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CANCER MAY BE PREVENTED -- Most people think of cancer as something that is impossible to prevent, but that is not necessarily true, says a new report by the American Institute for Cancer Research. About 30 to 40 percent of cancer cases are directly related to choices we make about eating and exercising. A worldwide panel of experts reviewed more than 4,500 studies and found that while environmental factors play a small role in cancer risk, they are dramatically overshadowed by lifestyle choices. Lack of exercise, obesity, and smoking, for example, are much more likely to cause cancer than pollution, radiation, or asbestos. A susceptibility to cancer can be inherited, but most inherited traits would not cause cancer without self-destructive behavior. A study of 44,000 pairs of identical twins in Sweden, Finland, and Denmark found that genetics played a minor part in cancer risk; it is common for one twin, for example, to develop breast cancer while the other does not. Another recent study found that women who gain more than 38 pounds during pregnancy had a greatly increased risk of developing breast cancer after menopause.

FYI -- Watching television while you work out could distract you from the task at hand. Women who watched TV while they exercised on stationary bicycles expended at least 5% less energy than when they worked out in quiet, one study found.

HIGH RISK BEHAVIOR -- Smokers were 2-1/2 times more likely to develop pancreatic cancer than nonsmokers, one study found. But their risk dropped 48% two years after they quit smoking and it was equal to nonsmokers' 10 years after they stopped.

THE DARK SIDE OF CHOCOLATE -- Chocolate may trigger nightmares in people with a sleep disorder, say researchers. One in 200 people, mostly men, suffer form a condition called rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD), which causes them to act out violent nightmares. Normal sleepers are paralyzed when they are dreaming, but RBD sufferers thrash about, punching and kicking. Robert Vorona of the Sentara Norfolk Hospital first noticed the chocolate link in one of his patients. Although he had successfully treated the man with a sedative, his symptoms returned whenever he ate chocolate cookies, ice cream, or syrup before bed, he tells the journal "Sleep Medicine." He suggests that chocolate blocks the brain process that paralyzes dreaming sleepers. Normal sleepers should not worry. There is no cause for panic or to stop eating good chocolate.

MUSCLES IN A PILL -- Exercise may soon come in a pill. Researchers at Duke University and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas have found the enzyme responsible for making muscle cells stronger after exercise. This finding could eventually enable scientists to develop a pill that would allow people to pump up their muscles without hitting the gym. "This opens the doors to drug discovery," study leader R. Sanders Williams of Duke tells "New Scientist." He worries, however, that it could "become a drug of abuse because it would enhance the performance of athletes." But such a drug would benefit not only the competitor and the couch potato, it could improve the health of chronically ill people incapable of exertion. Patients with heart and lung disease would benefit, as would those at risk for type-II diabetes.

HOME REMEDIES FOR INSECT STINGS -- Here are several home remedies to take the sting out of insect bites: Use an ointment containing the herb comfrey as a soothing salve. Ant bites and bee stings are acidic in nature; use a paste of baking soda and very cold water. Wasp venom is on the alkaline side; rub some onion juice or vinegar on the bite. Use a wet tea bag (black tea is best) as a poultice; the tannic acid in tea helps reduce swelling. Meat tenderizers applied as a paste draw out the venom. Lastly, put a slice of cucumber over the area, this is especially effective for ant bites.

WARNING FROM THE CDC -- Pretty imported ceramic dishes sometimes contain harmful amounts of lead in their glaze. But imported candy full of lead? That is what experts from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found when investigating a report of lead poisoning in California. The candied jams, bought as gifts in Mexico, contained up to 36 micrograms of lead. Experts recommend a maximum exposure of no more than 6 micrograms of lead per day. The lead may have contaminated the candy from a storage container or during the manufacturing process.

FYI -- A natural way to degrease and freshen your in-sink garbage disposal is to drop three or more ice cubes and two slices of fresh citrus peel down into the unit - then let the disposal run for about 10 seconds.

HOMEMADE ICE PACK -- Fill a quart-size zip-lock freezer bag with one cup of rubbing alcohol and two cups of water. Add a few drops of blue food coloring if you like and store in the freezer. The mixture will not freeze solid and it will be easy to shape around sore elbows or knees.

BREAD AND MYOPIA LINK? -- Eating too much bread as a kid could make you short-sighted, suggest new research in the journal "Acta Opthalmogica Scandinavia." Diets high in refined starches such as white bread and sugary cereals raise insulin levels. These surges in insulin affect the development of the eyeball, making it abnormally long and causing myopia, say researchers at Colorado State University in Fort Collins and the University of Sydney. If this is true, it could explain why myopia in developed countries has increased to dramatically over the past 200 years, as our diets have included more and more processed foods. Scientists have previously found that overweight people and people with adult-onset diabetes are more likely to be myopic because of their increased insulin levels. About a third of the population suffers from shortsightedness.

ST. JOHN'S WORT STUDY -- A German study published in 200 compared depressed patients taking St. John's Wort extract to those taking imipramine or placebo. Over the course of eight weeks, the depressive symptoms of 74% of the people taking St. John's Wort and 71% of those taking imipramine improved, compared to only half of those receiving placebo. However, the dosage of imipramine was fairly low.

SPICE UP YOUR HEALTH -- Season your food with therapeutic herbs that please the palate while powering up your health. Garlic: Treats asthma, elevated blood lipid levels, candida, colds, coughs, diabetes, hypertension, influenza, and intestinal parasites; serves as an antibacterial and antifungal. In cooking, it blends well with grains, beans, pasta, cheese, chicken, meat, fish, bread and vegetables; cooking subdues and sweetens the flavors of foods. Peppermint: Helps colic, fatigue, fever, flatulence, flu, gastrointestinal troubles, gallbladder problems, halitosis, headache, morning sickness and nausea; serves as an analgesic, antimicrobial, antiparasitic and digestive aid. When cooking add to yogurt, fruit salad, ice cubes and teas; can also cook into a jelly to glaze roast lamb or chop fresh mint and sprinkle over new potatoes, beans, peas and carrots.

LOWERING THE RISK OF ALZHEIMER'S -- The cholesterol-lowering drugs known as "statins" could lower your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, say doctors at the Boston University School of Medicine. Statins decrease levels of low-density lipoproteins, called the "bad" cholesterol, by blocking the action of an enzyme the body needs to make those compounds. Neurologist Robert C. Green, M.D., and his associates studied nearly 2,600 people from more than 800 families over 6 years and found that individuals who took statins had a 79 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease than people who did not take those drugs or who took other types of cholesterol-lowering agents. The results were adjusted for age, sex, and educational level, as well as history of heart disease, stroke, or diabetes. According to Dr. Green, this study is the largest of its kind to be conducted in the United States, and the first to include African-American families. The study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN).

GREEN TEA MAY PROTECT AGAINST PARKINSON'S -- Also at the AAN meeting, researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston reported that polyphenol, a potent antioxidant found in green tea, may lower the risk of Parkinson's disease by blocking the ability of certain nerve cells in the brain to absorb environmental toxins. The hallmark of Parkinson's disease is the loss of cells that produce dopamine, a chemical that helps cells in the brain communicate with one another. Tian-Hong Pan, M.D., and his colleagues found that polyphenol protects against the destruction of these brain cells produced by an experimental nerve cell toxin called MPP+. Polyphenol has also been shown to have protective effects against other diseases, including some cancers and certain forms of heart disease. Dr. Pan says the next step is to test the effect of polyphenol in clinical trials.

FAITH MAY BE HEALING -- Church attendance and a longer, healthier life go hand-in-hand, according to a study of 6,545 Californians. Weekly church goers had significantly lower risk of death than did those who went to services less frequently or not at all, said researchers from the Human Population Laboratories of the Public Health Institute, the California Department of Health Services and the University of California, Berkeley. "We found this difference even after adjusting for factors such as social connections and health behaviors, including smoking and exercising," said Doug Oman of U. C. Berkeley, lead author of the study reported in the "International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine." "The fact that the risk of death by several different causes is lower for those who attend religious services every week suggests that we should look to some psychological factor for answers. Maybe frequent attendees experience a greater sense of inner peace, perhaps because they can draw upon religious coping practices to help them deal with stressful events." The scientists found those who attended religious services less than once a week or never had a 21 percent greater overall risk of dying and a 21 percent greater risk of dying from circulatory diseases. Oman said the study adds to a growing body of evidence that religious practices are generally linked to better health.

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FEATURED MINI-ARTICLE

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Gingko biloba extract (GBE) with its remarkable brain protecting activity deserves further mention. Gingko trees are one of the planet's longest living organisms, individual trees living as long as a thousand years. Medicinal use of a tea made from the leaves of this tree for elderly people with memory loss dates back at least 5,000 years in China.

Besides the previously mentioned antioxidant flavones contained in GBE, unique terpene lactones known as ginkgolides and bilobalide, typically make up 6% of standardized extracts. They are associated with increased circulation to the brain and other parts of the body and also exert a protective action on nerve cells. Ginkgolides may improve circulation and inhibit platelet-activating factor (PAF). Bilobalide protects the cells of the nervous system. Recent animal studies indicate that bilobalide may help regenerate damaged nerve cells.

One of the primary neuroprotective actions of gingkolides is their ability to inhibit a substance known as platelet-activating factor (PAF). PAF is a potent mediator released by certain inflammatory cells that causes platelets to clump together. Higher levels of PAF are associated with damage to nerve cells, sluggish blood flow to the central nervous system, bronchial constriction, and inflammatory conditions in general.

Much like free radicals, higher PAF levels are also associated with aging. Gingkolides and bilobalide protect nerve cells in the central nervous system from damage during periods of ischemia (loss of blood flow and oxygen deprivation). This action may be supportive for persons who have suffered a stroke, and may protect brain cells in the event of a stroke.

While not a primary treatment for depression, research suggests that GBE may be useful for elderly persons not responding adequately to standard antidepressant drugs, a condition described as "resistant" depression. One double-blind study in Germany found that elderly depressed people with mild dementia, who were not responding to antidepressant medications, responded well to GBE supplementation.

Interestingly, Ginkgo Biloba Extract may also reduce the side effects experienced by some elderly persons taking antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as fluoxetine (Prozac) or sertraline (Zoloft). One open-label study found that a relatively high dose (200-240 mg of GBE daily) was effective in alleviating sexual side-effects in both men and women taking SSRIs.

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HEALTHY RECIPE-OF-THE-MONTH