The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has posted online its 2007 report on the antioxidant ratings for various fruit juices and foods. The research places blueberry juice at the top of the list of juices, above more than a dozen other juices tested such as the juice of pomegranate, apple, prune, cranberry and Concord grape. Generally, however, many foods scored higher on the antioxidant scale than juices, which may surprise some people.
(Free radicals are unattached, molecular bits that – when present in excess – are implicated in the type of cellular damage seen in aging. They are natural byproducts of metabolism. Antioxidants, found in foods, attach themselves to some of these free radicals and render them harmless. Contrary to common belief, we do need some free radicals for normal body functioning.)
Using the Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity (ORAC) testing procedure – the gold standard for detecting the free-radical scavenging ability of foods – the USDA found blueberry juice to have the highest ORAC score (rated as “2,906 micromoles TE/100grams”) among juices.
Foods with the highest antioxidant values included: cocoa, chocolate, sorghum bran, ground cinnamon, sage, basil, marjoram and clove. By comparison to bran, spices and others, common fruits and vegetables scored relatively low in their ability to combat free radical activity.
The online report is significant because it gives the public a way to focus on foods and juices highest in antioxidants. Readers may find some surprises if they review the list. (The higher the number for “Total-ORAC” in the “Mean” column, the greater the food’s antioxidant capacity.) The ORAC database was prepared by the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and is now available on the Internet at: www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/12354500/Data/ORAC/ORAC07.pdf.
GREEN TEA REDUCES SLEEP APNEA DAMAGE
Compounds found in green tea may help ward off the neurological damage that can come with the common sleep-breathing disorder called sleep apnea, a new animal study suggests.
(Obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, is a common disorder in which soft tissues in the throat temporarily collapse and block the airway during sleep, causing sufferers repeatedly to stop breathing throughout the night. The immediate symptoms include chronic loud snoring and gasping, as well as daytime sleepiness. Left untreated, OSA eventually can have widespread effects on the body; it’s linked to high blood pressure, morning headaches, memory loss, daytime sleepiness and latent pulmonary hypertension, LPH, which results in serious breathing difficulties. Research suggests that these intermittent nighttime dips in oxygen to the brain may cause oxidative free radicals, which in part lead to memory and learning difficulties, as well as other cognitive problems.)
A team at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in Kentucky found that green tea compounds called catechin polyphenols helped shield the brains of rats from the damage caused by this oxygen deprivation. (Catechin polyphenols act as antioxidants, which help neutralize cell-damaging oxygen free radicals.) Also, the animals given drinking water laced with green tea polyphenols performed better on a standard test of learning and memory – a water “maze” designed to encourage the rats to remember the location of an escape platform.
However, the team leader stated that, “Definitive proof that green tea would help will have to await a trial in human patients.” This study is important because it shows that green tea compounds eventually may prove beneficial, when taken alongside traditional OSA therapy.
The study appears in the May 15, 2008 issue of the Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
LEAF EXTRACT PREVENTS LIVER DAMAGE
The berries of sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) are well-known for their cholesterol-busting properties but scientists in India say that the leaves of the plant, rich in antioxidants, may help ward off liver disease. In a controlled experiment, rats were given an extract of the leaves of sea buckthorn before being administered a liver-damaging agent (carbon tetrachloride) while others were given a saline solution instead. The results showed that the leaf extract appeared to confer a “significant” protective mechanism on the liver – the normally serious damage to the liver from the chemical was severely restricted.
Indigenous to the mountainous regions of China and Russia, sea buckthorn has been shown to be rich in vitamin C, vitamin E, flavonoids and essential fatty acids. The leaves are also used to make tea. Sea buckthorn has strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which may explain the liver protection found in the new study. Although the study is preliminary and needs to be confirmed by further research, it suggests that sea buckthorn leaf extract may afford protection for the liver against a variety of damaging agents such as alcohol, too much fast food, and cadmium and other metals. Not yet published, the new study by India’s Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences is due to appear in the Society of Chemical Industry’s (SCI) Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.
In another recent study on the plant, scientists from Finland reported that regular consumption of the berries of sea buckthorn (not the leaf) reduced levels of a protein that is associated with inflammation, diabetes and heart disease.
(Ed note: For an excellent Canadian manufacturer of seabuckthorn products, go to www.seabuckthorn.com, 1-877-767-6101.)
DRUG-FREE, SURGERY-FREE CANCER CURE?
The Kanzius machine was invented over five years ago by John Kanzius, a terminal leukemia cancer patient with no science or medical training, to cure cancer without drugs or surgery. Sounds impossible? Well, today, the Kanzius machine is being developed at two major cancer research centres – the University of Pittsburgh and M.D. Anderson – where scientists have already completely cured test animals of cancer. No drugs. No surgery. No side effects. And all lurking cancer cells destroyed right in their remote hiding places. The machine sends radio waves from one box to another, thus creating an intensely focused radio wave beam. Tumours are then injected with microscopic nanoparticles – far smaller than human cells – made of metal. Since metal heats up when it’s exposed to high-powered radio waves, the focused radio waves then cook (only) the metal-containing cancer cells to death, without in any way harming the surrounding (non-metal-containing, non-cancerous) cells. Radio waves are harmless to healthy cells, meaning there are no negative side effects.
So far, cancers have been eliminated from rats and rabbits but human trials are a long way off – likely too far off to save the machine’s inventor, although he says he still hopes to live long enough to see just one person cured with his invention. Eventually, scientists hope to inject microscopic molecules designed to target – to latch onto – only individual cancer cells. These tiny cancer-seeking molecules can be used to carry the metallic nanoparticles through the bloodstream and right inside any cancer cells hiding anywhere within the body, preparing them for the blast of focused radio waves that will kill them.
Aside from being drug-free and noninvasive, the Kanzius machine would be the first treatment to target any individual cancer cells that have metastasized, or spread, to other parts of the body. Those undetectable rogue cells are what most often kill people with cancer and the trick is finding them.
With all the funds poured into cancer research over the decades, there may be some irony in the possibility of a cure being invented by a patient with no college degree, working from his home and eventually using just $200,000 of his own money. Sure, it may sound like science fiction. But M.D. Anderson liver cancer surgeon Steven Curley echoes the sentiments of a number of scientists when he says, “I’ve got to tell you – in 20 years of research, this is the most exciting thing that I’ve encountered.” And if, by chance, it eventually becomes the standard treatment for human cancers, remember you read it here first.
Readers can read more about this potential cancer cure at (and can even send donations for research through) the following Internet web link: www.kanziuscancerresearch.com
NEWSNOTES
HEALTHNOTES
An apple a day? Try a pear
An apple a day may help lower cholesterol – but a recent study shows that an Asian pear a day is better. One large Asian pear has nearly 10 g of cholesterol-lowering fibre, which is about 40 per cent of your daily need. A large apple has about half that much. People who ate the most fibre had the lowest total and “bad” cholesterol levels, according to a Baltimore study. Also, you will curb your risk of weight gain. The same researchers found that people who ate the most fibre weighed the least and had the lowest body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference.
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