Eat Your Way to Good Vision

Study Reveals How Diet, Antioxidants Prevent Blindness In Aging Population

A new study reveals part of the magic behind a diet rich in antioxidants, showing how artichokes, blueberries and pecans can hold at bay the leading cause of age-related blindness in developed countries.Researchers discovered a link between two processes in the retina that, in combination, contribute to a disease called macular degeneration. They found antioxidants disrupt the link and extend the lifetime of irreplaceable photoreceptors and other retinal cells."The implication is that people at risk of macular degeneration could help prevent the disease by consuming antioxidants," said Heidi Vollmer-Snarr, a Brigham Young University chemist who earned a doctorate from Oxford and began work on this disease as a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia.The study is online and will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Vollmer-Snarr collaborated with researchers at Weill Medical College of Cornell University.Age-related macular degeneration affects more than 1.75 million people in the United States. With a rapidly aging population, that number will rise to 3 million by 2020. People struck with the disease first lose central vision and temporarily adjust by relying more on peripheral vision. Some eventually lose their vision entirely.Dr. Paul Bernstein of the University of Utah's Moran Eye Center says understanding the exact mechanisms of macular degeneration has remained elusive. Bernstein was not involved in the study."This work by Dr. Vollmer-Snarr and colleagues ties these two damaging processes together and demonstrates the harm they cause in combination is much more than would be expected," Bernstein said. "This new knowledge suggests the possibility of interventions which could prove to be powerful ways to prevent or delay age-related macular degeneration."The new study finds a destructive synergy between the buildup of a compound called A2E and damage to cellular "power plants" called mitochondria. A2E is a natural byproduct of cellular activity that, unlike other compounds, won't break down or be disposed by the body.A problem occurs when A2E encounters oxidative stress created by light exposure. In these circumstances, A2E disrupts energy production in mitochondria. The resulting energy shortage pulls the plug on daily cleaning and maintenance of photoreceptors and another type of retinal cell.The result is more A2E buildup, and the cycle of destruction hastens the death of these vital visual cells, which are not replaced when they die. The experiments performed with visual cells from rats, cows and humans showed that antioxidants could completely counter the damage.Seeing this process play out in the retina has given Vollmer-Snarr a novel idea for attacking harmful growths in the body. The strategy would involve delivering potentially disruptive compounds like A2E to the target and then using light to trigger the damage."Why not take a page out of one disease's book in the fight against other diseases?" Vollmer-Snarr said.

Gold standard

Microwaves. Air-conditioning. A computer. Must-haves, now, luxuries, then. An article in MSN Finance tells how to be a great-grandmother with your finances and save big with the flashback budget.

The only part of the article I found silly was the idea of cutting back to one car per family. Maybe that was OK back when women didn't work outside the home. These days, with the exception of a few major cities (San Francisco, New York, Chicago) and those few people who telecommute every day, each working adult in a family needs a vehicle to get to a job.

I found other parts of the article delightfully time-synchronous -- for example, smaller homes are certainly more possible now that we have flat-screen TVs and flat-screen computer monitors. Now if those high-tech items just cost smaller dollars....

Your Brain on Chocolate

Good news chocolate lovers! And that includes everyone except for maybe five people on the planet. A new study shows that cocoa flavanols may help to keep our brains in good shape.

Here's some info from the study:

Cocoa flavanols, the unique compounds found naturally in cocoa, may increase blood flow to the brain, according to new research published in the Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment journal. The researchers suggest that long-term improvements in brain blood flow could impact cognitive behavior, offering future potential for debilitating brain conditions including dementia and stroke. In a scientific study of healthy, older adults ages 59 to 83, Harvard medical scientists found that study participants who regularly drank a cocoa flavanol-rich beverage made using the Mars, Incorporated Cocoapro® process had an eight percent increase in brain blood flow after one week, and 10 percent increase after two weeks. In this first-of-its-kind study, the researchers found both short and long-term benefits of cocoa flavanols for brain blood flow, offering future potential for the one in seven older Americans currently living with dementia. When the flow of blood to the brain slows over time, the result may be structural damage and dementia. Scientists speculate that maintaining an increased blood flow to the brain could slow this cognitive decline. "The totality of the research on cocoa flavanols is impressive. This is just one more study adding to an increasing body of literature connecting regular cocoa flavanol consumption to blood flow and vascular health improvements throughout the body," said Harold Schmitz, Ph.D., chief science officer at Mars, Incorporated, which has supported research on cocoa flavanols for more than 15 years. "Though more research is needed, these findings raise the possibility that flavanol-rich cocoa products could be developed to help slow brain decline in older age."

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/118581.php

Ashwagandha Can Boost Immunity

If your great-grandmother is from India, she probably knows this:

Oriental medicine practitioners have long known that Ashwagandha, an herb used in the 5,000-year old practice of Ayurvedic medicine, helps fight disease when used with anupana. Anupana may be derived from many different substances, from olive oil, to beer, to ghee. Researchers examined whether consuming whole cows’ milk with the herb can increase the body’s white blood cells, which help boost immunity. They have found that it does.

For more click here: http://www.newswise.com/p/articles/view/543415

Some Fruits and Vegetables Absorb More Pesticides Than Others

We all want to eat organic when we can, to minimize the amounts of pesticides we ingest. But did you know that some fruits and vegetables absorb more pesticides than others? Here’s an alphabetical list of items that are consistently highest and lowest.

High Pesticide Produce:
Apples
Bell peppers (sweet)
Celery
Cherries
Grapes (imported)
Lettuce
Nectarines
Peaches
Potatoes
Spinach
Strawberries

Low Pesticide Produce:
Asparagus
Avocados
Bananas
Broccoli
Cabbage
Corn (sweet)
Eggplant
Kiwi
Mangos
Onions
Papaya
Pineapples
Peas (sweet)

*Adapted from data gathered by the Environmental Working Group.

Sesame Seed Extract And Konjac Gum May Help Ward Off Salmonella And E. Coli

Greatgrandma Nature is so clever.

A new study in the Journal of Science of Food and Agriculture shows that konjac gum and sesame seed extract may offer protection against different strains of E. coli and Salmonella bacteria.

The study by Dr Petra Becker et al from Wageningen University and Research Centre, the Netherlands, shows that these foodstuffs act as binders for E. coli and Salmonella bacteria. The bacteria attach themselves to the fibrous foods instead of the gut cells of the host.

Dr Becker says that eating a diet full of these foodstuffs may offer protection from gastro-intestinal infections or reduce the severity of symptoms caused by E. coli or Salmonella.

Other foods that were shown to have a beneficial effect included yeast, tomato, and pumpkin.

For more go to: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/117363.php

Don't Eat Tilapia

The following is from Dr.Weil.com, which I highly recommend:

A Popular, Unhealthy Fish?
Farm-raised tilapia is one of the most highly consumed fish in America. Yet it has very low levels of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids and very high levels of potentially detrimental omega-6 fatty acids.
That’s according to new research from Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Tilapia has higher levels of long-chain omega-6 fatty acids than 80-percent-lean hamburger, doughnuts and even pork bacon, says an article in the July, 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
Omega-6 fatty acids are pro-inflammatory, and inflammation is known to cause damage to blood vessels, the heart, lung and joint tissues, skin, and the digestive tract.
For their study, the authors obtained fish from several sources, including seafood distributors that supply restaurants and supermarkets, two South American companies, fish farms in several countries, and supermarkets in four states. They found that farmed tilapia contained only modest amounts of omega-3 fatty acids: less than half a gram per 100 grams of fish, similar to flounder and swordfish. Farmed salmon and trout, by contrast, had nearly 3 and 4 grams, respectively. At the same time, the tilapia had much higher amounts of omega-6 acids.
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This is important information. Cardiologists are telling their patients to eat more fish, but if those patients are buying and eating farm-raised tilapia, they could clearly do better. As a follow-up to this report, a coalition of more than a dozen doctors pointed out that tilapia should be considered a better choice “than most other meat alternatives,” but my response is, why not eat the best fish of all? So I strongly suggest adding wild-caught Alaskan salmon to your diet to get the benefit of their impressive omega-3 fatty acid content and low contaminant load. It is more expensive than tilapia, but a worthy investment in health that will reap dividends in the future