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Cancer and Alzheimer's Disease Print E-mail


Cancer

A study at the University of Hawaii's Cancer Research Center found that those who ate the most flavonoids in their diet had a 40 to 50 percent reduced rate of lung cancer. A study of 6,000 Italian citizens found that those who ate at least ten different varieties of vegetables weekly were 30 percent less likely to develop colorectal cancer than those people that ate less than 7 varieties weekly. The antioxidants in vegetables are the suspected reason. And in the most thorough study done to date, a twenty-four-year Finnish study of 10,000 people, those who consumed the most flavonoids were 20 percent less likely to develop any form of cancer than those who consumed the fewest.

Studies on mice have shown that the flavonoids in tea protect against skin tumors, lung cancer, and digestive cancer. In addition, lab cellular studies demonstrated that tea flavonoids inhibited the reproduction of human leukemia and lung carcinoma cells. A team at Georgetown University is currently working on isolating the flavonoids in chocolate and testing them as an anticancer drug.

At the Arizona Cancer Center, 140 smokers were given either green tea, black tea, or water for four months to study the effect on a particular free radical known to cause DNA damage. The green-tea drinkers had 25 percent fewer of the free radicals, while there was no change in the black-tea drinkers. This makes sense, since some of the flavonoids in tea are destroyed in the process by which black tea is made.

Alzheimer's Disease

The brain lesions characteristic of Alzheimer's disease are caused by free radicals scavenging their way through brain tissue. Not surprisingly, many studies have established links between consumption of antioxidant-rich foods and prevention of Alzheimer's. For example, a recent study of 815 Chicago residents over age 65, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, showed that those who consumed the most vitamin E foods were 70 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer's than those who consumed the least. Another study of 5,400 Dutch residents found that those who consumed the most vitamin C were 18 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer's than those who consumed the least.

Vitamins C and E are different types of antioxidants than the flavonoids found in chocolate. However, a 2002 study of 1,700 Danes found that those who drank at least one glass of red wine per week were much less likely to develop Alzheimer's than those who never drank red wine. No benefit was found from drinking other types of alcohol, indicating that the flavonoids in red wine are likely responsible. Similarly, the PAQUIN study, one of the most significant Alzheimer's studies undertaken, showed that those who consume the most flavonoids in their diet had only half the usual incidence of Alzheimer's.

Interestingly, proanthocyanidin, one of the flavonoids in chocolate, is one of the few compounds that can cross the blood-brain barrier, where it can directly work its protective effects on brain tissue.


 
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