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

Tricky Triclosan - It's Everywhere and it's Nasty

Best known as the active ingredient in antimicrobial hand soaps, triclosan is also used as an antibacterial agent in toothpaste, deodorants, laundry detergent, facial tissues, antiseptics for wounds, and medical devices.
It is used as a material preservative to ward off bacteria, fungus, mildew, and odors in household items like toys, paints, mattresses, clothing, toilet bowls, and furniture fabric.
Now the Environmental Working Group has called triclosan a toxic pesticide, with ominous hints of carcinogenicity, and has demanded that federal agencies ban it from consumer goods.
"A toxic pesticide linked to serious health problems should not be in our soap or toothpastes," contends EWG scientist Rebecca Sutton, Ph.D. "It's time to ban triclosan from all personal care and household products."
For more go to: http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/EnvironmentalHealth/tb/10269

Cell me about it

Do you have old cell phones sitting in drawers or cabinets? Maybe you mean to take them to the police station to use for that program for women who are victims of domestic violence or maybe you plan to take them to Best Buy or Office Depot for recycling, but forget each time to actually go to the store.

Here's a trio of great-grandmotherly motivators to do the right thing -- store credit, cash or a charity.

See, Flipswap (http://flipswap.com/) lets you trade in your old phone one of three ways:

• Credit from a nearby dealer (the Web site has a locator)
• Cash through an online trade-in (after entering information online, Flipswap sends you the box to send in your phone and then sends you a check)
• A charitable donation through an online trade-in (works the same as the cash to you, only the check goes to the charity)

The company then sells the phones to people who want them, usually in poorer countries. Reduce, reuse, recycle -- what a great call!

Screen -- Save It

Good news - screen savers are toast.

Turns out those flying toasters were contributing to a worldwide problem -- global warming. On modern (LCD) monitors, they're not even necessary. They just drag on resources.

So, turn off the flying toasters and select "blank" from your screen saver menu. (This will make a blank screen come up instead of your regular screen saver.)

Factoids:

• A screensaver can use 100-300 watts of power. Sleep mode uses 10 watts.
• When Australian phone company Telstra removed corporate screen savers from the 36,000 computers in its offices, it estimated the CO2 cut to be equal to taking 140 cars off the road for a year.
• Flying toasters haven't been funny in, like, 10 years anyway.

Gar-lickin' good

OK, so it may not be breath-freshening, but garlic can do some pretty important things. The herb lowers blood pressure and cholesterol and inhibits blood clotting. It's also a powerful germicide and may protect against some carcinogens.

Garlic is better for you in its natural state - raw or lightly cooked - rather than dried as powder or in capsules. Simply chewing the stuff isn't practical, though, so here is a recipe for garlic soup to eat on its own or as a base for other soups.

Ingredients:

• 8 cups vegetable stock
• 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 whole head of garlic
• cloves peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• Pinch of dried sage
• Salt to taste

Instructions:

1. To the vegetable stock, add the olive oil, bay leaf, garlic, thyme and sage.
2. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Add salt to taste.
3. Strain and serve.
4. Enjoy!

Oregano is anti-swell? Do tell!

Oregano doesn't only give a pizza its typical taste. Researchers at Bonn University and the ETH Zurich have discovered the spice also contains a substance that appears to help cure inflammations.

The researchers administered the active ingredient - beta-caryophyllin (E-BCP) - to mice with inflamed paws. In seven out of ten cases, symptoms improved. That means E-BCP might possibly help disorders such as osteoporosis and arteriosclerosis.

E-BCP is also found in basil, rosemary, cinnamon and black pepper. Read the rest at: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com:80/articles/112876.php.