The miracle berry from Africa... The berry makes sour things taste sweet Imagine an extract from a berry that would make sour things taste sweet and help you lose weight. Then imagine not being allowed to take it. The world is getting fatter. One billion people are overweight, and 300 million of those are clinically obese. The search is always on for replacements for those things that, eaten in excess, make us obese - fatty and sugary foods. There is no miracle pill that can replace either. Nearly four decades ago one man came close to providing a tablet that could reduce our love of sugar. In the 1960s, Robert Harvey, a biomedical postgraduate student, encountered the miracle berry, a fruit from west Africa which turns sour tastes to sweet.                                                          iPlayer "You can eat a berry and then bite into a lemon," says Harvey. "It becomes not only sweeter, but it will be the best lemon you've tasted in your life." More importantly, this "miracle" can be used to manufacture sweet tasting foods without sugar or sweeteners, which have always been plagued by an after-taste. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7367548.stm http://www.localforage.com/local_forage/2007/04/natural_sweeten.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synsepalum_dulcificum

Focus on stigmatisation of mentally ill wrong...

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Focus on stigmatisation of mentally ill wrong - a new story from New Zealand this week...
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists have come under fire from the Sensible Sentencing Trust following a press release published in the wake of Dean Clark's murder by a mental health patient under District Health Board care.
Sensible Sentencing Trust Mental Health Issues spokesman, Graeme Moyle, whose brother Colin was murdered in 2007, in similar circumstances to Mr Clark has criticised claims in the press release as inaccurate and out of date.
"The College of Psychiatrists is concerned" Mr Moyle said, "not about public safety and the fact that dangerously unwell patients are abandoned and untreated, but with the possibility that media coverage of events like Mr Clarks murder may lead to labeling and stigmatising of those with mental illness. Give me a break! Maybe if these patients were given the care and treatment they require before these incidents occur the media would have nothing to report. Perhaps the RANZCP should look at how these tragedies could be prevented in the first place, rather than attacking the press when they report on them".
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/14234154/focus-on-stigmatisation-of-mentally-ill-wrong-sensible-sentencing/

• Kiwipete

Scientists have assembled a timeline of the unseen progress...

Scientists have assembled a "timeline" of the unseen progress of Alzheimer' before symptoms appear...

 

Scientists have assembled a "timeline" of the unseen progress of Alzheimer's before symptoms appear.
A team at Washington University School of Medicine looked at families with a genetic risk of the disease.
Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, they say signs appeared up to 25 years before the expected onset of the disease.
UK experts said the ability to detect Alzheimer's early would give the best chance of successful treatment.
'Key changes'
The 128 people in the study, from the UK, US and Australia, had a 50% chance of inheriting one of three mutations that are certain to cause early Alzheimer's, which often develops in people's 30s and 40s - much earlier than the more common form of Alzheimer's which generally affects people in their 60s.
Those who carry the mutations will go on to develop the disease.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18796309#
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17368317 Eyesight a clue:

kiwipete

Berries and your brain...

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  Summer in the Northern Hemisphere signals an influx of fresh berries. These seasonal fruits are more than just tasty: they may also be good for your brain and your long-term health.
  Nutritionists have long touted the benefits of berries' high antioxidant levels. But now neuroscientists are also looking deeper into the mental benefits of consuming berries: a particular subclass of antioxidants found in berries, anthocyanidins, can cross the blood brain barrier and affect the brain.
  In a 2012 article from Annals of Neurology, researchers investigated the effects of anthocyanidin-rich blueberries and strawberries over long periods of time.
  http://nz.mg261.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.partner=tnz&.rand=9mr43g8jp1drk
  http://luminosity.com
• kiwipete

Pomengranate juice may slow the progression of prostate cancer...

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  Pomegranate Juice May Slow Progression of Prostate Cancer
  Drinking 250ml of pomegranate juice daily may slow the progression of localized prostate cancer that hasn't spread.
  The study included 48 men who had surgery or radiation therapy to treat localized prostate cancer.
  When the study started in 2003, the men's PSA levels were doubling every 15 months.
  100% of the men that drank the pomegranate juice daily, slowed down the times it took for their PSA levels to double as reported by the researchers.
  Following this, the researchers including Stanford University urologist Allan Pantuck MD kept tracking the patients every 3 months. 15 of the patients stayed with the study for up to 64 months (a little more than 5 years) and it typically took four times longer for their PSA doubling time at the start of the study.
  In 2007, another team of researchers bought pomegrantes, and make their own pomegranate juice, and tested it against hman cancer cells grafted into mice. Those tumours grew slower than other tumours treated with a placebo.
  Other studies have shown other benefits such as drinking 1.7 ounces of pomegranate juice per day lowered systolic blood pressure by as much as 5 percent.
  Pomegranate juice is a great source of antioxidants and phytonutrients and contains a concentrated source of potassium.
  Sources: http://www.healthdiaries.com/ eatthis/11-health-benefits-of- pomegranate-juice.html; http://www.ehow.com/about_ 5062936_nutrients- pomegranates-contain.html#; http://www.webmd.com/prostate-
  Acknowledgements: Chris Rogers for Quantum Health
  www.quantumhealth.com.au
  kiwipete

Is New Zealand's smoke free prisons policy a success....

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  Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is offered to all prisoners and staff who want to quit the smoking habit.
  The year-old smoking ban smoke-free in prisons is being hailed as a success by the Government and the Corrections Department.
  Corrections Minister Anne Tolley says the ban, introduced on July 1 last year, had improved air quality and safety with a 72 percent reduction in fire-related incidents.
  Department chief executive Ray Smith says it was the single most important health initiative that could have been taken for 8500 prisoners and 4500 staff nationwide.
  The campaign started two years ago, and from November 1 last year to May 22 this year 4177 of the 5661 identified smokers have taken up the NRT offer.
  Because smoking is not now permitted in New Zealand prisons, it will be difficult to assess just how many prisoners have actually given up the smoking habit; not until they have been released from prison.
  Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/Smoke-free-prisons-a-success/tabid/1607/articleID/259855/Default.aspx#ixzz1zRQTGFSK
  http://www.3news.co.nz/Smoke-free-prisons-a-success/tabid/1607/articleID/259855/Default.aspx