Okay, we are NOT endorsing anything here, but this story certainly raised some eyebrows over at Hopkins! A 79-year-old man in England drinks about half a cup of broccoli juice every day, and swears it reversed the progression of bladder cancer.
Filed under: cancer, broccoli, bladder on July 21st, 2008 | No Comments »
We recently did a special promotion with Weis Markets in Pennsylvania. Here, Registered Dietitian Karen Book extols the cancer-prevention virtues of BroccoSprouts.
Filed under: Uncategorized, sprouts, SGS, video on July 11th, 2008 | No Comments »
Drinking black tea may help relax you.
Researchers a the University College London served 75 young men either a black tea mixture with all the active ingredients including caffeine, polyphenols, catechins and flavonoids, or an identical-testing mixture that contained none of the active ingredients except caffeine.
During the 6-week study, the men were subjected to stressful situations such as unemployment concerns or wrongful accusations. All the while their stress hormone cortisol, blood pressure, heart rate and stress levels were monitored, and all of which spiked. Fifty minutes after the stressful situation, the black tea drinkers’ cortisol levels dropped lower than those drinking the alternate beverage. Moreover, the tea drinkers reported feeling more relaxed than the false tea drinkers. Researchers also found the tea drinkers’ blood platelet activity was lower than the false tea drinkers — an interesting fact since platelets are involved in blood clot formation, which increases the risk of a heart attack.
The researchers do not yet know the cause of these results, but it’s certainly worth further scientific investigation.
Filed under: tea, science news on July 9th, 2008 | No Comments »
According to a new study, green tea flavonoids may expand arteries, leading to better cardiovascular health.
Greek researchers tested 14 individuals after they consumed 6 grams of green tea, 125 mg of caffeine and 450 ml of hot water on three separate occasions. The scientists then measured the diameter of the brachial artery in each participant 30, 90 and 120 minutes after they ingested each beverage.
Dilation of the artery peaked at an increase of 3.9 per cent at the 30-minute test time.
The data showed that the caffeine and hot water did not have the same effect on the brachial artery that the green tea did.
Filed under: tea, science news, heart on July 3rd, 2008 | No Comments »
This is a great interview with Dr. Brent Bauer of the Mayo Clinic, who gives a very fair assessment of the health benefits of tea and the current status of research.
One of the key points of the discussion is that most scientific data is derived from epidemiological studies, and conducting human clinical studies is quite difficult since the study population needs to be quite large (in the thousands) and needs to be monitored over years. Then the scientists need to weed out all variables in order to determine that, for instance, the flavonoids - and only the flavonoids - in green or black tea directly influences the desired result (disease risk reduction, etc.).
Dr. Bauer also talks about the isolate vs. whole food approach to nutrition. Is it better to isolate a compound or eat the whole food for the benefit of multi-compound interaction?
Filed under: tea, science news on July 3rd, 2008 | No Comments »
Coffee and tea phenols might cut the risk of stroke in men who smoke a study out of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, suggests.
22,556 adult Finnish male smokers were observed over a period of 13.6 years. Researchers studied the data connecting tea and coffee consumption and the risk of 3 different kinds of stroke: Cerebral infarction, intracerebral hemorrhage or subarachnoid hemorrhage. Taking into account age and stroke risk factors, the scientists observed that men who drink 2 or more cups of coffee or tea a day showed a lower percentage of cerebral infarction (result of a blocked artery) by 21 percent, and 8 or more cups of coffee a day correlated with a reduction by an additional 23 percent. (Well, that’s a lot of caffeine!). No association was observed between coffee and tea consumption and intracerebral or subarachnoid hemorrhage.
“These results, the investigators conclude, ’suggest that high consumption of coffee and tea may reduce the risk of cerebral infarction among men, independent of known cardiovascular risk factors.’ ”
Filed under: tea, science news, stroke on June 25th, 2008 | No Comments »
Researchers at the Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin-Buch, Germany, have found that green tea may prevent the formation of deadly plaque in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. In a laboratory study, the team discovered that the epigallocatechin-3-gallate, or EGCG, found in green tea impedes the accumulation of toxic protein aggregates associated with the two diseases. EGCG bound itself directly to the proteins at an early stage, and a harmful misfolding of the protein structure was replaced by another harmless version. The researchers plan further studies to find out exactly how the EGCG interferes with the toxic proteins. For more information, see the Max Delbrueck Center’s website.
Filed under: tea, science news, parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's on June 12th, 2008 | No Comments »
Jocelyn Maminta has written a blog entry following up on her trip to the API sprout facility (with colleague Keith Koontz) in Bridgeport, CT. She’s become quite a fan of our BroccoSprouts (thanks, Jocelyn!). This is an amendment to my previous entry about the Y-ME events and news coverage in Connecticut. Please visit our website for store locations, and remember: If you can’t find them in the stores listed, talk to the produce manager, he/she can order them for you.
Filed under: sprouts, video on May 22nd, 2008 | No Comments »
We are frequently asked about indole-3-carbinol levels in BroccoSprouts, and were recently asked the following question:
” Is SGS the same thing as indolymethyl glucosinolate which is felt to lower breast cancer risk by raising indol carbinol levels?”
The answer is . . .No, SGS stands for sulforaphane glucosinolate – a different glucosinolate which when converted into sulforaphane boosts phase 2 enzymes that deactivate free radicals. Indolymethyl glucosinolate converts into indole 3 carbinol (I3C) that can boost either phase 1 (activation) or phase 2 (detoxification) enzymes, depending on the metabolic pathway it takes, and therefore can either activate or deactivate or carcinogens.
There is quite a bit of literature on the anti-cancer effects of I3C, but it is mixed in its results. Depending upon whether a cancer is in its incipient phase, it can either help or hurt.
Our products contain only SGS which we know is a mono-functional inducer – can only induce phase 2 detoxification enzymes, whereas I3C is a bi-functional inducer and, as noted above, can boost both types, depending upon the clinical situation.
On our sister website, www.brassica.com, we go into the phase 1 and phase 2 enzyme issue a little deeper.
Filed under: science news, SGS, antioxidants on May 16th, 2008 | No Comments »
The Tea Council of the USA, Inc. has launched a scholarship competition, The Calm-A-Sutra of Tea. This “is a nationwide search for the most unique and creative way or depiction of drinking tea, specifically black, green, white or oolong tea, all from the Camellia sinensis plant, explained in a one-to-two minute Internet video that incorporates some aspect of tea’s many health-related benefits.”
I think this is a great way to encourage healthy habits among young college students who are so tempted to explore the world of adult beverages.
Click here for more information.
Filed under: Uncategorized, tea on May 12th, 2008 | No Comments »