to forming atherosclerotic lesions.

Read the full article here.

Protect yourself from Alzheimer's disease with cinnamon

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 07:29:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

Degenerative mental diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia continue to ravish the lives of millions around the world. And to make matters worse, the financial burden of caring for dementia patients now tops one percent of the entire world's gross domestic product (GDP). But there are ways to help prevent and treat serious mental decline, including simply eating lots of cinnamon.

Dr. Richard Anderson, a diabetes expert from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, discovered several years ago that cinnamon helps to stabilize blood sugar levels by improving the quality of insulin in the body. But more recently, he found that cinnamon also helps to stop the formation of Alzheimer's disease, the sixth-leading cause of death in the U.S.

When eaten with food or taken in extract form, cinnamon helps block the formation of "tau filaments" that are associated with the development of Alzheimer's disease. In tests, cinnamon actually disassembled and eliminated these filaments from within cells, effectively reversing the effects of the disease.

Read the full article here.

Popular Asian spice can cure Alzheimer's disease

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 08:44:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

Nature is full of various herbs and spices that protect against disease and even treat and cure it. And according to Chris Kilham, an ethnobotanist and Fox News' "Medicine Hunter", turmeric root -- also known in its extract form as curcumin -- is one such powerful spice that appears to both prevent the onset of Alzheimer's disease and even cure it.

"People who develop Alzheimer's disease get a sticky plaque in the brain called amyloid beta," explained Kilham to Dr. Manny Alvarez in a recent Fox News interview. Such plaques either develop as a result of Alzheimer's, or they are the direct cause of it. But either way, they are directly related to the degenerative process.

However studies show that turmeric actually eliminates these plaques, both when they are first starting to form and even during the late stages of their advancement.

"What we have in turmeric is something that appears to inhibit the development of Alzheimer's disease…and actually help to reduce the occurrence of plaque in the brain if you have it," noted Kilham. "We know in animal studies, when animals actually have amyloid beta plaque in their brains and they're given turmeric root…that plaque is reduced."

Read the full article here.

Stainless steel water bottles: Are they better than plastic and glass?

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 08:28:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

For years, I've always carried my own drinking water when I'm at the gym or running errands around town. That's because I don't drink out of water fountains with all their chlorinated, fluoridated public water sources (yuck!). I can't stand restaurant water, which is usually just gross tap water with ice cubes in it. I also don't drink out of plastic water bottles because, well, I don't particularly wish to grow a pair of BPA-induced male breasts (although I'm sure that would be amusing to YouTube viewers).

BPA (Bisphenol-A), after all, is the now-infamous "hormone mimicking" plastics chemical. It will probably be outlawed in the next few years because of the emerging science linking it to hormone-sensitive cancers like breast cancer and prostate cancer. Canada seems poised to ban it soon, and many baby bottle manufacturers in the USA have already turned to BPA-free bottles.

So that leaves two choices: Glass bottles and stainless steel bottles.

When you first use either of these, the first strange thing you'll notice is that you can't squeeze them. When we used to drink out of plastic bottles, we all got used to squeezing them to make the water come out, right? Glass and stainless steel obviously don't squeeze, so you have to rely on gravity to drop the water into your mouth.

Read the full article here.

Marijuana better than pharmaceuticals at treating chronic pain

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 08:18:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

Experts from different persuasions often argue about the alleged benefits of using marijuana for pain relief, but a new study out of McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and McGill University (MU) has conclusively found that cannabis, the genus name for marijuana, is better than pharmaceutical drugs at relieving chronic neurological pain, and without all the harmful side effects.

Appearing in the latest issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the study reveals that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana that gives it psychoactive and analgesic properties, is linked to relieving chronic pain, improving mood and inducing better sleep in those with severe neurological pain.

Patients who took a single inhalation of marijuana smoke three times a day experienced moderate pain reduction within just a few days. The effects were more pronounced with marijuana containing ten percent THC versus varieties with less than ten percent.

Read the full article here.

Osteoporosis drug patients report bone fractures caused by drugs

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:49:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

Reports of bone fractures are widespread among patients taking osteoporosis drugs, a New York Times analysis of askapateint.com concludes.

"My mother was taking Fosamax from 1995 until 2005 for osteoporosis," one woman wrote in 2006. "She had severe esophageal ulcerations, nausea, jaw bone loss and vertigo from the inner ear. She was told to continue the drug. October 2005, she began to have trouble swallowing, she was initially told it was anxiety, but was then diagnosed with esophageal cancer and died nine months later in July 2006."

In 874 patient ratings since 2001, Merck's bisphosphonate Fosamax received an average rating of 1.5 out of 5. Procter & Gamble's Actonel has a rating of 1.5, while and Roche and GlaxoSmithKline's Boniva has a 1.3, the lowest of any drug on the site.

The average drug rating on askapatient.com is 3, "Somewhat satisfied." The lowest possible is 1, "Dissatisfied. I would not recommend taking this medication."

Read the full Article here.

Simple Way to Prevent Cancer: Turn Down the Heat

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:41:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

Many love fried, baked, and barbecued foods. But there may be a less tasty side to these culinary delights: high temperature cooking methods may produce large amounts of cancer-producing compounds, aka carcinogens.

A Swedish report found that when starchy foods such as flour and potatoes are baked or fried at high temperatures, they produce the carcinogenic (i.e. cancer causing) chemical acrylamide 1. Prolonged exposure to acrylamide has been shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals and may do the same in humans 1.

The generation of carcinogens from frying is not limited to only starchy foods. During the process of frying protein-rich foods, such as meat and fish, various kinds of carcinogenic heterocyclic amines (HCAs) are produced, particularly whencooking temperature is very high (above 400oF )2. Heterocyclic amines have been shown to cause malignant tumors in the colon and breast of mice and rats, and they are possible or probable carcinogens for humans 2.

Read the full article here.

Water before meals helps with weight loss, say researchers

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:33:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

Weight loss techniques are a dime a dozen these days, with experts touting all sorts of different diet and exercise regimens as the solution to obesity. But new research set to be presented at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) offers a simple approach that involves no drugs and has no negative side effects. According to researchers, drinking two glasses of water before each meal will help you to lose more weight.

"We are presenting results of the first randomized controlled intervention trial demonstrating that increased water consumption is an effective weight loss strategy," explained Brenda Davy, Ph.D., senior author of the study, to reporters." In this recent study, we found that over the course of 12 weeks, dieters who drank water before meals, three times per day, lost about five pounds more than dieters who did not increase their water intake."

The philosophy behind the "water cure" suggests that by consuming more water, there is less room in the stomach for food. So in essence, the zero-calorie beverage takes the place of food, which results in less calorie consumption and less additional pounds. However, all participants in the study ate low-calorie foods as part of the study -- and all lost some weight. But those who drank water before their meals lost more than those who did not.

Read the full article here.

Pets and Colloidal Silver

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:30:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

From:http://thesilveredge.com

We live on a couple of acres way out in the middle of the southern California desert. And our cat, whose name is Scaredy Cat, is strictly an outdoor cat. He is also a great mouser. But he occassionally gets sick, probably from some of the things he eats when he is on the prowl. (We feed him very well, but from some of the things he's brought home, you'd think we were starving him.)

Anyway, whenever he is sick we put a bowl of colloidal silver out next to his regular water bowl. And without exception, he will drink from the bowl of colloidal silver rather than the water bowl. And it always does the trick, fast. He is back up and about in no time. There is something about colloidal silver that animals just love. It cures their stomach infections very quickly.

We also give it to our dogs when they are sick. We have four large outdoor dogs, a male black Lab, a big red male Chow, a beautiful female German Shepherd (our newest addition), and a male mixed German Shepherd/Boxer.

All of them except for the Shepherd/Boxer were rescued, meaning they had either run away from their homes and gotten lost out in the desert, or their owners abandoned them in the desert and left them to fend for themselves. You wouldn't believe how many abandoned dogs we've come across out here, and have had to find homes for. Once, we found five tiny puppies out in the middle of the desert. They had already been weaned, so it was clear someone had actually driven them out into the middle of the desert away from any houses, and simply left them to die. We rescued them and found good homes for them, of course.

Read it here.

Vitamin D really does prevent cancer

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:26:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

A new study out of Oxford University pinpoints vitamin D deficiency as a culprit in serious illnesses like cancer and autoimmune disorders. According to the report, which was recently published online in the journal Genome Research, genetic receptors throughout the body need adequate vitamin D levels to prevent these and other serious illnesses from developing.

Multiple sclerosis, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, Chron's disease, leukemia -- these and many more diseases are often caused by a lack of vitamin D. Your genes literally have receptors that need vitamin D in order to properly express themselves. If there is not enough of the vitamin, serious illness is prone to develop.

The Oxford team made specific observations about the importance of vitamin D in the genome regions associated with autoimmune diseases and cancer, noting that the nutrient is absolutely vital in helping to prevent these diseases from forming.

Read the full article here.

Broccoli cures stomach infections

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:15:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

It is hardly breaking news that eating cruciferous vegetables like broccoli helps to improve health. But researchers from the University of Liverpool have discovered new benefits to eating both broccoli and plantains -- two high-fiber foods -- that may help people with Chron's disease and other digestive disorders. According to the recent study, broccoli and plantains contain compounds that help protect the gut from infection and improve overall stomach health.

Broccoli and plantains are not the only foods that provide this benefit, but they are two in particular that scientists found to have exceptional benefit. The compounds in these two foods actually boost the ability of the stomach lining to ward off bad bacteria, passing it through the tract and out of the body before it can cause harm.

"We have known for some time the general health benefits of eating plantain and broccoli, which are both high in vitamins and minerals, but until now we have not understood how they can boost the body's natural defenses against infection common in Chron's patients," explained Dr. Barry Campbell, who worked on the study.

Read the full article here.

Bottled tea beverages contain little or no antioxidants

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 08:22:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

Countless studies over the years about the health benefits of tea -- particularly green tea -- have driven many health-conscious consumers to stock up on all the latest tea beverages that claim to improve health. But a recent study has shown that most commercial bottled tea drinks contain virtually no antioxidants and a whole lot of sugar or artificial sweeteners.

"Consumers understand very well the concept of the health benefits from drinking tea or consuming other tea products," explained Shiming Li, Ph.D., an analytical and natural product chemist, concerning the study. "However, there is a huge gap between the perception that tea consumption is healthy and the actual amount of the healthful nutrients -- polyphenols -- found in bottled tea beverages. Our analysis of tea beverages found that the polyphenol content is extremely low."

Polyphenols are the unique antioxidants commonly found in freshly-brewed tea that exhibit anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and anti-diabetic effects on the body. But after analyzing six different brands of bottled tea beverages, Li and his colleagues discovered that three contained "virtually no" polyphenols, and the others had so little that they provided little benefit.

Read the full article here.

CT scans are killing 14,000 Americans a year from cancer

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 08:04:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

FDA administrators sought to brush aside evidence that CT scans may be killing thousands of patients a year, say agency scientists.

"I was first ignored, then pressured to change my scientific opinion, and when I refused to do that, I was intimidated and ultimately terminated," said gastroenterologist and former FDA consultant Julian Nicholas.

The controversy stems from a still-pending application by General Electric (GE) for the approval of CT (computed tomography) scans as tests for colon cancer. GE made the request because although the practice of screening healthy patients with CT scans has become increasingly common, many insurers remains reluctant to pay for it.

When the FDA moved to approve the request with minimum fuss, agency scientists objected that the increased cancer risk from the radiation involved in CT scans would outweigh any potential benefit.

Approval would "expose a number of Americans to a risk of radiation that is unwarranted and may lead to instances of solid organ abdominal cancer," Nicholas wrote in an email to the agency.

Read the original article here.

Zinc helps prevent pneumonia in the elderly

noreply@blogger.com (healthzone) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 07:13:00 +0000

Posted by Neill Abayon

A new report published in theAmerican Journal of Clinical Nutrition has found that zinc plays a very important role in health maintenance. In a study of over 600 seniors from 33 different nursing homes in the Boston area, researchers found that seniors with healthy blood levels of zinc are 50 percent less likely to develop pneumonia than those with sub-par levels.

The study was a follow-up to a previous one which found that people given 200 international units (IU) of vitamin E every day for one year are 20 percent less likely to develop upper respiratory infections, including common colds. But after a follow-up, the trial also revealed that a majority of those same participants had low levels of zinc in their blood.

Read the full article here.