HEADLINES / TRENDS l STATS l RESEARCH l MEDIA l PEOPLE

June 2009

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Laughing One’s Way To
Diabetic Heart Health

in “Laugh Out Loud: It’s Good for You” (March 2008), we learned that laughter does more than just lift a weary spirit. It has also been shown to provide physical and psychological benefits, including pain relief, improved blood flow, reduced stress and, just as importantly, a shift in perspective that allows us to see our troubles in a different light.

This belief in laughter’s healing power has been bolstered by a study at Loma Linda University in California. Scientists there assigned 20 people with type 2 diabetes to either a control group or a group whose members were told to view something they found funny for 30 minutes a day.

After a year, both groups were evaluated for such heart disease risk factors as cholesterol and an inflammation marker called C-reactive protein (CRP). People in the laughter group showed a 26% increase in “good” HDL cholesterol, compared with only a 3% increase in members of the control group. What’s more, the first group laughed their way to an impressive 66% drop in CRP, versus a 26% decline among the others (American Diabetes Association presentation, 4/17/09).

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Herb May Inhibit Pancreatic Cancer

as part of our May cover story on Matthew Modine (“Man on a Mission”), we looked at the research being done on pancreatic cancer, which claimed the lives of Modine’s father and brother. The fact that this disease tends to kill so quickly after diagnosis makes cancer of the pancreas difficult to study compared with other malignancies. It is generally found only after it has spread to other organs; scientists are currently trying to find the genetic clues that would allow earlier diagnosis.

The risk of developing pancreatic cancer is somewhat greater among people with a family history of the disease or an inflammatory condition called chronic pancreatitis. But an extract taken from Nigella sativa, the “black seed” used widely in Middle Eastern cooking and traditional healing, has lowered levels of the inflammatory substances linked to pancreatic cancer. Scientists at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University found that thymoquinone, found in black seed oil, was also able to shrink tumors by 67% in animals. These findings were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research’s 2009 annual meeting.

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Quote

The biggest seller is cookbooks
and the second is diet books—
how not to eat what you’ve
just learned how to cook.
- Andy Rooney

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Surviving the Petro-Food Crisis

The 20th century agribusiness boom was sparked by cheap oil. It provided the fertilizer that allowed monocultures—acres and acres of a single crop—to flourish as well as the fuel that allowed these crops to be shipped thousands of miles. When cheap oil ends, what’s next?

That’s the subject of Plan C: Community Survival Strategies for Peak Oil and Climate Change (New Society Publishers). Energy and food analyst Pat Murphy says declining oil production is coming, resulting in rising costs. To cope, we need to create a food chain that consumes less energy—it now takes 10 calories of fuel for every food calorie eaten in the US—and provides more nutrients. Plan C outlines a roadmap for this process based on building sustainable communities based on locally produced food and reduced energy usage. Murphy hopes Plan C helps readers to “find the creative seed” that leads to a new way of living.

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WORD

obesity

An excess of body fat as defined by the body mass index (BMI), a calculation based on height and weight. Obesity is defined as a BMI or 30 or higher, overweight as a BMI between 25.0 and 29.9. For example, a person who is 5’ 9” would be considered obese if he or she weighed 203 pounds or more. (Some people, generally athletes, may have artificially high BMIs stemming from increased
muscle mass instead of body fat.)

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Berry Compound May Ward
Off Sun Damage

Sun worship has long been known to leave unwelcome marks, such as wrinkles, on the skin. But now it appears that ellagic acid—an antioxidant found in raspberries, pomegranates, cranberries and other healthy foods—may be able to mitigate sun-associated skin damage.

Korean researchers have found that ellagic acid reduces both inflammation and the destruction of collagen, a key skin protein, when added to human skin cells in the lab. Hairless mice exposed to UV rays showed reduced wrinkle formation when given ellagic acid.

If studies continue to show good results ellagic acid may join lutein and zeaxanthin, found in corn and leafy greens, among phytonutrients used supplementally to provide protection against the effects of sun exposure.

Experimental Biology 2009 4/09, New Orleans

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Magnesium Levels Down,
Stroke Risk Up

Not having enough magnesium in your bloodstream may increase your stroke risk by 25%.

That’s the conclusion reached by scientists with the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (ARIC), who have been following more than 14,000 people between the ages of 45 and 64 since 1987. A total of 577 ischemic strokes, those caused by blood clots in the brain, were identified. In comparing magnesium levels between individuals who suffered strokes and those who didn’t, the scientists found that those with the lowest levels of this mineral in their blood ran the highest risk of stroke.

Sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), ARIC is designed to measure links between cardiovascular disease and atherosclerosis, or fatty plaque buildup within arteries.
American Journal of Epidemiology 4/16/09 epub ahead of print.

american journal of epidemiology 4/16/09 epub ahead of print

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Fermented Soy Enzyme Eats Up Alzheimer’s Lesions

In one early—but promising—study, an enzyme taken from fermented soy has shown the potential to act against brain plaques linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers from several Taiwanese institutions found that the enzyme, called nattokinase, was able to degrade fibers within what’s known as beta-amyloid plaque, a type of abnormal protein deposit that characterizes Alzheimer’s. Plaque development is associated with damage to
brain cells and ultimately to the loss of cognitive function that marks the disease.

Nattokinase is already being studied as an agent to lower blood pressure and prevent blood clots.

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 1/28/09

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Numbers

Tightening the Belt on Produce

12%
Drop in fruit consumption since a year ago,before the recession started

6%
Drop in vegetable consumption over that time

90%
Americans who consume less produce than therecommended daily amount (from 2.5 to 6.5
cups a day, depending on daily calorie intake)

(Source: Produce for Better Health Foundation,
www.pbhfoundation.org; for advice on getting more produce
into your daily diet, visit www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org)

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