Pooling 69 studies, researchers report that high blood selenium was associated with up to 22 percent lower risk of breast, lung, esophageal, gastric and prostate cancer, but not colorectal, bladder or skin cancer. Supplemental selenium showed no association with cancer risk.
Food Consumer
Cancer
Dietary fiber cuts breast cancer risk
Following 90,534 premenopausal women in the Nurses' Health Study II for 20 years, researchers found those with the highest fiber intake in early adulthood had 19 percent lower breast cancer risk, and those eating the most in both adolescence and early adulthood were 25 percent less likely.
Politics
URGENT: Senate Introduces Bill to Block Vermont's GMO Labeling Law!
The Organic Consumers Association urges readers to contact their senators about Sen. Pat Roberts' bill, which would preempt Vermont's and other states' mandatory GMO labeling laws and replace them with a voluntary federal standard, and asks for donations to fight it.
Others
Strawberry grower wish farms to host charity event
Wish Farms hosts the third annual Bright House Networks Strawberry Picking Challenge on February 5 and 6, with sponsored teams racing relay-style and a public family day at Futch Farms. Proceeds go to the Redlands Christian Migrant Association, which got about $76,000 from last year's event.
Politics
Back Stabbing in the GMO Labeling Movement?
The Organic Consumers Association reports that JustLabelIt chairman Gary Hirshberg, USDA's Tom Vilsack and Sen. Debbie Stabenow are brokering a compromise that would delay Vermont's GMO labeling law two years and let companies use QR codes. OCA calls the deal unacceptable.
Food
Healthy drinks can cause dental caries/cavity
An Indian study in Universal Research Journal of Dentistry measured children's saliva after drinks and found pH fell to 4.97 with milk plus Bourn Vita and 5.01 with Horlicks, and to 5.81 with plain milk, against a normal near 7.35. Acidic saliva erodes teeth and can lead to cavities.
Vitamins
Vitamin D betters survival from breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer
A 2004 study of 115,096 Norwegian breast, colon and prostate cancer cases found patients diagnosed in summer and fall, when sun exposure and vitamin D3 levels run higher, were more likely to survive than those diagnosed in spring and winter.
Vitamins
Vitamin C helps reduce complications from type 2 diabetes mellitus, slow the aging process
Researchers incubated glucose-spiked blood from diabetes patients for four weeks and found added vitamin C cut non-enzymatic glycation by 20 to 26 percent and the formation of advanced glycation end products by 26 to 28 percent versus controls.
Supplements
Vitamin C helps type 2 diabetes mellitus
In a randomized controlled study, people with type 2 diabetes who took 0.5 g of vitamin C twice daily for four months improved skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity and oxidative stress measures, leading the authors to call it a possible inexpensive adjunct for insulin resistance.
Supplements
Pyridoxamine neutralizes the neurotoxicity of fructose
University of Turin researchers fed mice a 60% fructose diet for 12 weeks and saw the glycation product CML build up in the hippocampus alongside oxidative stress and early signs of neurodegeneration. The supplement pyridoxamine prevented those changes in the animals.
Food
Fish, omega-3 fatty acids help cognitive decline, dementia, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson disease
A dose-response meta-analysis of 21 cohort studies linked one serving of fish a week to 5 and 7 percent lower risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Each additional 0.1 grams of DHA daily corresponded to 14 and 37 percent reductions.
Supplements
Tocotrienols prevent Alzheimer's disease
A Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry report says high intake and high serum levels of tocotrienols, but not ordinary tocopherols, have been consistently linked to lower Alzheimer's incidence, and points to their clearance of FPP and GGPP and their anti-inflammatory activity.
Chemical
Pregnant women shouldn't eat too much fish
Drawing on 26,184 pregnant women and their children in 11 countries, a JAMA Pediatrics study found children of mothers who ate three or more servings of fish a week were more likely to be obese at ages two, four and six and grew faster early on. The effect was stronger in girls than boys.
Sci-Tech
Animal science department mourns loss of equine professor
Dr. Josie Coverdale, 38, associate professor of equine science at Texas A&M, died Feb. 13 of complications from injuries in a car accident. She taught equine nutrition, directed research on forage utilization and hindgut fermentation, and taught internationally.
Legal Actions
The DARK Act is back
An EWG action alert asking readers to tell their senators to oppose the DARK Act, which the group says would strip states of the power to require GMO labels and make the voluntary labeling system permanent.
Comments
5 Ways to Make Diet Resolutions Doable Any Time of Year
HealthyWage co-founder Jimmy Fleming lists five elements of a successful weight-loss push, starting with mapping out specific goals and dates: spend ten minutes planning, write it down or email it to someone, and set a realistic first target about a month out.
Supplements
Calcium cuts death risk from cardiovascular disease in women
Among 132,823 adults followed 17 years in the Cancer Prevention Study II cohort, women taking supplemental calcium had 7 to 16 percent lower all-cause mortality, while men taking over 1,000 mg a day had higher death risk. The authors note the study is observational, not a trial.
Chemical
Aluminum exposure raises dementia risk
A meta-analysis in Neuroscience Letters pooled eight cohort and case-control studies covering 10,567 people and found those chronically exposed to aluminum were 70% more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease. Aluminum turns up in cheese, baked goods, baking powder and drinking water.
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