Sunday, December 25, 2011

Virgin Olive oil, Fish Fatty Acids Can Prevent Acute Pancreatitis


Researchers at the University of Granada Physiology Department have discovered that Oleic acid and hydroxytyrosol found in virgin olive oil and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids found in fish affect the cellular mechanisms involved in the development of acute pancreatitis. Including them in one's diet may prevent or mitigate the disease.

In the first study to examine how fatty acids and antioxidants affect the cellular mechanisms that respond to local inflammation in the pancreas, the University of Granada scientists evaluated the role of antioxidants from a preventive approach. In their experiments on mice, they induced cell damage after the mice had been fed the fatty acids and antioxidants.

"There is increasing evidence that there are oxidative-inflammatory processes involved in the origin of chronic diseases and that diet plays an important role in such processes,' said the study's author, María Belén López Millán.


Source:
María Belén López Millán.  University of Granada Physiology Department. Phone Number: +34 958241000 Ext. 2031








Sunday, December 18, 2011

A Few Squares of Chocolate a Day Keeps the Coronary Away


Some "chocoholics" who just couldn't give up their favorite treat to comply with a study to test blood stickiness have inadvertently done their fellow chocolate lovers - and science - a big favor.

Their "offense," say researchers at Johns Hopkins led to what is believed to be the first biochemical analysis to explain why just a few squares of chocolate a day can almost halve the risk of heart attack death in some men and women by decreasing the tendency of platelets to clot in narrow blood vessels.

"What these chocolate 'offenders' taught us is that the chemical in cocoa beans has a biochemical effect similar to aspirin in reducing platelet clumping, which can be fatal if a clot forms and blocks a blood vessel, causing a heart attack," says Diane Becker, M.P.H., Sc.D., a professor at the Johns Hopkins University's School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Continued in... A Few Squares of Chocolate a Day Keeps the Coronary Away

Chocolates
Farm Kitchen Guide: Chocolate