Health Matters

Check for VitC (or ascorbic acid) as well as "benzoate" in fine print of the ingredients

VitC is a chelator which means it binds strongly with some things changing them.

http://www.foodanddrinkeurope.com/news/ng.asp?id=65933
20/02/2006 - Food safety authorities in Britain and Germany are checking soft drinks for benzene after tests suggest a private deal with soft drinks firms in the US, 15 years ago, failed to fix the problem.

Germany's food watchdog, BfR, confirmed it was examining soft drinks containing the common ingredients ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and sodium benzoate (E211).
The UK's Food Standards Agency has followed suit, saying it was looking into the issue and would sort out any problem found. An FSA spokesperson said the body was not aware the two ingredients could react together to form benzene, a known carcinogen.

Both authorities moved quickly after the US Food and Drug Administration revealed to BeverageDaily.com it had re-opened an investigation, closed for 15 years, into benzene in soft drinks.

The issue has never been announced to the public, with America's soft drinks association telling the FDA in early 1991 that it would “get the word out” across the industry about the need to reformulate drinks. More FDA tests in 1993 found no problem.

Yet, recent FDA tests showed some drinks in the US still contained benzene above the country's legal limit for drinking water, and an FDA chemist said more reformulation would be required.

The FDA was re-alerted to the issue by independent laboratory tests in New York.

The same lab also found a drink sold in Latin America by a well-known, international soft drinks group that contained benzene at more than six times the 10 parts per billion legal limit for water set by the World Health Organisation.

Soft drinks containing less benzene were recalled across Europe and US in the 1990s.

The New York lab, meanwhile, found two well-known drinks brands available in the UK with benzene at least three times above the country's strict one part per billion limit for drinking water. There is no specific limit for soft drinks.

Soft drinks sold outside the US are considered more at risk due to scant knowledge of the problem.

FDA testing in 1990 confirmed that ascorbic acid and sodium benzoate together in a soft drink could lead to benzene formation through the degradation of the benzoate.

And private industry tests revealed that the problem could get worse in a drink exposed to heat and light.

Yet, sources from food safety authorities in Belgium, Denmark and the UK have said they were unaware of the possibility that benzene could form in soft drinks containing both sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid.

Food safety bodies may have little reason to suspect a problem if they had not seen a 1993 article about it in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, according to FDA chemist Greg Diachenko, who also helped co-ordinate FDA negotiations with the industry back in 1990/91.

Another problem is that relatively new or niche soft drinks makers left outside of the loop in the early 1990s may not know about potential ‘fixes', he added.

“It is probable and likely that there were some people who did not get the message or that it was lost in the course of time.”

More than 1,000 soft drinks containing both sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid or citric acid have been launched across Europe and Latin America since January 2002.

Spokespersons for soft drinks companies have insisted levels of benzene that may form in drinks from a deterioration of sodium benzoate were in no way a health risk to consumers.

The UK's Commercial Court agreed in a 2002 decision, yet warned: “The public perception will be that the carcinogen simply ought not to be present at all and that the manufacturers ought not to attempt to sell products which have been in that way inadvertently contaminated.”

The court also concluded that “from time to time, relatively high yet not injurious levels of benzene seem to appear in uncarbonated drinks, which on the evidence can only be accounted for by the use of benzoate preservative”.

It heard evidence that three parts per billion of benzene was “typically introduced” into drinks by use of sodium benzoate.

Also the artifical sweetners can do some nasty stuff to some people. It's especially bad for kids.

Impotence may be early sign of artery disease

New inflammation marker may better predict heart attacks

Artery changes behind sex difference in stroke

Nitrate for heart may damage the hip

Breakthrough in Silencing "Bad" Genes
Dr. Anthony Komaroff, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, explains how a new tool for silencing bad genes, called RNA interference, or RNAi, is revolutionizing biological research.
Medscape General Medicine 8(1) 2006

The theory is u have to take any oil capsules (or spoonfuls) with the oiliest meal of your day. The oil won't absorb at all without the release of bile acids.. and that only happens after (I think) over 1 tablespoon of oil or so.. so if you take them with the oiliest meal of the day they might absorb.. otherwise probably a waste of time..applies to any oil supplements, not just flaxseed oil..

the problem with flaxseed oil is it goes rancid extremely quickly..so the best option ..if one can find a grinder and I can't , is buy the flaxseeds and grind them b4 use yourself.
Next best option..buy ground flaxseeds..

Do you only have this problems with flaxseed and not with say Fish oil?

http://news.google.co.uk/news?q=Ginger+pepper+treat+difficult+cancers&hl=en&lr=&tab=nn&ie=UTF-8&filter=0&sa=N&start=20

Ginger can kill ovarian cancer cells while the compound that makes peppers hot can shrink pancreatic tumours, researchers have told a conference.

Their studies add to a growing body of evidence that at least some popular spices might slow or prevent the growth of cancer.

The study on ginger was done using cells in a lab dish, which is a long way from finding that it works in actual cancer patients, but it is the first step to testing the idea.

Dr Rebecca Liu, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Centre, and colleagues tested ginger powder dissolved in solution by putting it on ovarian cancer cell cultures.

It killed the ovarian cancer cells in two different ways - through a self-destruction process called apoptosis and through autophagy in which cells digest themselves, the researchers told a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

"Most ovarian cancer patients develop recurrent disease that eventually becomes resistant to standard chemotherapy, which is associated with resistance to apoptosis," Liu said in a statement.

"If ginger can cause autophagic cell death in addition to apoptosis, it may circumvent resistance to conventional chemotherapy."

Ovarian cancer kills 16,000 out of the 22,000 US women who are diagnosed with it every year, according to the American Cancer Society.

Ginger has been shown to help control inflammation, which can contribute to the development of ovarian cancer cells.

"In multiple ovarian cancer cell lines, we found that ginger-induced cell death at a similar or better rate than the platinum-based chemotherapy drugs typically used to treat ovarian cancer," said Dr Jennifer Rhode, who helped work on the study.

A second study found that capsaicin, which makes chili peppers hot, fed to mice caused apoptosis death in pancreatic cancer cells, said Sanjay Srivastava of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

"Capsaicin triggered the cancerous cells to die off and significantly reduced the size of the tumours," he said.

The spicy compound killed pancreatic tumour cells but did not affect normal, healthy pancreas cells, researchers told the AACR meeting.

Last year the same team reported similar results with pancreatic cells in lab dishes. Pancreatic cancer is highly deadly, killing 31,000 of the 32,000 it will be diagnosed in this year.

Last month researchers in Los Angeles reported that capsaicin killed prostate tumour cells. Other studies have shown that turmeric, a yellow spice used widely in Indian cooking, may help stop the spread of lung cancer and breast cancer in mice.

Experts point out that many compounds shown to stop cancer in mice are not nearly as effective in human cancer patients

Also

http://www.digitalnaturopath.com/cond/C20313.html see this

Cayenne Pepper (Capsicum frutescens) See link between Hypothyroidism and Ginger.

Ginger Root (Zingiber officinalis) The liberal use of ginger, cayenne and other spicy herbs has helped restore a normal body temperature for some people with hypothyroidism.

Also maybe getting your body temperature up to normal with the ginger or cayenne might aid the immune system fight the early cancer or it is something related to the heat of the cayenne generates that helps the body fight fight/kill the cancer cells? (together with above?).. if it does work inside your body as well as in a petri dish or in mice..
Enzymes not working optimally and so not optimal immune function perhaps? Maybe optimal temperature for fighting cancer cells is 37C or even slightly above ..maybe cancer cells can grow faster at lower temperatures than the immune cells work most effectively at?.. the again its only a suggestion with NO basis to it.

Pity I don't like ginger...
My grandmother liked ginger though and she died of ovarian cancer.. then again, she didn't eat a lot of it, only a bit occasionally
--------------------------
Pomegranate and prostrate cancer

"Pomegranate from the tree Punica granatum possesses strong antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties. We recently showed that pomegranate fruit extract (PFE) possesses remarkable antitumor-promoting effects in mouse skin"

Malik A, Mukhtar H
Prostate cancer prevention through pomegranate fruit
Malik A, Afaq F, Sarfaraz S, Adhami VM, Syed DN, Mukhtar H
Pomegranate fruit juice for chemoprevention and chemotherapy of prostate cancer

Lansky EP, Jiang W, Mo H, Bravo L, Froom P, Yu W, Harris NM, Neeman I, Campbell MJ.
Possible synergistic prostate cancer suppression by anatomically discrete pomegranate fractions

In a recent study, researchers showed that pomegranate fruit extract inhibited cell growth and induced apoptosis (programmed cell death) in a highly aggressive human prostate cancer cell line.

The same researchers followed up their cell culture experiment with a study that tested the oral administration of a human acceptable dose of pomegranate fruit extract on mice implanted with prostate cancer cells. In mice treated with pomegranate fruit extract there was a significant inhibition of tumor growth. In addition, pomegranate fruit also reduced secretion of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the serum of the animals.

According to the scientists, “The outcome of this study could have a direct practical implication and translational relevance to prostate cancer patients, because it suggests that pomegranate consumption may retard prostate cancer progression, which may prolong the survival and quality of life of the patients.”

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/528132?src=mp

finasteride (2.5 mg instead of 1 mg) +
oral contraceptive containing drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol

also here http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16549704&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum

look up drospirenone to see what it is.. may be a different form of progestin I havent tried?

Well Looked it up.. looks like its the birth control pill Yasmin, its apparently the only one that contains drospirenone which has anti-androgen effects.
Lots of good opinions on Yasmin at Larrian's forum over the years. I thought it was supposed to have more estrogen.. but apparently its the different form of progestin?

Looks like I need to look up some other birth control pills and see how much synthetic estrpgens are in them...

Also Angelic? (Sp) is a form of HRT also with drospirenone but has a whopping 1mg of estradiol.. about 5 to 10 times a "safe" oral dose on my current research interpretations (safe seems to be under 200mcg estradiol, preferably about 100mcg orally, more if taken thru skin(called transdermal) or estriol), but its on of those "unknowns" at present.
Anyway as I need a progesterone or progestin I'll ask if its possible to try this drospirenone out.

Now to look up finasteride ...
OK ..found one
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16476520&query_hl=3&itool=pubmed_docsum
intersting for guys too...

and then this one
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16507052&query_hl=3&itool=pubmed_docsum

honestly, I think you guys outta just settle for the hair loss? after reading that one
The sayins is for blokes that bald implies too much testosteron, anyway looks like there may be somethin in it? That last ref showed a decreased libido and ED and EjD(look at article for meanings with Alpha1-adrenoceptor blockers so maybe the opposite also holds?.. stronger libido etc. in some of those with male pattern baldness?

I've just been to the docs..this new lady doc seems good.. and got a script for Yasmin.. so I'll give it a whirl. She also suggested Rogaine , which apparewntly in Australia in OTC.
Anyone tried this for females.. please leave a comment if you have had any success or otherwise with Yasmin or Rogaine or Finasteride?

I'm also wondering if saw palmetto is similar to finasteride?.. must google..

Yes, maybe it is
saw palmetto is supposedly also a alpha1 reductase inhibitor? and as effective as finasteride?
http://www.hairsite.com/secure/razack_natrecia.htm here's probably a supp worth trying for the guys?..

then again
this says saw palmetto may not stop hair loss, so far all the studies are only on prostrate, none aable to show a reduction in hair loss?

Here Ray Shelian says it doesn't

This enzyme converts testosterone to DHT. Interestingly, there are two major forms of this enzyme, called types I and II. In humans, Type I 5 alpha-reductase is predominant in the sebaceous glands of most regions of skin, including scalp. The Type II 5 alpha-reductase isozyme is primarily found in prostate, seminal vesicles, epididymides and less so in hair follicles. At this time we don't have much research as to whether saw palmetto blocks the conversion of testosterone to DHT in hair tissue to a degree adequate enough to prevent or restore hair loss. My personal opinion, based on the early research, is that I suspect even if saw palmetto has a mild effect, it is not nearly as potent as the drug finasteride - an alpha reductase blocker - used for prostate enlargement (as Proscar) and hair regrowth (as Propecia). I do not know if there is an additive effect to finasteride if saw palmetto is taken along with it. There was a small study a few years ago that showed a potential benefit for hair growth in male pattern baldness when saw palmetto was combined with beta sitosterol. More research is certainly needed before we can come to any conclusions.

yeah I knew there was something about the 2 different types...sigh