Food & Nutrition
UA researchers discover component of cinnamon prevents colorectal cancer in mice
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Research conducted at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy and the UA Cancer Center indicates that a compound derived from cinnamon is a potent inhibitor of colorectal cancer.
Georg Wondrak, Ph.D., associate professor, and Donna Zhang, Ph.D., professor, both of the UA College of Pharmacy Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, recently completed a study in which they proved that adding cinnamaldehyde, the compound that gives cinnamon its distinctive flavor and smell, to the diet of mice protected the mice against colorectal cancer. In response to cinnamaldehyde, the animals’ cells had acquired the ability to protect themselves against exposure to a carcinogen through detoxification and repair.
‘This is a significant finding,’ says Zhang, who, along with Wondrak, is a member of the UA Cancer Center. ‘Because colorectal cancer is aggressive and associated with poor prognoses, there is an urgent need to develop more effective strategies against this disease.’
Large doses of antioxidants may be harmful to neuronal stem cells
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Stem cells are especially sensitive to oxygen radicals and antioxidants shows new research from the group of Anu Wartiovaara in the Molecular Neurology Research Program of University of Helsinki. The research led by researcher Riikka Martikainen was published in Cell Reports -journal May 28th 2015.
Mitochondria are cellular power plants that use oxygen to produce energy. As a by-product they produce reactive oxygen. Excessive oxygen radicals may cause damage to cells but they are needed in small quantities as important cellular signaling molecules. One of their main functions is to control function of stem cells. Antioxidants are widely used to block the damage caused by reactive oxygen. To enhance their effect some new antioxidants are targeted to accumulate into mitochondria.
The current research showed that a small increase in oxygen radicals did not directly lead to cellular damage but disrupted intracellular signaling in stem cells and lead to decrease in their stemness properties. Treatment with antioxidants was able to improve the stemness properties in these cells. However, surprisingly, the researchers found that an antioxidant targeted to mitochondria showed dose-dependent toxic effects especially on neural stem cells.
Can cheap wine taste great? Brain imaging and marketing placebo effects
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When consumers taste cheap wine and rate it highly because they believe it is expensive, is it because prejudice has blinded them to the actual taste, or has prejudice actually changed their brain function, causing them to experience the cheap wine in the same physical way as the expensive wine? Research in the Journal of Marketing Research has shown that preconceived beliefs may create a placebo effect so strong that the actual chemistry of the brain changes.
“Studies have shown that people enjoy identical products such as wine or chocolate more if they have a higher price tag,” write authors Hilke Plassmann (INSEAD) and Bernd Weber (University of Bonn). “However, almost no research has examined the neural and psychological processes required for such marketing placebo effects to occur.”
Participants in one of the studies were told they would consume five wines ($90, $45, $35, $10, $5) while their brains were scanned using an MRI. In reality, subjects consumed only three different wines with two different prices. Another experiment used labels to generate positive (“organic”) or negative (“light”) expectations of the pleasantness of a milkshake. Some consumed identical milkshakes but thought they would be either organic or regular; others consumed identical milkshakes but thought they would be either light or regular.
Garlic extract could help cystic fibrosis patients fight infection
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A chemical found in garlic can kill bacteria that cause life-threatening lung infections in people with cystic fibrosis, research suggests.
The study is the first to show that the chemical - known as allicin - could be an effective treatment against a group of infectious bacteria that is highly resistant to most antibiotics.
Allicin is produced naturally by garlic bulbs to ward off a closely-related group of plant pathogens found in soil and water habitats. In the 1980s, the bacteria - known as the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) - emerged as a cause of serious and transmissible lung infections in people with cystic fibrosis.
Measures to limit the spread of Bcc infections among people with cystic fibrosis have brought the number of cases down considerably. However, current therapies available to treat infections - that are potentially fatal - are limited and require the use of combinations of three to four antibiotics at a time.
U.S. nutrition program for mothers, infants sees falling demand
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A government nutrition program for pregnant mothers and small children has not kept pace with technology and U.S. poverty experts say its paper voucher system is driving low-income women away from the program when they need it most.
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, has seen a sharp drop in participation since 2010, unlike food stamps and other anti-poverty programs that ballooned during the 2007-9 recession and the economic recovery that followed, government figures show.
“WIC providers are tearing their hair, beating their chests, ‘what are they doing wrong?’” said Laurie True, California WIC Association director.
Poverty experts say the shrinking demand does not reflect less need. They are pushing for faster changes to an outdated, cumbersome distribution process they say stigmatizes recipients.
New superfoods could help key protein keep bodies healthy
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A new generation of new superfoods that tackle heart disease and diabetes could be developed following research into a protein that helps keep cells in our bodies healthy.
Researchers at the University of Warwick found that the protein, called Nrf2, continually moves in and out of the nuclei of human cells to sense the cell’s health and vitality.
When Nrf2 is exposed to threats to the cell’s health it oscillates faster and activates an increase in the cell’s defence mechanism, including raising the levels of antioxidant.
The researchers, from the University’s Warwick Medical School, successfully increased the speed of Nrf2’s movement by artificially introducing health beneficial substances – potential components of new superfoods.
Is it safe for pregnant women to eat peanuts?
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So long as they don’t have nut allergies themselves, pregnant women shouldn’t be afraid that eating nuts might trigger allergies in their child, according to a large new study.
In fact, when women ate nuts more than five times a month during pregnancy, their kids had markedly lower risk of nut allergies compared to kids whose mothers avoided nuts, researchers found.
“The take-home message is that the previous concerns or fears of the ingestion of nuts during pregnancy causing subsequent peanut or nut allergy is really unfounded,” Dr. Michael Young said.
Young is the study’s senior author and an attending physician in allergy and immunology at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Intestinal bacteria influence food transit through the gut
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Food transit through the small intestine affects the body’s absorption of nutrients and, consequently, our health. The discovery that food transit time is regulated by a hormone indicates new ways to increase the intestinal absorption of nutrients, and thus potentially treat malnutrition.
One of the tasks of the gut microbiota is to break down essential nutrients from our diet to provide a usable energy source in the colon.
Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have now shown that lack of energy in the colon leads to increased release of a hormone primarily associated with appetite control and insulin secretion, GLP-1.
Importantly, they also showed that the released GLP-1 regulates how quickly food passes through the small intestine. These findings may open up new possibilities to treat malnutrition and malnutrition-related diseases.
Reducing the salt in bread without losing saltiness, thanks to a texture trick
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Want to make bread taste pleasantly salty without adding more salt? Change the bread’s texture so it is less dense, say scientists. They report in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that simply making the pores, or holes, larger can make people perceive bread as having saltier taste. The process could become a new strategy for reducing salt intake, which is a risk factor for high blood pressure and heart disease.
Peter Koehler and colleagues explain that every day, people in industrialized countries consume, on average, twice as much salt as the World Health Organization recommends. Much of that salt - 35 percent in the United Kingdom and about 25 percent in Germany - comes from bread, which for millennia has ranked as one of the world’s most ubiquitous foods. Cutting dietary salt would reduce people’s risk for developing high blood pressure, which has been diagnosed in 40 percent of adults aged 25 and older worldwide, and heart disease, which was the cause of 30 percent of all deaths in 2008. But the big question is how to do it in a palatable way. Researchers have tried different methods, such as using salt substitutes, but only to limited effect. Studies on cheese and gels has shown that changing texture can make a product taste salty even if salt content is reduced, so Koehler’s team decided to see if this would work with bread.
To alter the texture of bread for the study, they baked bread using different proofing times. Proofing is when a baker lets the dough rise. Longer proofing times lead to softer breads with larger pores. The subjects in the study rated the fluffier bread with the longest proofing time as noticeably more salty, even though each bite actually contained less salt. “Appropriate modification of crumb texture thus leads to enhanced saltiness, suggesting a new strategy for salt reduction in bread,” say the researchers.
Think twice before buying breast milk online: study
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Most of the breast milk sold over the Internet is contaminated with bacteria, a new study suggests.
Researchers tested 101 milk samples they bought on milk sharing websites. They found that almost three quarters probably weren’t safe for babies, especially preemies.
Those sites have thousands of ads from people selling breast milk, often new mothers who make more than their baby needs. The milk typically sells for $1 or $2 per ounce.
“If you buy milk on the Internet, you have no idea what you’re getting,” said Sarah Keim. She led the study at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
Food, drink industries undermine health policy, study finds
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Multinational food, drink and alcohol companies are using strategies similar to those employed by the tobacco industry to undermine public health policies, health experts said on Tuesday.
In an international analysis of involvement by so-called “unhealthy commodity” companies in health policy-making, researchers from Australia, Britain, Brazil and elsewhere said self-regulation was failing and it was time the industry was regulated more stringently from outside.
The researchers said that through the aggressive marketing of ultra-processed food and drink, multinational companies were now major drivers of the world’s growing epidemic of chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
Soda & Obesity
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There is a new assault on sodas and other sugar-sweetened beverages, with multiple studies linking them to unnecessary weight gain.
15-year-old Maggie Caudill has entered a weight loss program at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Her goal is to lose about 40 pounds so she can get back to cheerleading and softball.
“I want to be able to run as fast as I can through those bases. I don’t want to get winded and have to use my asthma inhaler,” she says.
Colorado man awarded $7.2 mill in “popcorn lung” lawsuit
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A U.S. federal court jury on Wednesday awarded a Colorado man $7.2 million in damages for developing a chronic condition known as popcorn lung from a chemical used in flavoring microwave popcorn.
Jurors agreed with the claims by Wayne Watson, 59, that the popcorn manufacturer and the supermarket chain that sold it were negligent by failing to warn on labels that the butter flavoring, diacetyl, was dangerous.
The condition is a form of obstructive lung disease that makes it difficult for air to flow out of the lungs and is irreversible, according to WebMd.
Watson, of suburban Denver, was the first consumer of microwave popcorn diagnosed with the disease, bronchiolitis obliterans, his attorney Kenneth McClain said.
Organic food no more nutritious than non-organic: study
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Organic produce and meat typically isn’t any better for you than conventional food when it comes to vitamin and nutrient content, although it does generally reduce exposure to pesticides and antibiotic-resistant bacteria, according to a U.S. study.
“People choose to buy organic foods for many different reasons. One of them is perceived health benefits,” said Crystal Smith-Spangler, who led a team of researchers from Stanford University and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care.
“Our patients, our families ask about, ‘Well, are there health reasons to choose organic food in terms of nutritional content or human health outcomes?’”
Red meat is blamed for one in 10 early deaths
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The Department of Health was last night urged to review its guidance on red meat after a study found that eating almost half the daily recommended amount can significantly increase the risk of dying early from cancer and heart disease.
Small quantities of processed meat such as bacon, sausages or salami can increase the likelihood of dying by a fifth, researchers from Harvard School of Medicine found. Eating steak increases the risk of dying by 12%.
The study found that cutting the amount of red meat in peoples’ diets to 1.5 ounces (42 grams) a day, equivalent to one large steak a week, could prevent almost one in 10 early deaths in men and one in 13 in women.
The scientists said that the government’s current advice that people should eat no more than 2.5 ounces (70 grams) a day, around around the level the average Briton already consumes, was “generous”.
