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A chemical found in green tea appears to slow the progression of prostate cancer, a study has suggested. Green tea has been linked to a positive effect on a wide range of conditions, including heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's disease.

To the surprise of doctors around the world, melatonin is demonstrating life-saving benefits that far exceed its common use as a sleep aid.1 Increasingly, researchers have shown that melatonin's impressive ability to control oxidative damage in systems throughout the body can reduce the trauma of brain injury, prevent heart muscle damage, offer neuroprotection, increase cognitive functioning, and reduce the toxic effects of chemotherapy while enhancing its benefits.2-7 Cumulatively, these findings add up to important new roles for melatonin not only in disease prevention but in almost every field of medicine.

Probiotics could be used to protect critically ill patients from developing pneumonia, according to scientists. The friendly bacteria can block the colonisation by dangerous bugs of the airways of ventilated patients, the Swedish study concluded. The probiotic solution performed just as well as normal antiseptics used to keep pneumonia-causing bacteria at bay, the journal Critical Care reported. Being more natural it could pose fewer side effects, the authors said

A recently completed study from researchers at Colorado State University supported by the Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has demonstrated that AHCC(R) (Active Hexose Correlated Compound) enhances host resistance by boosting protective immune responses specific to the West Nile Virus. Since its discovery in the United States in 1999, infections caused by the West Nile Virus have become a major public health concern. West Nile Virus is caused by people being bitten by mosquitoes infected with the virus. According to the CDC, there have been 28,018 reported cases with 1,092 deaths since 1999. In 2003, the highest number of cases was reported at nearly 10,000. Currently there is no effective treatment for the disease.

A proprietary extract prepared from co-cultured mycelia of several species of Basidiomycete mushrooms, including shiitake (Lentinus edodes), active hexose correlated compound (AHCC) is extracted from mushrooms using hot water following an enzyme pretreatment, but specific mushroom source and preparation details have not been fully disclosed. Patients use this to prevent and treat cancer. Animal studies suggest that AHCC has antioxidant effects and may protect against disorders induced by oxidative stress (1) and may also enhance resistance against bacterial (2) (7)and viral infections (3). In healthy humans, AHCC increased dendritic cell number and function (4) In vitro and animal studies show that AHCC exhibits some anticancer activities, but the results of these studies are vague

Active Hexose Correlated Compound (AHCC) is an alpha-glucan rich nutritional supplement produced from the mycelia of shiitake (Lentinula edodes) of the basidiomycete family of mushrooms, and should not be confused or used as a drug or medicine.[1][2] AHCC was originally designed to lower high-blood pressure. However, researchers at Tokyo University found AHCC's influence upon the innate immune system highly beneficial and published the results in 1992, though not in the commonly indexed scientific literature. In this study, researchers found that AHCC significantly increased natural killer (NK) cell activity in cancer patients, and also enhanced the effects of killer T-cells, and cytokines (interferon, IL-12, TNF-alpha

White button mushrooms appear to boost immune function It appears that a little fungus may be good for what ails you. That's the conclusion of a new study that found that eating white button mushrooms may boost the immune system and protect against infection. If the research, done on animals, translates to people, it could raise the health-benefit profile of the fungus, which also contains high concentrations of the super-antioxidant ergothioneine, which protects cells from damaging free radicals. "This is the first published study showing the effect of white button mushrooms on immune function," Dayong Wu, a scientist in the Immunology Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts and lead author of the study, published in the June issue of the Journal of Nutrition, told NutraIngredients.com. The research also suggests that the mushroom may boost both innate and acquired immune system health. The innate immune system, the one you're born with, is the body's first line of defense. The acquired immune system revs up if a pathogen makes its way past the innate system and customizes the immune response to target the invader.

The results of a year long clinical trial examining the effects of mushroom supplementation in patients with Human Papillomavirus (HPV) have recently been presented at congress. Dr. Jose Silva Couto and Dr. Daniel Pereira da Silva of the Cervical Pathology Unit of the Portuguese Institute of Oncology in Coimbra, Portugal presented their findings at the 20th European Congress of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, in Lisbon Portugal. This study provides a promising set of results and demonstrates proof-of concept for the question as to whether immunonutrition supplements can be successfully used to improve HPV status in patients.

Dr. Kowalsky specializes in science-based natural medicine. She offers expert solutions integrating the best of alternative and complementary medical care. As a naturopathic doctor she is trained in both conventional medicine and natural therapies, providing her patients with the most holistic, integrative and effective medical care available.

Foods rich in cocoa may improve performance on challenging mental tasks like arithmetic. This is the finding of a study presented as part of a symposium highlighting the potential of plant-based treatments presented at the British Psychological Society Annual Conference 2009 in Brighton. Crystal Haskell from the Brain, Performance and Nutrition Research Centre at Northumbria University said: "Foods containing high levels of cocoa flavanols, found in chocolate, have been shown to increase cerebral blood flow, and it has also been proven that consumption of plants that have these properties improves performance on mentally demanding tasks. We wanted to discover whether cocoa flavanols produced the same effect.

The April issue of the journal Cancer Prevention Research published the results of a trial conducted by scientists at Tokyo University of Science, the University of Tsukuba in Japan, and Johns Hopkins University which determined that the isothiocyanate sulforaphane, a compound that occurs in high amounts in broccoli and its sprouts, helps suppress infection by Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), the bacteria responsible for stomach ulcers and many cases of stomach cancer. The trial is the first to demonstrate an effect for broccoli against H. pylori in humans.

March 27, 2009 - A significant decrease in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels has led to an increase in vitamin D insufficiency in the US population, especially in racial and ethnic groups, according to results of a population-based study reported in the March 23 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. "Vitamin D insufficiency has been associated with increases in cardiovascular disease, cancer, and infection," write Adit A. Ginde, MD, from the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado, and colleagues. "Vitamin D supplementation appears to mitigate the incidence and adverse outcomes of these diseases and may reduce all-cause mortality." [...] "These findings have important implications for health disparities and public health," the study authors conclude. "Our data provide additional evidence that current recommendations for vitamin D supplementation (200-600 IU/d) are inadequate to achieve optimal serum 25(OH)D levels in most of the US population." They add that large, randomized controlled trials of higher doses of vitamin D supplementation are needed to evaluate their effect on general health and mortality.

Benfotiamine (rINN, or S-benzoylthiamine O-monophoshate) is a synthetic S-acyl derivative of thiamine (vitamine B1). After absorption, benfotiamine can be dephosphorylated by cells bearing an ecto-alkaline phosphatase to the lipid-soluble S-benzoylthiamine. The primary use of this antioxidant is as an "anti-AGE" supplement.[3] In a trial, benfotiamine lowered AGE by 40%.[4] However, in Germany doctors have been known to combine benfotiamine with pyridoxine hydrochloride and use it to treat patients with nerve damage and nerve pain such as sciatica. At high doses, benfotiamine was shown to be effective for the treatment of diabetic retinopathy, neuropathy, and nephropathy. I

Mice injected with cancer cells experienced significantly elevated levels of C-reactive protein, white blood cells, and lipid peroxidation compared with control mice. These levels were reduced in animals that received cisplatin and/or DHA. While treatment with 125 mg/kg DHA inhibited tumor growth by 38 percent compared to untreated animals, 250 mg/kg suppressed tumor growth by 79 percent, which was a greater effect than that of cisplatin alone (which was associated with a 55 percent reduction). The combination of DHA and cisplatin resulted in an 81 percent inhibition of growth, while reducing elevated white blood cell levels (leukocytosis) to normal levels. Treatment with the higher dose of DHA alone was associated with a similar reduction in white blood cells, which, when elevated, are associated with tumor growth. A strong relationship was observed between tumor growth and white blood cell levels as well as C-reactive protein levels. In another experiment with rats treated with cisplatin, the addition of 250 mg/kg DHA prevented lethal kidney toxicity in 88 percent of the animals that received it, while none of the rats that received cisplatin alone survived.

Food Choices and Coronary Heart Disease: A Population Based Cohort Study of Rural Swedish Men with 12 Years of Follow-up. Sara Holmberg, Anders Thelin and Eva-Lena Stiernström. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2009, 6(10), 2626-2638; doi:10.3390/ijerph6102626 - published online 12 October 2009 Coronary heart disease is associated with diet. Nutritional recommendations are frequently provided, but few long term studies on the effect of food choices on heart disease are available. We followed coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality in a cohort of rural men (N = 1,752) participating in a prospective observational study. Dietary choices were assessed at baseline with a 15-item food questionnaire. 138 men were hospitalized or deceased owing to coronary heart disease during the 12 year follow-up. Daily intake of fruit and vegetables was associated with a lower risk of coronary heart disease when combined with a high dairy fat consumption (odds ratio 0.39, 95% CI 0.21-0.73), but not when combined with a low dairy fat consumption (odds ratio 1.70, 95% CI 0.97-2.98). Choosing wholemeal bread or eating fish at least twice a week showed no association with the outcome.

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Meta-analysis of vitamin D, calcium and the prevention of breast cancer. Chen P, Hu P, Xie D, Qin Y, Wang F, Wang H. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2009 Oct 23. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 19851861 These results provide strong evidence that vitamin D and calcium have a chemopreventive effect against breast cancer.