Turmeric helps cells resist infection, omega-3s protect against air pollution, and selenium may prevent anemia three new studies reveal.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Turmeric helps cells resist infection, omega-3s protect against air pollution, and selenium may prevent anemia three new studies reveal.
Turmeric helps cells resist infection, omega-3s protect against air pollution, and selenium may prevent anemia
three new studies reveal. Researchers in a lab study discovered how curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric, supports cells. Viewing individual cells in solution, scientists saw curcumin molecules insert
themselves into cell membranes, even with very small amounts of curcumin. Once inside the cell membrane,
curcumin molecules appeared to help create a stronger membrane structure. Scientists believe that this molecular restructuring may be how curcumin protects cells from infection. In an omega-3 study, researchers
explained that air pollution, or small particulate matter (PM), in big cities is usually from vehicle exhaust. PM gets into lungs and, over time, may cause lung, heart, and other health problems, particularly in older adults. Doctor thought these health effects might be due to oxidative stress—cell damage—and wanted to see if omega-3s, whichare antioxidant, could protect the lungs. In Mexico City, where PM is high, about 50 residents, average age 77, took fish oil or soy oil. After eight months, antioxidant activity in the omega-3 group increased 49 percent compared to 23 percent for soy oil. Soy oil did not prevent fat oxidation, while omega-3 decreased fat oxidation by 73 percent. Doctors in a selenium study explained that anemia, the most
common blood disorder, often affects older adults. In anemia, there are too
few healthy red blood cells to carry sufficient oxygen from the lungs to the body and carbon dioxide back to the lungs. Researchers measured blood levels whose blood levels of folate were the lowest, those with higher folate levels were 67 percent less likely to have liver cancer.
In a liver damage study, doctors gave about 70 severely alcoholic men the probiotics Bifidobacterium bifidum
and Lactobacillus plantarum or standard vitamin supplements as a placebo, while the men abstained from alcohol. Researchers also compared participants to a group of 24 healthy, non-drinking
men of similar age and found the alcoholic men had higher levels of the liver enzymes that signal alcoholinduced liver damage. After five days, compared to placebo, the probiotics
group had lower levels of liver-damage enzymes, and had restored healthy levelsof probiotics in the gut.

Reference: Phytomedicine; 2009, Vol. 16, No. 5, 391-
400