Doctors Health e-Bulletin for Wednesday, June 18, 2008

** Avocado Could Lower Bad Cholesterol and Reduce  Painful Inflammation

** How Vegetables Could Fight Cancer

** The Humble Tomato May Be a Cancer-Fighting  Superstar And more!

A Special Report from the Doctors Health Press Board:

** Avocado Could Lower Bad Cholesterol and Reduce  Painful Inflammation

Many people avoid eating avocados because the bulk of  their calories are primarily made up of fat. But avocados  contain a dose of healthy monounsaturated fats that are  actually beneficial and very important to maintaining your  good health.

Avocados are high in fruit oil, giving them a high food  energy value. Avocados are low in carbohydrates. They  contain 14 minerals that help regulate your bodily functions. Avocados contain no starch and little sugar.

How beneficial are avocados to your health? Well, in one clinical trial performed at the Wesley Hospital in Brisbane, Australia, 15 women were put on a diet that was enriched with either avocado or complex carbohydrates. Researchers found that the avocado diet actually reduced cholesterol levels better than the complex carb diet.

And, in another trial, avocados have been shown to be an effective remedy for reducing pain and inflammation in people who suffer from osteoarthritis and gout. Researchers

did a systematic review of three of the top medical databases. They went all the way back to 1985 to see if avocado and other herbal supplements had any positive effect on arthritis pain. What they discovered was that the evidence was strong for avocado when it came to reducing chronic back and joint pain.

So, avocados could actually help your lower levels of bad cholesterol and reduce painful inflammation caused by arthritic conditions. Avocados are good for your heart.

Their high potassium levels could help lower your blood pressure and protect against heart attack and stroke. Half an avocado contains 57 mcg of folate. Folate, of course, is recommended for pregnant women, as it helps prevent life-threatening birth defects of the brain and spine. But moms-to-be are not the only ones who could benefit from eating folate-rich foods. Everyone needs folate to keep the nerves functioning properly.

Here are two suggestions to keep in mind when buying avocados. If you are still worried about the fat content, shop for Florida avocados, as they have about two-thirds of

the calories and half the fat of avocados grown in California. Or buy those harvested between November and March, as these avocados may have as much as one-third of the fat of those picked in September or October.

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** How Vegetables Could Fight Cancer

-- by Jeff Jurmain, MA

"Cruciferous" vegetables are among the healthiest foods on Earth. They, for all intents and purposes, are crunchy members of our salad bowls and dinner plates. Notable

members of this powerfully nutritious family include broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, watercress, radish, and dark leafy greens such as kale, arugula, and turnip greens. The subject of research for decades, cruciferous vegetables have recently been shown to halt the growth of prostate tumors. In so doing, they have given hope to people who live with the chronic disease.

Cancer experts have shown that cruciferous vegetables hold a chemical that specifically could protect the body against cancer. That natural, health-boosting chemical is called

"phenethyl-ITC" (PEITC for short) and it is released once you cut or chew the veggies. In one amazing laboratory experiment, PEITC outright killed cancer cells. In a study on human prostate tumors (performed on mice for safety reasons), researchers used small amounts of PEITC.

And there was the proof: When a tumor was confronted with PEITC, its growth slowed down. After a month of this, the size of the tumor shrank. Mice not receiving the chemical were unchanged. The results are promising to specialists in cancer prevention. After only two weeks, the size and activity of tumors were greatly reduced.

Try another study on for size. An antioxidant chemical called "sulforaphane" has been found to specifically help prevent colon cancer. This chemical substance is also released when cruciferous vegetables are chewed. It was used against a condition that causes polyps in the colon, handed down through genetics. Those with this condition, called "familial adenomatous polyposis," are at high risk of colon cancer development.

Three weeks of sulforaphane in the diet has proven to reduce the number of polyps growing. And those that did develop were smaller than the researchers expected. Putting this into perspective, every polyp prevented means there is one less chance colon cancer could occur.

These are but two of the ways the vegetables could fight the world's worst disease.

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** The Humble Tomato May Be a Cancer-Fighting Superstar

-- by Cate Stevenson, BA

Tomatoes contain a rare red pigment called lycopene. Lycopene acts as an antioxidant by neutralizing free radicals. New studies suggest that lycopene may have twice the cancer-fighting power of beta-carotene. And for men, lycopene seems to concentrate in the prostate, possibly protecting this gland from cancerous tumor growth.

That alone is reason enough to add tomatoes to your diet. But tomatoes also contain two powerful compounds called coumaric acid and chlorogenic acid. These two compounds

have been found to block the effects of the most potent carcinogens in tobacco smoke. And of course tomatoes  contains a large dose of vitamin C, which has long been known as an antioxidant.

A Harvard Medical School study found that women who had more lycopene in their systems had a reduced risk for getting cardiovascular disease. In another study, 10 healthy

women ate a diet containing tomato puree for 21 days and then switched over to a tomato-free diet for 21 days. Afterthe first 21 days, lycopene concentrations increased in the group that consumed the tomato diet and decreased in the group that consumed the tomato-free diet.

Researchers discovered that tomato consumption had an effect on cellular antioxidant capacity: DNA damage was decreased by 33% and 42%, respectively, in the two groups after consumption of the tomato diet.

So, what's the best way to add tomatoes to your diet? Surprisingly, you don't necessarily have to eat your

tomatoes fresh. Researchers now know that processed tomatoes like those in sauce and paste could be more effective at reducing cancer risk. This is because processed tomato products and cooked tomatoes contain two to eight times the available lycopene of raw tomatoes.

And another thing to consider: compared to other carotenoids that are stored in your body, the level of lycopene falls quickly as soon as you stop eating lycopene-rich foods. Try to get a little bit of tomato every day. This isn't as difficult as it sounds, since ketchup, pasta sauce, a tomato in a salad, pizza, and barbeque sauce all contain some lycopene.

Sources:

Avocado Could Lower Bad Cholesterol and Reduce  Painful Inflammation Colquhoun, D.M., et al., "Comparison of the effects on  lipoproteins and apolipoproteins of a diet high in  acids, enriched with avocado and a  high-carbohydrate diet," American Journal of Clinical  Nutrition, 56; 671-677.

Chrubasik, J.E., et al., "Evidence of effectiveness of herbal  anti-inflammatory drugs in the treatment of painful  osteoarthritis and chronic low back pain," Phytother Res.  2007 Jul; 21(7): 675-83.

How Vegetables Could Fight Cancer American Association of Cancer Research

The Humble Tomato May Be a Cancer-Fighting  Superstar Sesso, H.D., et al., "Plasma lycopene, other carotenoids,  and retinol and the risk of cardiovascular disease in  women," American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 79, 1, 47- 53, January 2004.

Riso, Patrizia et. al., ?Does tomato consumption effectively  increase the resistance of lymphocyte DNA to oxidative  damage?? American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 69,  No. 4, 712-718, April 1999.

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