Coffee's anti-cancer link explained

WASHINGTON: Coffee has been shown to reduce the risk of skin cancer by helping kill off damaged cells that could otherwise turn into tumors, according to a US study published on Monday.

The findings indicate that moderate caffeine drinking, or perhaps even applying coffee to the skin, could be useful in warding off non-melanoma cancer, the most commonly diagnosed of all skin cancers.

Using mice that had been genetically altered to suppress a protein enzyme called ATR, researchers showed that the mice were able to fend off cancer even when exposed to ultraviolet light.

Previous studies have suggested that drinking about a cup of caffeinated coffee per day has the effect of suppressing ATR and triggering the die-off of cells harmed by UV rays.

The altered mice eventually did develop cancer, but three weeks later than normal mice, according to the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

After 19 weeks of ultraviolet light exposure, the engineered mice showed 69 percent fewer tumors and four times fewer invasive tumors than the control group.

However, the protective effects only went so far. After 34 weeks of UV exposure, all the mice developed tumors.

"Eventually, if you treat them long enough, the mice will develop cancer so it is not 100 percent protection forever," Allan Conney, one of the study's authors, told AFP.

"Really, with almost any carcinogen, eventually all the animals will develop tumors," added Conney, who is director of the Susan Lehman Cullman Laboratory for Cancer Research at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Conney and his team were able to confirm their hypothesis that caffeine -- when consumed or applied to the skin -- works by inhibiting ATR. Now they say more studies are needed to see how it may work on humans.

"We want to see whether caffeine has an effect in people when you give it topically," he said.

"Caffeine might become a weapon in prevention because it inhibits ATR and
also acts as a sunscreen and directly absorbs damaging UV light."

Skin cancer is the most prevalent cancer in the United States, with more than one million new cases each year, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Non-melanoma types of skin cancer, including basal cell and squamous cell types, are the most commonly diagnosed and are often treatable if detected early.

Previous studies have shown coffee drinkers tend to have fewer incidences of breast, uterine, prostate and colon cancers, but the beneficial effects are not seen in people who drink decaffeinated coffee.

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3 Bananas a day cuts risk of stroke

3 Bananas a day cuts risk of stroke.
British and Italian researchers have found that eating three bananas cuts the risk of a stroke.

They said that having one banana for breakfast, one for lunch and one in the evening would provide enough potassium to reduce the chances of suffering a blood clot on the brain by around 21 per cent.

The findings suggest that thousands of strokes could be prevented by the consumption of other potassium-rich foods such as spinach, nuts, milk, fish and lentils, reports the Daily Mail.

Although some previous studies have suggested bananas could be important for controlling blood pressure and preventing strokes, results have not always been consistent.

In the latest research, scientists analysed data from eleven different studies - dating back to the mid-Sixties - and pooled the results to get an overall outcome.

They found a daily potassium intake of around 1,600 mg, less than half the UK recommended daily amount for an adult of 3,500mg, were enough to lower stroke risk by more than a fifth.

The average banana contains around 500 milligrams of potassium, which helps to lower blood pressure and controls the balance of fluids in the body.

Too little potassium can lead to an irregular heartbeat, irritability, nausea and diarrhoea.

Researchers from the University of Warwick and the University of Naples said, "Potassium intake in most countries is well below the recommended daily amount."

But if consumers ate more potassium-rich foods and also reduced their salt intake, the annual global death toll from strokes could be cut by more than a million a year.

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'Sprouts' like never before

'Sprouts' like never before
Discover germinated vegetables and grains making way on a healthy menu

Off the shelf
Sprouts are sprouting a whole new line. It's not just germinated pulses, but grain and vegetable sprouts are claiming imagination and supermarket shelves to add colour to your summer salads.

Some organic produce providers have been making available broccoli sprouts. Samar Gupta of Trikaya Agriculture, who also supplies broccoli sprouts to supermarkets like Godrej Nature's basket, says, "Broccoli sprouts look like alphalpha sprouts."

Some of the other interesting sprouts he supplies include brussel sprouts. They look like miniature cabbages and are extremely adorable. But don't even mistakenly pop them in your mouth raw. "It's quite pungent in taste," warns Gupta.

If you want to add brussel sprouts to your salads, make sure you stir-fry them first, suggests food consultant Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal.

Make your own
Cereals also make for great sprouts for your salad. If you like a nutty flavour, try sprouting sesame, suggests Rushina. "They are crunchy and slightly sweet and remind of soaked almonds," she says. To srpout sesame seeds (with husks), soak them in water in a shallow. Once they swell, drain the water and dry well by rubbing gently with a kitchen paper. Then transfer sesame seeds on a dry sheet of kitchen paper and place it in an airtight container. Spread out thinly, close tightly and leave for a few hours. Then put in the fridge overnight. It will have sprouted the next morning.

You can even sprout sunflower seeds, suggests Danesh Madon, who owns Eaternal, a producer and exporter of organic foods.

Other cereals that you can sprout include oats, wheat, maize (corn), rice, barley, rye and buckwheat. However, please make note: you can't sprout processed or polished cereals," warns Chef Vernon Coelho.

How to sprout
Wash well and soak the cereal of your choice in clean water for some hours. Then transfer the cereal into a muslin cloth, tie it up and place it in the fridge. Chef Coelho says it's important to place the muslin cloth in the refrigerator, as, "The malting process is known to be ideal for bacteria growth at room temperature, especially in summers." he cautions.

Cereals take slightly more time to sprout than pulses, so you may check the muslin cloth from time to time. "Every time you open the muslin cloth, slightly shake the cereals, and sprinkle some water if it feels dry," he advises.

Cooking with sprouted cereals
The options are limitless. Chef Ceolho suggests pureeing the germinated grains, and using it as a batter for pancakes/ dosas. These purees make for great dips too. Just drizzle some olive oil and add a hint of green chillies, mint and lime.

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New antibody propels hunt for universal flu vaccine

WASHINGTON: The first human antibody that can knock out all influenza A viruses has been shown effective in lab mice, an exciting step forward in the hunt for a universal vaccine, researchers said Friday.

The broadly neutralizing antibody, called FI6, could help vaccinate people against the flu without scientists struggling to piece together a new cocktail each season to match the often-changing strains.

Antonio Lanzavecchia, lead author of the study published this week in the US journal Science, described the finding as "significant," but noted it may be five years before it can be made into a widely available treatment.

The antibody was found in plasma cells from a human donor. When given to mice heavily dosed with flu viruses, it was able to knock out the illness, offering hope for use as a remedy in people who get infected with the flu.

The discovery was made by using newly patented technology to screen hundreds of thousands of plasma cells in order to isolate the rare ones that produced the antibody.

The antibody was tested in all 16 subtypes of A flu viruses and consistently worked against the often-changing hemagglutinin (HA), the protein that is on the virus's surface.

Mice and ferrets recovered from what would have otherwise been a lethal dose of flu virus when they were given the antibody within two days of infection.

Flu pandemics are unpredictable, and millions of people around the world are infected annually with seasonal flu varieties that can be lethal for those with weak immune systems, including children, the elderly and pregnant women.

The spread of A(H1N1), or "swine flu," killed at least 18,449 people and affected some 214 countries and territories after it was uncovered in Mexico and the United States in April 2009.

The World Health Organization declared a pandemic on June 11, 2009. The event was formally over on August 10, 2010.

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Calorie counts on menus 'prompt healthy choices'

Putting calorie information on menus encourages healthy eating - but only in a limited way, a review of the scheme in the US shows.

Researchers quizzed customers before and after a law was passed in New York in 2008 forcing restaurants to display the nutritional information.
The study by the NY Health Department showed one in six used the information - with most reducing their intake.
It comes as UK restaurants are introducing a similar scheme.
A total of 32 firms signed up to displaying calorie information in UK outlets, including fast food chains McDonald's and KFC, as part of the government's "responsibility deal" set out earlier this year.
The initiative saw a host of voluntary agreements established in the fields of alcohol, physical activity and health at work as well as food.
And the New York experience has suggested calorie information could have a benefit.
Researchers surveyed more than 7,000 people in 2007 and another 8,500 in 2009 at 168 locations covering 11 of the top food chains in the city, the British Medical Journal's website reported.
Some 15% reported using the labels and these customers purchased 106 fewer calories than customers who did not use or see them

However, overall there was no significant change in average calorie consumption before and after as some people were consuming more calories in 2009.

This was partly explained by changing practices at some of the restaurants. For example, energy consumption increased by nearly a fifth at Subway where large portions were heavily promoted.

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Chinese medicine could treat Parkinson's: HK study

HONG KONG: Chinese medicine may be effective in battling certain symptoms of Parkinson's disease, and lessening side effects from the drugs used to treat the condition, according to a new study.

Researchers at Hong Kong Baptist University said Gouteng, a traditional Chinese herb used to treat hypertension, helped patients better communicate and made them less prone to depression and sleeping difficulties.

"There is no cure for Parkinson's right now, but the study showed Chinese medicine can help treat the disease," a university spokesman told AFP Thursday.

Parkinson's is a progressive motor-system disorder which usually affects people over the age of 50, although it can strike earlier, often causing severe symptoms including body trembling, stiffness and loss of balance.

The condition is usually treated with a drug called levodopa, which the brain converts into dopamine to relieve the symptoms, but it can also cause nausea and hallucinations.

The Baptist University study found that patients who took Gouteng together with levodopa experienced fewer side effects from the drug while showing a marked improvement in their communication skills.

Li Min, an associate professor who led the study, said the findings could also help boost the profile of Chinese medicine.

"They provide not only pharmacological proof of the efficacy of Gouteng in treating Parkinson's disease, but will also help promote the effectiveness and safety of Chinese medicine to the international medical arena," she said.

Li -- whose team has applied for a US patent -- told the South China Morning Post that she expects the herb would start being used to treat the disease after the second phase of the study in 2013.

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10m drug users have hepatitis C: study

PARIS: Some 10 million people who inject illegal drugs have hepatitis C while 1.2 million have hepatitis B, according to the first global estimate of infection rates among this population, published Thursday.

Both viral diseases are debilitating and potentially deadly, and public health officials must step up efforts to combat blood-borne transmission and to lower treatment costs, the researchers urged.

The health and economic costs of hepatitis C (HCV) spread via injected drugs, on its own, may be as high or higher than for similarly transmitted cases of HIV, they said.

The study, published in the British journal The Lancet, found that fully two-thirds of the global population of "injecting drug users" have been exposed, and thus infected, to HVC.

About 80 percent are destined to develop chronic infections, and up to 11 percent of these individuals will, within two decades, suffer cirrhosis, which can cause liver failure and cancer.

There is currently no vaccine for the hepatitis C virus.

The portion of drug users with HCV -- inferred from the presence of hepatitis C antibody -- varied among the 77 countries from which data was collected. The rate was 60 to 80 percent in 25 nations, including Spain (80 percent), Norway (76), Germany (75), France (74), the United States (73), China (67) and Canada (64).

In 12 countries, the percentage was higher than 80, including Italy, Portugal, Pakistan, The Netherlands, Thailand and Mexico, which had a 97 percent infection rate among mainlining drug users.

The United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia had among the lowest percentage, just over half.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) can be transmitted intravenously, as well as via sexual contact, and from mother to child.

There are 350 million people chronically infected worldwide, almost all of them exposed to the virus as children. "This is why universal infant vaccination against hepatitis B is so crucial to long term control of the virus," the authors note.

HBV is the second most important known human cancer-causing agent, after tobacco. The virus also causes cirrhosis and liver cancer, and is blamed for some 600,000 deaths each year, according to the World Health Organisation.

The study, led by Louisa Degenhardt of the Bernet Institute in Melbourne and Paul Nelson of the University of New South Wales, also in Australia, canvassed data from 59 countries on HBV rates among drug users who use needles.

Infection rates were five to 10 percent in 21 countries, and more than 10 percent in 10 countries, including the United States (12 percent).

Worldwide, the highest rates were in Vietnam (20 percent), Estonia (19), Saudi Arabia (18) and Taiwan (17).

The authors said high prices for medicine remains a major barrier to treatment of viral hepatitis, much as they have been in the past for HIV and AIDS.

"There are growing efforts to bring viral hepatitis treatments into the same lower cost access framework as antiretrovirals," they said, referring to the standard drugs used to hold HIV in check.

"But the significance of viral hepatitis needs to receive great attention than it does at present." (AFP)

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The wait to hold his own child is finally over for Ramajit Raghav, who became father to a son for the first time at the advanced age of 94.
Ramajit hails from a small village in India and has been working at his landlord’s farm for the last 22 years. He got married to Shakuntala, his second wife ten years ago who is believed to be in her 50s presently.
Shakuntala was admitted to the Kharkoda town Government civil Hospital last month where she delivered normally a baby boy.
The proud parents have named their baby Karamjit and his father insists that he is ‘God’s gift’ to him. He also adds that his age is only a number and he has a clear, clutter-free mind.
When asked whether he was worried about his child’s future, the new dad

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