News
Antioxidants may reduce breast cancer risk
2 September 2011
Increased intakes of beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E and zinc may protect against breast cancer in postmenopausal women, suggests a new Canadian study.
09 September 2013
A new US study shows that higher blood vitamin D concentrations may decrease the risk of developing new lesions in the brains of patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis.
In the observational study, the blood vitamin D concentrations, brain lesions and number of relapses of 469 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients taking vitamin D supplements were measured (1). The study results showed that each 10ng/ml increase in 25hydroxyvitamin D concentration was associated with a 15% lower risk of a new brain lesion and lower levels of disability. In addition, higher vitamin D levels were associated with lower, but not statistically significant, relapse risk.
The researchers commented that these findings seem to provide further support for the role of vitamin D in inflammatory activity related to MS. However, the results did not provide evidence that vitamin D supple-mentation is beneficial to individuals with MS, which needs to be investigated in randomized controlled trials.
MS is an autoimmune disorder occurring in those who possess or are exposed to a combination of genetic and environmental risk factors. A few environmental MS risk factors have been identified: cigarette smoking, infection with EpsteinBarr virus, and lower vitamin D levels. Lower vitamin D levels have recently been asso-ciated with increased relapse risk among patients with relapsing/remitting MS or those who have suffered a clinically isolated syndrome (2,3).
2 September 2011
Increased intakes of beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E and zinc may protect against breast cancer in postmenopausal women, suggests a new Canadian study.
15 October 2012
Adults with increased blood concentrations of antioxidants, such as beta-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin are less likely to have depression, a new US study suggests.
1 November 2011
One in every seven people worldwide suffer from chronic hunger. Yet the vast amount of people who suffer from “hidden hunger” are often neglected.