health briefs
Take Hibiscus to Fight Breast Cancer
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis is much more than a brilliant scarlet tropical flower: New laboratory research from Canada’s University of Windsor found that a hibiscus
flower extract se- lectively kills off triple-negative
breast cancer cells. This is one of the
most difficult to treat types that affects 15 to 20 percent of breast cancer patients. Hibiscus is par- ticularly effective when combined with chemo- therapy, researchers say, and works as well with very low doses of the chemicals as with higher doses. The flower’s low toxicity and precise targeting of cancer cells also offers hope for long-term treatment. Previous studies have shown hibiscus to be effective on prostate cancer, leu- kemia, gastric cancer and human squamous cell carcinoma.
Eat Organic to
Shed Insecticides Switching to organics has quick payoffs, reducing agrochemicals in the body by 94 percent within a month, Japanese researchers report. They tested the urine of study participants looking for six neonicotinoid insecticides and another substance generated as a result of their decom- position in the human body. “I think the research results are almost without precedent and are highly valuable in that they present actual measurement values showing that you can dramatically reduce the content levels of agrochemicals in your body simply by changing the way you select veg- etable products,” commented Nobuhiko Hoshi, a professor of animal molecular morphology with the Kobe University. Another study from researchers at the University of California at Berkeley studied 16 children and showed that one week after switching to an organic diet, malathion pesti- cide urine levels were reduced by 95 percent; clothianidin pesticide levels by 83 percent; and chlorpyrifos pesticide levels by 60 percent.
Say No to the Third Cup of
Joe to Avoid Migraines Caffeine has been the subject of controversy among the one in six adults worldwide that suffer from periodic mi- graines: Some say it triggers symptoms, while others re- port it wards them off. A new study from Harvard and two other teaching hospitals of 98 migraine sufferers used six weeks of daily journals to investigate the link and found that drinking up to two servings of caffeinated beverages a day had little effect, but three or more raised the odds of a headache that day or the next. Among people that rarely drank such beverages, even one or two servings increased the odds of having a headache that day. A serving was de- fined as eight ounces or one cup of caffeinat- ed coffee, six ounces of tea, a 12-ounce can of soda or a two-
ounce can of an energy drink.
Dance to Improve Quality
of Life With Dementia Older people with dementia, often viewed as being pas- sive and immobile, responded to simple dance movement lessons with visible humor and imagination and reported a higher quality of life after six sessions, say researchers from New Zealand’s University of Otago. The 22 partici- pants between the ages of early 60s and mid-90s had dementia ranging from mild to advanced. They took 10 weekly classes in which the music was “reminiscent” and the movement routines were intuitively easy. “Positive re- sponses such as memory recalling, spon- taneous dancing and joking with each other were observed in every session,” reports lead author Ting Choo.
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