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“If you look back 100 years ago, before the discovery of antibiotics and the wide use of vaccinations, more people were dying from infections than from cancer. Now that we’re living longer, we get exposed to new and different diseases. With any promise always comes new challenges.” – Rony Dahan

(Israel) — [ISRAEL21c.org] Immuno therapy was once the black sheep of cancer research. Originally conceived over a century ago, it aims to stimulate a patient’s own immune system to fight cancer. That’s a very different approach than chemotherapy, which essentially poisons tumors. (Image via Lightspring/ Shutterstock.com via Israel21c.org)

Early trials of immunotherapy in the 1900s and a second round of experiments in the 1980s caused toxic side effects. That led oncologists to dismiss this approach– until 2011, when a new immunotherapy treatment gave patients with metastatic melanoma years of tumor-free extra life.

By 2013, Science magazine had named immunotherapy the “breakthrough of the year” and immunotherapy became the cancer community’s great hope for a cure. In 2017, California’s Gilead Sciences paid a stunning $11.9 million to acquire Kite Pharma, which commercialized an Israeli-developed immunotherapy treatment called CAR-T.

And yet, for all its promise, immunotherapy is still in its early days. Only a small number of patients suffering from a few specific cancer types are responding positively so far.

Israeli scientist Rony Dahan thinks he knows why. And he’s set out to do something about it...

Read more here.

If we do buy something packaged, however, the first word in the ingredients list should be “whole.” But, even if it is, the rest of the ingredients could be junk. 

[Nutrition Facts] When people think fiber, they think constipation. And it’s true: If we could get Americans to eat just the minimum recommended daily intake of fiber-containing foods, we could save our country $80 billion—and that’s just from the effects on constipation alone. But that’s not all. “Accumulating evidence indicates that greater dietary fiber intakes reduce risk for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, weight gain, obesity, and diverticular disease, as well as functional constipation.” So, we need to eat more fiber-rich foods, which means eating more whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and legumes (beans, split peas, chickpeas, and lentils). (Photo Credit: PXHERE)

As fiber intake goes up, the risk of metabolic syndrome appears to go down, with less inflammation and an apparent step-wise drop in obesity risk. It’s therefore no surprise that greater dietary fiber intake is associated with a lower risk of heart disease: There is a 9 percent lower risk for every additional 7 grams a day of total fiber consumed, which is just some rice and beans or a few servings of fruits and veggies.

How does fiber do its magic...

Read more here.

Nutmeg is the seed of the Myristica fragrans tree, which is commonly found in Indonesia, and has been used to treat asthma, rheumatic pain, toothaches and infections.

Smelling nutmeg evokes images of fall, pumpkin pie and hot apple cider. But the spice has been used for years in traditional Chinese medicine to treat gastrointestinal illnesses. Now one group reports in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research that they have figured out how nutmeg helps other organs, specifically the liver. (Photo Credit: Pixabay)

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the world consumes 9,000 tons of nutmeg annually. Nutmeg is the seed of the Myristica fragrans tree, which is commonly found in Indonesia, and has been used to treat asthma, rheumatic pain, toothaches and infections. In the laboratory, researchers have shown that nutmeg can fight hyperlipidaemia, hyperglycemia, heart tissue damage and hepatotoxicity. Inspired by these studies, Xiu-Wei Yang, Frank Gonzalez, Fei Li and colleagues wanted to see how nutmeg prevents damage to the liver...

Read more here.