Science and medical professionals are buzzing about a powerful new discovery. One that can help you switch on your "longevity gene"... and cancel out the negative effects of aging.
What you've dreamed about is now possible. This is not science fiction: It's real life.
Strawberries are high on a select list of super-healthy foods that virtually everyone likes. And listen up -- now comes news that they are much more important to our health than previously thought. A new study done at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center on freeze-dried strawberries and precancerous esophageal lesions found that the berries were extremely effective in slowing the development of those lesions.
Anything that helps the fight against esophageal cancer is very welcome news. Not only have the number of cases been growing, it’s also a very deadly cancer.
Berries Bring Reversals
The research (which was sponsored by the California Strawberry Commission) was done in China, where the incidence of esophageal cancer -- the type known as squamous cell carcinoma -- is extremely high. Americans more typically suffer from a different type of esophageal cancer, known as adenocarcinoma. Lead researcher Tong Chen, MD, PhD, assistant professor in medical oncology at Ohio State, told me that strawberries may similarly affect the type of cancer common in the West because they impact some genes common to both types.
The study had 36 participants, average age 54, all of whom had precancerous lesions of the esophagus. Dr. Chen said that such precancerous lesions are graded mild or moderate (severe ones are clinically considered cancer) and that eventually about 25% of patients with mild lesions and 50% of those with moderate lesions progress to cancer. However, in her study, in which each participant ate about two ounces of freeze-dried strawberries a day, 29 of the 36 participants -- about 80% -- experienced at least some reversal of lesion progress, with some moderate lesions becoming mild and some mild ones reverting to normal. Dr. Chen said, "Our study is important because it shows that strawberries may be an alternative to -- or may work together with -- chemopreventive drugs to help stop esophageal cancer. But we will need to test this in randomized placebo-controlled trials in the future."
Big Power in a Little Berry
As a cancer fighter, strawberries have a powerful combination of molecular components, says Dr. Chen. They contain antioxidant polyphenols, of course, and also vitamins A, C and E, folic acid, calcium, selenium and zinc. As she points out, you can buy all of these in supplemental form, but in strawberries there seems to be a synergistic effect among the components that makes them more potent than the individual components are on their own. Freeze-drying the fruit takes it to an even more impressive level as a nutrient powerhouse -- this process removes water from the fruit, leaving a much denser nutritional content within. In the case of strawberries, which are 90% water, when freeze-dried, the end product is 10 times more nutritious than the equivalent weight of fresh berries.
Freeze-dried strawberries are widely available now in supermarkets and health-food stores. This is one rare case in which a processed version of a food might be more healthful than the natural version -- probably because freeze-drying takes out only water and adds no flavorings or sugar. As to whether eating strawberries can prevent esophageal cancer in people who don’t already have lesions, I’d be surprised if studies on that question don’t follow -- the potential is just too exciting.
Source(s):
Tong Chen, MD, PhD, assistant professor in medical oncology, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbus.
Marge Couldn't Remember Her Phone Number... But Now Her Brain Is 20 Years Younger...
"I used to have a great memory," Marge told Dr. Ray Sahelian. "All my life I've worked with numbers," this former bookkeeper explained...
"But now I can't remember simple phone numbers... it's so frustrating!"
She'd lose things right after she put them down -- it was totally demoralizing. She was only 71, but she felt like a useless antique.
Other doctors might have shrugged and said, "Sorry Marge, you're getting old... " But Dr. Ray Sahelian reversed her frightening decline with a handful of natural nutrients. Soon Marge's memory picked up dramatically and she was focused all day.
Marge now says she hasn't thought so clearly in 20 years...
Learn more...
Autism: Closer to Finding a Cause
It wasn’t so long ago that psychologists theorized that autism was caused by mothers who were unable to show affection toward their children. It’s hard to believe, but these moms were actually referred to as "refrigerator mothers." Talk about heaping on the guilt! Well, we’ve made huge strides in terms of understanding that autism is not a result of something a parent does to a child. The condition remains a heartbreaker, however.
These days the term "autism" is applied to a range of brain disorders characterized by poor communication and interaction with others. According to the most current statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, autism now affects one out of every 110 American children between ages three and eight. (That is when the condition is typically diagnosed.) And while we still don’t know for sure what the cause is, I’m happy to report that researchers are making some impressive strides toward solving the mystery.
I recently spoke with Irva Hertz-Picciotto, PhD, MPH, a professor at the School of Medicine at the University of California in Davis (UC Davis), to hear more about the work she’s doing. She is one of the authors of two new studies on autism, both reported in the July 2011 issue of Epidemiology. One study shows that children conceived during winter months (December through March) have an increased chance of being autistic. The other shows that women who take prenatal vitamin supplements in the three months prior to conception and the first month after conception are less likely to bear autistic children.
"The studies present us with more evidence that autism isn’t caused by a single factor," Dr. Hertz-Picciotto said. In fact, she said there’s mounting evidence that autism is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors... which aren’t necessarily the same in each case.
In one of the studies, researchers at UC Davis looked at approximately 6.6 million birth records in California recorded from 1990 through 2002, correlating the rates of autism for children conceived in December through March with those conceived in July. The results were surprising: Children conceived in December had an 8% greater chance of being autistic than those conceived in July... and the percentage of increase over the July rate kept rising for subsequent winter months, reaching a high of 16% in March.
"We don’t believe the calendar month itself is a cause of autism, but it’s a marker for other potential causes that may vary with the season," said Dr. Hertz-Picciotto, who is also affiliated with the UC Davis MIND Institute, a research center for the study of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. She said these other seasonal factors may include viruses that are more common in winter months or the change in the amount of daylight, which affects, among other things, the body’s production of vitamin D.
VITAMINS MAY HAVE A CRITICAL ROLE
In the second study, researchers collected data from some 700 California families who had children with autism. Results of the study, Dr. Hertz-Picciotto said, showed a reduction of about 40% in autism rates in cases in which the mother had taken prenatal vitamin supplements during the three months before conception through the first month after conception. In other words, a buildup of vitamins before the crucial first month of embryonic development seems to be key to healthy neural growth. Prenatal supplements typically contain vitamin A, niacin (vitamin B-3), folic acid (vitamin B-9), vitamin B-12, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, calcium, iron, pyridoxine, riboflavin, thiamine and zinc.
Folic acid may be the critical component, said Dr. Hertz-Picciotto, because the vitamin is known to protect against defects in the embryo’s neural tube, which develops into the brain and spinal cord. With so many factors still unknown, Dr. Hertz-Picciotto said, more studies are expected to be conducted in the near future, especially research into B and D vitamins as well as fevers, infections and exposure to pesticides during pregnancy.
In the meantime, given the vitamin study’s finding of a 40% reduction in autism rates, it’s certainly wise to take prenatal vitamin supplements three months before potential conception through the first month after conception.
Source(s):
Irva Hertz-Picciotto, PhD, MPH, chief, division of environmental and occupational medicine, professor, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis. She is also affiliated with the UC Davis MIND (Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) Institute in Sacramento, an interdisciplinary research center for the study and treatment of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.
Rebecca J. Schmidt, PhD, assistant professor, department of public health sciences, School of Medicine, University of California Davis.
Be well,
Carole Jackson
Bottom Line's Daily Health News
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