Researchers at Louisiana State University looked at the impact on insulin resistance from adding blueberry compounds to the diet of obese patients beginning to have detectable problems with blood sugar control. What they found was that for these patients who were insulin resistant but not yet diabetic, their insulin sensitivity improved overall. Unfortunately, they didn’t see significant changes in body fat, energy intake, and inflammatory biomarkers. They didn’t use whole blueberries but instead used a daily dietary supplement powder with bioactive compounds from whole blueberries added to smoothies.

Looking at vascular disease, researchers at the USDA in Arkansas looked at the impact on plaques that form in atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). They supplemented the diets of mice particularly susceptible to this vessel disease with blueberry powder. What they found was that the size of vascular plaques in mice who got the blueberry powder was between 39 and 58 percent less than that of lesions in mice whose diet did not contain blueberry powder.

Both of these are big news for little berries. While supplements containing just resveretrol are out there, it’s not enough to presume that the dark juiciness of blueberries just yields that handy compound. The other compounds in blueberries are at least as important for tempering the diseases can plague an aging body. All the more reason to give raw fruits and vegetables a prominent place in your diet.

Reported in the September issue of the European Journal of Cancer, researchers at the University of Manchester in the UK used statistical models to predict the future of cancer rates in Europe. They also looked at something else: How would cancer rates change if Europeans changed their behaviors relative to weight and exercise?

Dr. Andrew Renehan and his colleagues used the Netherlands as their ideal of exercise and weight control as the population their is amongst most active, largely because walking and cycling are common means of transportation, and still you can find many places with sports halls where people also practice sports like basketball, as installing sports hall flooring is not that difficult with the right services to cities can have these commodities.

“We know that large numbers of colon cancer cases could be avoided by reducing exposure to risk factors,” Dr. Renehan. “And 2 of the most easily controllable risk factors are physical inactivity and excess weight, he added.”

What Dr. Renehan and his collegues found was overall, 17.5% of new colon cancer cases could be prevented by 2040, with the most benefit in Spanish women (in whom 21% of new colon cancer cases could be prevented). That’s a pretty significant risk reduction for what are the most readily modifiable risk factors for colon cancer.

The weight control in this optimistic prediction is aggressive, using a mean BMI of 21 which is well below where the vast majority of even healthy and active people live. Even with this in mind, the idea that nearly 1 in 5 cases of colon cancer could be prevented with weight control and exercise is a big deal.

The theory behind how exercise works to improve mood centers around endorphins, “feel-good” chemicals made by the brain. Working out increases endorphin levels, which improves mood and gives some people a “runner’s high.” Research back in 2007 suggested that yoga might not have a large an impact on endorphin levels, but did effect levels of something called GABA, or gamma-Aminobutyric acid, a neurotransmitter. Low GABA levels aren’t just associated with depression, but also with anxiety.

Now those researchers are back with a new, bigger study. The results? Yoga did improve GABA levels. More importantly, test subjects doing 3 hours of yoga a week “reported lower levels of anxiety and increases in their mood” than control subjects who walked 3 hours a week. This was true even though the yoga group burned fewer calories and did not get their heart rates into what most people consider the aerobic exercise “zone” of 65-85% of maximum estimated heart rate. However, they did confirm that yoga resulted in improved strength, flexibility, and balance.

The bottom line is that yoga can lighten you up in addition to making you stronger and more flexible.

Her Take: If your doctor has recommended exercise to help improve your mental health, don’t neglect flexibility! A bit of yoga can be helpful in addition to cardio exercise such as trampoline jumping for which you will like to click here, particularly if you suffer from anxiety.

The doctors behind this idea claim that most statins can easily counteract the fat found in “a quarter pounder with cheese and a small milkshake,” although they do concede that it would have almost no impact on someone who only eats such a meal once a year. Their target is the person who eats a fast food meal most days. They also claim that this additional “condiment” wouldn’t cost any more than a packet of ketchup.

It’s worth pointing out that “Representatives from Merck, which manufactures Lipitor, and Pfizer, maker of Zocor, declined to comment on the idea.” They stand to make a lot of money if such an idea is implemented, yet they remain silent. Even many doctors criticize the idea, saying things like:

Let’s get real; we should be encouraging healthy lifestyles, not pill popping. This is an unwelcome addition to the ‘pill for every ill’ attitude that’s already much too common. The danger of this research is that some people will become even more complacent about eating fatty food and high calorie food, and might even increase their intake of them.

Or this:

“The suggestion that the harmful effects of a junk food meal might be erased by taking a cholesterol-lowering statin tablet should not be taken literally. Statins are a vital medicine for people with, or at high risk of developing, heart disease. They are not a magic bullet.”

Statins may have a low risk of side effects, but there are side effects and drug interactions to consider. In fact, some research suggests that even doctors underestimate the side effects their patients experience. Moreover, a recent metastudy shows that statins do not reduce the risk of death by heart disease, leading others to join the chorus suggesting that statins are over-prescribed in the United States. Another problem to consider is that some people may overdose on these proposed free statins, either because they take it in addition to their prescription or because they are eating multiple fast food meals daily.

Her take: This was an ill-conceived idea that should have been published on April Fools Day, if at all. I have no idea how this made it’s way into the pages of the American Journal of Cardiology, a generally respected peer reviewed journal. Not even the makers of statins are willing to stand behind this ludicrous idea.

From the abstract of the research paper (emphasis added):

Traditionally, glucose and fructose have been considered as interchangeable monosaccharide substrates that are similarly metabolized, and little attention has been given to sugars other than glucose. However, fructose intake has increased dramatically in recent decades and cellular uptake of glucose and fructose uses distinct transporters. Here, we report that fructose provides an alternative substrate to induce pancreatic cancer cell proliferation. Importantly, fructose and glucose metabolism are quite different; in comparison with glucose, fructose induces thiamine-dependent transketolase flux and is preferentially metabolized via the nonoxidative pentose phosphate pathway to synthesize nucleic acids and increase uric acid production. These findings show that cancer cells can readily metabolize fructose to increase proliferation.

In short, the human body does absolutely treat glucose and fructose differently, and cancer cells — at least pancreatic cancer cells — like fructose better than glucose. Fructose makes cancers grow faster. This is such big news that even some political sites are picking it up, some suggesting that those with cancer or a cancer risk should probably avoid HFCS. In truth, based on the research, cancer patients might be well advised to avoid added sugars in general and perhaps even limit fruit intake in favor of vegetables.

It is true that HFCS is not pure fructose. It’s also true that table sugar, honey, and even fruit contain fructose in addition to glucose — just less fructose that HFCS. However, it is also true that for the typical American on an average “western diet,” the overwhelming majority of the fructose likely to be consumed is in the form of HFCS. It’s in your soft drinks, in your cheap plastic wrapped pastries, in your afternoon pick-me-up candy bar. Corn syrup is even in places you wouldn’t expect it, like pre-made pasta sauce.

Her take: While the study points out that “fructose intake has increased dramatically in recent decades” in the United States, it does not go the one step further to ponder whether this increase might have something to do with the obesity epidemic that has risen at the same time.