Blueberries Increase Memory
February 12, 2010
Natural News
By Mike Adams
Although several studies involving laboratory animals have provided tantalizing clues that eating blueberries improves memory, could the delicious fruit actually help people retain their mental sharpness as they age? The good new appears to be “yes”. In fact, blueberries might even boost brain power. For the very first time, a study has found evidence that blueberry juice improves memory in humans.
For the research project, a team of scientists from the University of Cincinnati, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Canadian Department of Agriculture worked with a group of volunteers in their 70s who suffered from early memory decline. Half the group drank the equivalent of two to two and 1/2 cups of blueberry juice every day for two months. As a control, a second group drank a different beverage that did not contain any blueberry juice.
After about eight weeks, the scientists conducted learning and memory tests to see if the research participants’ cognitive abilities had undergone any measurable changes. The results, which were recently published in the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, showed that the elders who had been regularly drinking blueberry juice demonstrated significant improvement in their mental faculties.
Lead researcher Robert Krikorian and colleagues concluded that eating blueberries, which are a rich source of antioxidants and phytochemicals, may help boost memory in the aged. Bottom line: the study establishes a basis for larger, comprehensive human clinical trials to further document how blueberries can be a powerful aid for keeping brains and thinking abilities healthy and strong into old age.
“These preliminary memory findings are encouraging and suggest that consistent supplementation with blueberries may offer an approach to forestall or mitigate neurodegeneration,” the researchers stated.
As NaturalNews has previously reported, blueberries have gained the attention of researchers studying a whole range of ways this remarkable fruit can protect and heal the body. For example, scientists at Rutgers University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture found in animal studies that a compound in blueberries called pterostilbene could prevent colon cancer (http://www.naturalnews.com/021951_b…).
In addition, another animal study revealed that blueberries can lower the levels of artery-clogging LDL (known as the “bad” cholesterol) as effectively as statin drugs, but without negative side effects.
Click here for the full report
Parasites In Your Body Can Help Your Immune System
February 11, 2010
Natural News
By David Gutierrez
Humans and gastrointestinal parasites might have co-evolved in such a way that the parasites actually help regulate to human immune system to prevent against allergies, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Nottingham.
Researchers believe that over the course of millions of years, gastrointestinal parasites have evolved an ability to suppress the human immune system as a survival mechanism. Because parasitic infestation has been so common throughout human evolutionary history, the human immune system has in turn evolved to compensate for this effect.
This means that if the parasites are removed, the immune system may actually function too strongly, resulting in maladaptive immune responses such as asthma, eczema and other allergies.
To test this hypothesis, researchers used drugs to eliminate hookworm infection in a 1,500 children between the ages of six and 17 who were living in a rural village in central Vietnam. This region was selected for its very low rates of allergies and high parasitic infestation rate. Two-thirds of all children in the area are infested with hookworm or other gastrointestinal parasites.
The researchers found that once the children were no longer infected with parasites, their rates of dust mite allergies significantly increased. This supports the hypothesis that parasites help regulate immune responses.
“The next step is to understand exactly how and when gut parasites program the human immune system in a way that protects against allergies, and for such studies, follow-up from birth will be essential,” said researcher Carsten Flohr.
Researchers hope that understanding the relationship between parasites and the human immune system could lead to a better overall understanding of allergies.
“The prospects of further studies in this area are very exciting, as we could see groundbreaking treatments for asthma and other allergies developed as a result,” said Elaine Vickers of Asthma UK, which funded the study.
Click here for the full report
The Kevin Trudeau Show: 1-20-10
Today, Kevin delves deep into the healthcare bill and shows you how the government is trying to control every aspect of your life.
And get the stories you aren’t hearing anywhere else!!
Fecal Matter Found In Fast-Food Soda Fountains
Artificial Food Dye Causes Cancer
Window Cleaning Chemical Injected Into Fast Food Meat
Dominican Republic Contest Winner
Clean & Clear Anti-Acne Ad Banned in UK
IRS Commissioner Doesn’t File Own Taxes: Too Complex
25% of Americans Get Sick from Food
‘Smoked’ Flavoring May Be Toxic To Humans
Strangers On A Plane
Six Deadly Chemicals in Your Body
Plus, raw foods chef and author, Paul Nison, stopped by to explain how eating raw foods can change your life forever. Click here to purchase The Daylight Diet: Divine Eating for Superior Health and Digestion.
Take Trudeau on the Go! Click here to download this show to your iPod, mp3 player, or PC through iTunes!
Click below to hear The Kevin Trudeau Show RIGHT NOW!!!
“Smoked” Flavor Food Concerns
January 8, 2010
BBC News
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.”
Click here for the full report
Eating Pomegranates Reduces Risk of Breast Cancer
January 06, 2010
Reuters
By Xavier Briand
An acid found in pomegranates appears to block aromatase, an enzyme that converts androgen to estrogen, a hormone that plays a role in the development of breast cancer, the researchers wrote in the journal Cancer Prevention Research.
“We identified some of these chemicals in pomegranates that actually have properties that can suppress aromatase,” researcher Shiuan Chen, of the City of Hope cancer research and treatment center in Duarte, California, said in a telephone interview.
Many women who have had breast cancer take medicines called aromatase inhibitors — such as Pfizer’s Aromasin, Novartis’ Femara and AstraZeneca Plc’s Arimidex — to keep estrogen from feeding tumors.
Chen and colleagues studied whether compounds, or phytochemicals, in pomegranates can suppress aromatase and ultimately block cancer growth. They found that 10 natural compounds in the fruit may potentially prevent estrogen-related breast cancer.
Chen said the compounds would not be a replacement for aromatase inhibitors.
“We do not recommend people start taking this as a replacement for the AI’s,” Chen said. “They (pomegranate compounds) are not as potent as the real drugs so we think that the interest probably is more on the prevention end rather than in a therapeutic purpose.”
Other researchers not associated with the study told the journal that the results are promising, and suggested more studies involving animals and humans were needed to confirm the findings.
“It’s not clear that these levels could be achieved in animals or in humans because the (compounds) are not well absorbed into blood when provided in the diet,” said Gary Stoner of Ohio State University.
Dr. Powel Brown, an oncologist at the University of Texas, said in a statement that future studies should focus on testing pomegranate juice for its effect on estrogen levels, menopausal symptoms, breast density or even as a cancer preventive agent.
More than 400,000 women die from breast cancer globally every year. About 75 percent of breast cancers are estrogen-receptor positive, meaning they are fed by estrogen.
Previous research has shown that pomegranate juice is rich in antioxidants — vitamins and other substances — that may help prevent diseases such as cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
CO2 in the Atmosphere Promoting Growth of Certain Species of Tree
December 22, 2009
Natural News
By Mike Adams
Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Minnesota at Morris have found that increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have led to the rapid growth of certain tree species. The quaking aspen, a popular North America deciduous tree, has seen a 50 percent acceleration in growth over the past 50 years due to increased CO2 levels.
Trees are necessary climate regulators since they process carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. Humans process oxygen and give off carbon dioxide, working harmoniously with natural plant life to maintain proper atmospheric composition. Since natural forests represent about 30 percent of the earth’s surface, they are highly effective at segregating greenhouse gases.
The quaking aspen is a vibrant, dominant tree found in both Canada and the United States. It is considered to be a “foundation species”, meaning that it helps dictate the dynamics of the plant and animal communities that surround it. Roughly 42 million acres in Canada and 6.5 million acres in Wisconsin and Minnesota are composed of aspen trees.
Elevated levels of CO2 will naturally lead to increased plant growth since CO2 is a precursor to plant food. Tree-ring analyses verified that aspen trees have been growing at an increasingly accelerated pace over the years because of this phenomenon.
Because accelerated growth was not seen in other tree species like oak and pine, scientists admit they will have to further investigate the issue. Similarly, drier regions where the trees were found did not experience the same rapid growth rates as those found in the wetter regions.
Comments by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
An interesting side effect of increased carbon emissions by human activity is that plants will grow more quickly. CO2 is to plants as oxygen is to humans, so the more CO2 is in the atmosphere, the more quickly many plants can grow.
Of course, plants produce oxygen as the “waste” product of their respiration, and that’s a poison to other plants, so there’s a natural balancing effect that keeps oxygen and CO2 levels in balance over the long haul.
This is why greenhouse gases are called “greenhouse gases”, by the way — because they turn the planet into a really effective greenhouse where plants grow like crazy. Of course, the clear-cutting of rainforest in the Amazon (and elsewhere) kills any chance of those regions taking part in that accelerated plant growth. Even in a high-CO2 environment, human beings can destroy plant life with bulldozers.
It’s interesting that plants and humans breathe the same air but extract very different chemical elements from it: Humans need oxygen while plants need carbon dioxide. For both species to survive, the air needs to contain both chemicals in balance. Currently, the oxygen content of the air is roughly around 20% (and falling).
Click here for the full report
BPA Tied to Impotence in Men
November 11, 2009
ABCNews
By Joseph Brownstein
While environmental groups have sounded the alarm about the presence of bisphenol-A, or BPA, in products such as infant formula, baby bottles and other plastics, a new study provides some of the first evidence that the chemical can be harmful to humans, linking it to sexual dysfunction in men in high doses.
Researchers looked at 550 factory workers in China, some of whom were exposed to BPA as part of their job, and found that men who worked with BPA were four times more likely than their counterparts who did not work with the chemical to report some level of sexual dysfunction.
“The study certainly provides the human evidence to confirm animal studies, but one study is not going to answer any questions,” said Dr. De-kun Li, the study’s lead author and a reproductive and perinatal epidemiologist at Kaiser Permanente’s Division of Research in Oakland, Calif.
Li noted that while BPA’s presence has been confirmed in a number of consumer products, all studies before now had only shown harm in nonhuman populations.
“Up to this point, it’s largely, basically animal studies,” said Li, explaining that little has been done about BPA because of a lack of studies in people.
“There has been no human studies, at least in the context of the male reproductive system, so this has been dismissed by some critics,” he said of the potential harms BPA may pose.
But Li acknowledged that the current study will likely do little to change policy, since the levels of BPA were much higher than those encountered by the average person in his or her daily life. The average worker exposed to BPA had levels roughly 50 times higher than the average person.
“At this point … we don’t know the safety of the lower level,” he said, but noted that people do not need to worry too much. “We don’t have to be alarmed and go crazy.”
In the study, 15.5 percent of men exposed to BPA complained of erectile dysfunction more than half of the time, while only 4.4 percent of men not exposed to BPA had the same complaint. Meanwhile, 13.9 percent of men with BPA exposure on the job complained of difficulty ejaculating, while only 2.5 percent of men without the on-the-job BPA exposure had the same complaint.
While previous reports on BPA have relied heavily on animal studies, none have promoted a ban on the substance.
The National Toxicology Program, part of the National Institutes of Health, considers BPA to be a substance of “some concern” — the third level of a five-part scale ranging from “serious concern” to “negligible concern.”
“There are insufficient data from studies in humans to reach a conclusion on reproductive or developmental hazards presented by current exposures to BPA, but there is limited evidence of developmental changes occurring in some animal studies at doses that are experienced by humans. It is uncertain if similar changes would occur in humans, but the possibility of adverse health effects cannot be dismissed,” the agency writes about BPA in its factsheet.
It is unclear exactly how BPA would cause sexual dysfunction, according to Dr. Michele Marcus, a professor and interim chair in the department of epidemiology and environmental health at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. One possible explanation, she said, is that BPA, a known endocrine disruptor, can mimic estrogen and block some effects of testosterone.
Avoiding BPA ‘Would Be My Advice,’ Doctor Says
Because his study does not provide answers for the average person looking to know if BPA will do him or her harm, Li said any steps would be strictly precautionary.
“It’s certainly based on everybody’s risk tolerance level,” he said, adding that avoiding BPA “would be my advice. It’s unlikely the regulatory agencies will do anything yet, because they would like to see the evidence from human studies.”
“If there’s credible evidence of the potential of harm, why not look for a safer alternative?” said Kathy Gerwig, vice president for workplace safety and environmental stewardship officer at Kaiser Permanente.
Gerwig said that while BPA has not been proven harmful, there were steps consumers could take if they wanted to reduce their BPA exposure.
“If you’re going to buy a rigid plastic bottle, look for one that is BPA-free,” she said.
Second, Gerwig recommended avoiding canned foods, which contain BPA in the linings, something she said would be advantageous because it promoted eating fresh foods.
Third, she said, “It’s a smart decision to stay away from heating foods in the microwave in plastics.”
Industrial Scale
Given the high levels of BPA industrial workers were exposed to in the study, many may be tempted to dismiss the much lower levels of exposure the average person experiences.
But paradoxically, lower levels may be more harmful, explained Dr. David Ozonoff, a professor of environmental health at the Boston University School of Public Health.
“These are hormone-like chemicals, and your body is used to responding to hormones at really low levels,” he said.
He compared it to two friends in a crowded bar trying to speak, who cannot do so because of the noise. In those circumstances, the noise may be cancelled out, while in a quieter room, that message may be heard and listened to.
For a signal that has the potential to be disruptive, said Ozonoff, a signal that can be “heard” can be more dangerous than a large number of signals that can be dismissed as static.
“That’s one of those things that we worry about,” he said.
Ozonoff said the study is still open to interpretation, and further studies will need to be done for any conclusions to be drawn about the potential harmfulness of BPA.
However, he concluded, “There’s nothing about this that should give any comfort to someone that thinks BPA is OK.”
Click here for the full report.
Gene Tweak May Keep Hearts Younger
October 14, 2009
ABC News/Reuters
By Tan Ee Lyn
Scientists in Japan said they have uncovered evidence that shows it may be possible to delay or prevent heart failure in humans.
In a paper published in the journal Circulation, Tetsuo Shioi, lead researcher and assistant professor of medicine at Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine in Kyoto, and his team described how they managed to suppress a variety of the P13K gene in a group of elderly mice.
The gene regulates the lifespan of cells and plays a role in the aging of tissues. In previous studies, suppression of this gene extended the lifespan of the roundworm and kept the hearts of old fruit flies healthy.
Compared with another group of mice in which the gene was left intact, mice with the suppressed gene had improved cardiac function, less fibrosis (which makes the heart inflexible) and fewer biological markers of aging.
“This study showed that aging of the heart can be prevented by modifying the function of insulin and paves the way to preventing age-associated susceptibility to heart failure,” Shioi said.
Old age is a major risk factor for heart failure, a condition when the heart is unable to pump enough blood around to supply the oxygen the body needs, the World Health Organization says.
According to the American Heart Association, 5.7 million Americans have heart failure, and nearly 10 out of every 1,000 people over age 65 suffer heart failure every year.
Mariell Jessup, professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, said older people experience a slow but gradual loss of heart cells and a host of other cellular abnormalities which make the remaining cells contract less efficiently.
“This early work in a mouse model, clarifying the role of PI3K in cardiac aging, could ultimately allow scientists to understand if human hearts are similarly influenced,” he said.
As mammals, mice are considered a good surrogate for studies of human diseases and conditions; their body plan, physiology and genome share many features with humans.
Click here for the full report.
Study Finds Low-Calorie Diet Extends Lifespan of Monkeys
July 10, 2009
Wall Street Journal
by Keith J. Winstein
Sharply cutting calories in the diets of rhesus monkeys was found to reduce aging-related deaths, according to a study that followed 76 monkeys for two decades.
The findings, published Thursday in Science magazine by researchers at the University of Wisconsin, give new impetus to researchers and companies, including GlaxoSmithKline PLC, that are searching for a drug to mimic the beneficial effects of a meager diet in humans without the feeling of near-starvation.
For thousands of people who already attempt to sharply restrict their food intake — by as much as 30% below a normal diet of roughly 2,200 calories a day — in an effort to live longer, the findings appear to validate a technique called calorie restriction as a way to live longer.
Scientists have known since the 1930s that the technique lengthens the lives of mice. But until now, no study had shown the technique worked in monkeys, which are more genetically similar to humans. One difficulty: Monkeys live almost 30 years on average, meaning any study to measure a difference in death rates would need to wait a long time.
The Wisconsin study, which began in 1989 with 30 rhesus monkeys and added 46 more in 1994, is the first to yield a definitive finding. Researchers began restricting half the monkeys’ diets, reducing their calories by 30%, when the monkeys were fully grown, or about 10 years old.
Thursday’s findings are “all consistent with what human practitioners of calorie restriction have always believed,” said Brian Delaney, president of the Calorie Restriction Society, which claims about 3,000 members. “Any degree of restriction beyond what you’re currently eating will confer health benefits and will slow the aging process,” he said.
After almost 20 years, 14 of 38 monkeys in the control group had died of what were considered age-related causes, such as heart disease and cancer. That compares with only five of 38 monkeys in the restricted-diet group, a significant decrease. However, the difference wasn’t statistically significant when considering all causes of death, including monkeys who died from injuries and complications from anesthesia.
Calorie restriction also appeared to slow the loss of gray matter in the brain.
“It’s a pretty simply story, really,” said Richard Weindruch, a Wisconsin professor who led the study. “We’ve been waiting all these years for the monkeys to become old enough to get meaningful data on lifespan and brain aging and diseases.”
Dr. Weindruch described himself as an imperfect adherent to calorie restriction. “I found it difficult to adhere to such a diet, despite studying it for so many years,” he said, adding he had been able to cut his calories by about 20% for only a few months. “I’m not the poster child for human application,” he said.
He is the co-founder of a Wisconsin company, LifeGen Technologies LLC, that works with drug makers to quantify the effect of possible life-extending drugs.
Click here for the full report from the Wall Street Journal.
