Curiously Awesome

Junk food seems to be almost as addictive as heroin, according to a recent study.

Researchers fed rats one of three different diets: a nutritious diet, a healthy diet with no access to junk food, and a diet of unlimited junk food. Rats in the third group quickly became overweight and the weights of rats in the first two groups did not change.

To test the effects of junk food on the brain’s pleasure centers, the researchers stimulated those areas whenever the rats ran on an exercise wheel. The longer the rat ran, the more pleasure it would get.

Rats in the first two groups did not change their exercise behavior. However, the rats eating junk food began running on the wheel longer. This suggests that their brain’s pleasure centers were desensitized.

Researchers then began shocking the rats painfully whenever they ate junk food. The rats in the first two groups quickly stopped eating the junk food but the third group rats continued with the junk food.

Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness.

As glaucoma progresses, damage to the optic nerve increases and vision deteriorates until there’s only tunnel vision and then no vision at all. Treatment may slow the deterioration, but there’s no cure.

New research suggests drinking green tea regularly may prevent glaucoma.

Phytochemicals in green tea penetrate into tissues of the eyes. The lens, retina and other parts of the eye absorb these antioxidants found in green tea.

Green tea catechins reduce oxidative stress in the eyes linked to glaucoma and other eye diseases. This protection lasts up to 20 hours.

Women who take strategic serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants during pregnancy are more likely to give birth prematurely. Some of the most popular antidepressants are SSRIs, including Prozac.

Researchers compared rates of premature birth between different women. They compared women who were depressed and taking SSRIs with those who were depressed but not taking SSRIs. Women who took SSRIs during pregnancy were twice as likely to give birth prematurely as those who did not take any antidepressants.

It is a confirmed fact that SSRIs can cross the placental barrier and enter into the fetal bloodstream. Research has also shown that babies born to women who used antidepressants during pregnancy often even suffer from withdrawal symptoms.

A vegetable common in India and China called bitter melon has a beneficial impact on blood sugar and cholesterol levels. A new study shows that the vegetable stops breast cancer cells from multiplying and also kills them.

Scientists are now investigating how bitter melon stops cancer cell growth. They want to test the vegetable extract in animals to see if it will kill breast cancer cells. The next step would be clinical trials in human breast cancer patients.

Breast cancer is a major killer. This study may provide a new tool to fight breast cancer.

Bitter melon grows in Asia, Africa and South America. Extracts are currently included in some dietary supplements.

Women who take specific antidepressant drugs while pregnant may double their baby’s risk of developing a certain variety of heart defect.

Researchers compared the risks of birth defects in 1,370 children born to women who took at least one SSRI antidepressant while pregnant with the risk in 400,000 other children whose mothers had not taken SSRIs while pregnant. Drugs including Prozac, Zoloft and Celexa all significantly increased the risk that a child would be born with a defect in the septum (separates the right and left halves of the heart).

Septum defects may just be minor blood vessel problems at best or at worst this defect may involve holes in the heart. Researchers found that one extra septum defect would develop for every 246 pregnant women taking an SSRI — especially any time from 28 days before conception through 112 days after conception.

Taking more than one SSRI during pregnancy drastically increased the risk of these defects.

A recent study focusing on dietary influences on IQ has concluded that children who eat margarine score significantly lower on intelligence tests than children who do not consume margarine. The study involved children born in the 1990s and included their dietary intake and intelligence scores.

Researchers found that children who eat margarine every day score three points lower on IQ tests by age three. By age seven, average IQ scores of margarine eaters was six points lower than non-margarine eating children. This IQ difference occurred only in children who were born underweight (which suggests that disadvantaged brains could be more vulnerable).

Researchers suspect that the culprit may be transfats (partially hydrogenated oils). Transfats have a longer shelf life and are solid at room temperature. Transfats increase the risk of heart attack and death.

A recent report has found that black women who eat fried chicken or burgers (from fast food restaurants) at least two times per week are between 40 and 70 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who do not. Black women are not the only demographic that should be concerned about this study; however. Everyone who eats fast foods (even on a moderate basis) are susceptible to developing diabetes.

The two foods that increased the incidence of diabetes the most were fast food hamburgers and fried chicken. These two menu items were instrumental in causing the most weight gain (resulting in more cases of diabetes).

A previous fast food study conducted in 2004 found similar results.

Some experts recommend consuming smaller amounts and fewer overall calories. It would be far better to make healthier food choices. Eating less fast food is a good start; but changing your diet to include whole foods would be even better.

According to a recent study, overweight people have better success in losing weight when their vitamin D levels are increased. In the study, 38 obese men and women were placed on a diet program. Those whose vitamin D levels were increased lost up to a half pound more than those whose vitamin D levels were not increased. Supplementation with vitamin D increases weight loss for people whose Vitamin D levels are already low.

Approximately 75 percent of American teens and adults are deficient in vitamin D. A Vitamin D deficiency is connected to many serious illnesses such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

As Vitamin D works with calcium and sunlight, it helps to properly use the foods consumed and it regulates blood sugar levels. If there is a lack of calcium, the body makes more synthase (a fatty acid enzyme that coverts calories into fat). People with a calcium deficiency may have a synthase production increase of up to 500 percent. This explains the connection between low Vitamin D levels and obesity.

A stroke occurs when blood supply to part of the brain is either blocked by a blood clot or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts(diverting blood into the spaces around brain cells, or neurons). Brain damage often results–leaving stroke survivors with a range of different disabilities.

New research concludes that a specific type of vitamin E (called TCT) could keep brain cells from dying after a stroke.

TCT is not widely found in the typical American diet but it is common in foods that make up a typical Southeast Asian diet. Some food sources of TCT are rice bran oil, wheat germ, barley, and oats.

Researchers have identified an enzyme called cPLA2 that TCT targets to protect neurons after a stroke.

Blocked blood flow associated with stroke causes an excess of glutamate to be released. Normally, glutamate is beneficial and important for memory and learning. If it is produced in large amounts (in response to the brain trauma of a stroke), it triggers reactions that lead to the destruction of neurons and causes stroke damage.

The amount of TCT necessary to achieve these brain cell protecting effects is small (about 10 times lower than the average amount of TCT circulating in the bodies of humans who regularly consume vitamin E).

Many breast cancers depend on estrogen to fuel them. There is a class of drugs called aromatase inhibitors (AI) that block the movement of estrogen. These drugs are used by mainstream medical doctors to attempt to slow the growth of estrogen sensitive breast tumors. Unfortunately, these drugs come loaded with side effects including hot flashes, joint pain, headaches, fatigue, fractures and even heart disease.

Researchers have found a substance that could prevent the development of estrogen-dependent breast cancer: pomegranate fruit.

Pomegranates contain phytochemicals that work much like AIs. Any cancer treatment derived from pomegranates would not have harmful side effects because the fruit is a basic food. Phytochemicals suppress estrogen and this, in turn, prevents the spread of breast cancer cells and estrogen-related tumors.