Texas A&M researchers say watermelon's citrulline converts in the body to arginine, which relaxes blood vessels much as Viagra does, and may raise libido. The piece notes peanuts are a rich source of arginine and suggests eating those and vitamin C rather than relying on melon alone.
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Nutrition
Vitamins, minerals, supplements, herbs and diet: the research on how what we eat shapes our health.
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Supplements
Grape seed extract may help prevent Alzheimer's
A Mount Sinai study in the Journal of Neuroscience found grape seed polyphenolic extract blocked amyloid beta from clumping into high-molecular-weight oligomers in the lab, and that feeding it to mice sharply reduced the cognitive decline seen in an Alzheimer's-like disorder.
Food
Coffee drinkers at lower risk of liver cancer
Among 60,323 Finnish adults followed up to 19 years, the heaviest coffee drinkers were up to 68 percent less likely to develop liver cancer, while high serum GGT tripled the risk. An accompanying editorial cautions it remains unknown whether the coffee link is causal.
Biotics
Prebiotic potential of almonds
Institute of Food Research scientists ran almonds through a simulated stomach and intestine, then a fermentation model, and found finely ground almonds significantly raised certain beneficial gut bacteria. Removing the fat removed the effect, suggesting the bacteria use almond lipid.
Food
Green leafy vegetables cut diabetes risk
Following 71,346 female nurses for 18 years, Lydia Bazzano's team linked each extra daily serving of green leafy vegetables to 9 percent lower diabetes risk and three daily servings of whole fruit to 18 percent lower risk. Fruit juice went the other way, with 18 percent higher risk.
Phytochemicals
New Study: Pycnogenol® Significantly Reduces Menstrual Pain
A multi-center field study in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine reports women with dysmenorrhea who took Pycnogenol, a French maritime pine bark extract, had less pain and needed less pain medication. Lead researcher Nobutaka Suzuki notes NSAIDs often cause gastric problems.
Vitamins
Effective oral vitamin B12 soon available
Emisphere Technologies says its Eligen oral formulation raised vitamin B12 absorption to 7-30 percent, against roughly 1 percent for existing oral forms that leave doctors relying on shots. The animal results go to an AAPS conference; human studies are reportedly under way.
Food
Coffee may reduce risk of death from heart disease in women
Following 84,214 women and 41,736 men for up to two decades, researchers reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine that drinking up to six cups of coffee a day was not tied to higher mortality, and was linked to a slightly lower rate of death from heart disease.
Food
Oily fish can protect against RA, but smoking and psychosocial stress increase its risk
Swedish EIRA data presented at EULAR 2008 tied eating oily fish, one to seven times a week or one to three times a month, to a 20 to 30 percent lower risk of rheumatoid arthritis, an odds ratio of 0.8. Fish oil supplements showed no significant association.
Supplements
Probiotics anti-inflammatory
Finnish researchers reported in the World Journal of Gastroenterology that probiotics lowered serum CRP and cut pro-inflammatory cytokine production in blood cells from healthy adults, with effects that differed by bacterial strain.
Diet
Nutrients better outcomes of tuberculosis treatment
In a study of 887 tuberculosis patients in Dar es Salaam, those given nutrient supplements were 45 percent less likely to see the disease recur and slightly less likely to fail treatment, with a stronger effect among HIV carriers. Supplements did not significantly change death rates.
Phytochemicals
Apple pectin helps metabolic syndrome
In Zucker rats, a diet with 10 percent highly methoxylated apple pectin cut cholesterol about as much as beta-glucan did, and produced larger drops in body weight, triglycerides and blood glucose. Whether the same holds in people has not been tested.
Food
Dehydrated tomatoes may help prevent prostate cancer
University of Missouri researchers fed rats tomato powder, tomato paste, or paste plus FruHis, a carbohydrate found in dehydrated tomatoes, then exposed them to prostate carcinogens. Tumors turned up in 18 percent of the paste-plus-FruHis group against 63 percent of controls.
Minerals
Calcium alone does not reduce hip fracture risk
Bess Dawson-Hughes and colleagues pooled studies covering 170,991 women and 68,606 men and found calcium intake was not appreciably associated with hip fracture risk in either sex, even though calcium is still commonly recommended to prevent fractures.
Phytochemicals
Green tea extract fights genital and perianal warts
In a trial of 502 adults with anogenital warts, 57.5 percent using 15% sinecatechins ointment and 56.3 percent using the 10% version cleared all warts within 16 weeks, against 33.7 percent on placebo. The authors call the green tea extract effective and well tolerated.
Supplements
St. John's wort may not help ADHD in children/teens
In an eight-week trial, 54 children and teens aged 6 to 17 took 300 mg of St. John's wort or placebo three times a day, with no significant difference in ADHD rating scores, inattentiveness or hyperactivity. The trial was small and the optimal dose is unknown.
Vitamins
Sunshine vitamin may help prevent heart attack
Harvard researchers compared 454 men who had a heart attack or fatal heart disease with 900 who did not, and found men deficient in vitamin D faced 2.42 times the risk of those with sufficient levels. The authors caution that the sunlight pattern is not proof of cause.
Supplements
Chinese red yeast rice extract reduces repeat heart attacks/mortality rates
In a five-year trial of nearly 5,000 Chinese heart attack patients, those taking the red yeast rice extract XueZhiKang were 45 percent less likely to have a repeat heart attack. Researcher David Capuzzi cautions that unregulated U.S. store supplements are not what was studied.
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