Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
FOODS HIGH IN ANTIOXIDANTS
FOODS HIGH IN ANTIOXIDANTS
• The risk of heart disease is 3 times more in diabetics.
• Hence, they should be extra careful and eat foods rich in antioxidants, beta-carotene and Vitamin C and E.
• The LDL (bad cholesterol) is more susceptible to oxidation, can become toxic and clog arteries.
• High levels of sugar in the blood lead to dangerous oxidation.
• Oxygen free radicals are released (during metabolism of sugar) and make cholesterol toxic. The bad effects can be reduced by constant supply of antioxidants.
• Antioxidants or free radical scavengers clean up the destructive reaction.
• Antioxidants are the best bet against high blood cholesterol, heart disease and cancer.
Good sources of antioxidants are:
• Beta-carotene: Yellow and orange vegetables and fruits and dark green leafy vegetables, carrots, tomatoes, asparagus, sweet potatoes, mangoes, peaches, melons, apricot, cherries, peas, spinach and broccoli.
• Vitamin C: Citrus fruits, Indian gooseberries, tomatoes, green peppers, green leafy vegetables, raw cabbage, potatoes, strawberries, kiwi fruit, black currant.
• Vitamin E: Seeds, whole-grains, nuts, almonds, soybeans, green leafy vegetables, vegetable oils especially sunflower oil and fish liver oils.
Antioxidant-rich foods
Which Foods Contain the Most Antioxidants?
By Dr. Ben Kim on February 16, 2005One of the most important steps you can take to prevent heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's disease is to eat plenty of antioxidant-rich foods. As discussed in a previous article on free radicals, antioxidants protect your health by preventing and repairing damage caused to your cells by excessive free radicals.
Antioxidants are plentiful in plant foods, particularly those that have bright colours. As of May, 2005, the most comprehensive study of the antioxidant content of common foods that I know of was published in the June 2004 edition of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. According to this study, the 20 most antioxidant-rich foods are as follows:
Rank | Food | Serving Size | Antioxidant Capacity per Serving |
1 | Small red beans, dried | 1/2 cup | 13727 |
2 | Wild blueberries | 1 cup | 13427 |
3 | Red kidney beans, dried | 1/2 cup | 13259 |
4 | Pinto beans | 1/2 cup | 11864 |
5 | Blueberries, cultivated | 1 cup | 9019 |
6 | Cranberries | 1 cup | 8983 |
7 | Artichoke hearts, cooked | 1 cup | 7904 |
8 | Blackberries | 1 cup | 7701 |
9 | Dried prunes | 1/2 cup | 7291 |
10 | Raspberries | 1 cup | 6058 |
11 | Strawberries | 1 cup | 5938 |
12 | Red delicious apple | One | 5900 |
13 | Granny Smith apple | One | 5381 |
14 | Pecans | 1 ounce | 5095 |
15 | Sweet cherries | 1 cup | 4873 |
16 | Black plum | One | 4844 |
17 | Russet potato, cooked | One | 4649 |
18 | Black beans | 1/2 cup | 4181 |
19 | Plum | One | 4118 |
20 | Gala apple | One | 3903 |
The highest ranked foods in four major categories are as follows:
Fruits: blueberries, cranberries, and blackberries.
Vegetables: beans, artichoke hearts, and surprisingly, russet potatoes.
Nuts: pecans, walnuts, and hazelnuts.
Spices: cinnamon, oregano, and ground cloves.
Here are a few points to keep in mind when choosing antioxidant-rich foods:
- Because there are many different types of antioxidants that can protect your tissues from different types of damage, it is best to eat a wide range of antioxidant-rich foods.
- How much you benefit from the antioxidants found in the foods you eat depends on how well you breakdown and absorb these foods.
- One of the best ways of making sure that you are getting plenty of antioxidants in your diet is to strive to eat lots of fresh vegetables. If you just don't have the time to eat a large green salad every day, consider buying a good juicer and drinking a fresh vegetable juice on a daily basis. Another more convenient option is to use a high quality super green food product.
- It is best to limit the amount of sweet fruits that you eat according to your dental health and blood sugar and insulin levels. If you haven't already, please read my article on the dangers of eating too much fruit.
- When washing and preparing vegetables and fruits, be sure to wash non-organic varieties with extra care to help remove pesticide residues. This is especially important for vegetables and fruits that are known to be heavily contaminated with pesticides.
Raw chocolate and goji berries are two foods that are extremely rich in antioxidants but were not evaluated for the study cited above.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Decrease Cancer-suppressing Protein Activity, Increase Life Span
ScienceDaily (Nov. 23, 2005) — Fruit flies can live significantly longer, and remain healthy, when activity of the fly version of the tumor-suppressing protein p53 is reduced in nerve cells. Published in Current Biology, the results shed important new light on the role this "protector of the genome" plays in aging and point to p53 as a viable target for anti-aging drugs.
The p53 gene plays a critical role in the body. It protects human cells by producing a protein that triggers apoptosis, or cell suicide, when DNA is badly damaged. This prevents the spread of genetic mutations and the formation of cancer. When the p53 gene is damaged or missing, cancer may result. In fact, more than 50 percent of human cancers carry p53 mutations.
There is, however, a flip side to this guardian gene. When p53 is hyperactive - pumping out higher-than-normal levels of tumor-suppressing protein - it accelerates aging and shortens life span in mice.
"What this new work shows is that there is a 'golden mean' with p53," said Stephen Helfand, a Brown University biologist who served as senior scientist for the study. "By targeting a decrease in p53 protein, specifically in neurons, we can extend healthy life span in fruit flies. This is an important conceptual shift. Decreasing the activity of p53 can have positive effects on aging."
Helfand, now a professor in Brown's Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Bio-chemistry, oversaw the project while at the University of Connecticut Health Center. To test speculation that tinkering with p53 could produce life-extending results, Helfand and colleagues designed an experiment using fruit flies - which share thousands of genes with humans and also express a version of the p53 gene.
The team engineered a line of flies that carried a mutant version of p53. When flies had the altered gene switched on, they produced a mutant form of the p53 protein that deactivated normal p53 protein. But the affect was targeted to occur only in neurons. Why single out neurons? Because adult nerve cells don't divide - making them much less prone to cancer.
Results showed that adult mutant flies lived up to 58 percent longer - an average of 60 days, up from the average of 38 days. At the same time, the flies appeared healthy, continuing to feed, move and reproduce normally.
The experiment does not explain why targeted, decreased p53 activity extends healthy life span. But it suggests a mechanism - caloric restriction, a biochemical cascade proven to slow aging. To test the hypothesis, the specially engineered flies were fed a calorie-diluted diet. But the flies didn't live any longer, suggesting that this pathway was, indeed, already in play.
"We believe that p53 is part of the caloric restriction life span extension pathway," Helfand said. "It's not the entire explanation, but it appears to play a major role."
The research team includes Brown post-doctorate research fellow Johannes Bauer and graduate student Peter Poon, as well as Heather Glatt-Deeley, a research assistant at the University of Connecticut. John Abrams, an associate professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, also contributed.
The National Institute on Aging, The Donaghue Foundation, the American Federation for Aging Research, The Glenn Foundation for Medical Research, and the Ellison Medical Foundation funded the work.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Issue #28-- Stay Healthy With These Immune Boosting Foods
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Issue #28-- Stay Healthy With These Immune Boosting Foods December 12, 2005 |
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Scientists turbo-charge immune cells to fight cancer - Yahoo! Canada News
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PARIS (AFP) - Scientists in the United States have created super-charged immune cells that helped beat back cancer tumours in half of a small group of patients tested, according to a study released Sunday.
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Adding an artificial receptor to T-lymphocytes immune cells boosted their ability to fight a deadly form of cancer called neuroblastoma, the researchers reported.
Neuroblastoma attacks the nervous system. While fairly rare, it accounts for seven percent of all childhood cancers, and 15 percent of non-adult cancer deaths.
In two-thirds of cases, it is not diagnosed until it has already spread to other parts of the body.
In their natural state, T-lymphocytes do not survive very long and lack the molecules that would target cancer cells in tumours.
To overcome this double deficiency, a team of researchers led by Malcolm Brenner at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas first selected immune cells naturally stimulated by a common but harmless virus called Epstein-Barr.
They then modified these cells to express a receptor keyed to specific proteins found in human neuroblastoma cells.
'In effect, the T-lymphocytes trampoline off the virus and onto the tumor,' said Brenner."
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Bilateral orchiectomy with or without flutamide fo...[N Engl J Med. 1998] - PubMed Result
Bilateral orchiectomy with or without flutamide for metastatic prostate cancer.
Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA.
BACKGROUND: Combined androgen blockade for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer consists of an antiandrogen drug plus castration. In a previous trial, we found that adding the antiandrogen flutamide to leuprolide acetate (a synthetic gonadotropin-releasing hormone that results in medical ablation of testicular function) significantly improved survival as compared with that achieved with placebo plus leuprolide acetate. In the current trial, we compared flutamide plus bilateral orchiectomy with placebo plus orchiectomy. METHODS: We randomly assigned patients who had never received antiandrogen therapy and who had distant metastases from adenocarcinoma of the prostate to treatment with bilateral orchiectomy and either flutamide or placebo. Patients were stratified according to the extent of disease and according to performance status. RESULTS: Of the 1387 patients who were enrolled in the trial, 700 were randomly assigned to the flutamide group and 687 to the placebo group. Overall, the incidence of toxic effects was minimal; the only notable differences between the groups were the greater rates of diarrhea and anemia with flutamide. There was no significant difference between the two groups in overall survival (P=0.14). The estimated risk of death (hazard ratio) for flutamide as compared with placebo was 0.91 (90 percent confidence interval, 0.81 to 1.01). Flutamide was not associated with enhanced benefit in patients with minimal disease. CONCLUSIONS: The addition of flutamide to bilateral orchiectomy does not result in a clinically meaningful improvement in survival among patients with metastatic prostate cancer.
PMID: 9761805 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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Test Reports
History & PSA monitoring:
12.07.07 USG abdomen revealed slight enlargement of prostrate (14gms)
14.07.07 Tested PSA blood test-Value reported 92.19n.g/mL.
18.0707 Bone scan done at Madras Medical Mission revealed hotspots with metastatic deposits?
19.07.07 Trucut needle biopsy done by Prof.R.P.Rajan at PHC.
24.07.07 Apollo hospital HPE report confirmed Acinar Adenocarcinoma (Gleasons score 3+4) Prostate. (4th.stage)
27.07.07 Prof.R.P.Rajan performed bilateral orchidectomy at J.V.Hospital to arrest Androgen activity(90%).
01.08.07 HPE report revealed section showing seminiferous tubules showing hypospermatogenesisus/ no evidence of malignancy in the testicular parenchyma seen.
18.08.07 –Prescribed Calutide-50 for 100% androgen blockade.
04.01.08 -*Calcium-shellcal-1000mg/day suggested.
Calutide-50 temporarily stopped from 08.1.08 & my urologist suggested that if PSA level goes up calutide may be re administered.
Test reports
Date | Lab | PSA | LFT | S.Cal | H.globin | Creati | Uricacid | Bloodurea | Pl.Glucose | TC | Neu | Lym | Eos | Mono | Bas | AS | RA | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
14.07.07 | Bha | 92.19 | | N | 15.6 | 0.9 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
17.08.07 | Vsh | | N | | 13.7 | 1.0 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
06.09.07 | Vsh | | N | | 12.4 | 1.0 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
01.10.07 | Bha | 0.30 | N | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
04.01.08 | Bha | 0.17 | N | 7.6 * | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
27.02.08 | Eliza | | | | | | | | 84(F)121(PP) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
29.02.08 | Lis | 0.20 | | | 14.3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
15.04.08 | Bha | | | 9.5 | 13.8 | 1.1 | 5.3 | 23 | 86(F) | 7,800 | 56 | 44 | 00 | 00 | 00 | <25-ve | <20-ve | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
10.06.08 | JVH | 0.2ng | N | 10.4 | 13.8 | 1.3 | Urine S-Nil | 22 | 79F 94PP | 5,900 | 48 | 46 | 02 | 00 | LDL-170mg Tonmt tab | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
20.07.08 | Bone Density report: T-Score: -1.22 Osteopenic Medi:Adtrol plus/Osteonuron | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
05.09.08 | Bha | 0.208 | | 8.2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |