Soy May Be Key in Preventing Colon Cancer

Colon cancer is the third most deadly form so any preventive measures for those at risk are worth studying.

A new study carried out by the Children’s Hospital & Research Center in Oakland, USA has identified Sphingadienes (SDs), natural lipid molecules, which are found naturally in soy and that can prevent and possibly treat colon cancer. .

Soy has been previously mentioned as protective against colon cancer, but the exact nature of how it did so was not able to be identified until now. It seems that high levels of SDs actually induces the death of mutant cancer cells, in other words it is toxic to them.

Preventative colon cancer strategies often focus on cell death, the normal process the body uses to remove unhealthy or cancerous cells, and so anything that can raise SDS levels will speed this removal process. Soy is a rich source of SDs, and research is under way to see if the active ingredient can be used in drug therapy for cancer.

The natural prevention is to increase the amount of soy products in the diet if you at high risk of colon cancer.

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SIMPLY NATURE want to help you naturally relieve the pain and discomfort of stiff necks, tension in the upper back and general flu aches with the wonderfully comforting Warm Cherry Stone Neck Pillow.

It was the winner of the New Woman Millennium Beauty Awards and you just heat it in the microwave or oven and wrap it around where it’s needed. A special Xmas present for someone, or perhaps just for you?

Call 01580 201687 for more details and to order.

Sunshine in a Box for SAD People

Well the clocks have gone back and the feeling of the having few hours of daylight is a reality that most of us shrug and learn to live with. We may miss having so much light, but for people suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) it is much more serious.

The symptoms of winter blues can affect an estimated half a million people in the UK every year according to SADA, the UK charity who offer help and advice. Symptoms include: low mood, increased mental and physical fatigue, stress, lack of concentration, weight-gain, loss of libido, and poor immune health.

SAD is thought to be caused by a biochemical imbalance in the brain which controls daily rhythms and mood, due to the shortening of daylight hours and lack of sunlight between September and April. There are special light boxes which mimic daylight that many sufferer find very helpful, but a less expensive option worth trying is a new offering from

Solgar supplements are used by many health professionals and they have come up with what they call their limited edition Sunshine in a box kit which contains the ultimate ‘feel-good’ nutrition essentials. These include:

** Vitamin D3 is also known as the sunshine vitamin as it strengthens immune health and has been shown to help brighten mood.

** 5HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan) which increases the brain’s serotonin levels that help stabilise mood, promote relaxation, support restful sleep, as well as damping down cravings for carbohydrate and sugar.

** Rhodiola is an adaptogenic herb and a traditional remedy that may enhance mental and physical energy, help the body adapt to stress, and increase dopamine levels which help us feel more optimistic. It is often suggesdted as alternative to St John’s Wort for mood balancing.

The Sunshine Box also includes a book on the benefits of Vitamin D as well as the supplements and is a limited edition offering for the start of the SAD season and costs £25.00. If you can’t find it in your local health store, then call Solgar on 01442 890 355 for a local stockist or via their website at www.solgar-vitamins.co.uk

Help and information on the SADA charity at www.sada.org.uk

Varicose Veins Linked to DVT

Varicose veins are generally harmless, though not considered attractive, but a new study in Graz, Austria reveals that danger may be lurking under your skin.

There are any number of reasons to get varicose veins including family history, jobs where you are standing for long periods such as hairdressers and teachers, being very overweight and of course in pregnancy.   The most common form generally seen is superficial vein thrombosis (SVT), where the veins become inflamed and swollen.  It can be a painful condition, but most doctors don’t regard it as a major problem.
However this new research looked at a potential link between varicose veins and DVT (deep vein thrombosis) which a dangerous condition that prompts blood clotting in the legs.  Clots that break away can cause thromboembolism (restricted blood flow), and even death if the clot reaches the lungs and triggers a pulmonary embolism.

Of the 50 patients examined who had confirmed SVT it was found that one in four of them had DVT, although none had shown any symptoms.   This suggests those with varicose veins need to be alert and ask for a sonagraph screening to establish if they are at risk.

Varicose veins and Vitamin K link
One factor in keeping your veins healthy is to have a good intake of vitamin K as its importance for circulatory health is already well known.
There was an important study done in France in 2007, only on male subjects, with and without varicose veins. They found a link between getting varicose veins and low levels or no activity of a protein called matrix GLA protein.  This protein is only properly activated when vitamin K levels are adequate, so the researchers at Nantes University concluded that a dood intake of the vitamin may play a role in varicose vein prevention.

If you have any history of narrowing of the arteries in your family, then some nutritionists 5 to 15 mg of vitamin K per day, but that is considerably higher than the recommended daily allowance.
If you want to increase it in your diet then it’s mostly found in dark green leafy vegetables like spinach, brussel sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower, also in cheddar cheese and oats.

WARNING!!! Vitamin K needs to be carefully monitored if you are on blood thinning or anticoagulant drugs after a stroke or surgery and a limited intake is suggested.

Do copper bracelets really work?

I know plenty of people who wear copper bracelets or magnetic wrist bands for their arthritis and swear by them but a new a new study led by a University of York academic says that is all nonsense. This treatment is often called Magnotherapy.

Previous studies have found they relieved the pain but this one showed that both magnetic and copper bracelets were ineffective for managing pain, stiffness and physical function in osteoarthritis.

Stewart Richmond, a Research Fellow in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York, puts any benefit down to a placebo effect. He said “People tend to buy them when they are in a lot of pain, then when the pain eases off over time they attribute this to the device.”

He also issues a caution about the use of magnet therapy, particularly for those with osteoarthritis, and to think carefully before spending large sums of money.  As he points out, “magnets removed from disused speakers are much cheaper, but you would first have to believe that they could work.”

Home births as safe as hospital delivery

Women who give birth at home do not have any higher rate of complications or death than women who give birth in a hospital. This research was carried out in the Netherlands where one-third of women choose to give birth at home, due to a government encouragement of the policy.

Because the Netherlands has one of the highest rates in Europe of infant death during or just after birth, some researchers have suggested that home births might be unsafe, but when researchers examined data from 530,000 births attended by midwives, they found no difference in the risk of mother or infant death between home births and hospital births.

The study looked only at low-risk women, defined as those going into labour with no known complications, and did not include hospital births attended by a doctor rather than a midwife.

The researchers found that a full one-third of women who began their birth at home eventually had to be transferred to a hospital but in such cases neither the mother nor infant was at any higher risk of dying than in any of the other births in the study.

Why champagne tickles your fancy

A team of researchers has found that Champagne’s bursting bubbles not only tickle the nose, they create a mist that wafts the aroma to the drinker. Not surprisingly this has been done at the University of Reims, Champagne-Ardenne in France. They used high-resolution mass spectrometry to study the chemicals in Champagne and sparkling wines and in the bubbles and the mist they produce.

They discovered that some of the chemicals that impart the special toasty, fruity aromas to the wine are captured by the bubbles and brought to the surface in higher concentrations than in the wine itself. It’s rather like how the bursting of bubbles at the sea surface imparts that special oceanic scent to the nearby air. With champagne, the bubbles drag chemicals along their way through the liquid to the surface and finally burst and eject aerosol droplets into the atmosphere.

So does that mean champagne smells better than it tastes? The lead scientists were tempted to reach that conclusion, but as they are scientists, not experts in the science of smell and taste, they declined to commit themselves so I will do it for them. In my experience, it tastes just as good as it smells – in fact often better!

How being obese can cause a car crash

Being overweight to the point of obesity is obviously very bad for your health, but there is now an added complication for all road users, not just sufferers. The UK National Obesity Forum’s seventh annual conference took place last Monday and one of the highlights was the problem of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA), as the obesity epidemic increases.

Sleep Apnoea is sometimes regarded as a minor condition with irritating snoring; characterised by disruptive breathing during the night. It occurs when soft tissue in the back of the airway collapses and blocks it, causing interruption in breathing that lasts 10 seconds or more. In its moderate to severe forms, victims can suffer 20 to 30 such episodes per hour all night without realising their sleep is being disturbed. However, new research has now identified it as a fatal disease as at its worst the sufferer can ‘forget’ to breathe during the night with the resulting serious consequences.

We know being overweight is linked to sleep apnoea, but Dr Bertrand de Silva, Medical Director of American Sleep Medicine in California spoke about why it is a problem for road users. Dr de Silva is a world expert in sleep disorders he predicts that only 15% of sufferers have been diagnosed, so despite the dangers, the majority are oblivious that they even have the condition. Because of the disrupted sleep pattern, OSA causes daytime sleepiness and doubles the risk of road accidents

Dr da Silva believes that 25% of UK drivers should wake up to the dangers of being overweight and behind the wheel and his theory is backed up by organisations such as the AA whose Head of Road Safety agrees that the risk of death or serious injury from falling asleep at the wheel is great. Their own research tells them that one in 10 motorists admit to nodding off at the wheel and are in danger of becoming a statistic – one of the up to 3,000 killed or seriously injured each year as a result of falling asleep.

The Risks

Predictive forecasting indicates that by 2050 around 60% of adult men and 50% of adult women could be obese. They will therefore be at risk of OSA and putting themselves, and other road users at risk of an accident.

Being seriously overweight definitely puts you at greater risk of OSA, and that in turn is known to increase the risk of heart conditions by 30%, dramatically increases hypertension, affects 58% of diabetic patient (90% if obese), impacts glucose intolerance and insulin resistance and is the second leading cause of erectile dysfunction.”

If you still need another incentive to lose weight, it could also increase your insurance premiums as the research and scientific evidence grows about the effects of obesity.

Babies crawl away from danger

An interesting hypothesis has just come from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. Do infants only start to crawl once they are physically able to see danger coming or because they are more mobile, they develop the ability to sense looming danger?

This study suggests that an infants’ ability to see whether an object is approaching on a direct collision course, and when it is likely to collide, develops around the time they become more mobile. So they are not heading for the cookie jar, or mother’s milk, but are establishing the important neural networks that enable them to see objects and how dangerous they might be.

Those neural networks are in the process of being established from birth and by the age of eight to nine months are fully able to register an impending collision. Coincidentally, this is also the average age at which infants start crawling.

Scientists just can’t take anything on trust and go ‘aah’ like the rest of us can they?

Diabetes can affect bone density

Diabetics can often experience low bone density, which is associated with increased risk of bone fractures and delayed fracture repair. A new study at Boston University School of Medicine suggests that the inflammatory molecule TNF-α may be a contributory factor.

This is an important breakthrough as diabetes affects at least 171 million people worldwide, and it is believed that figure will double by 2030. Long-term complications of diabetes are an expensive health budget item as they can include cardiovascular disease, chronic renal failure, retinal damage that may lead to blindness, nerve damage, and blood vessel damage, which may cause erectile dysfunction and poor wound healing.

Anything that helps identify a contributory factor that can lead to its elimination is a step forward and in the study it was observed that there were increased levels of inflammatory molecules, including TNF-α , during fracture healing in diabetic conditions. They saw a rapid loss of cartilage in the healing bones, which was due to increased numbers of osteoclasts, cells that remove bone and cartilage, and leave the bone vulnerable to breakage.

Knowing what reduces the healing of the bone is an important factor in helping to prevent it, perhaps by stimulating action by the osteoblasts, the cells that help build bone and which are dependent on progesterone for growth.

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