Broccoli might save you from oral cancer

Previous studies have shown that cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage and garden cress — which have a high concentration of sulforaphane — help mitigate the effects of environmental carcinogens. (Source: Thinkstock Images)

A new therapy containing broccoli sprout extract has been found to protect not only mice against oral cancer but also tolerable in a small group of healthy human volunteers, says a new study.

“People who are cured of head and neck cancer are still at very high risk for a second cancer in their mouth or throat, and, unfortunately, these second cancers are commonly fatal,” explained lead author Julie Bauman from University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute in the US.

“So we are developing a safe, natural molecule found in cruciferous vegetables to protect the oral lining, where these cancers form,” Bauman noted.

Previous studies have shown that cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage and garden cress — which have a high concentration of sulforaphane — help mitigate the effects of environmental carcinogens.

For the new study, mice predisposed to oral cancer were given sulforaphane for several months and the team found that it significantly reduced the incidence and number of tumours.

The researchers then treated 10 healthy human volunteers with fruit juice mixed with sulforaphane-rich broccoli sprout extract.

The volunteers had no ill-effects from the extract and protective changes were detectable in the lining of their mouths, meaning it was absorbed and directed to at-risk tissue.

The researchers now plan to conduct a clinical trial that will recruit 40 volunteers, who have been curatively treated for head and neck cancer.

The participants will regularly take capsules containing broccoli seed powder to determine if they can tolerate the regimen and whether it has enough of an impact on their oral lining to prevent cancer. From there, larger clinical trials could be warranted, the researchers noted.

“We call this ‘green chemoprevention,’ where simple seed preparations or plant extracts are used to prevent disease,” Bauman noted.

“Green chemoprevention requires less money and fewer resources than a traditional pharmaceutical study and could be more easily disseminated in developing countries where head and neck cancer is a significant problem,” Bauman said.

The findings were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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What to do when you are dehydrated: Guzzling huge amounts of water can be risky

Sweat is not made up of water alone. One also loses a lot of sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium and magnesium which needs to be replaced. (Source: Thinkstock Images)

This is the third and the last article from the water-sweat series. As I have written in my previous two articles, our cells, collectively, are our biggest reservoirs of water. But when we need sweat to cool us, our body first takes water to manufacture the sweat from our blood.

Maintenance of blood volume is vital, so the loss of blood-water is quickly taken care of by drawing water out from the tissues and tissues in turn pull the water out from our cells. The same process happens when we take fluids – water first reaches the blood, then the tissues and then our cells. The fact is water in our body is not stagnant, but it is a forever moving substance – from blood to the tissues to the cells and vice versa. How does water move in our body from one compartment to another? Who or what pushes it, and what we must do to keep it moving to remain hydrated and healthy?

Like we need transport, let us say a car, truck, train or a plane to move faster and be more active, similarly many substances in our body must be transported across the body at the right places where they are used. We have carrier proteins that have affinity for specific substances like amino acids, salts, sugars and other nutrients that are taken by the carrier proteins in and out of our cells. Unfortunately water gets no such help; it is not actively transported into or from our cells. What then helps the water to travel across, how does it move in and out of our cells?

The answer is that it moves by osmosis, where sodium, potassium and some other minerals play an important role. These minerals (Sodium chloride, higher concentration outside the cells, and potassium chloride, higher concentration inside the cells, are most important for water transport) exist as ions. An ion is a mineral or element that has a positive or negative charge. This unstable ionic state allows the element to bond readily with water, making it possible for the body to absorb it. In this state, an element has specific positive or negative electrical signatures that cause a dynamic equilibrium to take place. The body can then facilitate changes to move water to the areas that need them. Water can directly pass through membranes of the cell in response to changes in ion concentration. In other words, water movement is indirectly controlled by pumping sodium and potassium across our cell membranes. It is therefore vital that we have a balanced concentration of these ions in our body-water. They make us osmotically fit.

When we sweat a lot we lose the minerals too, especially the sodium and also some potassium. Sweat is not made up of water alone. One also loses a lot of sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium and magnesium which needs to be replaced.

After prolong exercise or after losing large amounts of water in sweat, it is dangerous downing large quantities of water alone, it may jeopardize the electrolyte balance of the body making one feel bloated and nauseated. In fact, athletes who lose huge amounts of sweat are advised not to drink just water; they must have water and electrolytes. Drinking huge amounts of plain water after massive sweat loss leads to electrolyte imbalance. The brain is very sensitive to this and it may try and take in large amounts of water in to compensate for the electrolyte deficiency. In many a case this has lead to brain swelling and even death. We have heard about fit marathon runners dropping dead.

What is the right drink after excessive sweat loss?

A sport-drink that contains minerals and very little sugar is the best; it is thousand times better than cool colas, soft drinks, and even fruit juices that contain too much sugar. It quenches our thrust and it also replenishes the mineral loss, keeping up the body-water movement and hydrating our cells. If sports drinks are not available one can make it at home.

Take a liter of water, add a pinch of salt, only two spoons of sugar (it will not taste too sweet, it must not) and fresh lime juice (from two limes to provide enough potassium)

The small amount of sugar and minerals help water absorption in the guts. It is because they are actively transported across our guts into the body by carrier proteins, water just piggybacks. Avoid sugary soft drinks because they have an opposite effect. Coconut water is good too – but it lacks that bit of sugar that increases the water absorption in the guts.

This summer ask yourself, am I osmotically fit?

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Aspirin May Help Ward Off Gastro Cancers, Study Finds

But experts caution against starting to take it every day in hopes of preventing disease



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Stronger Muscles = Healthier Bones in Kids

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Remote Amazon Tribe Members Have Greater Germ Diversity in Their Bodies

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