Polyphenol-rich cranberry juice may boost heart health by alleviating arterial stiffness, says a new study from the Boston and Tufts Universities.

Double-strength cranberry containing 835 milligrams of total polyphenols and 94 mg of anthocyanins was associated with improvements in a measure of arterial stiffness called carotid femoral pulse wave velocity, according to findings published in theAmerican Journal of Clinical Nutrition. On the other hand, the Boston-based scientists report no benefits from cranberry juice consumption were observed for other measures of vascular or cardiovascular function, including blood pressure or brachial artery flow-mediated dilation, a measure of endothelial dysfunction since a low value is indicative of a blood vessel’s inability to relax. “We did observe a highly significant effect of cranberry juice on stiffness of the central aorta, which is increasingly recognized as an important measure of vascular function with relevance to cardiovascular disease,” wrote the researchers, led by Boston University’s Joe Vita, MD. “Overall, our results may provide further support for the American Heart Association recommendation that cardiovascular disease risk may be reduced by a diet rich in fruit and vegetables, including cranberries,” they added. Established and emerging health benefits Cranberry is most famous for its ability to fight urinary tract infections, something that has led to almost one third of parents in the US giving it to their children, according to a recent study. In 2004 France became the first country to approve a health claim for the North American cranberry species Vaccinium macrocarpon, which states that it can‘help reduce the adhesion of certain E.coli bacteria to the urinary tract walls’. Other health conditions that may benefit from cranberry include stomach health, with several reports indicating that the berry’s constituents may inhibit the adhesion of Helicobacter pylori in the stomach. H. pylori is the only bacteria that can survive in the acidic environment of the stomach and known to cause peptic ulcers and gastritis. In addition studies have suggested that proanthocyanidin-rich cranberry extracts may inhibit the growth and spread of human oesophageal adenocarcinoma (a cancer in glandular tissue), or may prevent colon cancer via an anti-inflammatory mechanism.

Study details The researchers performed two studies: The first was an acute pilot study with no placebo involving 15 participants; the second was a chronic placebo-controlled crossover study with 44 participants with coronary artery disease. In the acute, non-placebo controlled, pilot study, the researchers reported that cranberry juice (480 mL) was associated with improvements in both brachial artery flow-mediated dilation, from 7.7 percent before ingestion to 8.7 percent four hours after ingestion, as well as digital pulse amplitude tonometry ratio from to 0.10 to 0.23. However, in the placebo-controlled, cross-over study, no such changes were observed. Dr Vita and his researchers did record a reduction in carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity from 8.3 to 7.8 m/s. “We emphasize that the research beverage contained twice the amount of cranberry juice in commercially available cranberry juice and that the amount of anthocyanins consumed during the study greatly exceeded the average daily intake in the United States,” noted the researchers. “Additional studies will be needed to determine how cranberry juice reduces central aortic stiffness, but our finding of improved pulse wave velocity without a change in endothelial function may be consistent with an effect at the level of the arterial wall or a change in sympathetic tone,” they added. The study was funded by cranberry giant Ocean Spray and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Source: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Published online ahead of print, doi: 10.3945/ajcn.110.004242
“Effects of cranberry juice consumption on vascular function in patients with coronary artery disease”
Authors: M.M. Dohadwala, M. Holbrook, N.M. Hamburg, S.M. Shenouda, W.B. Chung, M. Titas, M.A. Kluge, N. Wang, J. Palmisano, P.E. Milbury, J.B. Blumberg, J.A. Vita

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In response to the current crisis resulting from the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan on March 11th, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Board of Directors is galvanizing the fashion industry’s participation in a “Fashion & Friends for Japan” fundraiser to benefit the victims of the natural disasters.

Kicking off on Tuesday, April 5th, the CFDA is hosting an online auction at luxury charity auction site charitybuzz.com. All proceeds will benefit the Japan Society’s Japan Earthquake Relief Fund, which will funnel 100% of the monies to front-line organizations in Japan assisting in the short and long-term recovery.

“The crisis in Japan is something that has affected us all and as a community and industry we felt a responsibility to act,” said Steven Kolb, Executive Director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. “This initiative hits very close to home as many members of the CFDA community have close business ties and partnerships in Japan and we view this is an extension of the work we accomplished in the “Fashion for Haiti” initiative. The response we have received has been overwhelming and we continue to encourage donations and support.”

Motoatsu Sakurai, Japan Society President responded, “We are humbled by the generosity of CFDA members’ donations. We thank you for your support and for raising awareness of Japan in a time of crisis.”

Through an outpouring of support from the fashion community, the CFDA has already secured over 100 donations for the “Fashion & Friends for Japan” initiative. A sampling of the donations received include:

• Bid on a chance to meet Vogue Editor in Chief Anna Wintour and attend a photo shoot for the magazine
• One full week’s stay at the private home of Diane von Furstenberg in the Bahamas
• Ralph Lauren’s Paris – Two Round Trip Business Class Tickets from NYC to Paris, two nights at the Bristol Hotel in a deluxe room, dinner for two at Ralph’s, the quintessential American restaurant in Paris, a 1,000 euro shopping experience at the Ralph Lauren store on St. Germain, and two tickets to visit “The Art of the Automobile: Masterpieces of the Ralph Lauren Collection,” an exclusive exhibit of Mr. Lauren’s vintage automobiles featured at the Musée des Arts décoratifs.
• Live like a Vanity Fair writer for a day—minus the torture of actually reporting and writing. The winning bidder will take a tour of the Vanity Fair offices, have lunch with one of the editors, sit in on a meeting in Graydon Carter’s office, and then finish off the day with a dinner for four at Mr. Carter’s restaurant, The Monkey Bar.
• Morning, Noon & Night with Tory Burch – Morning: $3,000 shopping spree at Tory Burch with a personal stylist; Noon: Lunch with Tory and the design team;
  Night: 2 tickets and backstage passes to Jay-Z and Kanye West’s concert
• Lunch and style consultation with celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe, includes a tour of her offices and additional styling tips from her team
• Go behind the scenes with The Hilfigers at the Spring 2012 Tommy Hilfiger ad campaign shoot. Get prepped out in a full Tommy Hilfiger look at the brand’s Fifth Avenue store before having your photograph taken with the Hilfigers.
• A meet and greet with The Row designers Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen plus an entire wardrobe of Elizabeth and James and The Row Collections
• Two tickets to the Elton John Oscar’s Party
• The opportunity to intern for a day at Elle Magazine along with a personal fashion consultation with Elle Creative Director Joe Zee
• Have a Barbie custom made by Mattel in your likeness, valued at over $10,000
• Courtesy of DKNY, enjoy a “VIP” experience at Yankee Stadium for four guests. Experience includes a private tour of Monument Park followed by watching the Yankees’ batting practice from the field, followed by a meet and greet with Yankees Manager Joe Girardi. Afterwards, watch the Yankees take on the Tampa Bay Rays on July 9th, 2011, from four front row Legends Suite seats
• A lunch and style consultation with TV Personality and Project Runway Judge Tim Gunn
• Two tickets to the Vera Wang Spring Summer 2012 Fashion Show followed by a meet and greet with the designer and a $2000 shopping spree at the Vera Wang flagship store
• The opportunity to personalize a PS1 ‘it’ bag with Proenza Schouler designers Jack McCullough and Lazaro Hernandez
• A “Made to Measure Experience” custom suit and fitting from designer Tom Ford
• Eight tickets to the Metropolitan Opera and dinner with Lincoln Center President Reynold Levy
• Two tickets to a live filming of “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen” along with private cocktails with host Andy Cohen following the filming
• And many, many more……….

The initiative will move forward with the support of the entire fashion industry and will be an ongoing effort. There is no current deadline for donation submissions and the CFDA encourages all members of the fashion community to continue to submit their donations and support.

To make a donation or to request more information about how you can make a contribution to the initiative please contact japan@cfda.com. For a full list of auction items, visit www.charitybuzz.com/FashionandFriendsforJapan.

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L to R: Nick Rouse, Liz Mandeville, Miles Jenner (Harveys), Howard Johns, Dirk Campbell, Hamish Elder (Harveys), Chris Rowland. Credit: Tony Smedley.

Whether it is one guy convincing 100 neighbors to go solar, or a cooperative of community-owned wind power, “power to the people” takes on a whole new meaning when it comes to distributed ownership of renewable energy. Now Rob Hopkins of Transition Culture reports that a group of residents in Lewes, England, are banding together to fund the installation of 544 solar panels on the roof of their local brewery to create a community-owned power station. They just have a race against the clock to beat Government u-turns on the solar subsidies that make it viable:

The 544 solar PV panels will generate 92 kilowatts peak, an estimated 98,000 kilowatt hours per year. If the installation is completed by August 1st this year, all the power generated will qualify for the top rate feed-in tariff 3 of 34p per kilowatt hour, ensuring returns to investors of 4% per annum over the 25 years of the scheme. Unfortunately two blows have recently fallen since the scheme was first planned: Climate Change Minister Greg Barker has decided to cut the tariff above 50 kilowatts to 19p as of August 1st, and George Osborne has decided to remove EIS tax relief from FIT businesses. [...] Despite these setbacks Ovesco will go all out to complete the installation by early July.

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If your wallet isn’t agreeing with everyday beauty budgets, start searching your kitchen cabinets because you can find ingredients to create fresh, homemade, and even organic beauty solutions! Their more effective and cheaper then those expensive drugstore products and your skin and hair will thank you later! Do you have any natural beauty tips? If so, leave me a comment below

For Brilliant hair
- To mend split ends rub olive oil into the ends of hair. Leave in for 30 minutes and then shampoo as usual. The oil nourishes hair and adds moisture.

- To add brightness and a shiny gloss to hair, Julia March, owner and specialist at Julia March Skincare, recommends combining 2-3 tablespoons of raw apple cider vinegar with a cup of water. Use this mixture after shampooing, and be sure to rinse to avoid a lingering vinegar aroma!

- Done with that beer? Put it aside for the shower. After shampooing, rinse wet hair with a tepid beer for added volume and shine.

For a radiant face
- Problem skin? March suggests letting the face absorb the vapors from a steaming pot of 3 tablespoons of raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar combined with a quart of filtered water. Raw apple cider vinegar can also be used as a tonic for oily skin when mixed with distilled water at a 1:1 ratio (not steamed).

- To combat puffy eyes, apply used black teabags to the swollen area.

- If slightly sunburned, apply cucumber slices to the face. Dry skin will draw moisture from the slices, in addition to being nourished by the many vitamins in cucumbers.

- For hydration and a radiant glow, March recommends applying a facial mask of raw honey and plain, full fat yogurt for 15- 20 minutes. The fats in the dairy and honey will moisturize and nourish the skin.

For smooth skin
- To exfoliate the body effectively and inexpensively, create a DIY body scrub with olive oil and sea salt. Pay special attention to rough areas like elbows, knees and feet. March notes that a few drops of lavender extract add a nice and soothing scent to this homemade concoction.

- All out of bath foam and in need of a luxurious bath? Adding a quart of full cream milk to bath water will help restore and calm skin’s lipids while milk proteins help maintain skin’s elasticity.

- For hard and white nails, spoil fingers with a lemon bath. Dip nails into one half of a lemon and turn them, squeezing out the juice. Let them soak for a minute.

For whiter teeth
- As a cheap alternative to whitening teeth, mix a teaspoon of baking soda and a pinch of salt with a small glass of water until mixture is paste-like. Brush teeth as usual and rinse well. It is proven that baking soda will help lighten stains, but be careful not to use too often. Once every two weeks should be enough, as baking soda can be abrasive and erode tooth enamel.

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Microsoft Xbox console gets a wooden shape. Famous sculptor Ben Winfield has carved out an enchanting Xbox console and its controller in timber. It looks incredible to see the famous gaming console designed completely using wood. The wooden Xbox console and its controller highlight every physical feature the original devices have; the exact shape and buttons, but the color is different.

But, the wooden Xbox won’t power on and play your favorite games. However, the console itself gives fantastic pleasure for our eyes since it is built completely from woods. The wooden Xbox console and its controller are two separate creations right now. They are not attached. Maybe, Ben will certainly be using a twine to connect the Xbox console with its controller.

The wooden Xbox console shows up Xbox logo, power and eject buttons. Controller of Xbox is also a nice design with all features of the real device. Ben Winfield has modeled the shape of an original Microsoft Xbox device to from the gaming console from timber, instead of the famous Xbox 360 or Xbox 360 Slim.

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March 31, 2011 – Bic, the French manufacturer of pens and cigarette lighters, is using recycled polystyrene from old refrigerators to produce a new line of sustainable pencils, according to Waste & Recycling News.

The polystyrene used to make the “Ecolution” pencils is recycled by Axion Polymers in the UK. In its finished form, the pencil can be sharpened in a typical pencil sharpener and is said to have the same feel as cedar—the wood generally used to make pencils.

Because cedar is such a slow-growing tree, it is not a sustainable material for such a short-lived consumer product, Axion director Keith Freegard said.

“Furthermore, the traditional manufacturing process to produce a graphite-leaded, wooden pencil is slow and involves high levels of wood waste,” he said.

Axion said the polystyrene in a single refrigerator can be used to make about 640 pencils, saving 2,300 metric tons of carbond dioxide emissions in the process.

The recycler worked with Ineos Styrenics to develop the recycling process for Bic. Bic has yet to unveil the new product, which will be marketed to environmentally-conscious consumers.

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Libyan women protesters carry the effigy of Moammar Gadhafi as they shout slogans during a demonstration in Benghazi, Libya, Thursday, March 31, 2011 (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

A key Libyan official involved in negotiations on the future of Moammar Gadhafi’s regime said Friday that Tripoli was attempting to hold talks with the U.S., Britain and France to find a mutual end to the crisis.

Abdul-Ati al-Obeidi, a former Libyan prime minister, said Gadhafi’s government was reaching out to those leading the international military campaign in an attempt to halt air strikes against regime targets which began March 19. The claim follows confirmation that a Libyan government aide has held talks in Britain with U.K. officials in recent days.

“We are trying to talk to the British, the French and the Americans to stop the killing of people. We are trying to find a mutual solution,” al-Obeidi told Britain’s Channel 4 News, speaking in Tripoli.

Meanwhile, rebel leaders pressed for a cease-fire on the condition that troops loyal to Gadhafi be pulled from contested cities.

Despite losing ground in the last few days, largely due to a lack of U.N. air support because of weather, outside military observers claim the rebel forces are beginning to become more organized. The rebels were also moving Friday to generate sales of oil from captured production facilities.

Al-Obeidi was involved last month in Gadhafi-sanctioned negotiations with the African Union.

British Prime Minister David Cameron’s spokesman, Steve Field, said the U.K. has been in contact with a number of Libyan officials over recent weeks, though he declined to give specific details.

“We are sending them all one very clear message, which is that Gadhafi must go,” he told reporters.

Mohammed Ismail, a senior aide to Gadhafi’s son, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, has met with and also spoken by phone to British officials, who repeated to him their public calls for the Libyan leader to step down.

Two people familiar with the matter, who both demanded anonymity to discuss details, said Ismail had been in Britain to visit relatives, and that, when officials became aware of this, they took the opportunity to hold talks.

Field insisted that Britain had not been involved in negotiating any possible trade-offs aimed at sealing Gadhafi’s exit from power. “There are no deals,” he said.

At an undisclosed location, thought to be in southern England, officials continued Friday to debrief Libya’s ex-foreign minister, Moussa Koussa, who fled Tripoli and flew to England on Wednesday.

Koussa, 62, is the highest ranking member of Gadhafi’s regime to quit so far and had been a longtime aide throughout the tyrant’s 42-year rule.

David Solomont, the U.S. ambassador in Spain, said Gadhafi supporters appeared to be losing confidence in the likelihood he will cling to power. “I think he is becoming increasingly more isolated in his own country,” Solomont told reporters in Madrid on Friday.

A second senior Libyan official, Ali Abdessalam Treki — Libya’s former envoy to the U.N. and also a former foreign minister — announced that he had quit Thursday.

But in a telephone interview Friday with Libyan state TV, the country’s current intelligence chief, Bouzeid Dorda, denied Treki had defected.

Scottish prosecutors are planning to interview Koussa over the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people — most of them Americans. Libya acknowledged responsibility for the terrorist attack in 2003, and authorities in Scotland believe Koussa may hold vital information on who ordered to plot.

Six Libyans, including a brother-in-law of Gadhafi, were convicted in absentia for their roles in the bombing, and Libya agreed to pay $170 million in compensation, though stopped short of acknowledging responsibility.

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April 5, 2011 – Clif Bar & Company is celebrating the 10 -year anniversary of its commitment to sustainability this month. In April 2001, the company was struggling and deeply in debt after deciding to remain solar. Cliff Bar says the decision to “go green” is what got them out of debt at a time when many thought the company would fail.

Starting with a focus on food and agriculture, that environmental commitment grew into a larger business model that moves beyond a triple bottom line to encompass Five Aspirations: Sustaining its Business, its Brands, its People, its Community and the Planet.

In the past 10 years, Clif Bar & Company introduced the first energy bar with organic ingredients (2003), offset its historic carbon footprint (2007), and installed the largest “smart” solar array in North America on its new headquarters (2011). It was also one of the first companies to hire an ecologist ten years ago.

“We hope others can learn from our experience, that bringing sustainability into all parts of the business does not need to be predicated on profitability,” said Gary Erickson, Clif Bar & Company founder and co-CEO. “Even amid tough times, we had a bigger vision for the kind of company we wanted to be and the impact we wanted to have on the world around us.”

In 2003, the company’s flagship product–CLIF BAR–was the first energy bar at retail stores that was USDA certified “Made with Organic.” To date, the company has purchased more than 170 million pounds of organic ingredients, supporting organic farmers across the globe.

“The foundation of our journey toward sustainability was our commitment to organic food and farming,” said Elysa Hammond, Clif Bar & Company’s staff ecologist, and now Director of Environmental Stewardship. “Agriculture has one of the biggest environmental impacts on the planet, profoundly affecting water, wildlife, climate and people’s health on a daily basis.”

By raising crops without the use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, organic farming conserves biodiversity, reduces our dependence on fossil fuels, and fights global warming by storing carbon in the soil instead of releasing it into the atmosphere.

In 2010 alone, Clif Bar & Company purchased more than 40 million pounds of organic ingredients–a 25% jump over 2009. That increase outpaces the growth in overall organic food sales by a ratio of 5-to-1.1

Since 2002 Clif Bar & Company has taken big steps to reduce its climate footprint. In partnership with NativeEnergy, a leading offset provider, Clif Bar & Company has helped build new wind farms that supply renewable energy while generating social benefits for communities in need. By 2007 the company had offset its entire historical carbon footprint, dating back to its founding in 1992.

By the middle of this year, Clif Bar & Company expects to generate nearly all of the power for its new headquarters from solar energy. The company is installing what it says is the largest “smart” solar array in North America—optimized to increase output and reduce costs.

“Our vision has always been to do business in a different way,” said Kit Crawford, co-CEO of Clif Bar & Company. “Those initial steps we took a decade ago grew out of our employees’ insatiable community spirit and passion. While we’re not completely there yet, we’re well on our way to doing business in a way that supports long-term sustainability for our business, our brands, our people, our community and the planet.”

Recently Clif Bar & Company was ranked the No. 1 brand in the Forbes Breakaway Brands survey, conducted by Landor Associates using Young & Rubicam’s BrandAsset Valuator database measuring brand momentum from 2006 to 2009.

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Ushering in a new generation of partially compostable cars, Ecovative has teamed up with Ford to use their mushroom-based foam as a key component in bumpers, side doors, and dashboards. The best part is that the material will decompose just one month after being buried. Gavin McIntyre and Eben Bayer discovered that mycelia (mushroom roots) are a natural binding agent that can be combined with agricultural products such as corn and oat husks to make an incredibly durable material that can replace styrofoam and polystyrene in practically every application. Several companies from a number of industries are looking to the Green Island, NY-based startup to cook up alternative materials for their products as well — so we can finally leave polystyrene and styrofoam in our earth-loving dust.

Ecovative combines mushroom roots with corn or oat husks in trays of various sizes. These are then left to fester and furl in a dark warehouse for five days, after which the mix emerges glued together. This is then cooked and fried, and voila! a new packaging material is born. Not only is the new product biodegradable, but it is also fire and waterproof, making it an excellent substitute for polystyrene and styrofoam – the bane of every environmentalist’s existence.

The head of Ford’s plastic research department Deborah Mielewski became interested in the product, as that company hopes to replace 30 pounds of each car’s petroleum-based foams with more environmentally sensible alternatives. It turns out that Ecovative’s mushroom foam is every bit as affordable as polystyrene and styrofoam, uses very little energy, and reuses what would otherwise be agricultural waste.

The company, which has approximately 30 employees, has received a total of $4 million in grants and other funding to buoy their research and development initiatives. Other potential applications for their products include cosmetics and computer parts; a wine distributor has even solicited their genius – but we’re not allowed to know why just yet. There is a caveat: Ecovative has to overcome the challenge of maintaining a consistent density with a raw material that is a living organism, but a lot of people believe that they are going to make it work.

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The winner of this year’s Brit Insurance Design Award is British designer Samuel Wilkinson along with Hulger, a product design company. The designer has conceived Plumen light bulb that could light up your space with its sleek and trendy looks. This eye appealing product will brighten up your dwellings sans any additions to the electricity bill because of its low energy consumption. These unique twisted compact fluorescent bulbs consume 80% less energy and lasts 8 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

 

The bulb will dangle from the roof giving illuminating homes and offices a whole new meaning. The ‘Pulmen’ emerged as a clear winner among 90 participants.

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