Jumat, 22 Juni 2012

Popeye had the right idea as favourite snack spinach could cut colon cancer

Popeye had the right idea as favourite snack spinach could cut colon cancer

  • Researchers have found diet and healthy life style can sometimes help restore normal cell function

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 07:28 EST, 21 June 2012 | UPDATED: 08:44 EST, 21 June 2012

Popeye eating spinach

Popeye eating spinach

Popeye the Sailor Man had the right idea when he guzzled cans of spinach. Because the cartoon character's favourite food doesn't just give you iron - it could also reduce your risk of colon cancer.

Researchers at Oregon State University found eating the green leafy vegetable reduced the damaging effects of a carcinogen found in cooked meat.

They were studying the complex biological effects of the cancer-causing substance on microRNA and cancer stem cells.

During their animal study they found that the consumption of spinach could partially offset the damaging effects of the carcinogen. In tests with laboratory animals, it cut the incidence of colon tumors almost in half, from 58 per cent to 32 per cent.

'Cancer development is a complex, multi-step process, with damaged cells arising through various means,' said researcher Mansi Parasramka.

'This study showed that alterations of microRNAs affect cancer stem cell markers in colon cancer for mation.

'MicroRNAs are very small factors that do very big things in cells,' she said.

Traditionally, cancer was thought to be caused by changes in DNA sequence, or mutations, that allowed for uncontrolled cell growth. That’s still true.

However, there’s also increasing interest in the role played by epigenetics, in which such factors as diet, environmental toxins, and lifestyle affect the expression of genes â€" not just in cancer, but also cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and neurological disorders.

Included in this epigenetic equation is the formation of microRNAs â€" once thought to be 'junk DNA' - which researchers were at a loss to understand. It’s now known that they influence which areas of DNA get expressed or silenced.

There are hundreds of microRNAs, and the OSU scientists monitored 679 in their experiments. When they don’t work right, problems can occur, including abnormal gene expression leading to cancer.

Professor Rod Dashwood said: 'Unlike mutations which are permanent genetic changes in DNA, the good news about epigenetics and microRNA alterations is that we may be able to restore normal cell function, via diet and healthy life style choices, or e ven drug treatments.'

Epigenetics essentially makes every person biologically unique, Dashwood said, a product of both their genetics and their environment. That includes even identical twins.

The findings of the new study should lead to advances in understanding microRNAs, their effects on cancer stem cells, and the regulatory processes disrupted in disease development, the OSU scientists said.

This might lead one day to tailored or “patient specific” therapies for cancer, Dashwood said.

The research at OSU’s Linus Pauling Institute was recently reported in the journal Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, in work supported by the National Institutes of Health.

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Humph Norwich: Yes indeed you are correct, Spinach does contain high levels of iron but has a chemical in it that inhibits iron absorption, It is also bad for people on Warfarin because of the vitamin K levels, But I would expect DM to have mentioned any of that as they will have just copied and pasted this from somewhere else like normal..

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My kitchen nemesis! No matter what I try to do with spinach it always turns into a pile of green mush. Love the stuff but it would appear to hate me.

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You don't have to go near this far to find good reasons to eat spinach, or any of the green leafy vegetables, like cabage and kale. Vitamin D, Beta Carotene, a whole host of antioxidant phyto alkaloids. They all contain both soluble and inslouble fiber, which lowers tryglicerides (fat), lowers LDL (bad) Cholesterol and raises HDL (good) cholesterol. Just with the antioxidents alone, it fights cancer. And it is the largest dietary source of non-dairy vitamin D. The list goes on. Should be in anyone's diet.

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Could be wrong, but I thought spinach inhibited the absorption of iron. Also, the Popeye story about the content of iron in spinach was based on an error. The decimal point was put in the wrong place multiplying the actual content by ten. Perhaps DM is adding some colour to an otherwise interesting story.

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Spinach is amazing, and I can't get enough of it, but it has to be organic, otherwise you do more harm than good. Non organic spinach is one of the worst vegetables for pesticide contamination.

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Well, I for one can't eat it as it goes through my system in less half an hour!

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No surprise here, as I grow a lot of spinach here. We fed a lot of spinach to some of our older chickens who had stopped laying a year ago, and they were subsequently laying an egg a day. I know how powerful the stuff is. It's not just the iron, spinach is full of vitamin K which is good for your blood. If you accidentally get poisoned by warfarin (as in rat poison), you need to eat loads of spinach to counteract it whilst you get to hospital. I have no idea why spinach is not classed as the top superfood...........

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What - Spinach is good for you? Why the hell didn't you tell me years ago? I'd never have known.

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Popeye got his strength from eating olive oil.

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I don't expect it will be long before a DM headline tells us that spinach causes cancer. - Alfred, UK, 21/6/2012 14:25 ------------ It is a major source of Vitamin K which aids blood coagulation and may cause blood clots, a no-no for us Warfarin addicts..

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