Reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, THC was shown to induce human glioma (brain cancer) cell death through a process known as autophagy, and did so by activating a particular stress response in the cells.

DHA, in an article soon to be published in Cell Division, was shown to reduce the size of tumours and enhance the positive effects of the chemotherapy drug Cisplatin. In particular, DHA strongly mitigated the toxic effect of Cisplatin on the kidneys while simultaneously increasing its effectiveness against cancer cells.

Of course, both substances – especially cannabinoids – have been attributed with anti-cancer properties for quite a while, but it’s always good to obtain further insight into the mechanisms by which these effects are exerted, particularly with cannabis, which is often difficult to research on account of its illegality in many parts of the world.

Anyhow, I’m cheered: at the rate I’m going, I don’t think I’ll ever get brain cancer

Maybe it’s time to increase one’s honey intake!

Products of bee-keeping and prophylaxis of premature aging

Adv Gerontol. 2008;21(2):252-7. PMID: 18942370

Dubtsova EA, Kas’ianenko VI, Komissarenko IA, Lazebnik LB.

Natural bee honey is one of compound natural products in which structure more than four hundred various components are revealed, including enzymes, organic acids, vitamins and microelements. One of the basic biological properties of honey is the ability to slow down processes of aging, because there are vitamins E, C, enzymes with antioxidative properties and a succinic acid in its structure. Examination of 193 beekeepers daily using honey in quantity of 57.2 +/- 8.6 gram with definition of their biological age was carried out. The received results have been compared to results of examination of 35 workers who are doing manual labour in the same degree, as the beekeepers, but do not use products of beekeeping. The research has shown that the biological age of 70% of beekeepers is lower than that of the average in population, 15% of beekeepers are of the same and 15% are of higher biological age than that of the average in population. The biological age of people in the group of comparison is lower than the average in population only in 28.6% of cases, corresponds in 31.4% and is higher than the average in population in 40.0% of cases. The biological age of beekeepers appeared not only less, than of the persons who are not using products of beekeeping, but it also is less than biological age of the population as a whole.

This is good news for lovers of ginger, such as myself. Cheers!

Ginger extract (Zingiber officinale) has anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory effects on ethionine-induced hepatoma rats.

Clinics. 2008 Dec;63(6):807-13. PMID: 19061005

Habib SH, Makpol S, Hamid NA, Das S, Ngah WZ, Yusof YA.

Department of Biochemistry, Medical Centre, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of ginger extract on the expression of NFkappaB and TNF-alpha in liver cancer-induced rats. METHODS: Male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 5 groups based on diet: i) control (given normal rat chow), ii) olive oil, iii) ginger extract (100mg/kg body weight), iv) choline-deficient diet + 0.1% ethionine to induce liver cancer and v) choline-deficient diet + ginger extract (100mg/kg body weight). Tissue samples obtained at eight weeks were fixed with formalin and embedded in paraffin wax, followed by immunohistochemistry staining for NFkappaB and TNF-alpha. RESULTS: The expression of NFkappaB was detected in the choline-deficient diet group, with 88.3 +/- 1.83% of samples showing positive staining, while in the choline-deficient diet supplemented with ginger group, the expression of NFkappaB was significantly reduced, to 32.35 +/- 1.34% (p<0.05). In the choline-deficient diet group, 83.3 +/- 4.52% of samples showed positive staining of TNF-alpha, which was significantly reduced to 7.94 +/- 1.32% (p<0.05) when treated with ginger. There was a significant correlation demonstrated between NFkappaB and TNF-alpha in the choline-deficient diet group but not in the choline-deficient diet treated with ginger extract group. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, ginger extract significantly reduced the elevated expression of NFkappaB and TNF-alpha in rats with liver cancer. Ginger may act as an anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory agent by inactivating NFkappaB through the suppression of the pro-inflammatory TNF-alpha.

Polyphenols are a group of chemical substances found in plants, characterized by the presence of more than one phenol unit or building block per molecule. With more than 8,000 members in this chemical class, many of which are found in high concentrations in wine, tea, nuts, berries, cocoa and various plants, red wine polyphenols have been implicated in conferring resistance to the formation of the amyloid plaques that are thought to be the cause of Alzheimer’s disease.

The researchers carried out some pretty fundamental analyses about how amyloid beta proteins – the building blocks of amyloid plaques – folded up and stacked together to produce the aggregates that are toxic to nerve cells. Then, they studied the effects of grape seed extract on this process. It was found that the polyphenols had a dual effect: the prevented the formation of the aggregates, and they decreased the toxicity of already-established aggregates when they were added to brain cells.

Human trials are next on the agenda for these research groups, and it’s hoped that administration of these compounds to AD sufferers might block the further development of amyloid plaques, thereby halting the disease, and in addition ameliorate their existing conditions.

This might be important news for those of you supplementing with chemically-pure resveratrol: There are potentially other beneficial, health-promoting components of red wine. So, don’t give up on your nightly glass!

Adapted from a Eurekalert! press release.

The article is reasonably technical, but I’ll summarize the results here:

Green tea polyphenol (GTP) supplementation in mice prevents photocarcinogenesis (i.e., skin cancer). I’ve not mentioned this before, so here’s a link to a review on the matter.

Salient points from above-mentioned review:

Extensive in vitro and in vivo studies have been conducted to determine the anti-UV carcinogenic effects of green tea. It has been found that the oral administration of GTPs (a mixture of polyphenolic components isolated from green tea) in the drinking water of mice results in significant protection against UV-induced skin carcinogenesis in terms of tumor incidence, tumor multiplicity and tumor size, compared to those mice that were not given GTPs in their drinking water.

The mice that were given crude water extracts of green tea as a sole source of drinking water developed a lesser number of tumors compared to those mice that were not given water extracts of green tea. The administration of GTPs in drinking water or the topical application of EGCG also induced partial regression or inhibition of the tumor growth of established skin papillomas in mice.

The researchers in this case showed that GTP supplementation in mice reduced the levels of inflammation markers cyclooxygenase-2, prostaglandin E2, proliferating cell nuclear antigen, and cyclin D1, and proinflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor-alpha, IL-6, and IL-1-beta. UVB-induced DNA damage was rapidly resolved in the GTP-supplemented mice compared with the wild type mice.

The major contribution of this study was that all these effects appear to be mediated through interleukin 12.

Personally, I have been supplementing with Now Foods EGCg Green Tea extract, available from bulknutrition.com. At 4 capsules per day, this is apparently equivalent to 12 cups of green tea. Hopefully this will keep me skin cancer free!

More than 3,000 participants aged more than 75 years and with normal cognition or mild cognitive impairment were given gingko biloba 120 mg twice daily or a placebo, and followed-up at 6-monthly intervals for a median period of 6.1 years.

The incidence of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease was slightly but insignificantly greater in the supplementation group, indicating that gingko biloba has no effect on the incidence of dementia.

A 2002 study in JAMA titled “Ginkgo for memory enhancement: a randomized controlled trial” also reported the lack of any significant effect on memory enhancement in a 60+ year olds.

The hypothesis, or perhaps ‘traditional knowledge’ behind this idea that gingko improves your mind I believe comes from its purported ability to improve peripheral circulation, particularly in the capillaries. The extension of this is that it would improve cerebral circulation too, allowing more oxygen and energy to the brain. The results seem to suggest otherwise, however.

In my experience, I felt that the first 2 or 3 times I took gingko biloba supplements, I felt an effect that could be interpreted as an increase in alertness, but with repeated dosing I felt nothing. Perhaps one quickly develops a tolerance to its effects, such that there is no point using it chronically.

Either way, it’s probably not worth wasting your money on.