Prospector

More on foodraceuticals

I am somewhat skeptical of the claims for wonderous advantages of creating beneficial foods and food supplements. Humans have had a history of accidentally chosing the wrong ingredients for "new and improved" foods and ended up poisoning us all. Is it not true that our current diet of processed foods are to blame for problems of obesity and diebetic epidemics? No one really knows. Lets go ahead and invent some better food since we don't know why the old food is good for us.

These two article both show new evidence that certain foods may naturally help us live longer.
The problem: After spending years researching how to improve the food products a company is not going to encourage people to go ahead and eat un-manufactured food. They will be much more likely to invent a fortified product that has all the benefits of its primitive farm-raised ancestors. But makes more money.


Cranberry juice modulates atherosclerotic vascular dysfunction

Protection against a wide variety of diseases is among the many benefits of a diet high in whole fruits and vegetables. Cranberries over the years have been identified with preventing or ameliorating urinary tract infections and playing a positive role gum disease, ulcers and even cancer.

Recent work shows that cranberries contain naturally derived compounds (antioxidants, flavonoids, and polyphenols) that may help protect against heart disease.

Ingredient in garlic protects against severe chronic pulmonary hypertension in rats

Small daily doses of allicin, the active metabolic in garlic, proved effective in preventing a severe form of pulmonary hypertension in rats, according to a study reported Saturday, April 2 by University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers at the Experimental Biology 2005 meeting in San Diego. The human form of the disease – primary pulmonary hypertension – often leads to cardiovascular complications such as right heart hypertrophy and failure and is frequently lethal.
In a separate but related study also presented at Experimental Biology 2005, in the scientific sessions of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Dr. Ku's team found that garlic treatment also could protect coronary vascular function and lessen the severity of right heart hypertrophy, two of the serious byproducts of chronic pulmonary hypertension.
Garlic has long been thought to have medicinal properties, and reports have suggested that garlic supplementation in humans could help lower blood pressure, decrease ischemic injury, reduce serum cholesterol, inhibit platelet function and enhance thrombolysis.

Organic Diet Makes Rats Healthier

A team of European scientists, including one from Newcastle University, has found in an experiment that rats that ate organic food were much healthier than those that ate conventional diets.
The scientists found that the organically-fed rats enjoyed several health benefits, in that they slept better, had stronger immune systems and were slimmer than rats fed conventional diets.

However, speaking to The Journal newspaper, Dr Brandt said: “What this research shows is that clearly there are links between food and health which is more to do than with just nutrients.
“We used to think that as long as food had adequate nutrients then it was all equally good.
“What this work has shown is that this is not the whole story and we can measure differences and that they are significant. Now we need to understand what is going on.

posted by Prospector @ 8:02 PM