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Fatty Fish-oil May Help Reduce Tumour

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An omega 3 fatty acid found in fish oils reduced the size of tumours in mice and made a chemotherapy drug more potent while limiting its  harmful effects, Egyptian researchers reported.

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The findings, published in publisher BioMed Central‘s peer-reviewed Cell Division journal, add to evidence showing a range of health benefits from eating the fatty acids found in foods such as salmon. A.M. El-Mowafy and colleagues from Mansoura University in Egypt looked at how an omega 3 fatty acid called docosahexanoic acid, or DHA, affected solid tumours growing in mice and how well it interacted with the chemotherapy drug cisplatin.

“Our results suggest a new, fruitful drug regimen in the management of solid tumours based on combining cisplatin and possibly other chemotherapeutics with DHA,” El-Mowafy said in a statement. “DHA elicited prominent chemo-preventative effects on its own, and appreciably augmented those of cisplatin as well.” In March, U.S. researchers showed that a diet high in omega 3 fatty acids– the kind found in fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring and sardines- protected against advanced prostate cancer even in men more at risk of the disease.

The fatty acids, also found in foods such as walnuts and leafy greens, have been shown to provide an anti-inflammatory effect and have been linked to a lower risk of heart disease. In their study, El-Mowafy’s team found that, at the molecular level, DHA reduces the accumulation of white blood cells, systemic inflammation, and a harmful condition marked by decreased antioxidant levels- all of which have been linked to tumour growth. Their experiment also showed that the fatty acid reduced toxicity and injury to kidney tissue caused by the chemotherapy drug, the researchers said.

Sources:The Times Of India

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Eating Salmon Healthier Than Fish Oil

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Swallowing fish oil capsules may just be as good as eating a fillet of salmon for boosting brain and health-giving omega-3.

...CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES
But salmon fillet has an edge over fish oil, it provides you with a dose of selenium as well – an element many are lacking, said researchers.

Selenium is an important antioxidant in the body and has been associated with a reduced risk of heart disease and cancer.

Researchers at Massey’s Institute of Food, Health and Human Nutrition, Albany, investigated which of salmon or fish oil tablets is better for people to increase their omega-3 fatty acid status.

“People who took the capsules complained of burping, unpleasant breath, tiredness and nausea, but those who are salmon tolerated it very well,” said Welma Stonehouse, who coordinated the study.

Omega-3 is gaining in popularity for its well-documented benefits including protection from heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis and eye diseases as well as enhancing brain function and helping combat depression.

Omega-3 can be obtained from a range of plant sources such as flaxseeds, walnuts and canola and soybean oil as well as animal sources such as fish, meat and eggs, said a Massey release.

However, the best source is fish oil, in the form of salmon or fish oil capsules, said Stonehouse, associate professor at Massey.

When researchers compared a group of healthy volunteers who ate a 120 gram portion of salmon twice a week with another group who took salmon oil capsules containing the equivalent omega-3, participants were found to have similar levels of omega-3 in the blood, she said.

“What we also found was that the people who consumed salmon were able to significantly increase their blood concentrations of selenium compared to the group who took capsules,” she said.

You may click to see:->Wild Salmon Healthier Than Farmed

Sources: The Times Of India

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Fish Oil is Better Than Drugs for Preventing Heart Failure

A typical fish oil softgel
Image via Wikipedia

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Fish oil supplements appear to work better than a popular cholesterol-reducing drug to help patients with chronic heart failure, according to recently released research.

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Researchers gave nearly 3,500 patients a daily omega-3 pill derived from fish oils. Roughly the same number of patients were given placebo pills. Over a four-year period, fewer patients in the group taking the fish oil pills died of heart failure or were admitted to the hospital with the problem.

In a parallel study, the researchers gave nearly 2,300 patients the cholesterol-lowering drug Crestor and another group of close to 2,300 patients placebo pills. After four years, there was little difference in heart failure rates between the groups, but when the two studies were compared they found that fish oil is slightly more effective than Crestor because the oil performed better against a placebo than the drug did.

Chronic heart failure is a condition that occurs when the heart becomes enlarged and cannot pump blood efficiently around the body. Omega-3 fats have long been proven to offer health benefits such as protecting the heart and brain.

Sources:
Time August 31, 2008
The Lancet August 31, 2008
The Lancet August 31, 2008

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Suppliments our body needs

Fucoxanthin

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Definition:Fucoxanthin is a carotenoid, with formula C42H58O6. It is found as an accessory pigment in the chloroplasts of brown algae and most other heterokonts, giving them a brown or olive-green color. Fucoxanthin absorbs light primarily in the blue-green to yellow-green part of the visible spectrum, peaking at around 510-525 nm by various estimates and absorbing significantly in the range of 450 to 540 nm. Some metabolic and nutritional studies carried at Hokkaido University indicate that fucoxanthin promotes fat burning within fat cells in white adipose tissue by increasing the expression of thermogeniIt is a type of carotenoid found naturally in edible brown seaweed such as wakame (Undaria pinnatifida) and hijiki (Hijikia fusiformis), which are used widely in Asian cuisine. Wakame is the seaweed used in miso soup….CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES

Fucoxanthin is also found in much smaller amounts in red seaweed (the kind typically used in Japanese sushi rolls) and green seaweed.

Both wakame and hijiki are available at Japanese specialty food stores, some health food stores and online. Although brown seaweed is the richest source of fucoxanthin, you would have to eat an unrealistic amount of it daily to get fucoxanthin levels close to those used in research studies.

Fucoxanthin is also available as a nutritional supplement in capsule form and can be found in some health food stores and online.

Medicinal Uses:

Weight Loss
Fucoxanthin is being explored for weight loss. So far, only animal studies have been done. Japanese researchers have found that fucoxanthin (isolated from wakame) promotes the loss of abdominal fat in obese mice and rats. Animals lost five to 10% of their body weight.

Although it’s not fully understood how fucoxanthin works, it appears to target a protein called UCP1 that increases the rate at which abdominal fat is burned. Abdominal fat, also called white adipose tissue, is the kind of fat that surrounds our organs and is linked to heart disease and diabetes. Fucoxanthin also appears to stimulate the production of DHA, one of the omega-3 fatty acids found in fatty fish such as salmon.

Although it’s promising and already a popular nutritional supplement, more research is needed to determine if fucoxanthin will work in the same way in humans. If it does prove to be effective, fucoxanthin could be developed into a diet pill for obesity.

You may click to see:->Brown Seaweed that may Help Fight Obesity

Diabetes
Fucoxanthin has also been found in animal studies to decrease insulin and blood glucose levels. Researchers hypothesize that fucoxanthin anti-diabetes effect may be because fucoxanthin appears to promote the formation of DHA (the omega-3 fatty acid found in fish oil). DHA is thought to increase insulin sensitivity, improve triglycerides and reduce LDL (“bad”) cholesterol.

Cancer
Preliminary research in test tubes suggests that fucoxanthin may have anti-tumor effects. No studies have looked at whether this holds true in humans or if taken orally. It’s far too early for fucoxanthin to be used as a complementary treatment for cancer.

Side Effects
Because there hasn’t been research on fucoxanthin in humans, the possible side effects aren’t known.

People shouldn’t consume large amounts of wakame or other types of seaweed as a source of fucoxanthin. Seaweed is rich in iodine and excessive consumption may result in iodine poisoning. High levels of iodine can interfere with the function of the thyroid gland. Also, consuming excess amounts of iodine-rich foods isn’t recommended if there is a known allergy or hypersensitivity to iodine.

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fucoxanthin
http://altmedicine.about.com/od/herbsupplementguide/a/fucoxanthin.htm

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Krill Oil Better Than Fish Oil

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Krill oil is made from krill, a small, shrimp-like crustacean that inhabits the cold ocean areas of the world. Despite their small size, krill make up the largest animal biomass on the planet. There are approximately 500 million tons of krill roaming around in northern seas...

Krill oil, like fish oil, contains omega-3 fats such as eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) and docosahexanoic acid (DHA). However, in fish oil, these omega-3 fats are found in the triglyceride form. In krill oil, they are found in a double chain phospholipid structure. The fats in human cell walls are in the phospholipid form.

The phospholipid structure of the EPA and DHA in krill oil makes them much more absorbable. Krill oil also contains vitamin E, vitamin A, vitamin D and canthaxanthin, which is a potent anti-oxidant.

The anti-oxidant potency of krill oil is, in terms of ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorptance Capacity) values, 48 times more potent than fish oil.

The astaxanthin found in krill oil provides also excellent protection against ultraviolet light and UV-induced skin damage.

Sources:
Four Hour Work Week July 23, 2008
Alternative Medicine Review September 2007; 12(3):207-27
Journal of the American College of Nutrition February 2007; 26(1):39-48

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