Soybean compounds could prevent heart disease, cancer
Washington, Sept 30: Soybeans contain high levels of several health-beneficial compounds including tocopherols which have antioxidant properties and can be used in the treatment or prevention of heart disease and cancer.
These molecules can be used in the development of functional foods, which have specific health-beneficial properties.
Tocopherols exist in four forms (a, ß, ?, and d) of which ?-tocopherol is found in greatest concentration in soybeans. However, a-tocopherol has the greatest antioxidant activity, and is the form converted to vitamin E in the human body. Thus, most interest for soybean tocopherols resides in a-tocopherol; however, certain health-properties have also been attributed to other tocopherol forms and interest for these remains.
It has been suggested that all tocopherols could play a role in cardiovascular diseases and cancer prevention.
Now, in the new study, researchers at McGill University, the Centre de Recherche sur les Grains, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Quebec have investigated tocopherols concentration and stability, with an emphasis on a-tocopherol, among early-maturing genotypes grown in multiple environments, and determined the relationship between tocopherols concentration and other important seed characteristics.
Results from the study are published in the September-October issue of Agronomy Journal. The research was also presented in Beijing, China at the 8th World Soybean Research Conference in August 2009.
Philippe Seguin, who led the study, stated "The large variation observed among genotypes for a-tocopherol, the relatively high stability of genotypes performance across environments, and the lack of negative correlation with other important seed characteristics suggest that selection for high a-tocopherol will be possible. Such characteristics will also help in the development of functional foods, which requires consistency in concentrations of health-beneficial compounds."
Research is ongoing to identify factors affecting soybean tocopherols concentration. Preliminary results suggest that both specific environmental factors and management practices, such as seeding date, could significantly affect concentrations. Getting a better understanding of factors affecting soybean tocopherols concentration will help in the development of a new value-added use for soybean and thus to diversify markets for soybean producers. (ANI)
Eating fish doesn't save you from heart failure
30 September 2009 : Fi sh plays no role in the prevention of heart failure, but it can be partly beneficial for people with diabetes, according to a large prospective Eating fish ''doesn't save you from heart failure''
The study, which was started in 1990 and involved all men and women over the age of 55 living in a suburb of Rotterdam, found no difference in the risk of developing heart failure between those who did eat fish and those who didn’t.
"Scientists and health authorities are increasingly persuaded that the intake of fish - even in small amounts - will protect against the risk of fatal myocardial infarction," said study investigator Dr Marianne Geleinjse from Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
"However, there is no strong evidence that eating fish will protect against heart failure. One study has suggested that this might be so, but we could not confirm it in our cohort study of older Dutch people," added Geleinjse.
While heart failure treatments are often limited to palliative care, much rests on prevention.
The current study was aimed to investigate whether intake of the long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) found in fish conferred protection against heart failure as they seem to do against coronary heart disease.
The analysis comprised 5299 subjects (41 percent men, mean age 67.5 years) who were free from heart failure and for whom dietary data were available.
During 11.4 years of follow-up, 669 subjects developed heart failure.
Their habitual diet had been assessed at baseline (in a self-reported checklist and by expert interview), with subjects specifically asked to indicate the frequency, amount, and kind of fish they had eaten, either as a hot meal, on a sandwich, or between meals.
Results showed that the dietary intake of fish was not significantly related to heart failure incidence.
However, in diabetic subjects the researchers saw a slight improvement.
The study is published in the October issue of the European Journal of Heart Failure .
Lack of sunshine vitamin linked to high BP in women
Washington, Sept 27: Vitamin D deficiency in younger women is associated with increased risk of high blood pressure in mid-life, claims a new study.
The research has been reported at the American Heart Association's 63rd High Blood Pressure Research Conference.
To reach the conclusion, researchers examined women enrolled in the Michigan Bone Health and Metabolism Study and analyzed data from 559 Caucasian women living in Tecumseh, Mich. The ongoing study began in 1992 when the women were 24 to 44 years old with an average age of 38 years.
Researchers took blood pressure readings annually throughout the study. They measured vitamin D blood levels once in 1993, and then compared their systolic blood pressure measurements taken in 2007.
Premenopausal women who had vitamin D deficiency in 1993 had three times the risk of developing systolic hypertension 15 years later compared to those who had normal levels of vitamin D, researchers said.
"This study differs from others because we are looking over the course of 15 years, a longer follow-up than many studies," said Flojaune C. Griffin, M.P.H., co-investigator of the study and a doctoral candidate in epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor, Mich.
"Our results indicate that early vitamin D deficiency may increase the long-term risk of high blood pressure in women at mid-life," the expert added. (ANI)
Stay happy, avoid breast cancer
30 September 2009: Using mice as a model to study human breast cancer, researchers have demonstrated that a negative social environment causes increased tumor growth. The work shows-for the first time-that social isolation is associated with altered gene expression in mouse mammary glands, and that these changes are accompanied by larger tumors.
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"This interdisciplinary research illustrates that the social environment, and a social animal’s response to that environment, can indeed alter the level of gene expression in a wide variety of tissues, not only the brain," said Suzanne D. Conzen, MD, associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago and senior author of the study, to be published on September 30, 2009, in Cancer Prevention Research.
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"This is a novel finding and may begin to explain how the environment affects human susceptibility to other chronic diseases such as central obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, etc," the expert added.
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The research began six years ago when cancer specialist Conzen joined forces with biobehavioral psychologist Martha McClintock, PhD, professor of psychology and founder of the Institute for Mind and Biology at the University of Chicago.
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The University of Chicago scientists took mice that were genetically predisposed to develop mammary gland (breast) cancer and raised them in two environments: in groups of mice and isolated. After the same amount of time, the isolated mice grew larger mammary gland tumors. They were also found to have developed a disrupted stress hormone response.
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"I doubted there would be a difference in the growth of the tumors in such a strong model of genetically inherited cancer simply based on chronic stress in their environments, so I was surprised to see a clear, measurable difference both in mammary gland tumor growth and interestingly in accompanying behavior and stress hormone levels," Conzen said.
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The researchers then turned their attention to how the chronic social environment affected the biology of cancer growth. In other words, they sought to discover the precise molecular consequences of the stressful environment.
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To do this, they studied gene expression in the mouse mammary tissue over time. Conzen and her colleagues found altered expression levels of metabolic pathway genes (which are expected to favor increased tumor growth) in the isolated mice. This was the case even before tumor size differences were measurable.
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These altered gene expression patterns suggest potential molecular biomarkers and/or targets for preventive intervention in human breast cancer. "Given the increased knowledge of the human genome, we can begin to identify and analyze the specific alterations that take place in caner-prone tissues of individuals living in at-risk environments," Conzen said.
"That will help us to better understand and implement cancer prevention strategies," the expert added.
