Its official, diet soft drinks are bad for you …

I never used artificial sweeteners like Aspartam and a new study confirms my disgust. There is a link between daily consumption of diet soft drinks and higher risk of vascular diseases.
People who drink diet soft drinks on a daily basis may be at increased risk of suffering vascular events such as stroke, heart attack, and vascular death.
Hannah Gardener and her colleagues from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and at Columbia University Medical Center. However, in contrast, they found that regular soft drink consumption and a more moderate intake of diet soft drinks do not appear to be linked to a higher risk of vascular events. The research¹ appears online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine², published by Springer.

Data were analyzed from 2,564 participants in the NIH-funded Northern Manhattan Study, which was designed to determine stroke incidence, risk factors and prognosis in a multi-ethnic urban population. The researchers looked at how often individuals drank soft drinks – diet and regular – and the number of vascular events that occurred over a ten-year period.

Gardener concludes: “Our results suggest a potential association between daily diet soft drink consumption and vascular outcomes. However, the mechanisms by which soft drinks may affect vascular events are unclear.”

Great News for Wine Lovers …

and alcoholics i.e.. DHM (dihydromyricetin) a substance extracted from the Japanese Raisin Tree ( Hovenia dulcis) might reduce the effects of alcohol, prevents addiction and protects the liver. At least rodents on the drug can drink large quantities of alcohol without passing out, show fewer signs of hangover and even fail to become addicted to alcohol after weeks of drinking, researchers report in the Jan. 4 Journal of Neuroscience.

Asians knew this apparently for ages, now Western scientists confirmed it. I recommend to get a couple of trees  before they get a patent on it…

Red Meat Consumption Linked to Increased Risk of Cancer Mortality

A new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers has found that red meat consumption is associated with an increased risk of total, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality. The results also showed that substituting other healthy protein sources, such as fish, poultry, nuts, and legumes, was associated with a lower risk of mortality.

“Our study adds more evidence to the health risks of eating high amounts of red meat, which has been associated with type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers in other studies,” said lead author An Pan, research fellow in the Department of Nutrition at HSPH.

Replacing one serving of total red meat with one serving of a healthy protein source was associated with a lower mortality risk: 7% for fish, 14% for poultry, 19% for nuts, 10% for legumes, 10% for low-fat dairy products, and 14% for whole grains. The researchers estimated that 9.3% of deaths in men and 7.6% in women could have been prevented at the end of the follow-up if all the participants had consumed less than 0.5 servings per day of red meat.

Related articles

• Red Meat Takes It’s Toll (worldofathletes.wordpress.com)

Study Reveals Monsanto’s GMO Corn Linked To Organ Failure

In a new study released by the International Journal of Biological Sciences, analyzing the effects of genetically modified foods on mammalian health, researchers found that agricultural giant Monsanto’s GM corn is linked to organ damage in rats.

“Three varieties of Monsanto’s GM corn – Mon 863, insecticide-producing Mon 810, and Roundup® herbicide-absorbing NK 603 – were approved for consumption by US, European and several other national food safety authorities.”

In the IJBS study, researchers wrote:

“Effects were mostly concentrated in kidney and liver function, the two major diet detoxification organs, but in detail differed with each GM type. In addition, some effects on heart, adrenal, spleen and blood cells were also frequently noted. As there normally exists sex differences in liver and kidney metabolism, the highly statistically significant disturbances in the function of these organs, seen between male and female rats, cannot be dismissed as biologically insignificant as has been proposed by others. We therefore conclude that our data strongly suggests that these GM maize varieties induce a state of hepatorenal toxicity….These substances have never before been an integral part of the human or animal diet and therefore their health consequences for those who consume them, especially over long time periods are currently unknown.”

In a response  to the study, Monsanto stated that the research is “based on faulty analytical methods and reasoning and do not call into question the safety findings for these products.”

The IJBS study’s author Gilles-Eric Séralini responded to the Monsanto statement on the blog, Food Freedom, “Our study contradicts Monsanto conclusions because Monsanto systematically neglects significant health effects in mammals that are different in males and females eating GMOs, or not proportional to the dose. This is a very serious mistake, dramatic for public health. This is the major conclusion revealed by our work, the only careful reanalysis of Monsanto crude statistical data.”

Harvard: Daily multivitamin Is Nutrition Insurance

In spite of a recent study suggesting that taking a daily multivitamin may do more harm than good, HSPH researchers say that may not be the case, especially for people who don’t eat a healthful diet. A daily multivitamin pill offers a safe and simple dose of essential micronutrients. Nearly 40 percent of adults in the U.S. take a multivitamin to ensure good health. (1) A recent study in Iowa women suggests that this daily habit may be doing more harm than good. (2) A closer look, however, reveals major flaws in the study—and offers reassurance that taking a daily multivitamin may still be a smart move.

The precise requirements for various vitamins have been controversial since their discovery in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The early recommendations were based on the amounts needed to avoid so-called diseases of deficiency such as scurvy (too little vitamin C), beri-beri (too little vitamin B1), pellagra (too little vitamin B3), and rickets (too little vitamin D). Ongoing research suggests a broader role for vitamins. Work by Dr. Bruce N. Ames of the University of California, Berkeley, and others shows that deficiencies in many micronutrients can lead to damage to DNA, the essential “blueprint” of each cell. (3) Such damage can cause or accelerate aging-related conditions. (4) This would make chronic conditions such as cancer, heart disease, vision loss, and a host of others a new type of deficiency disease.

Consuming canned soup linked to elevated levels of chemical BPA

Consuming canned soup linked to elevated levels of chemical BPA

A new study from HSPH researchers has found that a group of volunteers who consumed a serving of canned soup each day for five days had a more than 1,000% increase in urinary bisphenol A (BPA) concentrations compared with when the same individuals consumed fresh soup daily for five days.

Turmeric against Alzheimer’s

Image via Wikipedia

I already reported on the many health effects of curcumin (turmeric) on multiple myeloma, pancreatic cancer, myelodysplastic syndromes, colon cancer, psoriasis, and Alzheimer’s disease. – one of the basic ingredients of curry. The material contained in turmeric, curcumin protects not only the liver but can – according to a study by the University of California prevent plaque formation in the brain directly – in Los Angeles (UCLA). Since turmeric is a very popular spice in India, where Alzheimer’s occurs only very rarely, it was assumed before the study referred to a causal relationship, which has now apparently confirmed Turmeric can be scattered in all the vegetables, rice and pasta dishes. It fits well to legumes and meat dishes. Particularly simple, the daily supply of turmeric can be done with tea. Enter a pinch (or more – according to Taste) of the yellow turmeric powder in a cup with hot water and drink the tea slowly and with relish.

 

7 Things McDonald’s Knows About Your Brain

The fast food industry can read your mind.

Many recent neuroscience discoveries about food’s effects on our brains and how we make decisions about food are actually gold-standard

trade secrets from super chains such as McDonald’s. With billions and billions served, they must be on to something.

by Joshua Gowin, MS in You, Illuminated:

Keeps a cup of coffee a day the prostate cancer at bay?

First, I heard that coffee is associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s and cognitive decline. Then I found out that coffee appears to lower my risk for type II diabetes.

Now it looks as if I could add “lowers your risk of stroke” to the list of good things this so-called bad habit could do for me.

In fact, according to a Swedish study published online in March in Stroke: The Journal of the American Heart Association, drinking more than one cup of coffee per day is associated with a 22% to 25% lower stroke risk!

Then a new study revealed drinking coffee can improve a women’s brainpower and performance in the office (but impairing men’s memories) and on top of that a new Harvard study of 47,911 men who reported on their coffee intake even suggests that coffee lowers the risk of prostate cancer.

Boston, MA – Men who regularly drink coffee appear to have a lower risk of developing a lethal form of prostate cancer, according to a new study led by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers. What’s more, the lower risk was evident among men who drank either regular or decaffeinated coffee.

The study was published May 17, 2011, in an online edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Read the abstract.

Related articles

• What are the symptoms of prostate cancer? (zocdoc.com)

Your gutfeeling might be more than just a feeling

“For example, scientists were shocked to learn that about 90 percent of the fibers in the primary visceral nerve, the vagus, carry information from the gut to the brain and not the other way around…

The second brain informs our state of mind in other more obscure ways, as well. “A big part of our emotions are probably influenced by the nerves in our gut,” Mayer says…“ more here

But its not only your gut that influences your brain, it might be also your weight: