Glut of positive research - highlights

With so much research coming out lately with regard to diet and nutrients, we thought we would encapsulate several:

• A new study published in the June 17 edition of the Journal of European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry shows a significant reduction of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms in children after supplementing with 1 mg. for every kilogram of body weight of Pycnogenol® (pic-noj-en-all), an antioxidant plant extract from the bark of the French maritime pine tree, everyday for one month. In the randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study, Pycnogenol helped reduce hyperactivity and improve attention, concentration and motor-visual coordination in 61 children with ADHD. Participants who took placebo showed
  no significant improvement in these scores.

• A study published in this month’s issue of Angiology shows that supplementation with the pine bark extract Pycnogenol® (pic-noj-en-all) improves blood flow to the muscles which speeds recovery after physical exercise. The study of 113 participants demonstrated that Pycnogenol significantly reduces muscular pain and cramps in athletes and healthy, normal individuals.

• A Mayo Clinic study involved 50 fibromyalgia patients enrolled in a randomized, controlled trial to determine if acupuncture improved their symptoms. Symptoms of patients who received acupuncture significantly improved compared with the control group, according to the study published in the June issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

• In the June 2006 issue of the European Journal of Cancer Prevention, researchers measured enterolactone (the bioactive lignan metabolite in humans) and genistein levels in 220 premenopausal women and 237 age-matched controls. The researchers noted a decrease in pre-menopausal breast cancer risk in tandem with increased concentrations of plasma enterolactone. There was no such significant association noted with genistein (a phytoestrogen in soy), and the study authors concluded that “Using biomarkers of phytoestrogen intake, we confirmed the strong inverse association between enterolactone and premenopausal breast cancer risk as found with dietary intake estimates." Lignans are commonly found in foods such as flaxseed.

• Folic acid supplements may prevent cancer progression and promote regression of disease, according to a new study. Published in the July 15, 2006 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the small study found that 31 of 43 patients with the precancerous laryngeal lesion called leucoplakia demonstrated 50 percent or greater reduction in the lesion size after six months of taking folate supplements. In 12 of 31 responders, there was no evidence of the original lesion. Folate levels in the patients' blood also increased significantly from baseline while homocysteine levels decreased significantly. This study provides data to support the hypothesis that folate insufficiency is a risk factor for cancer progression.
  
  
• In the first study of its kind, researchers discovered that daily folic acid supplements could improve DNA stability and reduce the risk of certain cancers linked to faults in the genetic code. The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, found that of 61 healthy volunteers receiving 1.2 mg of folic acid for 12 weeks, their measured levels of uracil were markedly reduced, thus reducing DNA damage.