QualityCounts.com Newsletter of 12/5/01

QualityCounts.com sent this email to you because you subscribed at http://qualitycounts.com/maillist.htm. If you do not want to receive further mailings, click here to unsubscribe.

Estrogen Reverses Artery Wall Thickening in Healthy Women - Doctor's Guide, 12/4/01 - "Taking estrogen appears to reverse thickening in the arteries of healthy, postmenopausal women ... monitored how much artery walls thickened over two years in 222 healthy postmenopausal women who took unopposed estrogen or a placebo ... Women on estrogen therapy saw their atherosclerosis rate decrease by .0017 millimeters (mm) per year over two years, while artery wall thickness increased by .0036 mm per year over two years in women who took a placebo ... an increase of .033 mm per year translates to a two-to-three-fold increase in risk of events such as heart attacks, and a starting thickness of .8 mm or greater also puts an individual at high risk ... women who received both estrogen and cholesterol-lowering drugs had about the same decrease in atherosclerosis progression as women who took cholesterol-lowering drugs alone"

Chinese folk remedy fights cancer - MSNBC, 12/4/01 - "Seattle scientists have shown that a compound extracted from the wormwood plant seeks out and destroys breast cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells unscathed ... IN LABORATORY experiments, the compound killed within 16 hours virtually all human breast cancer cells exposed to it in the test tube ... a dog with a type of bone cancer known as osteosarcoma so severe that it couldn’t walk across the room made a complete recovery within five days of receiving the treatment. X-rays showed the animal’s tumor “had basically disappeared,” ... It’s called artemisinin ... Chinese folk practitioners extracted it from the plant Artemesia annua L., commonly known as wormwood, thousands of years ago for use in the treatment of malaria"

Fats From Veggie Diet Slow Cancer in Mice - ABC News, 12/3/01 - "Plant-based fats called phytosterols may slow the growth of prostate cancer cells ... Phytosterols are found in unrefined vegetable oils, nuts and legumes ... the researchers fed one group of mice a diet high in phytosterols and another group a cholesterol-rich diet. Both groups of mice had been inoculated with human prostate cancer cells ... After 8 weeks, prostate cancer tumors in mice fed the phytosterol-rich diet were 40% to 43% smaller than those in animals fed the cholesterol diet ... In a separate experiment, the scientists examined the effects of two types of phytosterols on prostate cancer cells in the test tube. When added to cell cultures, these chemicals--beta-sitosterol and campesterol--were shown to inhibit prostate cancer cell growth 70% and 14%, respectively ... In contrast, when cholesterol was added to the cell cultures, it increased the growth of the cancer cells by as much as 18%"

Putting soup to work for you - MSNBC, 12/3/01 - "Used well, soup can help you control your weight, lower your risk of cancer and heart disease, and supply the nutrients you need for overall health and well-being ... people were given the same foods in either the form of a casserole or a soup. When these dishes were served as a first course before lunch, people consumed about 27 percent fewer calories at lunch after a soup than after a casserole. They didn’t feel hungrier later and didn’t compensate by eating more at dinner ... One problem is that one cup of many commercial broth- or tomato-based soups, contains 800 to 1000 milligrams of sodium, a third or more of recommended sodium limits for an entire day ... if the amount could push you to unhealthy sodium levels, try reduced-sodium soups"

Eating More Often May Help Lower Cholesterol - ABC News, 11/30/01 - "Our data show a decrease of approximately 5% in concentrations of total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in men and women who eat six or more times a day compared with those who eat once or twice a day ... Frequent eaters did not, however, have higher levels of "good" HDL cholesterol"

Reducing Your Risk of Breast Cancer: How Your Diet Could Affect Your Risk - ABC News, 11/30/01 - "Increased body fat may promote breast cancer by increasing levels of certain hormones, which in turn raises circulating estrogen levels ... polyunsaturated fats (corn and safflower oils are two examples) and trans-fatty acids (found in margarines and partially hydrogenated foods) have a positive association with increased breast cancer risk ... monounsaturated fatty acids (examples are olive oil and canola oil) do not increase -- and may reduce cancer risk ... consuming omega-3-fatty acids (found in fish oils, fish, and flaxseed) may possibly have a protective effect ... Antioxidants are believed to help in the prevention of cancer. Any preventative effect antioxidants have arises from their ability to minimize cell damage from cancer-causing agents known as "free radicals." Antioxidants trap these "free radicals" and prevent them from causing the type of cell damage that makes people more susceptible to cancer ... Fiber may also be protective ... There is a great deal of conflicting information concerning the association between phytoestrogens and breast cancer. Phytoestrogen is a plant-derived estrogen and can be found in food products like soy (tofu, tempeh, soybeans, soy milk, and miso). It is believed that the phytoestrogens in soy act as "anti-estrogens" -that is, they compete with and counteract the body's natural estrogen, thereby helping to reduce the risk of breast cancer"

Hydrogenated Oils Affect Amount of Vitamin K Available to Bone - Doctor's Guide, 11/30/01 - "Hydrogenation of plant oils decreases the amount of vitamin K available to bone in consumers using food products containing the oils ... available data indicate that more than half of younger US adults do not meet the current guidelines governing adequate intake of the nutrient" - Another reason to stay away from the brands of peanut butter that are hydrogenated. - Ben

Selenium May Help Prevent Prostate Cancer - Doctor's Guide, 11/30/01 - "Men with low blood levels of selenium -- a trace element supplied in certain foods and supplements -- are four to five times more likely to contract prostate cancer ... the researchers concluded that the results support the hypothesis that supplemental selenium may reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Because selenium in blood decreases with patient age, supplementation may be beneficial to older men" - Some info on various forms of selenium:

Folate Cost-Effective For Prevention Of Coronary Artery Reblockage - Intelihealth, 11/29/01 - "The vitamin therapy included a combination of folic acid (also known as folate or vitamin B9), vitamin B12, and vitamin B6. Patients who received the vitamins had significantly lower levels of homocysteine, and lower rates of restenosis and cardiac complications"

Combination Therapy Reduces Heart Attack, Stroke - Intelihealth, 11/29/01 - "Studies have shown that statins such as simvastatin lower LDL. Niacin, a B vitamin, increases HDL. Each has been shown to reduce heart attacks and other events by 30 percent to 40 percent. The new study concludes that using the two medicines together, in effect, doubles this positive effect ... Patients treated only with a combination of vitamins known as antioxidants did better than the placebo group but worse than the group that received only simvastatin and niacin" - Note: In the article, Dr. Brown recommends not taking antioxidants. What a bunch of crap and it goes to show that there is still a bias against alternative medicine. His argument is that it decreases the rise in HDL cholesterol while taking statins plus niacin. I take red yeast rice (a non-prescription statin) and niacin and no one takes more antioxidants that me and I raised my HDL from 34 to 67. See my HDL page. Plus, it makes no sense to replace one disease with old skin, old body organs, cancer and other diseases such as Alzheimer's, cataracts, etc. It scares me that some doctors have that kind of logic. Either that or he is totally ignorant in areas outside his specific area of expertise. Red yeast rice (a non-prescription statin) is still available at VitaminShoppe. You should have your liver enzymes checked if you take a statin/niacin combo. - Ben

Fish Oil Supplements Pass Mercury Standards, But Lack Adequate Omega-3 Fatty Acids - Intelihealth, 11/29/01 - "Although none of the products tested positive for mercury (a poison sometimes found in fish), 30% of the products had lower levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) than stated on their labels and 10% had lower levels of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). EPA and DHA are the two main fatty acids found in fish oil and are principle sources of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids are thought to provide many health benefits, including prevention of heart disease and treatment of pain associated with the early stages of rheumatoid arthritis"

Legumes Reduce Risk Of Heart Disease - Intelihealth, 11/29/01 - "participants who consumed legumes at least four times per week had a 22% lower risk of coronary heart disease and an 11% lower risk of cardiovascular disease compared to those who consumed legumes less than once a week"

Mutated Hormones That Cause Cancer - Life Extension Magazine, 12/01 - "The question arises, then, that if I3C and other compounds can change the way our body's own estrogen behaves, could it do the same to estrogen-mimicking chemicals? What about chemical estrogens? Could I3C help us detoxify the estrogen-like chemicals in our milk jugs and plastic wrap? The answer is probably. While definitive proof is not available yet, preliminary studies indicate that I3C can detoxify fake estrogens the same way it does real estrogens"