Bites

BBC News is reporting that scientists at the Cork Cancer Research Centre have found that an extract found in the bright yellow curry spice turmeric can destroy gullet cancer cells.

The extract, called curcumin, “has long been thought to have healing powers and is already being tested as a treatment for arthritis and even dementia,” the report states,.

The findings, published in the British Journal of Cancer, could help doctors find new cancer treatments.

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An international team of scientists has found that anti-oxidants commonly touted for their health-promoting benefits could contribute to the early onset of Type 2 diabetes.

Led by Professor Tony Tiganis of Monash University, researchers found that molecules known as Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) may play a protective role in the early stages of Type 2 diabetes by enhancing insulin action. Anti-oxidants prevent the beneficial effects of ROS.

The team showed that when ROS levels were elevated in muscles of genetically-modified mice they could prevent the onset of insulin resistance and diabetes that is induced by a high-fat diet.

However when these animals received anti-oxidants, which ‘mop up’ ROS, the improved insulin response was lost and the mice became more ‘diabetic’.

The findings, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, challenge the widely-held view that ROS are always harmful and that anti-oxidants are always beneficial.

“ROS molecules, such as hydrogen peroxide, are important for normal cell function. We have shown that ROS present in muscle enhance insulin action and help lower blood sugar levels,” Professor Tiganis said.

“However, our studies do not negate the role of ROS in late-stage disease. There’s a ‘yin and yang’ relationship that takes place, wherein ROS are beneficial in the early stages of Type 2 diabetes and shift to being harmful at later stages of the disease. We are now trying to find out when ROS make the switch from being ‘good’ to ‘bad’.

“Although we need to undertake further studies in humans, our results indicate that the widespread use of anti-oxidants by the general public as a preventative measure is something that should be discouraged, particularly if you are otherwise healthy.”

Source: Monash University

Shoppers at some farmers markets are reportedly purchasing large quantities of the poppy seeds to brew tea — a drink that can offer a narcotic, possibly hallucinogenic, high.

Buyers have traditionally purchased poppy seeds for use on bakery products such as bagels and cakes, or for craft projects like dried flower arrangements.

When boiled in water, however, poppy seed pods can be potent enough to kill, according to Jerry Young of Bowie, Texas, whose son died in July from drinking a poppy seed concoction.

“He had taken poppy seed tea several times, always using the exact same amount of seeds (3.5 lbs) and same preparation. The last time he took it, it resulted in his death due to morphine overdose. The autopsy revealed a morphine concentration in his blood and urine that was higher than the lethal levels,” Young writes on a website he set up at http://www.poppyseedtea.com/

“Poppy seed tea contains different opiates in various concentrations. Typically morphine and codeine are the main ones. Morphine is recognized as one of the most addictive substances known to man and is, for this reason, also one of the most tightly controlled.

“Overdoses of morphine can be lethal. The main cause of death for morphine overdose is pulmonary edema, where the lungs fill with fluid passed from the blood stream through the alveoli in the lungs. That was the case with our son.”

ABC News consulted pharmacology experts who say the effects of poppy seed tea have been documented in scientific literature. Scott Lukas, professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at Harvard Medical School, said there are “many reports of poppy tea use and abuse. The stuff has a very bitter and foul taste, and so may not be popular for that reason.”

A single dose of buckwheat honey before bedtime provided more relief from nighttime coughing than popular over-the-counter cough medicine in a study published in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Dr. Ian M. Paul and colleagues at Penn State College of Medicine conducted a study involving 105 children age 2 to 18 with upper respiratory tract infections who were sick for seven days or less and experienced symptoms during the night. Thirty-five children were randomly assigned to receive an age-appropriate dose of honey, 33 to receive dextromethorphan and 37 to receive no treatment for one night within 30 minutes of bedtime. The children’s parents were asked to complete a survey assessing their child’s cough and sleep difficulty the night before their assigned treatment and then again the night after treatment.

Honey was found to yield the greatest improvement followed by dextromethorphan, while no treatment showed the least improvement in cough frequency, cough severity, cough bothersome to child, child’s sleep and parent’s sleep.

“In paired comparisons, honey was significantly superior to no treatment for cough frequency and the combined score, but dextromethorphan was not better than no treatment for any outcome,” the authors reported. “Comparison of honey with dextromethorphan revealed no significant differences.

“While our findings and the absence of contemporary studies supporting the use of dextromethorphan continue to question its effectiveness for the treatment of cough associated with upper respiratory tract infections, we have now provided evidence supporting honey, which is generally regarded as safe for children older than 1 year, as an alternative,” the authors conclude.

Source: JAMA/Archives journals

• Honey

In 1998, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) concluded that frozen vegetables provide the same nutrients as fresh vegetables. Frozen vegetables are usually picked and processed at the peak of their ripeness, when they are also at the peak of their nutritional value. They are then blanched in hot water, then flash-frozen, locking in their nutrients.

Vegetables sold in the produce aisles of grocers are picked long before ripening, which means they never develop the full range of nutrients they would if they had been left on the vine. While they ripen outwardly, they lack the nutrition density of vine-ripened vegetables, and lose even more nutrients in the shipping process as they are exposed to heat and light.

To get the full range of nutrients, grow your own vegetables, pick at the height of ripeness, and eat immediately. If that’s not possible, purchase direct from the grower at a farmers market or buy frozen vegetables.

• Fruits and Vegetables: Eating Your Way to 5 A Day

Dietary curcumin in the form of curry and turmeric appears to inhibit weight gain and body fat, according to results from a new animal model study by Agricultural Research Service (ARS)-funded scientists and colleagues.

The study found that supplementing a high-fat diet with curcumin reduced weight gain and total body fat. Animals with curcumin in their diets had less blood vessel growth in fat tissue and lower blood glucose, triglyceride, fatty acid, cholesterol and liver fat than test animals in control groups.

In the study, 18 mice were assigned to three groups of six mice each. For 12 weeks, the mice were fed special diets. A “control” group’s mix contained 4 percent fat, a “high fat” group’s mix contained 22 percent fat, and another group was fed the same “high fat” diet supplemented with curcumin. A mouse typically eats about 3,000 to 3,500 milligrams (the weight of about six or seven paper clips) daily, so the curcumin-supplemented mice would have consumed about 1.5 to 1.75 milligrams of curcumin daily–a relatively small amount.

The researchers recorded the body weight and food consumption of the mice twice each week. At the end of the 12-week period, their total body weight and fat distribution were measured.

Researchers theorize that dietary curcumin could stall the spread of fat-tissue by inhibiting new blood vessel growth, called angiogenesis, which is necessary to build fat tissue.

Curcumin is a bioactive component in curry and turmeric that has been consumed daily in Asian countries for centuries without reported toxic effects.

It is not known whether the amount of curcumin normally present in food dishes prepared with turmeric is sufficient to inhibit complex fat-tissue secretions that are involved in recruiting new blood vessel growth. The researchers’ next step is to determine the effectiveness of dietary intake of curcumin in reducing weight in humans.

• Seasonal Seasonings Have Multiple Benefits

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