Herbs and spices: new weapons against cancer :: Weight Loss

Herbs and spices: new weapons against cancer

The next time you’re preparing dinner, try using a variety of spices to flavour the meal—they just might save your life.A growing body of research indicates that many spices can help prevent cancer. Curcumin, the yellow pigment in turmeric, is a new darling among anticancer researchers. The bright yellow Indian spice has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties believed to be particularly useful in fighting colon and breast cancer. Saffron, a fragrant yellow herb used in rice dishes, may be able to slow the growth of tumour cells and decrease damaging effects of chemotherapy in cancer patients. Rosemary is a COX-2 inhibitor, meaning it can block an enzyme that makes cancer cells grow stronger. Ginger contains the active ingredient [6]-gingerol, which has proven to be effective in slowing the growth of human colorectal cancer cells. Of all culinary herbs, oregano, that old favourite for pizzas and pasta sauces, ranks highest for antioxidant content. Other antioxidant-containing spices and herbs include dill, thyme, garlic, and peppermint.
Decaf drinks: safe or chemical-ridden carcinogens?

North America’s new obsession with coffee and tea has given us a continent-sized case of the jitters. The desire for the comfort of a warm drink without the shakes has led to the belief that decaffeinated products are healthier. But is this really true?
The most widely used process of decaffeination uses ethylene chloride to chemically extract caffeine from unroasted coffee beans and fresh tea leaves. According to the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration, ethylene chloride is a suspected human carcinogen that can also cause cumulative liver and kidney damage. Extraction using ethyl acetate is also common and is often misleadingly referred to as “natural decaffeination” because although ethyl acetate is a chemical solvent, it is found naturally in some plants. In these chemical processes, beneficial flavonoids and antioxidants in the tea and coffee are extracted along with the caffeine.
If you can’t get by without your daily mug, try organic tea or coffee grown without pesticides. If you want decaf, make sure you go with an organic brand that uses carbon dioxide processing, which is the healthiest method of decaffeination. Leaves or beans are lightly soaked in water and then rinsed with CO2. When the CO2 dissipates, the caffeine goes too, but most of the antioxidants and flavonoids remain. No chemicals are used.
More food/nutrition information on page 110

Source: alive #Welcome Our Millenium Babies!

Cancer
Cancer develops when cells in the body function abnormally and multiply uncontrollably--a process which eventually leads to tumor growth. A healthy body routinely detects and eliminates abnormal cells.

Age Arresters
Antioxidant is the magic word this century. Antioxidants trap molecules known as free radical.

Cook Less, Feel Better
Eighty million species on earth (about 700,000 of which are animals) thrive on raw food. Only humans apply heat to food and, on average, die at or below half of our potential life span from chronic illness.

Pesticide Cocktail
If Canadians want a clean environment, they will have to take action themselves. Governments are not going to do it. The Back to the Farm Research Foundation in Davidson, Saskatchewan (of which I am president) has started a program of testing community water supplies for pesticides.

Anti-Cancer Antioxidants
Imagine the cells in your body turning brown just like an apple does when exposed to the oxygen in the air.

Breathe Easy, Take Antioxidants
Antioxidant supplements may improve lung damage caused by ozone, reports James M. Samet, PhD of the US Environmental Protection Agency's National Health and Environmental Effects Research Lab in North Carolina.

Xenoestrogens
Sperm counts down? Still not pregnant? Breast cancer on the rise? Chemical pollutants in our water and food may be the culprits. It's not a sci-fi scenario, nor a far-off reality.

Rising Cancer Rates
A recent article in the Regina Leader Post reported a statement made by Shiv Chopra, one of a group of four worried Health Canada scientists.

Herbs for Longevity
We're all aging all the time. As we grow older, our metabolism--the body's chemical and physical changes from producing energy from food and oxygen in cells--becomes less efficient.

Do You Suffer From Heart Disease?
Cardiovascular disease is the number-one preventable cause of death in Canada today. A healthy diet of whole natural foods, regular exercise and good quality sleep can go a long way to reduce the stresses on our heart, arguably the body's most important organ.

Gut Feelings
A bacterium called Helicobacter pylori is the chief culprit in gastritis, ulcers and stomach cancer. Antioxidant nutrients can protect you.

The New Antioxidants: Great Protectors

Before discussing the types of antioxidants, let me first give you an overview of what antioxidants are and how they help maintain good health.

Antioxidant Nutrition
Its vital role in reducing the risks of age-related diseases Our antioxidant needs become ever greater as we ag.

To Catch a Thief
Oxygen - we can't live without it as the body needs a constant supply to produce cellular energ.

Feed Your Brain

"Eat your vegetables, she commanded her 10-year-old son.

Fitness For Every Age
Perhaps the most important factor in a fitness program as we age is having enough energy to maintain an active lifestyle. Due to the wear and tear of a lifetime of not taking care of ourselves, however, we may experience an "energy crisis..

Pain, Infertility, Hormone Problems?
I met Mary in the spring of 2004. Through tears she explained her history of endometriosis: years of repeated surgeries, pain, drugs to suppress estrogen, and the inability to ovulate due to scar tissue on her ovaries.

Great Greens for Health, Heart, and Head
Eating an abundance of fruit and vegetables may reduce cancer incidence by up to 50 percen.

Seeing Deception Is Your Only Protection
Every October since 1985, the pink ribbon, symbol of the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM), is seen everywhere. It is prominently displayed on TV ads, posters, and in women's magazines.

The Art of Beauty
Many of the ingredients in our body and beauty care products originate from the same petroleum that runs our cars and heats our homes. While most of us wouldn't sip engine oil, we often lick it from our lipsticks, rub it into our eyes, and soak in it in the bathtub.

Striking out Stroke
You could call it a "brain attack. Stroke - the fourth leading cause of death in Canada - happens when the brain's oxygen supply is cut off, destroying vital nerve cells. Fifty thousand Canadians suffer from stroke each year, and about 16,000 of them die..

Bone Health
Our bones are alive and are constantly being renovated: old bone is dismantled, removed, and replaced with new bone. We continue to build bone mass until our early thirties and then our bodies simply work to retain existing bone.

Don't Sweat It!
A 2004 study published in the American Journal of Applied Toxicology has many women sweating over the latest buzzword: Parabens. Parabens are petroleum-based chemicals used as a preservative in food and many household products including deodorants and antiperspirants.

Reduce Your Risk of Breast Cancer
According to the Canadian Breast Cancer Society, 21,600 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and 5,300 women will die from it. With these statistics in mind, it is important

Antioxidants: Our Cancer Warriors

Free Radicals

Breast Cancer and Dioxins
Evidence has been mounting that man-made chemicals may be the underlying cause of many cases of breast cancer. Once ingested, these synthetic compounds mimic the action of estrogen-long considered to be a risk factor for breast cancer-and throw the hormone system into chaos.

Invisible Dangers of the Nuclear Age
More than 80 radioactive products from nuclear reactors escape into air, soil, water and food and can remain active for millions of years. About 300 existing chemicals also create a radioactive effect during the breakdown process.

The Universal Antioxidant-ALA
Have you heard the buzz about alpha lipoic acid (ALA)? Once classified as a mere vitamin, this vitamin-like compound is more like a "universal antioxidant. More versatile than antioxidants such as vitamins C and E, it actually enhances the effectiveness of these and other antioxidants.

Environmental Weight Gain
According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the latest studies indicate that in the past 20 years overweight and obesity rates have more than doubled for adults and tripled for children. So why the sudden expansion (pun intended)?

Xenoestrogens
Endocrine disruptors or xenoestrogens are defined as exogenous (external) substances that can interfere with the functions of the endocrine system, causing adverse health effects in the organism directly exposed to it or in its offspring. These man-made chemicals, routinely and intensively used, and found in herbicides, fertilizers, and plastics, have been discovered to leak hormone-like substances.

Loving Lycopene
Lycopene is a carotenoid can lower the risk of some of the most deadly cancers, including breast and prostate cancers. Lycopene can also protect your heart and eyes and can even help preserve your memory. All you need to do is consume just one serving a day. Here's how lycopene works.

Counterfeit Estrogens and Your Metabolism
Ask most women about their hormones and they usually think of the natural estrogens produced by the body. But how many women realize that numerous other substances-many of which come from our environment-can fool the body into processing them as if they were also estrogens?

Reason to Sweat?
Rolling a deodorant under the arms after a shower prevents odour, and antiperspirants effectively block sweat ducts. But at what price? Natural product manufacturers make available a variety of deodorant and antiperspirant products that work effectively to prevent body odour but are not health hazards.

Allicin
Researchers are exploring the medicinal possibilities of garlic, especially its main constituent, allicin. Research suggests that garlic may have health benefits such as lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, protecting the heart and arteries, boosting immunity, increasing anti-allergy effects, and helping in cancer prevention and therapy.

Radiated Homes a Hazard

Port Colborne residents sue Inco for $750 Million
Almost every citizen in and around Port Colborne, Ontario has joined a $750 million class-action lawsuit against International Nickle Company (Inco). It's the largest case of its kind in Canadian histor.

Cancerous Pork Drug Ban
You now have extra reason to stop eating pork. Canadian hog farmers use a known carcinogenic drug to speed the growth of pigs destined for market. New evidence shows the hormone drug, Carbadox, can harm workers, animals and the environment and is being systematically abused by farmers.

CCA-Treated Wood Claims Puppy Casualty
The same arsenic-based wood preservative used on children's playground equipment has been blamed for the unexpected death of a puppy. Newfoundland doctor Wayne Chaulk was having a new deck installed when his granddaughter's pet chewed on a piece of the chemical-treated wood.

Europe Rejects Food Irradiation Bid

Tide Turning for Genetically Engineered Ingredients

Canadians: a Vitamin-Friendly Bunch

Beware Teflon Pan Fans

Have a Happy Holiday: Be Lead Free

Xenoestrogens: Endocrine disruptors

Say no to smoking

Poor Man's Juice Rich in Antioxidants

Chocolate Banishes the Winter Blues

Antioxidants
An antioxidant is a molecule that helps stop oxidative stress by scavenging free radicals-those molecules in the body that are unstable due to a missing electron. The free radical will try to stabilize itself by stealing an electron from one of the body's healthy cells, a process called oxidation.

Healthy Aging
Eat less, exercise more, get enough sleep, and avoid stress. Even after all this advice, our arsenal against aging isn't necessarily complete without longevity-boosting nutritional supplements.

New Information to Prevent and Treat Breast Cancer Naturally
Breast cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers for women. Awareness and fundraising campaigns are everywhere, but many of us are still confused about how to translate cancer research into strategies that may prevent breast cancer. In this article, discover cancer-fighting foods and new screening techniques that can help prevent cancer naturally.

Petro Problems in Cowboy Country
When it comes to mega-profits from mega-oil, the province of Alberta was not careful enough about what it wished for. What it has been granted, along with the riches, is a nightmarish mess of pollution that it has not begun to address.