The SUPER-TOMATO with double the power to fight cancer
Is there nothing the humble tomato can’t do? Not satisfied with being a hangover cure, a good source of vitamin C and great for your skin, the little red fruit is now tackling cancer.
Touted as a ‘super superfood’ for its ability to reduce the risk of prostate cancer, the Moruno tomato has twice the normal levels of a natural cancer-fighting substance and as much vitamin C as a similar-sized orange.
And, from today, it’s all yours for £1.50 for a 280g pack in the Tesco Finest range.
The Moruno, which took Spanish scientists two years to develop and is the result of cross-breeding 2,000 varieties, has double levels of lycopene, which gives tomatoes their red colour, and which scientists have linked to a reduced risk of prostate cancer.
Lycopene is more easily absorbed into the bloodstream when the tomatoes are cooked with certain oils, such as olive oil.
In a recent study, more than 1,000 men with prostate cancer had their post-diagnosis diets examined. Patients who had tomato sauce more than twice a week had a 44 per cent lower risk of the disease spreading.
The cancer is less likely to spread when patients ate large amounts of tomatoes and oily fish, according to American researchers.
Tesco’s tomato buyer Ashleigh McWilliams said yesterday: ‘Tomatoes are already considered superfoods because they have so many health giving qualities. However, the Moruno, because of its very high lycopene and vitamin C levels, may actually qualify as being the first super superfood.’
She added: ‘Tomatoes have naturally high levels of lycopene, but this naturally-bred are genetically programmed to age at a faster rate.’ variety has double the level of standard ones.
‘But besides its exceptional nutritional content, the Moruno tastes great and has thick, juicy flesh. And, gram for gram, it has as much vitamin C as an orange.’
The Moruno tomato, which is grown in Spain, has twice the normal levels of cancer-fighting lycopene and a higher vitamin C content than other varieties
The Moruno tomato, which is grown in Spain, has twice the normal levels of cancer-fighting lycopene and a higher vitamin C content than other varieties
Last week scientists unveiled a tomato which is said to stay fresh for 45 days – three times longer than the conventional version.
Researchers ‘turned off’ the genes linked to the production of ripening enzymes.
The researchers believe the same process could be applied to other fruits, but the need for extensive safety testing means it will be years before the GM fruits go on sale in British supermarkets, if ever.
Tomato Facts
A laboratory study found that lycopene has a similar effect to the cholesterol-lowering drugs, statins.
Tomatoes contain high levels of beta-carotene, an antioxidant that supports the immune system and helps maintain healthy skin and tissue lining.
They are packed with antioxidant flavonoids and vitamin E, both of which are essential for heart health, and are a good source of potassium.
One medium-size tomato provides 50 per cent of the recommended daily dose of vitamin C.
Analysis of the Mediterranean diet suggested that cooking tomatoes with olive oil further improves their potency.
Lycopene and beta-carotene are broken down by heating, and are soluble in oil but not water, so cooking tomatoes in olive oil prepares these beneficial chemicals perfectly for absorption by the body.
Other research suggests that lycopene may enhance chemical communication between the cells, which helps to regulate unusual cell growth and may even reverse the process by which a tumour becomes malignant.
Tomatoes are also rich in the antioxidant lutein, which is believed to protect the retina from free radical damage. By Luke Salkeld, The Daily Mail
Sort Out Priorities
Today, you may have life insurance either through work or a private policy or maybe both of it. But, have you ever wondered if the insurance company that promises to pay a benefit to your beneficiaries when you’re gone will still be around to meet and provide that promise? Well, the exact details and answer to that question still remains hanging in the air. So, be magnanimous enough in choosing your online life insurance as the more the need of insurance coverage, the more premium has to be paid.
And towards this, some of the needs may be really indispensible or may be necessary but not indispensible. Depending on one’s value system, some needs may be just nice-to-have. If the financial resources available for paying premium are limited, chances are one has to sort out priorities among those identified needs and choose to only fulfill needs of higher priorities. As a consumer interested in life insurance, simply visit the above mentioned, fill out their online form and request online life insurance quotes. And since they do not personally sell insurance, they will provide you information in an unbiased manner.
California’s Grape Bounty May Lead To Lower Wine Prices
Wine lovers in California have something to toast. The state’s grape growers and wineries saw a bigger-than-expected harvest in 2009, according to a report released last week, amounting to the second-biggest crop in California history.
For consumers, the year’s bounty is expected to spell more availability and cheaper costs for all types of California wine, particularly premium and ultra-premium wines.
Wineries in the state crushed 3.7 million tons of grapes last year, up about 20 percent compared to a relatively light 2008, and nearing the record 2005 harvest.
All varietals showed growth, with chardonnay leading the pack in volume at about 726,000 tons, up 28 percent from the 2008 harvest. Pinot grigio, at 145,330 tons, boasted the largest percentage increase — up 61 percent compared to the year before.
The preliminary numbers are part of an annual report released by the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The increase is expected to slow competition from out-of-state wineries, which benefited from a slow 2008, said John Ciatti, partner in the Ciatti Co. grape and wine brokerage.
“This crop will put additional pressure on the already struggling premium segment of the wine business,” Ciatti said.
The cost of wine grapes was down last year, a decrease attributed to factors including the large crop and a slumping economy. By Robert Faturechi, The Miami Herald
Sleep Lets Brain To consolidate Memories
Scientists at Northwestern University reported that playing specific sounds while people slept helped them remember more of what they had learned before they fell sleep, to the point where memories of individual facts were enhanced.
Science has never given much credence to claims that you can learn Chinese or French by having the instruction CDs play while you sleep. If any learning happens that way, most scientists say, the language lesson is probably waking the sleeper up, not causing nouns and verbs to seep into a sound-asleep mind.
But a new study about a different kind of audio approach during sleep gives insight into how the sleeping brain works, and may eventually come in handy to people studying a language, cramming for a test or memorising lines in a play.
Scientists at Northwestern University reported that playing specific sounds while people slept helped them remember more of what they had learned before they fell sleep, to the point where memories of individual facts were enhanced.
In a study published by the journal Science, researchers taught people to move 50 pictures to their correct locations on a computer screen.
Each picture was accompanied by a related sound, like a meow for a cat and whirring for a helicopter. Then, 12 subjects took a nap, during which 25 of the sounds were played along with white noise. When they awoke, none realised that the sounds had been played or could guess which ones had been used. Yet almost all remembered more precisely the computer locations of the pictures associated with the 25 sounds that had been played while they slept, doing less well placing the other 25 pictures.
Specific information
“We were able to cue people to specific information they had learned,” said Ken A. Paller, a cognitive neuroscientist at Northwestern and co-author of the study. The thinking is that during sleep, memory consolidation is going on and that rehearsal is a good way to strengthen memories.
“We showed that you can get information in during sleep using the auditory system and that you can cue that rehearsal by providing sounds specific to each episode of learning.”
The study adds a dimension to a theory that sleep allows the brain to process and consolidate memories. A 2007 study found that people who were given whiffs of rose scent as they learned a task remembered the task better when they also inhaled rose scent while sleeping. But the new research suggests that individual memories can be explicitly singled out for strengthening.
Robert Stickgold, a cognitive neuroscientist at Harvard also not involved in the study, noted that the researchers did not play literal phrases recapping the memory, like “the cat is in the lower left,” but instead sound cues associated with a picture and a spatial task.
“It’s not really that you reminded them of what they needed to know,” Stickgold said, “but rather you reminded them of a larger memory that they needed to know.”
Not every scientist who studies sleep was impressed. Robert P Vertes, a neuroscience professor at Florida Atlantic University, said the results showed “such a minor effect that it’s not significant,” adding that the effect was even less significant because other study subjects who remained awake showed similarly better recall with sound cues.
Sara C Mednick, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California who was not involved in the study, was intrigued that the sleeping subjects appeared to show slight electrical shifts in their brain waves shortly after cues were played, suggesting that the brain replayed “prior experiences.”
The subjects napped 90 minutes or less, long enough to experience slow-wave or deep sleep but not REM sleep. Some scientists believe that in slow-wave sleep the brain reinforces factual memories, while in REM sleep the brain sorts and organizes memories.
The authors and other experts said the study’s primary contribution was helping to understand the brain’s memory-making process and reinforcing, as Walker put it, “how important it is to get a good eight hours.” By Pam Belluck , Deccan Herald
Warning Over Salt Levels In Soup
Many soups sold in high street cafes and supermarkets may not offer the healthy option customers are seeking, a pressure group has warned.
Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) said 25% of 575 types of soup it analysed failed to meet Food Standards Agency targets on salt content.
However, it said there had been a 17% drop in the amount of salt in ready-to-eat ranges since its 2007 survey.
Experts say high salt intake raises blood pressure and the risk of strokes.
For its survey, carried out between December and February, Cash tested soups from a number of supermarkets and high street chains.
The Food Standards Agency’s target for soup is that each 100g portion should contain no more than 0.6g of salt.
Its recommended maximum daily intake of salt for an adult is 6g.
Among the worst offenders highlighted by Cash was cafe chain Eat’s 907g Bold Thai Green Chicken Curry soup, which Cash said contained more than 8g of salt.
Even Eat’s smallest 340g-sized portion had 2.8g of salt, nearly half the daily recommendation and more than a Big Mac and fries, Cash said.
Eat, which has 98 shops nationwide, said it had reduced salt in all its soup stocks and would continue to do so, but said it needed to happen gradually for people’s tastes to adjust.
Brand director Faith MacArthur said its largest sized soup was often shared and represented a tiny part of soup sales.
Cash chairman, Professor Graham MacGregor said: “The majority of the food industry is slowly taking out the salt from food, including these soups.
‘Save lives’
“We commend the progress so far, however they haven’t gone far enough if we are to save the maximum number of lives.”
Spokeswoman Katharine Jenner added: “People tend to think salt is only in crisps, snacks and ready meals. But this survey shows huge amounts of salt can be hidden in seemingly healthy choices such as soup.
“We urge manufacturers to reduce their salt content immediately.”
Cash said among supermarket-own brands it tested, 93% met 2010 FSA salt targets, compared with 66% of branded products.
Among products on sale in supermarkets, 23 contained 2g or more salt per portion, Cash said. Of these, 18 were from brands including Heinz and New Covent Garden.
When it came to fresh supermarket soups, Cash said, the highest in salt content was New Covent Garden’s Scotch Broth at 2.4g of salt a portion – six times higher than the lowest, Tideford Organics Moroccan vegetable at 0.44g.
Prof MacGregor urged consumers to boycott products high in salt.
The New Covent Garden Food Company said it had consistently reduced salt levels across its range over recent years and had beaten the Food Standards Agency’s average target for soup.
“We also feature the government-approved FSA traffic light labelling system, which clearly shows all our soups fall within either green or amber classifications for salt,” a spokesman said.
Heinz said its entire soup range was already within average targets and its work to cut salt further continued in line with consumer taste. BBC News