Natural Standard Blog

Anticancer Compounds Identified in Olive Oil

Researchers have identified anti-cancer compounds in extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) that may lead to a reduced risk of certain breast cancers.

Earlier studies have tested the effects of a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil on various types of cancer, but the results have been conflicting. The authors of this latest study, published in the International Journal of Oncology, hypothesized that olive oil may only affect certain types of breast cancer cells.

Breast cancer patients can have tumors that are either HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor)-positive or negative. HER2-positive tumors generally grow and spread faster and require different treatment than HER2-negative tumors. An estimated 20-30 percent of breast cancer patients have HR2-positive tumors.

The researchers isolated several different compounds in EVOO and tested their effects on breast cancer cells. Extra virgin olive oil contains more active compounds than regular olive oil because it is made without heat or chemical treatments.

The researchers found that two compounds, secoiridoids and lignans, killed HER2-positive cells but did not significantly affect HER2-negative cells. In addition, breast cancer tumors in rats became less cancerous (malignant) in those that ate EVOO compared to control rats.

Although promising, the results of this study are preliminary, and it is unclear if EVOO could help treat or prevent breast cancer in humans. Additional research is warranted in this area.

For more information about the Mediterranean diet, please visit Natural Standard’s Health & Wellness database.

Sedentary Lifestyle may be Linked to Headaches

New research suggests that a sedentary lifestyle may increase the risk of having frequent headaches.

The results are based on two large surveys in adults (age 20 or older) who were living in Norway. The first group of 22,397 adults was surveyed between 1984 and 1986 about their exercise habits and other health factors. Eleven years later, the participants completed a follow-up questionnaire about their headache symptoms. The second group of 46,648 adults was surveyed between 1995 and 1997 about their levels of physical activity and headache symptoms.

The authors found that people who did not exercise were 14 percent more likely to develop non-migraine headaches than those who did exercise. In addition, people who experienced any type of frequent headache at the beginning of the study were more likely to be inactive than those who did not have headaches.

The authors concluded that inactivity may increase the risk of frequent headaches and that exercise may be challenging for those already experiencing headaches. However, these results are preliminary, and more evidence is needed to fully understand the relationship between exercise and headaches.

Earlier studies suggest that yoga, an ancient system of exercise, relaxation and healing, may help reduce the intensity and frequency of tension or migraine headaches and lessen the need for pain-relievers. Although this research is promising, studies with larger samples sizes are needed to determine if yoga is an effective treatment for headaches.

For more information about exercise, please visit Natural Standard’s Health & Wellness database.

Webinar Forum: An Innovative Program in Applied Natural Products

Lana Dvorkin-Camiel, PharmD, introduced the varying complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) courses offerings from the oldest University in Boston: Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Dvorkin-Camiel is an Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Natural Products Division Coordinator at the college.

Of the available courses, special attention was given to the new Pharmacognosy course, which will be offered in the spring of 2009. Dvorkin-Camiel also discussed the Masters of Applied Natural Products program. A recording of this webinar is available at www.naturalstandard.com.

Dvorkin-Camiel’s presentation is one of many upcoming complimentary webinars on integrative medicine. The next webinar, presented by Natural Standard Chief Editor Catherine Ulbricht, PharmD, on December 10 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Time, will provide a general overview of the database. Whether you are new to Natural Standard or a recurrent subscriber, Ulbricht will help you understand the functionality of the database, so you can take advantage of all that Natural Standard has to offer. To participate in the next webinar, please click here and call: (616) 883-8055, access code 644-424-903.

Natural Standard values the opinions and views of its readers and welcomes feedback and questions about the latest webinar event. Also, if you have any suggestions for future webinar topics, please leave a comment below or send an e-mail to: questions@naturalstandard.com.

Natural Standard Launches New Database: Environmental Resources

As the green movement continues to gain momentum, a growing number of businesses, schools and communities are supporting sustainable practices and promoting ecological awareness. As a contribution to this global cause, Natural Standard recently launched a new database: Environmental Resources.

The database offers hundreds of educational resources about many environmental issues such as climate change, solar power, sustainable living and much more.

These peer-reviewed, evidence-based monographs highlight how environmental issues impact human, animal and/or plant health. For example, individuals can learn the answers to the following questions:

• What types of air pollutants may increase the risk of lung cancer?
  
• Does organic food have health benefits?
  
• Is vegetarianism safe during pregnancy?

The monographs also discuss environmental applications of ongoing research. For instance, those interested in genetically modified foods can learn how scientists are engineering bananas to produce human vaccines against infectious diseases.

To access the Environmental Resources database, please click here.

Caregiving Linked to Improved Longevity

New evidence suggests that caregivers may derive health benefits from their altruistic efforts. In a recent study, older people who spent at least 14 hours a week taking care of their disabled spouses lived longer than those who did not.

The study, which will be published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, supports earlier findings that altruistic actions may improve health and longevity.

Researchers from the University of Michigan reviewed seven years of data from the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study. The analysis included 1,688 couples who were 70 years of age or older and living unassisted.

At the beginning of the study, participants reported how many hours a week their partners helped with everyday activities such as eating, dressing and preparing meals.

Most participants (about 81 percent) did not provide any living assistance to their spouses. Nine percent provided less than 14 hours of help per week, and 10 percent provided 14 hours or more of help per week.

By the end of the study, 909 people died. After controlling for health, age, race, gender, education, employment status and net worth, the authors found that those who provided at least 14 hours of care a week were significantly less likely to have died during the study than those who did not provide any care.

"These findings suggest that caregivers may actually benefit from providing care under some circumstances," said University of Michigan researcher Stephanie Brown, lead author of the study report. "Previous studies have documented negative health effects of caregiving. But the current results show that it is time to disentangle the presumed stress of providing help from the stress of witnessing a loved one suffer."

In 2009, Brown plans to conduct a new study that will examine how altruistic behavior affects well-being. This research, funded by the National Science Foundation, will focus on the neurological effects of altruistic behavior.

For more information about caregiviging, please visit Natural Standard's Medical Conditions database.

Vitamins C and E Fall Short in Recent Studies

Vitamins are widely used to treat and prevent various illnesses, including cancer and heart disease. Although evidence is still inconclusive in these areas, recent research has not demonstrated significant benefits.

In the latest study, scientists found that supplementation with vitamins C and E did not affect the risk of developing cancer or heart disease.

This large-scale study involved 14,461 male doctors older than 50 years of age who participated in the Physicians' Health Study II. Participants received 400 international units (IU) of vitamin E or placebo every other day and 500 milligrams of vitamin C or placebo daily. The participants were followed for an average of eight years.

The authors presented their findings at the Seventh Annual American Association for Cancer Research International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research. They found that vitamin C and vitamin E supplementation did not reduce the risk of cancer compared to placebo. According to the authors, vitamin E did not have a significant effect on prostate cancer, and neither vitamin C nor E reduced the risk of cancer overall.

The authors also found that the incidence of heart attack, stroke, congestive heart failure and angina was similar among groups. In addition, vitamin supplementation did not decrease the need for cardiac revascularization, a type of surgery that helps restore blood flow to the heart.

This study comes just weeks after the government halted a major study that was testing the effects of vitamin E and selenium, either taken alone or together, on prostate cancer prevention. An early review of the data from the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) showed that the supplements were ineffective and may possibly lead to health risks.

Two trends were observed in the SELECT study: slightly more men who took vitamin E alone developed prostate cancer, and slightly more men who took selenium alone developed type 2 diabetes. However, the results were not statistically significant, meaning they could just be coincidental.

In a related study, scientists found that vitamin C supplementation may decrease the effectiveness of anti-cancer drugs. Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York found that cancer cells treated with vitamin C resisted drug therapy by up to 70 percent. They also found that tumors grew more quickly in mice that received cancer cells pretreated with vitamin C.

For more information about vitamins, please visit Natural Standard's Foods, Herbs & Supplements database.

Eggs may Play a Role in Type 2 Diabetes

Eating more than one egg a week may be linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a new study.

The authors analyzed data from two randomized trials that included 20,703 men from the Physicians' Health Study I and 36,295 women from the Women's Health Study. These studies were originally designed to test the effects of vitamins and aspirin on heart disease.

On average, the follow-up period was 20 years for the men and 11.7 years for the women. By the end of the follow-up, 1,921 men and 2,112 women developed type 2 diabetes.

The risk of developing type 2 diabetes reportedly increased with the number of eggs consumed. The authors found that men who ate the most eggs (seven or more per week) were 58 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who did not eat eggs. Women who ate seven or more eggs per week had a 77 percent increased risk of developing the condition.

For more information about diabetes, please visit Natural Standard's Medical Conditions database.

Hairspray may be Linked to Common Birth Defect

New research suggests that pregnant mothers who are exposed to hairspray at work may be more likely to have boys with a common genital defect called hypospadias. This condition occurs when the opening of the urethra is on the underside of the urethra instead of at the tip.

Researchers from Imperial College London, University College Cork and the Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Barcelona interviewed mothers of 471 boys with hypospadias. They also interviewed the mothers of 490 randomly selected control infants. Participating mothers were asked various lifestyle questions about vegetarianism, folate supplements, smoking, parental age, education and household income. They were also asked about their jobs and whether they were exposed to substances such as hairspray, disinfectants, pesticides or plastic fumes.

The results, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, show that prenatal exposure to hairsprays more than doubled the risk of hypospadias. The authors suggest that this risk may be attributed to chemicals in hairspray called phthalates. Earlier studies suggest that phthalates may affect hormone levels and reproductive development.

In contrast, folate supplementation may have protective effects against hypospadias. The study showed that mothers who took folate supplements during the first trimester of pregnancy were 36 percent less likely to have boys with hypospadias than mothers who did not take these supplements.

Professor Paul Elliott, the corresponding author of the research from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at Imperial College London, said "Hypospadias is a condition that, if left untreated, can cause problems in later life. Although surgery to correct it is usually successful, any surgery will be traumatic for the child and his parents. It is encouraging that our study showed that taking folic acid supplements in pregnancy may reduce the risk of a child being born with the condition. Further research is needed to understand better why women exposed to hairspray at work in the first three months of pregnancy may have increased risk of giving birth to a boy with hypospadias."

For more information about chemical pollutants please visit Natural Standard's Environmental Resources database.