Is bottled water safe?

Bottled water has become popular in recent years and most of us trust this  water to be safe for drinking. No one would have thought of buying the water for drinking in 80s and 90s but now every other household invests in clean water. The News printed this list of unsafe bottled water available in the markets. Please check out if you are buying any of these harmful brands.

The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) has found 12 out of 77 bottled water brands unsafe for human consumption.

As many as 12 out of 77 bottled water brands are unsafe, says the PCRWR quarterly-year (April-June) report.

According to the 15-page report, Nadiq Water, Pan Pure, Maz Fresh, Marjan, Vina, Aqua-One, Active, Nation, Hamaliya, Aqua National, Pineo and Asal Pio Na, are unsafe and a major cause of serious health hazards.

Arsenic safe limit is 10ppb units, however, it is found 54ppb units in Nadiq Water, Pan Pura 15ppb, Aqua-One 14ppb, Nation 40ppb, Hamaliya 11ppb, Aqua National 57ppb and Pineo 13ppb. Sodium safe limit is 50ppm, but, it is 120ppm in Asal Pio Na, 68ppm in Nation, Max Fresh 59ppm, 58ppm in Vina and Marjan 53ppm.

The report says that Arsenic and Sodium both are potential concerns. The water quality report also finds massive presence of total dissolved solids (TDS): 606ppm in Asal Pio Na, whereas its safe limit is 500ppm. Moreover, fluoride safe limit is 0.7ppm; however, it is 1.39ppm in Active.

Samples were collected from commercially available brands of mineral/bottled water from 14 different cities of the country. Sample 1 was handed over to shopkeepers, sample 2 was preserved in PCRWR’s National Water Quality Laboratory, sample 3 was used for microbiological analysis and sample 4 for physico-chemical analysis.

The report says bacterial contamination causes hepatitis, typhoid, dysentery, diarrhea and cholera, while presence of Arsenic in water is a cause of cancer (bladder, skin, prostrate, kidney, nose and liver), diabetes, kidney diseases, hypertension, heart ailments, birth defects and black foot diseases. Sodium causes hypertension, the report further says.

It cautions that quality of drinking water is deteriorating continuously due to biological contamination caused by human waste. Chemical pollutants of industries and agricultural inputs are also harming water quality. Piped water also gets contaminated because pipes are laid very close to sewerage lines or open drains and causes many serious water-borne diseases.

The report points out 45 per cent infant deaths are occurring due to diarrhea and about 60 per cent due to overall infectious water-borne diseases.

According to World Health Organisation, 25-30 per cent of the ailments are gastro-intestinal in nature. Out of the bottled water brands tested and analysed, 31 new safe brands are: Atlantis, Valley, Best Water, Venora, Puurle, Water, Vital Sip of Water, Alfa, Zindagi, Miracle, Orion, DeAar, Shinawar, Iqra Fina, Snow Drop, Aktiv, Berg, Rise Water, Vina, Hunza Spring, Bake Master, Hamaliya, Safi, Snow Valley, Aspen Aqua, Moya Mineral Water, Kashmir, Fine Life, Cool, IVA Pure and Ripple.

Technorati Tags: Aqua National, Aqua-One, bottled water, Hamaliya, Marjan, Maz Fresh, Nadiq Water, Nation, Pan Pure, Pineo, unsafe water, Vina

Teenage girls should eat healthy

Teenage used to be that part of our lives when we had no health issues, not even common cold! Now the teenage girls are facing tremendous pressure to stay slim from a very early age. At an age when they require to build the foundation of a healthy adult life they are ignoring a balanced diet to eat less and stay slim. They are  condemning themselves to a lifetime of ill health by eating fewer than three servings of fruit and vegetables every day.

Experts warn that image-obsessed girls tend to avoid healthy breakfast and  meals to try to stay slim and deprive themselves of vegetables and meat.They are also shunning meat, depriving themselves of essential nutrients such as iron, and eating far too much saturated fat.  But when they get hungry later they fill up on crisps and  chocolate bars which are high in saturated fat.

Health officials have warned that teenage girls are facing the risk of illnesses like cancer, heart disease, strokes and diabetes in later life by eating fewer than three servings of fruit and vegetables every day. According to a report backed by the UK Department of Health, just one in13 teenage girls eats the recommended “five a day” portions of fruit and vegetables.Almost half do not eat enough iron, an essential nutrient found in red meat, nuts and some vegetables that helps fight infection. Read More.

Teenage girls who starve themselves or binge and purge do not eat enough calories and risk nutritional deficiencies resulting in anemia, irregular menses and poor bone development. A healthy diet for a teenage girl looks much like that for an adult, but because she is still growing, nutritional balance and establishing good habits are even more important.

Teen nutrition is known to be a genuine challenge because fast food seems to govern everything. For instance, if a child has an eating disorder, fast food can exacerbate his/her problem. Junk food ads may provide teenagers with conflicting images about what they must eat or not. Parents should help them to make the healthiest choices because their health is at stake.

Teenagers should be disciplined in their eating habits too. They should eat on time and avoid the practice of skipping  meals. Otherwise when they are very hungry they tend to eat more then required and make wrong choices of food. It is always a must that foods served at the table should as much as possible include all essential nutrients so that every family member gets the energy and health that they need for the day.

Parental influence is key to good eating, as teenage girls and boys slip into bad eating habits once they have more freedom.

Watching thin girls in the media, men  look for a slim girl to marry. In order to meet this criteria girls are pressurized even by their parents to stay slim. Staying slim is not bad, not at all but girls should be healthy and slim. These starved and anemic girls will not be able to bear healthy children in future. As girls have the responsibility of bearing children at some point in their lives so they should be extra careful in choosing their food! Staying healthy is more important then aiming for a size zero…

Related links:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/102421-diet-teenage-girls/

Cartoon courtesy: www.Cartoonstock.com

Technorati Tags: anemia, diet for teens, heart disease, poor bone development, teenage girls eating less, teenage girls facing risk of cancer

Good night sleep

Stay Happy and Healthy with a Good night’s Sleep

“Early to bed, early to rise.Makes a man healthy, wealth and wise” This may seem old fashioned to many but I always believed that sleeping early makes one healthy and I maintained an early to bed routine for my kids. When kids are young its easier to put them to bed early but as their interests and activities increase with age, they want to stay up late and it becomes harder to convince them. During vacations their demand to stay up late is even stronger but I firmly believe a healthy sleep routine is an asset. If you do not agree with me then I have some arguments and they will very well convince you and help you raise healthy adults for a better tomorrow.

Why should I give up my nightlife?

The benefits of a good night sleep include improvements in concentration, short-term memory, productivity, mood, sensitivity to pain and immune function. Studies have shown that people function best after seven to eight hours of sleep, the amount associated with the lowest mortality rate and they even look better!

If you are still not ready to delay some of your tasks till tomorrow then these valuable sleep benefits may move “sleep” higher in your “to-do” list. Sleeping during the day is not equivalent to night time sleep. Some of the benefits of proper night sleep are:

• Repairs body tissues at a cellular level, and helps to combat the effects of stress, pollution, infection and more.
• Keeps your heart health and strong by lowering levels of stress and inflammation in your body, and lowering blood pressure and heart-rate. Blood pressure and heart rate are typically lowest during sleep; people who get less sleep tend to have high blood pressure. All this tends to lead to increased risk of heart attack, diabetes, weight gain and a laundry list of other problems.
• Lowering levels of stress hormones in your body. High levels of these hormones is believed to increase the aging and degeneration of your organs and cells.
• Improves memory and cognitive function. The organization and storing of memories takes place during sleep. If you’re short of sleep, your memory suffers.
• Helps us to learn new skills. Research done by the Harvard Medical School concluded that REM sleep seems to be essential for learning how to do things. ‘Sleep on it’ takes on a whole new meaning now!
• Helps control body weight by regulating the hormones that affect your appetite. So if you are interested in controlling or losing weight, don’t forget to pay attention to getting a good night’s sleep.
• During sleep the growth hormones are rejuvenating and they help you with better muscle mass, better muscle tone and better skin.

The bottom line: Resist the temptation to squeeze one more thing into the end of your day. If health problems disrupt your sleep, seek treatment that can lessen their effect. We do not have to work for a  better brain, faster healing, stronger immune system, more energy, increased level of patience and fewer accidents during the day ……just sleep at night!

Just like us, children’s bodies and minds rest while sleeping and rejuvenate, preparing for a bright and active  day. A good nights sleep, which is 10 to 12 hours for small children, ensures their proper mind and body development. You will also love the smiling faces of your children after a full night’s sleep. Do not give them sleepless nights at an early age because of your poor routine.

Turn off the lights(In Pakistan you will even save some electricity by sleeping early….another benefit!!!)  and enjoy the night our Creator has made for resting and not for working.

Those of you who can sleep and do not please read this “Blessing of Sleep”

Average sleep needs

Sunnahs and Duas Muslims recite before Sleeping are :

Sleep time Sunnahs and Duas

For a peaceful sleep, remember to do the following every night.
1. Go to sleep with Wudhu.
2. Sleep on your right shoulder.
3. Fall asleep with the intention to pray fajar.
4. Read the Kalima.
5. Drift off reading the Ayat-ul-Kursi.
6. Read the Durud Sharif 10 times.
7. Read Surah Fatiha 4 times.
8. Read Surah Ikhlas 3 times.
9. Read 4 Qual Surahs
10. Do Astaghfar 10 times.
11. Forgive everyone before falling asleep.

Related Links:

Top ten benefits of Good night sleep

Lack of Sleep worse for women

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2000388

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foot care

In our busy morning routines, we bath, brush and comb. Majority of ladies take care of their faces by moisturizing them and making them up. Hands are also often taken care of BUT feet are the most neglected part.

Our feet are the load bearers and shock absorbers of our body. During harsh winters of our country feet are mostly covered and when they come out in the summers they are carelessly used. Slippers and sandles expose the feet to sun, dirt and injuries. Unattended feet with cracked heels are a common sight in otherwise dressed up ladies!

Please give extra attention to the feet and pamper them because this is the only pair we are going in get in our lifetime! Here are a few simple tips for taking care of our feet during summers. You can at least repeat these steps once daily before going to bed or may be on the weekends if you are as lazy as me :s

• Wash and clean your feet everyday using warm water and soap.

• Exfoliate or scrub (pumice stones on wet skin, foot files  on dry skin) to avoid excessive build up of dead skin if you do not have it already!

• Apply moisturizers whenever possible. Dry feet become dirty easily.
• If you have cracked heels, soak for 10  minutes, exfoliate, and apply thick moisturizer like petroleum jelly or my home made moisturizer and then repeat daily until your skin become soft in a few days.

• Don’t wear the same shoes every day. Shoes need about 24 hours to completely dry out from the last time they were worn.

• When you’re wearing tight shoes, foot perspiration can be a problem. Wash feet frequently.

• Pamper your feet (at least once a week) by soaking and massaging.

• Even if your sandals are adorable, they aren’t worth it if they’re giving you blisters! Make sure you wear appropriate shoes for the occasion, and ones that fit – even if you think you have big feet, it’s not worth it to try and squeeze them into a shoe that is smaller than what they need.

Lastly, my home made moisturizer which works wonderfully in summers and on the dry winter skin too! Its as easy as 1 2 3 ….you just have to mix 3 liquids in equal quantities and  preserve in a bottle. Apply generously every night.

Recipe for the home made moisturizer: Take lemon juice (fresh) , glycerin and rose water in equal quantities and mix well. Store in a closed bottle and keep refrigerated and you can easily prepare more once your supply finishes! Try it!

After all these efforts you will be rewarded with beautiful feet this summer!

Picture courtesy “Beauty Tips”

Technorati Tags: dry skin lotion, foot care, home made moisturizer, summer care for feet, summer foot care, treatment for cracked heels

X-ray projected on the skin

The AnatOnMe is a hand-held device that is made up of a projector, digital camera and infrared camera along with a laser pointer.

The projector can display stock images of six types of injury directly on to the patient’s skin or a model to help them understand the impact it has had on their body.

They added that volunteers who reviewed the handheld projections delivered a more engaging and informative experience than a traditional consultation.

Amy Karlson from Microsoft Research Redmond, said: ‘This is an interesting new space because, despite the prevalence of technology in many settings, technology has been relatively absent from face-to-face communication and education opportunities between doctors and patients.

‘The coolest part was hearing positive reactions from study participants when we projected medical imagery directly onto their arms and legs.

‘We got, “Wow!” “Cool!” and “I feel like I’m looking directly through my skin!”

‘There seems to be something quite compelling and unique about viewing medical imagery on one’s own body.’

The AnatOnMe device and paper was presented this week in Vancouver at CHI 2011, the Association for Computing Machinery’s Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
Courtesy: Daily mail

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Pregnancy and childbirth are very special times in a woman’s life, but they can leave her body with excess fat, loose skin, stretch and stress marks. This can be frustrating; especially for young mothers, but fortunately with the advancements in technology these problems have a solution – the mommy makeover. You can learn more about the different mommy makeover procedures on your local plastic surgery guide.

It involves different plastic surgery procedures that are specially designed for women that can help get their bodies back to the pre pregnancy state. Tummy tuck, liposuction, and breast augmentation are the most popular mommy makeover procedures. With a growing number of rejuvenating creams out in the market some dermatologists advises to use Botox cream to help ladies with their skin to look firmer and younger. In the subsequent paragraphs, each mommy makeover procedure will be discussed respectively.

Tummy tuck is a procedure where excess fat and skin is removed from the abdomen area in order to make the abdomen tighter and firmer. Many patients who get tummy tucks also get liposuction.

Liposuction is a procedure that makes the body slimmer by removing excess fat deposits from specific areas. Since pregnancy can cause a woman’s breast too become larger or sag, many mothers also get breast augmentation.

The most common types of breast augmentation after pregnancy are breast lift and breast reduction. A breast lift is a procedure that lifts and re shapes the breast. A breast reduction is a procedure that makes the breast smaller.

Some women also use Botox cream to give them a more youthful look; there are many creams available and a woman should consult a dermatologist to find out which one is best for her. You can also read articles on how to save your skin to help with your skin’s rejuvenation.

There are a lot of things that need to be taken into consideration before opting to get any type of plastic surgery. The first thing is her own health; a woman should get a full physical examination to ensure that she is healthy enough for any cosmetic procedure. Even in a healthy individual, there is a risk of serious complications; that is something else that a mother should think about.

A woman also needs to make sure that her finances are stable enough for surgery. Having a baby is expensive enough, so if a woman cannot afford to have cosmetic surgery, she should not go through with it.

Technorati Tags: botox cream, breast augmentation, cosmetic surgery, liposuction, Pakistan, Pakistani Housewife, plastic surgery, plastic surgery guide, pregnancy, skin rejuvenation, tummy tuck

Side effects of statins

I have seen my parents and majority of elders around me taking statins regualrly. Reading the news below is quite disturbing for me.

A German medical scientist has alleged that pharmaceutical companies are striking fear into people about safe cholesterol levels and making money at the cost of the health of people. Dr George Birkmayer, a professor of medical chemistry, says that long-term use of cholesterol reducing drugs (statins) causes cancer and also affects a person’s sex life. “Nobody tells you that. It’s confidential [about the cancer effect],” he said.

Dr George Birkmayer, an internal medicine specialist earlier told Gulf News

that the pharmaceutical companies had hit on a brilliant marketing idea. When he managed a medical laboratory in Austria some 30 years ago, the upper normal range of cholesterol used to be 300 (mg/dl), he said. “That meant only five per cent of the population had elevated levels.”

He alleges that the industry decided on less than 200 mg/dl as a safe level, which meant that 60 per cent of the population was left with an elevated level.

Dr Birkmayer said simple lifestyle changes like diet changes could bring cholesterol levels to a normal range. He said NADH lowers cholesterol without the side-effects and has been proven by a study performed at Georgetown University in Washington DC. He added that the co-enzyme was also found to prevent diabetes. Read more

Dr. Mark Hyman: 7 Tips to Fix Your Cholesterol

High cholesterol and pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome can be successfully diagnosed and treated. I have reviewed this in previous blogs, but here are seven tips to help you get big large fluffy cholesterol particles and reverse metabolic syndrome.

1. Get the right cholesterol tests. Check NMR particle sizes for cholesterol by asking your doctor for this test at Labcorp or LipoScience. You want to know if you have safe light and fluffy cholesterol particles, or small dense, artery damaging cholesterol particles. A regular cholesterol test won’t tell you this.

2. Check for Metabolic Syndrome.
• Do you have a fat belly? Measure you waist at the belly button and your hips at the widest point — if your waist/hip is greater than 0.8 if you are a woman or 0.9 if you are man, then you have a problem
• If you have small LDL and HDL particles, you have metabolic syndrome.
• If your triglycerides are greater than 100 and your HDL is less than 50, or the ratio of triglycerides to HDL is greater than four, then you have metabolic syndrome.
• Do a glucose insulin challenge test. This is very important and most physicians do not test for insulin and glucose. To read more about how to do the right type of testing for metabolic syndrome or pre-diabetes please see www.drhyman.com for my information.
• Check your hemoglobin A1c, which measures blood sugar over the last six weeks. If it is greater than 5.5, you may have metabolic syndrome

3. Eat a Healthy Diet. Eat a diet with a low glycemic load, high in fiber, and phytonutrient and omega-3 rich. It should be plant based, and you should consume plenty of good quality protein such as beans, nuts, seeds, and lean animal protein (ideally organic or grass fed). I have described specific diets that abide by these parameters in my books “UltraMetabolism” and “The Diabesity Prescription.”

4. Exercise. Enough Said.

5. Get Good Quality Sleep. Sleep is essential for healing your body, maintaining balanced blood sugar, and your overall health.

6. Use Supplements to Support Healthy Cholesterol Particle Size. These include:
• A multivitamin including at least 500 mcg of chromium, 2 mg of biotin and 400 mg of lipoic acid. For most you will take three capsules twice a day.
• 1000 mg of omega-3 fats (EPA/DHA) twice a day.
• 2000 IU of vitamin D3 a day at maximum. (Some people recommend less — consult your doctor.)
• 1200 mg of red rice yeast twice a day.
• 2-4 capsules of glucomannan 15 minutes before meals with a glass of water.
• Broad-range, balanced concentration of plant sterols. You will usually take one capsule with each meal.

7. Consider Using High Dose Niacin or Vitamin B3. This can only be done with a doctor’s prescription. It is useful to help raise HDL cholesterol, lower LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, and increase particle size.

8. Use Low-Dose Statins ONLY If You Have Had Heart Disease or are a male with multiple risk factors, while carefully monitoring for muscle and liver damage.

For the vast majority of people this approach is better than simply taking a cholesterol medication. To reduce your risk of heart disease you need to address metabolic syndrome, and that can ONLY be done effectively with a comprehensive diet and lifestyle approach like the one outlined above.

Courtesy -

http://www.brookfieldnow.com/blogs/communityblogs/117625138.html

Technorati Tags: control cholesterol without medicines, drugs to control cholesterol, side effects of statins, statins

onion

I was reminded of an incident when my sister-in-law used a raw onion to avoid spreading of flu in a room where more than one people were staying. She cut an onion into four pieces and placed it on a shelf in the room where one person was suffering from flu. I know we had to bear with the not so pleasant smell of an onion but fortunately avoided the spread of infection.

This news item in today’s paper supported the above story and has a few more interesting tales which in my opinion are worth a try. As the writer says ” u can try out the ‘cure’ that these stories propound and are sworn to be true. If you don’t get cured you won’t get poisoned either, so good luck!”

Many elders in our society are of the view that if one eats raw onion in  lunch salad then there are numerous benefits. Here are some benefits of  onions apart from eating them…

There is a story doing the rounds that says in 1919 when the flu killed 40 million people, there was this doctor that visited many farmers to see if he could help them combat the ailment. Many farmers and their family had contracted it and died, but came upon this one farmer and to his surprise, he and his family were healthy. When the doctor asked what their secret was, the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in each room of their house. The doctor couldn’t believe it and asked if he could have one of the onions and when he placed it under the microscope, he found the flu virus in the onion — it obviously absorbed the bacteria, keeping the family healthy!

Another story is about a child, who was very ill and in hospital. His grandmother came to visit him then told a family member to go buy her a large onion and a new pair of white cotton socks. She sliced the onion then put a slice on the bottom of each foot and made him wear the socks. In the morning when he awoke, on removing the socks it was noticed that the onion were black and his fever was gone!

Another story goes (Yes, there are many!) that several years ago, employees at a shop were coming down with the flu and so were the customers. So the owner placed several bowls with onions around the shop and to everyone’s surprise, no one got sick after that! The stories should motivate you to place onions in bowls and put them around your home. If you work at a desk, place one or two in your office or under your desk or even on top somewhere. Try it and see what happens – apart from the fact that your friends and family might forsake you or shun your presence! Then there is the story of the rich princess who ate a lot of onions and could not find a suitor – for obvious reasons!

And here is a ‘sure fire cure’ for flu according to those who believe in such stories. Cut both ends off an onion it on a fork and then place the forked end into an empty jar, placing the jar next to the sick patient at night. The onion should turn black by the morning from the germs and the patient will be cured. If not you can use the onion for cooking! One more thing, never store cut onions and consume the next day — this is serious advice.

Technorati Tags: avoid flu with onion, benefits of onions, flu and onion, health benefits of onion, onions, piyaz, piyaz ke faiday

cigarettes

It should be the moral obligation of food companies and of those who produce other products like cigarettes and medicines to write clearly if they are using any ingredient which is in conflict with the faith of those who take it “seriously” like Muslims and Jews.

I read this news which I would like to share….

Dutch research has found that the haemoglobin in pig’s blood is used by some tobacco manufacturers in cigarette filters

By Daily Mail Reporter

An Australian professor has warned religious groups that cigarette filters may contain traces of pig’s blood. Simon Chapman said recent Dutch research has identified 185 different industrial uses for a pig – including the use of haemoglobin in cigarette filters.

The University of Sydney professor said the study offered an insight into the world of cigarette manufacturing and was likely to spark concerns for devout Muslims and Jews. I think that there would be some particularly devout groups who would find the idea that there were pig products in cigarettes to be very offensive,’ he told the Sydney Daily Telegraph.

‘The Jewish community certainly takes these matters extremely seriously and the Islamic community certainly do as well, as would many vegetarians. ’It just puts into hard relief the problem that the tobacco industry is not required to declare the ingredients of cigarettes – they say “that’s our business and a trade secret”.’

The research found pig haemoglobin – a blood protein – was being used to make the filters more effective at blocking toxic chemicals before they entered a smoker’s lungs. Professor Chapman said that although some tobacco companies had voluntarily published a list of the contents in their cigarettes on websites, they also noted undisclosed ‘processing aids’ in the finished product.

At least one brand of cigarettes sold in Greece has been confirmed to be using pig haemoglobin in its manufacturing processes, he added. Professor Chapman said: ‘If you’re a smoker and you’re of Islamic or Jewish faith then you’d probably want to know and there is no way of finding out.’

Courtesy- DailyMail

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Turmeric

Some very useful herbs and spices are used in Asian cooking. Turmeric in powdered form used in curry is one of them. We use it in cooking everyday without knowing all its benefits. Along with cooking it is commonly applied on wounds to cure them. Turmeric is also used in face and body mask for generations.

The list of facts and uses of  turmeric (haldi in urdu) are increasing with more research. We always heard our elders saying that turmeric has amazing healing powers but its ability to kill or cure cancers in an interesting advancement.

Curry compound kills cancer cells
(Reuters)28 October 2009

LONDON – A molecule found in a curry ingredient can kill oesophageal cancer cells in the laboratory, suggesting it might be developed as an anti-cancer treatment, scientists said on Wednesday.

Researchers at the Cork Cancer Research Centre in Ireland treated oesophageal cancer cells with curcumin — a chemical found in the spice turmeric, which gives curries a distinctive yellow colour — and found it started to kill cancer cells within 24 hours.

The cells also began to digest themselves, they said in a study published in the British Journal of Cancer.

Previous scientific studies have suggested curcumin can suppress tumours and that people who eat lots of curry may be less prone to the disease, although curcumin loses its anti-cancer attributes quickly when ingested.

But Sharon McKenna, lead author of the Irish study, said her study suggested a potential for scientists to develop curcumin as an anti-cancer drug to treat oesophageal cancer.

Cancers of the oesophagus kill more than 500,000 people across the world each year. The tumours are especially deadly, with five-year survival rates of just 12 to 31 percent.

McKenna said the study showed curcumin caused the cancer cells to die “using an unexpected system of cell messages”.

Normally, faulty cells die by committing programmed suicide, or apoptosis, which occurs when proteins called caspases are ‘switched on’ in cells, the researchers said.

But these cells showed no evidence of suicide, and the addition of a molecule that inhibits caspases and stops this ‘switch being flicked’ made no difference to the number of cells that died, suggesting curcumin attacked the cancer cells using an alternative cell signalling system.

U.S. researchers said in 2007 they had found curcumin may help stimulate immune system cells in the Alzheimer’s disease.

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