Diabetes herbal cure and Banaba

Banaba, also known as Crepe Myrtle, Queen's Flower and Pride of India, is a medicinal plant that grows in India, Southeast Asia and the Philippines. Banaba Leaf extract contains a compound known as corosolic acid, that has been reported to safely lower blood sugar levels. By keeping blood sugar and insulin levels in check, Banaba helps control food craving, which is extremely important to diabetics!
In humans with Type 2 diabetes, Banaba extract, taken for 4-8 weeks, has been shown to be effective in reducing blood sugar (5% - 30% reduction) and maintaining tighter control of blood sugar fluctuations. one study, subjects who took the supplement over a twenty-two-week period had a 30% drop in blood sugar levels. They also averaged a weight loss of 3.2 pounds per month without changing their diet. For some people, fluctuations in blood sugar and insulin are related to appetite, hunger and various food cravings - particularly craving for carbohydrates ( eg. bread and sweets). By keeping blood sugar and insulin levels in check, Banaba helps people to lose weight safely and quickly.

skin protection and lycopene

Consuming lycopene-rich tomato paste may protect against sunburn and sun-induced skin ageing, British researchers have reported. Subjects who consumed tomato paste were found to have 33 per cent more protection against sunburn, compared to the control group, researchers from the Universities of Newcastle and Manchester presented at the British Society for Investigative Dermatology this month The research taps into one of the newest trends in nutritional foods - the "beauty from within" segment, which is predicted to become a strong niche over the next few years. The researchers recruited 20 people and randomly assigned them to receive 55 grams (five tablespoons) of standard tomato paste with 10g of olive oil daily, or just olive oil, for 12 weeks. NutraIngredients.com has not seen the full data. The skin of the volunteers was exposed to UV light at the start and end of the trial, and the researchers found that the tomato paste-supplemented group had 33 per cent more protection against sunburn, than the olive oil only-fed group. This level of protection was equivalent to a sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 1.3, said the researchers. The benefits of the tomato paste were attributed to the lycopene content, which may neutralise the harmful effects of UV light due to the excess production reactive oxygen species (ROS) which can damage important skin structures. Skin samples taken from the subjects indicated that the tomato paste-supplemented individuals had higher skin levels of pro-collagen, a molecule which gives the skin its structure and loss of which leads to skin ageing and lack of elasticity.
Co-researcher Professor Lesley Rhodes said: "The tomato diet boosted the level of procollagen in the skin significantly. These increasing levels suggest potential reversal of the skin ageing process. This is in addition to the significant reduction in sunburn. "These weren't huge amounts of tomato we were feeding the group. It was the sort of quantity you would easily manage if you were eating a lot of tomato-based meals. "People should not think that tomatoes in any way can replace sun creams, but they may be a good additive. If you can improve your protection through your diet then over several years, this may have a significant effect." Attendees at the annual meeting of the British Society for Investigative Dermatology also heard that lycopene was capable of reducing damage to mitochondrial DNA in the skin, which is also believed to be linked with skin ageing.

"The protective effect of eating tomatoes on our mitochondria is important as they are the energy producers in all our body cells including skin," said Professor Mark Birch-Machin. "Therefore being kind to our mitochondria is likely to contribute to improved skin health, which in turn may have an anti-ageing effect."

allergy and Peanut

Genetically modified plants or immunotherapy may eliminate allergies to peanut within five years, suggests a prominent scientist from Duke University. The comments were made in the current issue of The Lancet. Peanuts can cause the most severe food allergies, affecting about three million US residents a year, and causing up to 150 deaths. The news however may put the dampeners on the free-from food market that has been enjoying sales growth of over 300 per cent in the UK since 2000, according to market analyst Mintel.In industrialised countries allergies have been rapidly increasing in children, for causes that are not entirely understood. One study showed that between 1997 and 2002, peanut allergies in children doubled in the United States.But help may be just around the corner, according to Wesley Burks from Paediatric Allergy and Immunology at Duke University Medical Center. Scientists at various groups around the world are working on the development of novel immunotherapeutic strategies, which would alter the immune system's response to an allergen. Various approached are under investigation, but they are based on the principle of curbing the immune response of so-called Th2 cells, or by inducing tolerance. "These studies offer the possibility of at least raising the threshold of the amount of peanut that it would take to cause a life-threatening allergic reaction; whether these types of treatments are likely to cause eventual clinical tolerance to develop remains to be seen.
It is likely that in the next 5 years there will be some type of immunotherapy available for peanut allergic individuals.

Halal market grows, with potential for non-Muslims too

The market for Halal foods is growing according to experts, as US Muslims grow accustomed to seeing Halal in their grocery aisles, and non-Muslims see it as healthier. As such, for food processors, going through the Halalcertification process opens up the possibility of additional clientele - even if they do not have to make changes to their product to get such certification. Enter groups like the Islamic Food & Nutrition Council of America (IFNCA), which started up in 1980 in Illinois, and now has 24 people in charge of inspections - 10 to 12 in the US and seven in Europe. Though it is a certifier, IFNCA is a not-for-profit organization and channels the fees from certification back into educating industry and the community. "The suppliers need to understand the requirements also, and our inspectors actually educate the industry too," Dr. Munir Chaudry, president and halal administrator with IFNCA, told FoodNavigator-USA.Halal means to be sanctioned by Islamic law, the opposite being 'haram', which means it is unlawful according to Islam A third category, mashbooh, is not so clear as it means a product is doubtful or questionable - in which case it has to be examined according to Islamic law. Haram products include the following: pork and pork by-products, animals improperly slaughtered or killed in the name of anyone other than Allah (God), alcohol, blood and blood by-products. This means that any food that has come into contact with, or contains traces of, these foods are not halal.

Some questionable mashbooh foods are those containing gelatin, enzymes, or emulsifiers, because the origin of these ingredients is not always known. With eight million Muslims in the US, and the average family in the country spending around $2100 on food yearly, Chaudry estimates the US Halal market to be worth $16bn. Muslim immigrants and their second generation children both look for halal. According to Chaudry, there are a variety of means in which people buy halal foods in the US. There are those who buy from a local and trusted source, such as from a Muslim store owner. But this option is limited because it can be difficult for a store owner to supply a variety of goods or keep a close watch on the production of these items, he said. There are also those who only eat based on the principle that if there is not pork or alcohol in a product, that is enough for them, or if someone tells them a food is halal, they trust that. The other method is certification, which allows a manufacturer to then put a symbol on their packaging letting consumers know their product has passed the test. This symbol attracts not only Muslim consumers, but other too who see it as value-added."There is a perception that there are less chemicals in halal products," said Chaudry. "Incidental users have a good perception of them because the products have less complicated ingredients and taste good."

breast cancer risk and Coffee

Drinking at least two to three cups of coffee a day may reduce a woman's risk of developing breast cancer or delay the onset of cancer, depending on her genes, suggests a new study. Researchers from Lund University and Malmo University in Sweden looked at the coffee-drinking habits of about 460 breast cancer patients, and found that the potential protective effects of the beverage were dependent on variations in a gene called CYP1A2, which codes for an enzyme that metabolises both oestrogen and coffee. Coffee, one of the world's largest traded commodities produced in more than 60 countries and generating more than $70bn in retail sales a year, continues to spawn research and interest, and has been linked to a range of health benefits, including a reduced risk of diabetes, improved liver health, and potential protection against ovarian and liver cancer. The women completed questionnaires in order to assess their coffee consumption habits. The average age of the participants at diagnosis was 59.6, while their average BMI was 24.5 kg per sq. m. Lead researcher Helena Jernstrom said: "Those women who had one of the C variants, and who had drunk at least three cups of coffee a day, developed breast cancer considerably more seldom than women with the A/A variant with the same coffee consumption. Their cancer risk was only two thirds of that of the other womens."A/A women who had drunk two or more cups of coffee a day received more ambiguous help from their coffee consumption. On the one hand, their cancer appeared considerably later than among women who had seldom or never drunk coffee at a mean age of 58 years instead of 48 years, unless they had taken hormone replacement therapy for menopausal symptoms," she added. The researchers related the effects to the female sex hormones, oestrogens. Jernstrom and co-workers noted that certain metabolic products of these hormones are known to be carcinogenic, and components of coffee improve the configuration of various oestrogens. Moreover, the caffeine content may also hamper the growth of cancer cells."This is new information that needs to be corroborated in other studies before we can issue any recommendations. If coffee does in fact provide some protection against breast cancer, then women in such a coffee-drinking country as Sweden ought to have fewer cases of cancer than other countries. This is also the case, at least compared with the U.S. There the proportion of breast cancer cases in the population is considerably higher, and there people drink both more decaffeinated coffee and less coffee in general," she said.
over one million women worldwide are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, with the highest incidences in the US and the Netherlands. China has the lowest incidence and mortality rate of the disease. Hormone-sensitive oestrogen-receptor (ER) positive and progesterone-receptor (PR) positive tumours are said to be the most common type diagnosed among breast cancer patients in the US.

Micronutrients show potential against TB recurrence

Daily supplements of micronutrients vitamins A, B-complex, C, E, and selenium may reduce the recurrence of tuberculosis during standard treatment, suggests a new study. The risk of a recurrence of TB was cut by 45 per cent in the study subjects receiving the supplements, and by 63 per cent in HIV-subjects, according to results of the randomised trial published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Tuberculosis (TB) is a contagious disease that is spread through the air via sneezing, coughing, talking or spitting. Infection with the bacteria that causes TB does not necessarily mean the person will become sick as the immune system can 'wall off' the bacilli, and it can lie dormant. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), one-third of the global population is currently infected with the TB bacillus, thought not all are sick with TB.
When the immune system is weakened, however, the probability of becoming sick greatly increases. In HIV-positive people, the combination of TB and HIV can be fatal due to the immune system suppression of HIV.
The Harvard researchers recruited 887 patients in Tanzania receiving tuberculosis therapy and randomly assigned them to receive either the micronutrient supplement or placebo: 471 were HIV-positive and not receiving antiretroviral therapy and 416 were HIV-negative The subjects were followed for an average of 43 months.
The supplement consisted of retinol (5000 IU), vitamin B1 (20 mg), vitamin B2 (20 mg), vitamin B6 (25 mg), niacin (100 mg), folic acid (0.8 mg), vitamin B12 (50 micrograms), vitamin C (500 mg), vitamin E (200 mg), and selenium(100 micrograms).At the end of the study, the recurrence of TB was significantly reduced by 45 per cent in the subjects receiving the micronutrient supplements. Moreover, supplementation was also associated with a 57 per cent reduction in the incidence of peripheral neuropathy regardless of HIV status. Peripheral neuropathy related to damage to the peripheral nervous system, which sends signals from the brain and spinal cord to other parts of the body.

Additionally, in HIV-negative subjects an increase in levels of CD3+ and CD4+ T- cells, indicating a positive effect on the immune system. "Among HIV-negative adults, micronutrients appeared to increase T cell counts and reduced the incidence of complications. The impact of micronutrient supplementation on TB-related outcomes needs to be ascertained among HIV-infected patients receiving antiretroviral therapy," stated the researchers.