Tag Archives: nutrition

Drinking decaf or regular coffee maybe good for the liver

Coffee consumption is highly prevalent with more than half of all Americans over 18 drinking on average three cups each day according to a 2010 report from the National Coffee Association. Moreover, the International Coffee Association reports that coffee consumption has increased one percent each year since the 1980s, increasing to two percent in recent years. Previous studies found that coffee consumption may help lower the risk of developing diabetes, cardiovascular disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, cirrhosis, and liver cancer…

Fighting prostate cancer with tomato-rich diet

With 35,000 new cases every year in the UK, and around 10,000 deaths, prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men worldwide. Rates are higher in developed countries, which some experts believe is linked to a Westernised diet and lifestyle. To assess if following dietary and lifestyle recommendations reduces risk of prostate cancer, researchers at the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford looked at the diets and lifestyle of 1,806 men aged between 50 and 69 with prostate cancer and compared with 12,005 cancer-free men. …

Postmenopausal breast cancer risk decreases rapidly after starting regular physical activity — ScienceDaily

“Twelve MET-h [metabolic equivalent task-hours] per week corresponds to walking four hours per week or cycling or engaging in other sports two hours per week and it is consistent with the World Cancer Research Fund recommendations of walking at least 30 minutes daily,” said Agnès Fournier, PhD, a researcher in the Centre for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health at the Institut Gustave Roussy in Villejuif, France. “So, our study shows that it is not necessary to engage in vigorous or very frequent activities; even walking 30 minutes per day is beneficial.” Postmenopausal women who in the previous four years had undertaken 12 or more MET-h of physical activity each week had a 10 percent decreased risk of invasive breast cancer compared with women who were less active. Women who undertook this level of physical activity between five and nine years earlier but were less active in the four years prior to the final data collection did not have a decreased risk for invasive breast cancer. “Physical activity is thought to decrease a woman’s risk for breast cancer after menopause,” said Fournier…

Epigenetics: New link between nutrition, cancer

Epigenetic modifications are heritable and potentially reversible changes in gene expression that do not require changes to the actual DNA sequence. By taking advantage of these modifications, researchers believe it is possible to mediate environmental signals and provide a link between susceptibility genes and environmental factors in the cause of cancer. However, it should be noted that any protective effect is unlikely due to a single dietary component and thus, the identification of specific relevant compounds and metabolites is necessary. Metabolism can also play a large role in affecting the potential to induce epigenetic changes. …

Sofrito contains substances that reduce risk of cardiovascular disease

The study, PREvention with a MEDiterranean Diet (PREDIMED) has recently shown the link between the Mediterranean diet and low levels of cardiovascular disease. The questionnaire used as a reference asked consumers how often they ate vegetables, pasta, rice and other dishes made with sofrito, but the beneficial compounds of this product had never been analysed. Now researchers from the University of Barcelona (UB) and the Biomedical Research Centres Network — Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBERobn) of the Carlos III Health Institute, have for the first time identified polyphenols and carotenoids -healthy antioxidant substances- in sofrito, by using a high resolution mass spectrometry technique. The results have been published in the ‘Food Chemistry’ magazine and they show the presence of at least 40 types of polyphenols. …