Pomegranate Extract

Oral ingestion of pomegranate extract reduces the production of chemicals that cause inflammation.The group from the Department of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Ohio, led by Tariq Haqqi, showed that blood samples collected from rabbits fed pomegranate extract inhibited inflammation.

 Pomegranate extract (Ellagic acid) is already used as a treatment in alternative medicine for inflammatory conditions, such as arthritis. Although pomegranate extract has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory actions in experiments on isolated tissues, it is not known whether ingestion of it can produce the same anti-inflammatory effects in living systems, either because the active compounds are not absorbed from the gut or because the levels of these compounds in the blood are not high enough.

Pomegranate extract, the equivalent of 175mls of pomegranate juice, was given to rabbits orally. The levels of antioxidants were measured in blood samples obtained after drinking the pomegranate extract and compared to blood samples collected before ingestion of pomegranate extract.

Plasma collected from rabbits following ingestion of pomegranate extract contained significantly higher levels of antioxidants than samples collected before ingestion of pomegranate extract; the extract also significantly reduced the activity of proteins that cause inflammation, specifically cyclooxygenase-2. It also reduced the production of pro-inflammatory compounds produced by cells isolated from cartilage.

The results of this study indicate the beneficial effects of pomegranate extract when ingested. According to Haqqi "the use of dietary nutrients or drugs based on them as an adjunct in the treatment of chronic inflammatory conditions may benefit patients". He adds that, "Current treatment with anti-inflammatory drugs can have serious side effects following long-term use. Further research is needed, however, especially on the absorption of orally ingested substances into the blood.

Source: TOI

Coconut Oil Extract May Be A Weapon Against Food Bacteria

Monolaurin, an extract from coconut oil could be used as a microbial agent in food. Monolaurin has been recognized as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is known for its antimicrobial properties. If used in combination with other antimicrobial agents, monolaurin can present an effective barrier to microorganisms.

Researchers from Zhejiang University in China studied the use of monolaurin as a nontraditional preservative in food products by combining it with commonly used antimicrobials in various concentrations and testing it on bacterial strains including Esherichia coli and on food components such as soy protein and water-soluble starch. Researchers made the following findings:

• Monolaurin combined with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)，a binding agent, was effective against Esherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis but not Staphylococcus aureus.
• When combined with the antimicrobial nisin, monolaurin was synergistically effective against all three bacteria.
• Researchers studied monolaurin’s interaction with food components and found that its antibacterial effectiveness was reduced by fat or starch but was not affected by protein.

“These results contribute to a better understanding on the use of monolaurin as a nontraditional preservative for antimicrobial purpose in food products. The antimicrobial effects of monolaurin can be increased if used together or in combination with other preservative systems,”.

Source: Sciencedaily

VIRAL HEPATITIS

It is liver inflammation due to viral infection. It may be present in acute, fulminant or chronic forms.

WHAT CAUSES IT?
The five unrelated hepatotropic viruses — hepatitis A, B, C, D and E.

COMMON TYPES
Infectious jaundice is caused by hepatitis A virus. Infection with hepatitis A virus can happen through consumption of contaminated food or water. Hepatitis A is generally spread among family members and friends/relatives through the passage of oral secretions or stool (unclean hands). People with hepatitis A are advised to rest, stay hydrated and avoid alcohol. A vaccine is available that will prevent HAV infection for up to 10 years.

Hepatitis B is caused by a virus that can cause both acute, fulminate and chronic hepatitis. Hepatitis B is blood-borne infection transmitted through blood transfusion, tattoos, sexual intercourse or contact with body fluids.  Blood contact can transmit the virus. Sharing syringes or shaving accessories can be the reason. Patients can recover from the infection completely. A small proportion becomes the carrier of this virus and may develop after about 15 to 20 years and end up in liver disease. Vaccine can prevent infection from hepatitis B.

 Hepatitis C virus (HCV) usually spreads by shared needles among drug abusers, blood transfusion, hemodialysis, and needle sticks. Patients with chronic hepatitis C infection are at risk of developing cirrhosis and liver cancer after a silent phase of 15 to 20 years.

SYMPTOMS
Many patients infected with hepatitis A, B and C have few or no symptoms of illness. For those who do develop symptoms of viral hepatitis, the most common are flu-like symptoms, which include:
    Loss of appetite
    Nausea
    Vomiting
    Fever
    Weakness
    Tiredness
    Abdomen ache
    Rare common symptoms
     Dark-coloured urine
    Light-coloured stools
    Fever
    Jaundice (yellow appearance to the skin and white portion of the eyes)

DIAGNOSIS
When a patient reports symptoms of fever, fatigue, nausea, abdominal pain, darkening of urine, and then develops jaundice, the diagnosis of acute viral hepatitis is likely and can be confirmed by blood tests.
On the other hand, patients with chronic hepatitis due to hepatitis B and hepatitis C often have no symptoms or only mild non-specific symptoms. Typically, these patients do not have jaundice until the liver damage is advanced. Therefore, these patients can remain undiagnosed for years to decades. Quite a few times chronic hepatitis is diagnosed when blood tests are done for other reasons.

TREATMENT
Treatment of acute viral hepatitis involves relieving symptoms and maintaining adequate intake of fluids. Supportive care is the main modality for acute hepatitis.  Fulminant hepatitis is life threatening which carries a high mortality if liver transplant is not available immediately. Fortunately, the rate of cases is really low.  Treatment of chronic viral hepatitis involves medications to destroy the virus and taking measures to prevent further liver damage.  Patients who develop progressive liver damage/ cancer or significant complications from liver dysfunction, transplant is the best option.

Patients with chronic hepatitis B or C have predisposition to develop liver cancer and should be monitored. Liver resection to remove cancer is the best way. If it is not possible, other options such as radiofrequency ablation, transarterial chemoembolization, radioactive embolization are available.

Source: ToI

Natural Flavor

You will see this term or terms like "Natural Strawberry Flavor" or "Natural Vanilla Flavor" on many food and juice labels, even products that are called "nutritional".  If the product actually had "strawberry", the label would simply say "strawberry", not "natural strawberry FLAVOR".  The word "natural" means nothing. Everything is "natural" since everything has to come from something that was originally "natural. A good example is MSG (monosodium-glutamate) is a brain neurotoxin. It is a slow poison. Most people understand that MSG is not healthy, so manufacturers have changed the name to "Natural Flavors.

The other issue is that manufacturers can say to you "There is no MSG in this product" as long as the MSG is a "constituent of an ingredient", ie. "natural flavors". This is very deceptive.  Many ask this question, " What is the difference between the glutamic acid found in protein and the potentially harmful manufactured glutamic acid we refer to as MSG?"

Glutamic acid is an amino acid found in abundance in both plant and animal protein.  In humans it is a non-essential amino acid, i.e. the body is capable of producing its own glutamic acid, and is not dependent upon getting glutamic acid from ingested food.

What is MSG?
Outside of the body, glutamic acid is produced commercially in food manufacturing and chemical plants. Its use in food began in the early 1900s as a component of a flavor enhancer called "monosodium glutamate." Unfortunately, any glutamic acid that is produced as an individual amino acid outside of the body for use in food, drugs, dietary supplements, cosmetics, personal care products, fertilizers, or other, can cause or exacerbate brain lesions, neuroendocrine disorders, learning disabilities, adverse reactions, neurodegenerative disease and more in humans. Glutamic acid that is produced commercially in food manufacturing and chemical plants is known as "MSG.

Since the creation of man, he has eaten food in the form of protein.  We understand a fair amount about human protein digestion and subsequent metabolism at the present time. As part of protein digestion, protein is broken down into its constituent amino acids, one of them being glutamic acid. In the human body, the ingested protein is broken down (hydrolyzed) in the stomach and lower intestines through the action of hydrochloric acid and enzymes--both of which are found naturally in the human body.  In a healthy human, the body controls the amount of glutamic acid converted from protein in this way, and disposes of the "waste."  Humans do not store excess glutamic acid as such.

The glutamate industry continues to deny that exposure to free glutamic acid found in processed food (MSG) causes adverse reactions including hives, asthma, seizures, and migraine headache; causes brain damage, learning disorders, and endocrine disturbances; and is relevant to diverse diseases of the central nervous system such as addiction, stroke, epilepsy, schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, and degenerative disorders such as ALS, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease.

Ingredients, food and beverages that might contain MSG or that were processed with MSG 

• Enzyme-modified food
• Fermented foods and beverages
• Beer
• Bourbon/Scotch/Whiskey/Brandy/Wine
• Natural beef, chicken, pork, smoke flavoring
• Barley malt, Malt extract, Malt flavoring
• Maltodextrin
• Pectin
• Protein-fortified foods
• Textured protein
• Seasonings
• Soy extract, Protein, sauce, isolate, concentrate
• Ultra pasteurized foods
• Whey protein, concentrate, isolate.

Conclusion:

After reading all the info, I have come to the conclusion that MSG in our food can cause problems and if the only benefit of MSG is to want us to eat more, why is it in the food. Even the FDA site says there are side effects to MSG. Also with the obesity problem, do we really need to eat more? Think about this for a minute...if you have to doctor something up to make it tasty to the pallet, is it really good for you? 

Apples, oranges, grapes...good healthy food doesn't need any added ingredients. What processed food do they add natural favors to?  You got it...they are mostly the foods that need something to enhance the taste to cover up the bad and cheap unhealthy ingredients.  So, in conclusion, does it not seem feasible for us to consider eating more whole food...the way they were created by nature?

Source: yahoo

Benefits of cucumber

• Cucumber is high in potassium, making it useful for people suffering from high and low blood pressure.
• It is a natural diuretic that improves urine flow.
• Studies say that the high silicon and sulphur content in cucumber helps hair growth.
•   Mix cucumber juice with carrot juice and have it daily. This is very beneficial  for people   with rheumatic conditions.
• Suffer from weak or brittle nails? Cucumber juice is known to prevent splitting of nails because of the high mineral content found in it.
• The juice of this vegetable is very beneficial in combating conditions like heartburn, acidity, gastritis, eczema, arthritis, gout ulcers.

Source: TOI

Insomnia

Insomnia is a symptom which can accompany several sleep, medical and psychiatric disorders, characterized by persistent difficulty falling asleep and/or difficulty staying asleep. Insomnia is typically followed by functional impairment while awake.

People with insomnia have one or more of the following symptoms:

• Difficulty falling asleep
• Waking up often during the night and having trouble going back to sleep
• Waking up too early in the morning
• Feeling tired upon waking

Types of Insomnia

There are two types of insomnia: primary insomnia and secondary insomnia.

• Primary insomnia: Primary insomnia means that a person is having sleep problems that are not directly associated with any other health condition or problem.
• Secondary insomnia: Secondary insomnia means that a person is having sleep problems because of something else, such as a health condition (like asthma, depression, arthritis, cancer, or heartburn); pain; medication they are taking; or a substance they are using (like alcohol.

Causes of Insomnia

• Significant life stress (job loss or change, death of a loved one, divorce, moving).
• Illness.
• Emotional or physical discomfort.
• Environmental factors like noise, light, or extreme temperatures (hot or cold) that interfere with sleep.
• Some medications (for example those used to treat colds, allergies, depression, high blood pressure, and asthma) may interfere with sleep.
• Interferences in normal sleep schedule (jet lag or switching from a day to night shift, for example).

Treatment

• If you've been lying in bed but are beginning to fear you're not going to drop off, try some of these techniques: Count sheep or count backwards from 100 (one of my favorites) to stop yourself from thinking about the problems of yesterday or tomorrow; breathe deeply for awhile; or visualize some peaceful place.
• If you can't get to sleep after lying in bed for 30 minutes or more, get up for awhile. What to do? Try reading something incredibly boring.
• Develop a bedtime routine and Keep regular bedtime hours.
• Before bedtime, avoid tobacco and caffeinated beverages (not just coffee, but other drinks like tea, cola)  and Alcohol.

• Exercise every day, but not shortly before bedtime since exercise gets the adrenaline going.
• If you use an illuminated clock for a wakeup alarm, place it where you can't keep looking at it to check the time.
• Buy a firm mattress and keep your bedroom well ventilated (a cool temperature works best for me).
• And you might also try some of these: a warm bath, warm milk, light bedtime snack, massage, or quiet music (which turns itself off automatically).
• Use earplugs for extreme quiet.
• If you have a painful joint or a headache, take a pain pill before bedtime (but be sure it doesn't contain caffeine).
• Avoid stimulating reading or television shows late at night.

If the insomnia stubbornly persists, check with your doctor to make sure some underlying health problem (such as depression, anxiety, hyperthyroidism, heart failure, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) isn't keeping you awake.

Source:Yahoo

Plant virus jumps to humans

Pepper Virus Infecting People

It has always been assumed that plant viruses cannot infect animals, and vice versa. But French scientists have now found what they claim is the first evidence of a plant virus infecting humans — they say pepper virus is making people sick.

A team at the University of the Mediterranean in Marseilles, France, led by Didier Raoult, have found RNA from the pepper mild mottle virus in the faeces of 7% of the 304 adults they tested; those with the virus were more likely to report fever, itching and abdominal pain, the ‘New Scientist’ reported on Wednesday.

Not everyone is convinced, however. Because Raoult looked at many possible symptoms, he would be expected to find a few that randomly appear more common in virus positive people, according to Robert Garry, a virologist at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. Moreover, in order to enter a cell and replicate, a virus must bind to a receptor on its surface, and a plant virus would be highly unlikely to recognize a receptor on a human cell, Garry said.

One possibility, Raoult said, is that the virus does not infect human cells directly. Instead, the naked viral RNA may alter the function of the cells via a mechanism similar to RNA interference, in which presence of certain RNA sequences can turn genes on and off.

The study identified a local source of Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), a plant virus, and linked the presence of PMMoV RNA in stool with a specific immune response and clinical symptoms. Although clinical symptoms may be imputable to another cofactor, including spicy food, their data suggest the possibility of a direct or indirect pathogenic role of plant viruses in humans.  PMMoV RNA sequences were recovered from twelve (57%) of the twenty-one pepper or spice-containing food products picked for the research. Of all Tabasco sauce contained the highest viral load.

The virus does not infect human cells directly. Instead, the naked viral RNA may alter cell function via a mechanism similar to RNA interference, in which presence of certain RNA sequences can turn genes on and off. Pepper virus RNA sequences found from 12 (57%) of the 21 pepper or spice-containing food products picked for the study. Of all Tabasco sauce had the highest viral load.

Source:TOI