Sweeter broccoli reduces cancer risk

Good morning friends. Those of you out there who love to eat broccoli, I’m sure you will double your craving with this vegetable. Aside from being a healthy food, broccoli may reduce cancer risk.

Scientists claimed to have developed a new variety of broccoli that is not only grown naturally, but also tastes sweeter and has 40 per cent more anti-oxidants than the normal to reduce risks of heart disease and cancer.

Scientists at Victoria's Department of Primary Industries (DPI) here, have discovered "Booster Broccoli", a new variety that is the first in the group of super vegetables and contains more anti-oxidants than the usual variety, the ABC report said today. DPI's leading scientist Rod Jones said that the new broccoli is not the result of genetic engineering.

"All we've done is gone back and minded nature's natural diversity," he said.

Jones also said that DPI had partnerships with large companies and had tested 400 varieties of broccoli before selecting the one that had the highest anti-oxidant content and now they have decided to breed the "Booster Broccoli".

"It's also about improving the health of our population in general by getting people to eat vegetables that we know are very good for them," he added.

"It's a premium branded product so the returns to growers should be higher," Jones said. - The Times of India

OTC EC and abortion pills cause menstrual problems

Was she pregnant or not? Sukriti Kumar, 21, went to Dr Vishakha Munjal in Saket for an answer. The corporate intern had got stone-drunk at a party some weeks earlier and didn’t remember if she and her partner had sex that night. “I was so drunk I never realized what happened,” is what she told the doc. Familiar with taking emergency contraceptive (EC) pills, she didn’t worry much once her periods started. But later, Sukriti had a nagging doubt that something wasn’t right when there was excessive bleeding.

Gynecologists are handling a sharp spike in such cases of menstrual complications among young adult women who are arbitrarily and repeatedly using OTC EC pills and abortion pills (for foetuses upto 45 days old). “They check dosage on the internet, do their own calculations. Not understanding the consequences, they land up with incomplete abortions. They are scared about the uncontrollable bleeding, or not getting their periods,” says Dr Shilpi Tiwari, adding that more than 50% of her clients are in the 18 to early 20s age-group, all with pill-related complications.

Widely advertized ECs like I-Pill and Unwanted 72 are popular. They are, however, being used not in emergency but as casual contraception. “When you’re with your boyfriend, you don’t want to use condoms,” says D Bina, a 21-year-old job-hunting graduate. Complications? “At times. But you prefer sex without a condom,” she reiterates. In such cases, it’s ECs to the rescue. Frequent use? “Some put on weight, others don’t feel right. But the body gets used to it,” she says. – The Times of India

Flowers’ smell really can soothe stress

Wondering how to de-stress yourself? Well, then try savour the smell of flowers, lemon or mango, for a new study has revealed that inhaling certain fragrances alter gene activity and blood chemistry in ways that can reduce stress levels.

According to lead researcher Akio Nakamura, people have inhaled the scent of certain plants since ancient times to help reduce stress, fight inflammation and depression, and induce sleep.

Aromatherapy, the use of fragrant plant oils to improve mood and health, has become a popular form of alternative medicine today.

And linalool is one of the most widely used substances to soothe away emotional stress.

During the study, the scientists exposed lab rats to stressful conditions while inhaling and not inhaling linalool.

The findings showed that linalool returned stress-elevated levels of neutrophils and lymphocytes — key parts of the immune system — to near-normal levels.

Inhaling linalool also reduced the activity of more than 100 genes that go into overdrive in stressful situations.

The researchers hope that the findings could form the basis of new blood tests for identifying fragrances that can soothe stress.

The study appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication. - Indian Express

Yogurt can help lose excess weight

Taking probiotics after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery can help obese patients to lose weight more quickly, according to a new study. Probiotics are the so-called ‘good’ bacteria found in yogurt as well as in over-the-counter dietary supplements that help in the digestion of food.

New research from the Stanford University School of Medicine and Stanford Hospital & Clinics suggests that patients who take probiotics after the gastric-bypass procedure tend to shed more pounds than those who don't take the supplements.

"Surprisingly, the probiotic group attained a significantly greater percent of excess weight loss than that of control group," said John Morton, MD, associate professor of surgery at the medical school who wrote the paper with lead author Gavitt Woodard, a third-year medical student, and five other medical students at the Surgery Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation in Stanford''s Department of Surgery.

The researchers followed 44 patients on whom Morton had performed the procedure from 2006 to 2007. Patients were randomized into either a probiotic or a control group. Both groups received the same bariatric medical care and nutritional counseling, as well as the support of weight-loss study groups. Both groups also were allowed to consume yogurt, a natural source of probiotics.

In addition, the probiotic group consumed one pill per day of Puritan''s Pride, a probiotic supplement that is available online and in many stores. Morton has no financial ties to the company that makes the supplement. The study showed that at three months, the probiotics group registered a 47.6 percent weight loss, compared with a 38.5 percent for the control group.

The study also found that levels of vitamin B-12 were higher in the patients taking probiotics — a significant finding because patients often are deficient in B-12 after gastric-bypass surgery. The probiotics group had B-12 levels of 1,214 picograms per milliliter at three months, compared with the control group''s levels of 811 pg/mL. Morton said he now recommends probiotic supplements to his patients, and he plans to continue to look for ways to enhance the outcomes from the procedure. The study has been published in the July issue of the Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery – The Times of India

High insulin levels enhance breast cancer risk

Elevated insulin levels in the blood seem to raise the risk of breast cancer in post-menopausal women, according to a new study.

Increased breast cancer risk for post-menopausal women has previously been linked to obesity and diabetes. Both conditions involve insulin resistance, which causes increases in circulating levels of insulin.

Since insulin is known to promote cell division and enhance breast tumour growth in animal models, Einstein College of Medicine scientists reasoned that relatively high insulin levels may contribute to breast cancer risk in women.

"Up to now, only a few studies have directly investigated whether insulin levels are associated with breast cancer risk, and those studies have yielded conflicting results," says Geoffrey Geoffrey Kabat, senior epidemiologist at Einstein and the study's co-author.

"Those other studies were based on just a single baseline measurement of insulin, while our study involved analysing repeated measurements of insulin taken over several years - which provides a more accurate picture of the possible association between insulin levels and breast cancer risk."

Kabat and colleagues analysed data on 5,450 women enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative, a large multi-centre study investigating the influence of a number of factors on women's health.

Most of the women had participated in the clinical trial part of the study and provided fasting blood samples at its start (baseline) and then at years one, three and six.

The remaining women, who were enrolled in a separate "observational" component of the study, provided fasting blood samples at baseline and at year three of the study. Among all these women, 190 cases of breast cancer were identified over eight years of follow-up.

The analysis revealed a strong association between elevated insulin levels and increased risk for breast cancer, said an Einstein release. These findings were published in online in the International Journal of Cancer. –The Times of India

Adopt a proper diet 'to control diabetes'

Good morning friends. Balance diet must require for those people who have diabetes. We can control it with a proper diet. As most of the people always wanted to eat, people with diabetes should be aware of all the food they will going to eat.

Suffering from diabetes? Fret not, just adopt a proper and healthy diet, for a new study has revealed that using lifestyle interventions on top of existing drug treatments can help controlling high blood sugar levels.

A team at University of Otago has provided intensive dietary advice to improve blood sugar control in diabetics -- even though they're on what is regarded as the best available medication.

The study divided 87 high-risk diabetes patients into two groups. Both received optimized medical care, but patients in one of the groups also received regular one-on-one dietary advice from a dietitian.

Lead investigator Dr Kirsten Coppell said that at the end of the study, measures of glycaemic control were found to have significantly improved in the group receiving the advice. The group also recorded an average weight loss of 2 kg and a 3cm reduction in waistlines.

"Achieving good glycaemic control is a crucial goal in managing diabetes, as it can prevent long-term complications such as kidney failure, heart disease and blindness. Before the widespread introduction of anti-diabetic drugs, the key focus in diabetes care was on diet and lifestyle.

"Our research indicates that while this earlier approach has tended to be forgotten in this modern age of a 'pill for every ill', it still very much has its place in diabetes management," Dr Coppell said. – The Times of India

Grey hair may give protection against cancer

Good morning friends. Do you believe that grey hair may give protection against cancer? I read one article about this and you will just believe it.

Experiments on mice suggest that having grey hair may tender protection against cancer, say researchers.

Emi Nishimura, of Tokyo Medical and Dental University in Japan, points out that melanocytes are the cells that produce the pigments that colour hair, and that their numbers are kept topped up by stem cells.

According to Nishimura, hair goes grey when the number of stem cells in hair follicles declines.
The researcher says that a new study conducted at the university has now revealed what causes this decline in mice.

During the study, the researchers exposed mice to radiation and chemicals that harm DNA, and found that damaged stem cells transformed permanently into melanocytes.

Nishimura and colleagues say that that eventually led to fewer melanocytes, meaning that there were fewer stem cells capable of topping up the melanocyte pool.

Writing about their findings in the journal Cell, the researchers have revealed that the mice also went grey.

They believe that the same process leads to the reduction in stem cells in the follicles of older people, especially as DNA damage accumulates with the as they age.

David Fisher, a cancer researcher at Harvard Medical School, thinks that such processes may discourage the proliferation of stem cells with damaged DNA, which could pass on mutations, and thereby protect people against cancer.

"One likely beneficial effect is the removal of potentially dangerous cells that may contain pre-cancerous capabilities," New Scientist magazine quoted him as saying. (ANI)