por admin en Health, Juices
15 de July de 2009 01:21 am
To get more out of your next cup of tea, just add juice
A study found that citrus juices enable more of green tea’s unique antioxidants to remain after simulated digestion, making the pairing even healthier than previously thought.
The study compared the effect of various beverage additives on catechins, naturally occurring antioxidants found in tea. Results suggest that complementing green tea with either citrus juices or vitamin C likely increases the amount of catechins available for the body to absorb.
“Although these results are preliminary, I think it’s encouraging that a big part of the puzzle comes down to simple chemistry,” said Mario Ferruzzi, assistant professor of food science at Purdue University and the study’s lead author.
Catechins (pronounced KA’-teh-kins), display health-promoting qualities and may be responsible for some of green tea’s reported health benefits, like reduced risk of cancer, heart attack and stroke. The problem, Ferruzzi said, is that catechins are relatively unstable in non-acidic environments, such as the intestines, and less than 20 percent of the total remains after digestion.
“Off the bat you are eliminating a large majority of the catechins from plain green tea,” Ferruzzi said. “We have to address this fact if we want to improve bodily absorption.”
Ferruzzi tested juices, creamers and other additives that are either commonly added to fresh-brewed tea or used to make ready-to-drink tea products by putting them through a model simulating gastric and small-intestinal digestion. Citrus juice increased recovered catechin levels by more than five times, the study found. Ascorbic acid, or vitamin C, used to increase shelf life in ready-to-drink products, increased recovered levels of the two most abundant catechins by sixfold and 13-fold, respectively. Citrus juice, vitamin C give staying power to green tea antioxidants
por admin en Health, Juices
14 de July de 2009 01:17 am
There is some evidence that cranberry juice may decrease the number of occasions when people notice they have a urinary tract infection (UTI), a Cochrane Systematic Review has found. This is particularly the case for those who have recurrent UTIs.
UTIs are one of the most common reasons why people seek outpatient medical treatment, and lead to over one million hospital admissions a year in the USA alone. Cranberries, and particularly cranberry juice, have been used for decades as a means of preventing or treating UTIs. The mechanism of action is unsure. One theory is that molecules in the juice may make it harder for bacteria such as E. coli to stick to surfaces, and therefore make it difficult for an infection to build up.
A team of Cochrane Researchers set out to establish whether there was good evidence that cranberries were effective. They identified 10 studies that included a total of 1,049 participants. The trials compared various combinations of cranberry products, placebos and water.
They found some evidence that cranberry juice and capsules could prevent recurrent infections in women, although there was no evidence of benefit in elderly men or elderly women. In addition, cranberry juice had no benefit for people using catheters.
“It’s worth noting that many people in the trials stopped drinking the juice, suggesting that it may not suit everyone’s taste, or it may be too burdensome and costly to drink the two recommended glasses a day,” says lead researcher Ruth Jepson who works at the Department of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Stirling, UK.
“We now need to discover how much a person needs to drink, and how long it needs to be used before the juice starts to have an effect,” says Jepson.
por admin en Health, Juices
10 de July de 2009 01:11 am
Washington – The apples and apple juice you consume may have positive effects in one of the most unlikely places in the body – in the colon. New research has demonstrated that both apple pectin and polyphenol-rich apple juice components actually enhance biological mechanisms that produce anticarcinogenic compounds during the fermentation process.
Using human fecal matter as the test substance, German researchers Dr. Dieter Schrenk, M.D. and his colleagues hypothesized that the compound butyrate could be increased in the presence of apple pectin and apple juice extracts.
Butyrate has been suggested to be a chemopreventative metabolite that might prevent the occurrence of colorectal cancer, which is very common in Western industrialized countries. It is a short chain fatty acid which is seen as a major factor contributing to healthy colon mucosa. The research notes, “Butyrate not only serves as a major nutrient for the colon epithelia but is also thought to play an important role in the protective effect of natural fiber against colorectal cancer.”
So how do apple pectin and apple juice extracts play a role in increasing amounts of butyrate? The laboratory tests performed by Schrenk found that by the increased production of butyrate via the addition of apple components, histone deacetlyases (HDAC) were inhibited. Apple juice extracts shown to have anticarcinogenic effects on colon
por admin en Health, Juices
10 de July de 2009 01:07 am
Vienna, VA (May 2, 2008) – A new study shows that apples and apple juice are playing the same health league as the often-touted purple grapes and grape juice. The study was published in the April 2008 issue of Molecular Nutrition and Food Research.
Researcher Kelly Decorde from the Universite Montpelier in France was part of the European research team that found apples have similar cardiovascular protective properties to grapes. The researchers also observed that processing the fruit into juice has the potential to increase the bioavailability of the naturally-occurring compounds and antioxidants found in the whole fruit.
Using a variety of established analytical techniques, aortic plaque was evaluated to determine the effectiveness in decreasing plaque that is associated with atherosclerosis.
According to the research, “This study demonstrates that processing apples and purple grapes into juice modifies the protective effect of their phenolics against diet induced oxidative stress and early atherosclerosis in hypercholesterolemic hamsters.” Apple juice shown to prevent early atherosclerosis
por admin en Health, Juices
8 de July de 2009 01:53 am
Results help explain how cranberry juice can prevent urinary tract infections
Worcester, Mass. – For generations, people have consumed cranberry juice, convinced of its power to ward off urinary tract infections, though the exact mechanism of its action has not been well understood. A new study by researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) reveals that the juice changes the thermodynamic properties of bacteria in the urinary tract, creating an energy barrier that prevents the microorganisms from getting close enough to latch onto cells and initiate an infection.
The study, published in the journal Colloids and Surfaces: B, was conducted by Terri Camesano, associate professor of chemical engineering at WPI, and a team of graduate students, including PhD candidate Yatao Liu. They exposed two varieties of E. coli bacteria, one with hair-like projections known as fimbriae and one without, to different concentrations of cranberry juice. Fimbriae are present on a number of virulent bacteria, including those that cause urinary tract infections, and are believed to be used by bacteria to form strong bonds with cells.
For the fimbriaed bacteria, they found that even at low concentrations, cranberry juice altered two properties that serve as indicators of the ability of bacteria to attach to cells. The first factor is called Gibbs free energy of attachment, which is a measure of the amount of energy that must be expended before a bacterium can attach to a cell. Without cranberry juice, this value was a negative number, indicating that energy would be released and attachment was highly likely. With cranberry juice the number was positive and it grew steadily as the concentration of juice increased, making attachment to urinary tract cells increasingly unlikely.
Surface free energy also rose, suggesting that the presence of cranberry juice creates an energy barrier that repels the bacteria. The researchers also placed the bacteria and urinary tract cells together in solution. Without cranberry juice, the fimbriaed bacteria attached readily to the cells. As increasing concentrations of cranberry juice were added to the solution, fewer and fewer attachments were observed. Cranberry juice creates energy barrier that keeps bacteria away from cells
por admin en Health, Juices
6 de July de 2009 01:44 am
A Brazilian palm berry, popular health food though little research has been done on it, now may have its purported benefits better understood.
In the first research involving people, the acai (ah-sigh-EE) berry has proven its ability to be absorbed in the human body when consumed both as juice and pulp. That finding, by a team of Texas AgriLife Research scientists, was published in a recent issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Showing the berry’s absorption in humans is important because it is known to contain numerous antioxidants. The berry is heavily marketed in the U.S. as a health food.
The study involved 12 healthy volunteers who consumed a single serving of acai juice or pulp. Researchers believe the results point to the need for continued research on the berry which is commonly used in juices, beverages, smoothies, frozen treats and dietary supplements.
“Acai is naturally low in sugar, and the flavor is described as a mixture of red wine and chocolate,” said lead investigator Dr. Susanne Talcott, “so what more would you want from a fruit?”
Talcott, who also is assistant professor with the Texas A&M University’s nutrition and food science department, said that previous studies have shown the ability of the human body to absorb target antioxidants (from other produce), but “no one had really tested to see if acai antioxidants are absorbed in humans.” Brazilian acai berry antioxidants absorbed by human body when consumed both as juice and pulp
