An Apple a Day Can Revitalize Your Love Life: Researchers

Thursday, 24 Jul 2014 06:04 PM

By Sylvia Booth Hubbard

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"An apple a day keeps the doctor away" has been a common saying for more than a century, and it turns out that people have been repeating it for good reason. Modern research shows that apples improve health in numerous ways, and the latest study found that apples can even boost a woman's sexual pleasure.

The study, which was published in Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics, found that women who ate one or two apples a day had better sex lives than those who didn't eat apples. The researchers believe that high levels of polyphenols and antioxidants found in apples stimulate blood flow to the sexual organs and aid arousal. In addition, apples contain phloridzin, a phytoestrogen that's similar to the female sex hormone estradiol.

 

Apples fight many chronic health problems including:

 

Obesity. A Brazilian study published in the journal Nutrition found that women who ate apples while dieting lost more weight over 12 weeks than dieters who didn't eat apples. One reason could be that the high fiber found in apples promotes "satiety," meaning feeling fuller longer. Researchers from the University of Iowa found that ursolic acid, a molecule found in apple peels, protected mice from obesity by increasing their amount of energy-burning brown fat as well as augmenting their muscle mass. Another study of healthy adults found that when they ate an apple 15 minutes before a meal, they reduced their total caloric intake by 15 percent.

 

Cancer. Researchers believe that the phytochemicals in apples fight cancer. Researchers at Mayo Clinic found that the antioxidant quercetin, which is abundant in apples, stops changes in prostate cells that lead to cancer, slowing or preventing their growth. Chinese researchers found that human prostate cells treated with quercetin died within 48 hours. A Hawaiian study found that people whose diets were high in quercetin lowered their risk of developing lung cancer by 40 to 50 percent, and a Cornell study using rats found that eating apples daily reduced breast cancer by up to 44 percent.

 

Lung diseases. Several studies have shown that eating apples improves lung function and lowers the risk of respiratory diseases including emphysema, bronchitis, and asthma. A Finnish study attributed a lower risk of asthma to the flavonoids quercetin, hesperetin, and naringenin contained in apples. A study from the Netherlands associated higher lung function and a lower risk of obstructive pulmonary disease in people who ate five or more apples a week.

 

Diabetes. The same Finnish study that found a decreased risk of lung disease also found a significant decrease in the risk of Type 2 diabetes among people who ate apples. They attributed the decrease to a high intake of quercetin found in apple peels. A study at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital found that people who ate at least two servings a week of specific fruits, including apples, grapes, and blueberries, reduced their risk of diabetes by up to 23 percent.

 

Strokes. A review of 20 studies published in the journal Stroke found that eating the equivalent of two small apples a day (a total of about 200 grams) cut stroke risk by almost a third. Part of the benefit may come from pectin, a form of soluble fiber found in apples that lowers blood pressure and levels of bad cholesterol.

 

Heart attacks. A study at University of California at Davis found that eating two apples a day reduces the artery-clogging damage caused by LDL ("bad") cholesterol. Researchers at the UK's University of Oxford calculated that if every adult aged 50 and over ate an apple each day, deaths from heart attacks and strokes would be cut to the same degree as if everyone aged 50 and older who was not taking statins was prescribed the cholesterol-lowering drugs. Lead researcher Dr. Adam Briggs said, "The Victorians had it about right when they came up with their brilliantly clear and simple public health advice: 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away.'"

Special: These Are the Deadliest Foods in America. Read This List.

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8 Nutrients That Stop Prostate Cancer

Monday, 30 Jun 2014 06:53 PM

By Sylvia Booth Hubbard

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There are few words that men dread hearing more than, "You have prostate cancer." Unfortunately, doctors will deliver that verdict to about 233,000 men this year, and 1 in 7 will hear it at some point during their lifetime.
 

Many studies over the past few decades have shown a definite link between diet and a man's risk of developing prostate cancer. "A growing number of studies show that improving nutrition along with the addition of special nutrients can dramatically reduce risk," says nationally recognized neurologist and nutrition expert Dr. Russell Blaylock.
 

Two new studies just released by Duke University show just how dramatically diet can affect risk. Researchers found that diets rich in complex carbohydrates and lower in protein and fat reduce the risk of prostate cancer 60 to 70 percent, and a diet high in fiber slashes the risk of aggressive prostate cancer by 70 to 80 percent.

Editor's Note: The 5 Early Warning Signs of Prostate Cancer
 

Fortunately, even if members of your family have been stricken with the disease, studies have shown that a healthy diet and lifestyle can put the odds of remaining cancer-free on your side.
 

Make sure you include the following eight nutrients in your diet:
 

• Vitamin D.  A recent study from the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Defense found that men who were deficient in vitamin D were much more likely to develop prostate cancer than other men. The risk of aggressive prostate cancer was increased by up to 500 percent. Experts recommend at least 5,000 international units of vitamin D daily or at least 15 minutes of summer sunshine without sunscreen.
 

• Melatonin. A recent Harvard study found that men who had higher levels of the sleep hormone melatonin were much less likely to develop prostate cancer. "We found that men who had higher levels of melatonin had a 75 percent reduced risk for developing advanced prostate cancer compared with men who had lower melatonin," said researcher Sarah Markt. Many health experts advise supplementing with 3 milligrams of melatonin.

• Lycopene. Lycopene is the pigment that gives tomatoes and watermelons their bright red color. It's an antioxidant, and studies have shown that it can decrease the risk of prostate cancer by up to 35 percent. One study found that men with precancerous changes in their prostates who took 4 milligrams of lycopene twice daily lowered the risk of their condition progressing to cancer. A study at Britain's University of Portsmouth found that lycopene in tomatoes becomes even more biologically active when cooked with a small amount of oil.
 

• Indole-3 carbinol. Indole-3 carbinol (I3C) is created from the breakdown of compounds found in cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli and cabbage. "Studies have shown that combining lycopene in a dose of 20 to 30 milligrams with indole-3 carbinole — extracted from broccoli — can dramatically shrink a swollen prostate and greatly reduce the risk of prostate cancer," says Dr. Blaylock. For men who already have the disease, a study reported in the Journal of Biological Chemistry found that the body converts I3C into a substance called DIM which keeps prostate cancer cells from growing and spreading.
 

• Grapeseed extract. A study funded by the National Cancer Institute found that taking grapeseed extract reduced the risk of prostate cancer by 40 to 60 percent. At the beginning of the study, researchers found that men who regularly took grapeseed extract lowered their risk of prostate cancer by 41 percent, and those who had taken the supplement for 10 years reduced their risk by 62 percent.

• Green tea extract. Italian researchers at the University of Parma studied men with a pre-malignant form of prostate cancer called prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN). Those men who took three 200 mg capsules of green tea extract daily slashed their risk of developing prostate cancer by 90 percent when compared to men taking a placebo.
Researchers at Louisiana State University found that when men scheduled for prostate surgery took four capsules containing polyphenol E, an active ingredient in tea that was the equivalent to 12 cups of green tea — their PSA levels dropped as much as 30 percent.

• Curcumin. Curcumin is the active compound in the Indian spice turmeric, and scientists at the University of New Mexico Cancer Center found that a synthetic version of curcumin slowed and even stopped the growth of prostate cancer cells in the laboratory, results that were echoed by a German study. Researchers have found that curcumin activates a molecule that reduces the proliferation of cancer cells. A Japanese study found that curcumin caused PSA levels to drop by 50 percent.

• Quercetin. This powerful antioxidant, a bioflavonoid found in apples, onions, and garlic, stops changes in the prostrate that lead to cancer. Chinese researchers found that human prostate cells treated with quercetin died within 48 hours, and researchers at Mayo Clinic found that quercetin slowed or prevented the growth of prostate cancer.  

 

Editor's Note: The 5 Early Warning Signs of Prostate Cancer

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