Mango – Preventing Growth of Colon and Breast Cancer Cells
January 21,2010
Natural News
By S. L. Baker
Take a bite of a juicy, sweet mango and you are experiencing a delicious taste enjoyed by countless people from ancient times until today. According to the Orlando-based National Mango Board (NMG), a mango industry-sponsored research, promotion and consumer information program, mangos are known to be rich in vitamins C and A, as well as fiber. However, because little has been documented about any specific health benefits of eating the fruit, NMB has commissioned a variety of scientific studies to investigate these issues.
So far, this research initiative has turned up an unexpected and groundbreaking discovery: in laboratory experiments in Texas A&M University’s AgriLife Research department mango fruit prevented or stopped cancer growth in certain breast and colon cell lines.
Food scientists Dr. Susanne Talcott and her co-researcher husband, Dr. Steve Talcott, used the five varieties of mangos (Kent, Francine, Ataulfo, Tommy/Atkins and Haden) most common in the US and specifically tested polyphenol extracts from the fruit on colon, breast, lung, leukemia and prostate cancer cells. Polyphenols are natural substances in plants that are antioxidants with the potential to protect the body from disease. The Talcotts zeroed in on evaluating polyphenolic compounds in mangos known as gallotannins, a class of natural bioactive compounds believed to help prevent or block the growth of cancer cells.
The results? The Talcotts’ experiments showed that the mango extract demonstrated some cancer fighting ability when tested on lung, leukemia and prostate cancer cells. But when tested on the most common breast and colon cancers, mango compounds were found to have even stronger anticancer abilities. In fact, the mango extract caused the breast and colon cancer cells to undergo apoptosis — programmed cell death.
“Additionally, we found that when we tested normal colon cells side by side with the colon cancer cells, the mango polyphenolics did not harm the normal cells,” Dr. Susanne Talcott said in a statement to the press. “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 researchers documented that the cancer cell cycle (the division process cells go through) was interrupted by mango extract. This is crucial information, Suzanne Talcott said in a press statement, because it could explain a possible mechanism for how the cancer cells are prevented or stopped by phytochemicals in mangos. “For cells that may be on the verge of mutating or being damaged, mango polyphenolics prevent this kind of damage,” she explained.
The scientists have conducted additional research on the colon cancer cell lines because mangos contain small molecules that are readily absorbed in the colon as well as larger molecules that are not absorbed and remain present longer in the colon. Those facts could potentially make eating mangos a potent way to help prevent colon cancer. In fact, the Talcotts are hoping to next conduct a small clinical trial to see if mangos can prevent colon cancer in people at high risk for a malignancy because they have increased inflammation in their intestines.
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Benefits of Green Tea block Cancer
January 15, 2010
BBC News
The latest work in more than 500 people adds to growing evidence suggesting the beverage has anti-cancer powers.
In the study, smokers and non-smokers who drank at least a cup a day cut their lung cancer risk significantly, a US cancer research conference heard.
The protection was greatest for people carrying certain genes.
But cancer experts said the findings did not change the fact that smoking is bad for health.
Daily cuppa
Green tea is made from the dried leaves of the Asian plant Camellia sinesis and is drunk widely across Asia.
The rates of many cancers are much lower in Asia than other parts of the world, which has led some to link the two.
Laboratory studies have shown that extracts from green tea, called polyphenols, can stop cancer cells from growing.
But results from human studies have been mixed. Some have shown a protective effect while others have failed to find any evidence of protection.
In July 2009, the Oxford-based research group Cochrane published a review of 51 studies on green tea and cancer which included over 1.5 million people.
They concluded that while green tea is safe to drink in moderation, the research so far is conflicting about whether or not it can prevent certain cancers.
Reduced risk
Dr I-Hsin Lin, of Shan Medical University, found that among smokers and non-smokers, people who did not drink green tea were more than five times as likely to get lung cancer than those who drank at least one cup of green tea a day.
Among smokers, those who did not drink green tea at all were more than 12 times as likely to develop lung cancer than those who drank at least a cup a day.
Researchers then analysed the DNA of people in the study and found certain genes appeared to play a role in the risk reduction.
Green tea drinkers, whether smokers or non smokers, with certain types of a gene called IGF1, were far less likely to develop lung cancer than other green tea drinkers with different types of this gene.
Yinka Ebo, of Cancer Research UK, said the findings should not be used as an excuse to keep smoking.
“Smoking tobacco fills your lungs with around 80 cancer-causing chemicals. Drinking green tea is not going to compensate for that.
“Unfortunately, it’s not possible to make up for the harm caused by smoking by doing other things right like eating a healthy, balanced diet.
“The best thing a smoker can do to reduce their risk of lung cancer, and more than a dozen other cancer types, is to quit.”
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Group Seeking ‘Anti-Cancer’ Label for Hot Dogs
December 22, 2009
Natural News
By David Gutierrez
In a lawsuit filed against hot dog manufacturers, the nonprofit Cancer Project is seeking to force all hot dogs sold in the state of New Jersey to carry a label reading, “Warning: Consuming hot dogs and other processed meats increases the risk of cancer.”
“Just as tobacco causes lung cancer, processed meats are linked to colon cancer,” said Cancer Project President Neal Barnard, of George Washington University Medical School. “Companies that sell hot dogs are well aware of the danger, and their customers deserve the same information.”
The Cancer Project is a project of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which promotes a vegan diet and condemns animal research.
The lawsuit cites numerous studies that have implicated processed meat consumption in a higher cancer risk, including a recent report by the American Institute for Cancer Research. According to this report, eating just one 50 gram serving of processed meat per day (the equivalent of one hot dog) increases a person’s risk of colorectal cancer by an average of 21 percent.
The Cancer Project largely blames hot dogs’ cancer-causing effects on nitrites, a class of preservatives that break down into carcinogenic compounds when digested. Other researchers have argued that the high fat content of processed meat is much more likely to cause cancer, but the Cancer Project argues that this debate is not relevant to its lawsuit.
“This situation is similar to the link between the smoking of tobacco products and lung cancer: While all the molecular events linking the smoking of tobacco to the development of lung cancer are not known, the link cannot be disputed,” the legal complaint says.
According to nutritionist Keith-Thomas Ayoob of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, focusing too much on hot dogs might be missing the point.
“The stuff people typically have with a hot dog may be a more immediate concern: too many calories from all the fat-laden potato and macaroni salads, sugary drinks and sweet desserts,” he said.
Click here for the full report
Scientists Break Cancer Gene Code
December 18, 2009
CNN
By Phil Han
The entire genetic codes of two common types of cancer have been cracked, according to scientists, who say the breakthrough could unlock a new era in the treatment of deadly diseases.
Scientists at the UK-based Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute catalogued the genetic maps of skin and lung cancer and have pinpointed the specific mutations within DNA that can lead to dangerous tumors.
Researchers predict these maps will offer patients a personalized treatment option that ranges from earlier detection to the types of medication used to treat cancer.
The genetic maps will also allow cancer researchers to study cells with defective DNA and produce more powerful drugs to fight the errors, according to the the study’s scientists.
“The knowledge we extract over the next few years will have major implications for treatment,” Peter Campbell from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute said.
“By identifying all the cancer genes we will be able to develop new drugs that target the specific mutated genes and work out which patients will benefit from these novel treatments.”
Scientists found that the DNA code for skin cancer contained nearly 30,000 errors and lung cancer DNA contained more than 23,000.
“These are the two main cancers in the developed world for which we know the primary exposure,” Mike Stratton, from the Cancer Genome Project said.
“For lung cancer, it is cigarette smoke and for malignant melanoma it is exposure to sunlight.
“With these genome sequences, we have been able to explore deep into the past of each tumor, uncovering with remarkable clarity the imprints of these environmental mutagens on DNA, which occurred years before the tumor became apparent.”
The study suggests that an error occurs for every 15 cigarettes that are smoked.
Scientists as part of the International Cancer Genome Consortium in other countries around the world are completing similar studies — the UK is looking at breast cancer, the U.S. at brain, ovary and pancreatic cancer, and Japan at the liver.
Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide and claims more than seven million lives each year according to the World Health Organization.
Healty Piscachios Cut Cancer Risk
December 14, 2009
Natural News
By S. L. Baker
Researchers have reported over the past year that nuts offer a wide range of health benefits — from helping fight the pre-diabetic condition known as metabolic syndrome (http://www.naturalnews.com/025098_n…) to preventing age-related blindness (http://www.naturalnews.com/026369_o…) and lowering breast cancer risk (http://www.naturalnews.com/026115_w…). Now there’s even more good news about nuts. According to data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference held in Houston recently, eating a handful of pistachios daily may protect you from lung cancer.
“It is known that vitamin E provides a degree of protection against certain forms of cancer. Higher intakes of gamma-tocopherol, which is a form of vitamin E, may reduce the risk of lung cancer,” Ladia M. Hernandez, a PhD candidate at Texas Women’s University and a senior research dietitian in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, said in a statement to the press. “Pistachios are a good source of gamma-tocopherol. Eating them increases intake of gamma-tocopherol so pistachios may help to decrease lung cancer risk.”
Pistachios have already been shown in previous studies to be a heart-healthy food. The nuts have a cholesterol-lowering effect and are loaded with immune system boosting antioxidants. Hernandez and her research team conducted a six-week, controlled clinical trial to investigate whether the consumption of pistachios would increase levels of gamma-tocopherol in the body.
Their study, which was at conducted at Texas Woman’s University in Houston, involved 36 healthy research subjects. The participants were randomized into a control group and an intervention group. For two weeks, both groups ate their normal diets so the scientists could take baseline measurements. Then for four weeks the control group continued on their regular diet while the other study participants added 68 grams (about 2 ounces or 117 kernels) of pistachios to their diets each day.
By weeks three and four, the scientists found that the research subjects eating pistachios had significantly higher serum gamma-tocopherol levels, compared to their baseline measurements and the vitamin E levels measured in the control group not eating the nuts. This substantially increased amount of gamma-tocopherol in the body of pistachio eaters could help lower the risk of not only lung cancer but other malignancies, as well. “Because epidemiologic studies suggest gamma-tocopherol is protective against prostate cancer, pistachio intake may help,” Hernandez said.
But what about the added calories? Hernandez explained the amount of pistachios needed to lower the risk of cancer isn’t enough to pack on extra pounds. “Pistachios are one of those ‘good-for-you’ nuts, and two ounces per day could be incorporated into dietary strategies designed to reduce the risk of lung cancer without significant changes in body mass index,” she stated.
Click here for the full report.
9 Unexpected Things Found in Drinking Water
December 8, 2009
AOL News
By Dana Chivvis
Charles Duhigg of The New York Times today delivered the latest unsettling news about the nation’s water supply: It’s not as clean as you might think. An analysis of federal data from the last five years revealed that more than 20 percent of the nation’s water-treatment systems have broken provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the standards enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency. The result? As many as 19 million Americans are sickened each year.
Over the years, the EPA has identified many substances in water supplies far and wide. Here are nine unexpected things that they’ve spotted.
Arsenic A naturally occurring element found in soil and minerals, arsenic is used as a pesticide and wood sealant. Ingesting high levels of arsenic, Madame Bovary can tell you, is deadly. At lower levels, over longer periods of time, it can darken skin and spur corns and warts. A carcinogen, arsenic can increase the risk of skin, liver, bladder and lung cancers.
The EPA has said that more than 3 million Americans have been exposed to water with illegal concentrations of arsenic since 2005.
Uranium The element Iran insists on enriching despite howls from the U.S. and other Western nations, it is also used in helicopters, airplanes, armor, fertilizer and household items like certain microwaves. After it’s mined and processed, some of it is released back into the environment in waste material, called mill tailings. Large amounts of uranium can lead to kidney disease and cancer, though naturally occurring uranium is much less radioactive.
The EPA says levels of uranium in drinking water are usually low and safe, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. However, the 3 million Americans exposed to illegal amounts of arsenic were also exposed to illegal amounts of radioactive substances.
Radium This radioactive metal has been used to treat cancer, for scientific research and in instrument calibration. Everyone is exposed to low levels of the substance, but higher levels are found near uranium mines, coal-burning industries and sometimes in drinking water that comes from wells. Radium can cause anemia and cataracts. At high levels, it is a carcinogen, causing increased bone, liver and breast cancer.
The EPA has reported that levels of radium were 2,000 times the legal limit in water flowing in some areas.
Tetrachloroethylene Used in dry cleaning and for metal degreasing, this chemical usually evaporates when it meets water, soil or air, but high exposure can cause headaches, dizziness, confusion, nausea and unconsciousness. Women who are exposed to high levels of tetrachloroethylene may have menstrual problems and even spontaneous abortions. It is also believed to be a carcinogen.
The New York Times found that the drinking water in Ramsey, N.J., located 35 miles outside of New York City, has had illegal concentrations of tetrachloroethylene since 2004.
Lead Houses built before 1986 are more likely to have lead pipes than newer ones. Because hot water dissolves lead more easily, people who live with older plumbing should never drink hot water from the tap. Kids who drink lead-tainted water above the legal limits are at risk for physical and mental development problems. In adults, lead can lead to high blood pressure and kidney trouble.
The EPA’s threshold for lead is 0.015 parts per million. If you are concerned about the levels of lead in your water, you can have it tested at a certified laboratory.
Prozac, Birth Control, Makeup, Shampoo Along with deceased goldfish and incriminating evidence, it turns out Americans like to flush their drugs and personal care products down the toilet, too. These substances leave the toilet (or bathtub and shower) and end up in our waterways. In fact, most of the waterways the EPA tested had pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in them.
While there is evidence that ecological harm can come from PPCPs in the water, scientists are not yet sure of the threat to humans.
You can find reports on the drinking water in your area at the EPA Web site.
Click here for the full report
Drinking Coffee May Reduce Prostate Cancer Risk
December 8, 2009
Bloomberg.com
By Simeon Bennett
Drinking coffee may lower the risk of developing the deadliest form of prostate cancer, according to a Harvard Medical School study.
In research involving 50,000 men over 20 years, scientists led by Kathryn Wilson at Harvard’s Channing Laboratory found that the 5 percent of men who drank 6 or more cups a day had a 60 percent lower risk of developing the advanced form of the disease than those who didn’t consume any. The risk was about 20 percent lower for the men who drank 1 to 3 cups a day, and 25 percent lower for those consuming 4 or 5 cups.
The study is the first to associate coffee with prostate cancer, contradicting previous research that’s found no link. The difference may be because Wilson and colleagues looked for the first time at the link between coffee and different stages of the disease, instead of grouping them all together. More research is needed to confirm the findings, she said.
“People shouldn’t start changing their coffee consumption based on one study,” Wilson said in a phone interview on Dec. 5. “It could be chance, and we really need to see whether it pans out in other studies.”
Prostate cancer struck almost 200,000 men in the U.S. this year and killed more than 27,000, making it the second-deadliest malignancy among American men after lung cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. About 54 percent of U.S. adults drink coffee, according to the New York-based National Coffee Association.
Multiple Components
The researchers aren’t sure which of the many components of coffee is responsible for the effect, though it probably isn’t caffeine because the same association was seen for decaffeinated coffee, Wilson said. The link wasn’t seen in patients with an earlier stage of prostate cancer, she said.
Coffee lowers the risk of Type 2 diabetes by increasing the body’s ability to use insulin to convert blood sugar to energy, previous research has shown.
Higher insulin levels have also been associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer, suggesting the hormone may be the link between coffee and the disease, Wilson said.
Click here for the full report
Processed Meat Increases Diabetes Risk
December 2, 2009
Natural News
By Paul Louis
A report based on data from 12 pooled cohort studies on heavy meat diets was led by Dagfinn Aune from the University of Oslo and published in the journal Diabetologia. The study determined that the high intake of processed meat may increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by up to 41 percent.
This new meta-analysis was conducted jointly from Norway and the US. The general conclusions of the study suggested that: “High intake of total meat increased the risk of diabetes by 17 percent, while red meat and processed meat were associated with 21 and 41 percent increases in diabetes risk.”
One of the primary purposes of this study was to resolve, ” . . . inconsistencies from previous studies which found both positive and negative associations between meat consumption and the risk of type 2 diabetes.”
Barry Popkin from the University of North Carolina described the study as “excellent’ and he went on to say that it “reiterates the concerns echoed in other major reviews and studies on the adverse effects of excessive meat intake”.
The higher rate of diabetes risk from processed meats can be attributed to the nitrates used as preservatives. Other studies have documented that nitrates cause beta cell toxicity. Beta cells are involved with the production of insulin. Consequently, their ability to produce insulin is blocked by nitrate induced toxicity.
Animal model studies proved that low doses of nitrosamine streptozotocin induced type 2 diabetes. Nitrosamines are formed by the nitrates interacting with amino acids in the stomach.
Earlier studies have documented negative health consequences with heavy meat eating. The US National Cancer Institute (NCI) has warned that “. . . high intakes of red and processed meats may raise the risk of lung and colorectal cancer by up to 20 percent.” And the World Cancer Research Fund has reported a direct link to cancer with alcohol, red and processed meats. They also found that heavy red and processed meat eaters risked earlier death.
More Benefits of vitamin D – Treatment for Prostate Cancer
November 19, 2009
Natural News
By David Gutierrez
(NaturalNews) Treatment with vitamin D supplements may slow the progress of prostate cancer, according to a study published in the journal BJU International.
In the United States, prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among men, after lung cancer. Approximately 240,000 new cases are diagnosed every year, leading to 30,000 deaths.
Researchers have suspected for nearly two decades that the so-called “sunshine vitamin” may play a role in the risk and progression of prostate cancer, but no studies have previously been conducted on its usefulness as a treatment.
“It’s very interesting – there has been no significant trial of vitamin D,” said lead researcher Jonathan Waxman of Imperial College London. “This is a treatment which is unlikely to have significant toxicity and is a welcome addition to the therapeutic options for patients with prostate cancer.”
Waxman decided to do the study when he learned of a prostate cancer patient who recovered after his wife bought vitamin D pills for him. Waxman and colleagues recruited 26 men with prostate cancer and assigned them each to take a daily vitamin D supplement. In five of the men, reductions in levels of the prostate specific antigen (PSA) were reduced.
In men with prostate cancer, PSA levels are an indicator of disease severity. One participant experienced a decrease in PSA levels less than 25 percent, two experienced decreases of between 25 and 50 percent, and two experienced decreases of more than 50 percent. In one of the participants, PSA levels remained reduced for a full 36 months.
Vitamin D is synthesized by the body upon exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from sunlight. It plays a critical role in calcium absorption and bone health, and deficiency in the vitamin can lead to rickets in children and osteoporosis in adults. Recent research has also suggested that vitamin D can help prevent autoimmune disorders and a variety of chronic diseases, including diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Some scientists have stated that if everyone increased the amount of time they spent in the sun, far more lives would be saved from cancers prevented than would be lost from increased skin cancer cases.
A light-skinned person can get enough vitamin D from getting 15 minutes of sun on the face and hands each day, while a darker skinned person might need up to 45 minutes. More sun exposure is needed at more extreme latitudes.
A connection between vitamin D and prostate cancer was first suggested in 1990, when researchers suggested that the vitamin might tie together a variety of observed risk factors for the disease. A wide body of research has demonstrated that prostate cancer risk is higher at northern latitudes (where people get less vitamin D), among older people (with reduced vitamin D synthesis) and black people (who absorb less UV rays). Researchers have also found that men diagnosed with prostate cancer in the summer or autumn, when vitamin D levels tend to be highest, have a better prognosis than men diagnosed in winter or spring.
In 1992, researchers also suggested that higher vitamin D consumption in Japan might account for lower rates of prostate cancer there, relative to the United States. Japanese men consume more fatty fish, which is high in both vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids that increase the vitamin’s stability in the body, and soy, which slows the rate at which bodily vitamin D breaks down.
Since then, studies have found that many prostate cancer cells contain vitamin D receptors, and that vitamin D can inhibit the growth of some of these cells.
Researchers also hypothesize that vitamin D might inhibit the action of the androgen receptor, which produces male sex hormones that have been linked to the disease.
Click here for the full report
The Kevin Trudeau Show: 10-6-09
Today, Kevin is back in the studio LIVE to explain how the media is diverting your attention from the real stories out there:
The Flu Cure
The Roman Polanski Controversy
A Rise in Autism
Vaccination Facts
Birth Control Danger
Plus, the co-founder of EMC², Stephen Lewis, joined Kevin to explain the miracle that is the AIM Program.
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