Natural cures for cancers, heart disease
* Why instant death from heart attack more common in people who do not exercise * How high plant based protein, low carb diet slash chances of early death by 50%
UNTIL now, studies have associated refined foods with chronic and non- communicable diseases such as cancer, heart disease, kidney failure, and diabetes, stroke, among others.
But researchers have found that replacing refined foods that are rich in added sugar and salt with natural alternatives especially from plants could prevent onset of chronic diseases.
Scientists have urged Nigerians to consume locally produced foods and fruits as they contain nutrients that can serve as medicine in the body. They warned against consumption of imported food products as some may have been contaminated in the process of shipping them into the country.
A professor of pharmacognosy and a former senior research associate at the Division of Experimental Therapeutics of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, D. C., Prof. Maurice Iwu, said his team had validated local foods such as bitter kola, coconut oil, Zobo
( from Hibiscus sabdarifa/ Roselle), bitter leaf, Moringa oleifera, tomato, Sour sop, African bush’ mango ( Ogbono), among others as medicines.
Iwu told journalists that his team has developed dietary supplements based on these local foods for managing chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, prostate cancer, erectile dysfunction, Human Immuno- deficiency Virus ( HIV)/ Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ( AIDS), among others. lwu said they have developed dietary supplements based on these local foods for managing chronic diseases.
According to him, “It is dangerous for you to eat any fruit not produced in Nigeria.
There are no way fruits from Ghana or any other country imported into Nigeria will not be contaminated. Imported poultry are preserved with chemicals, some imported fruits when you look at their size you will know were not grown naturally and are not the best and that is why people are coming down with cancers.”
lwu further explained: “It is not a new thing, the father of modem medicine, Hippocrates, said, ‘ let thy medicine be thy food and thy food thy medicine.’ So it is a concept we are trying to revive and are trying to make it that dietary supplement is not a fad but based on solid science. “The Foundation of Innovation Medicine ( FIM) has now defined what we mean as food as medicine, that is food that can be used as medicine. The term is applied to products that range from isolated nutrients, dietary supplements and herbal products, specific diets and processed foods such as cereals, soups, and beverages.
“We call it in pharmacy, nutraceuticals, that is nutra for food and ceuticals that it treats diseases. Any substance that is considered a food or part of a food and provides medical and health benefits including the prevention and treatment of diseases, that will qualify as nutraceutical; that is a whole area we as a nation have advantage over other countries even African countries. The only countries that can compete with us are perhaps South Africa and Egypt. What it means is that we have the natural resources, we have the human resources, we have the intellectual capacity to build, we have the technological base to be able to convert these things not only for our own help but for export and for very solid economy.”
MEANWHILE, according to a study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology ( ESC), an active lifestyle is linked with a lower chance of dying immediately from a heart attack.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death globally and prevention is a major public health priority. The beneficial impact of physical activity in stopping heart disease and sudden death on a population level is well documented. This study focused on the effect of an active versus sedentary lifestyle on the immediate cause of a heart attack — an area with little information.
The researchers used data from 10 European observational cohorts including healthy participants with a baseline assessment of physical activity who had a heart attack during follow- up — a total of 28,140 individuals. Participants were categorised according to their weekly level of leisure- time physical activity as sedentary, low, moderate, or high.
The association between activity level and the risk of death due to a heart attack ( instantly and within 28 days) was analysed in each cohort separately and then the results were pooled. The analyses were adjusted for age, sex, diabetes, blood pressure, family history of heart disease, smoking, body mass index, blood cholesterol, alcohol consumption, and socioeconomic status.
A total of 4,976 ( 17.7 per cent) participants died within 28 days of their heart attack — of these, 3,101 ( 62.3 per cent) died instantly. Overall, a higher level of physical activity was associated with a lower risk of instant and 28- day fatal heart attack, seemingly in a dose- response- like manner. Patients who had engaged in moderate and high levels of leisuretime physical activity had a 33 per cent and 45 per cent lower risk of instant death compared to sedentary individuals. At 28 days these numbers were 36 per cent and 28 per cent, respectively. The relationship with low activity did not reach statistical significance.
Study author Dr. Kim Wadt Hansen of Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark said: “Almost 18 per cent of patients with a heart attack died within 28 days, substantiating the severity of this condition. We found an immediate survival benefit of prior physical activity in the setting of a heart attack, a benefit which seemed preserved at 28 days.”
He noted: “Based on our analyses, even a low amount of leisure- time physical activity may in fact be beneficial against fatal heart attacks, but statistical uncertainty precludes us from drawing any firm conclusions on that point.”
The authors said in the paper: “Our pooled analysis provides strong support for the recommendations on weekly physical activity in healthy adults stated in the 2016 European Guidelines on cardiovascular disease prevention in clinical practice; especially as we used cut- off values for physical activity comparable to those used in the guidelines.”
The guidelines recommend that healthy adults of all ages perform at least 150 minutes a week of moderate intensity or 75 minutes a week of vigorous intensity aerobic physical activity or an equivalent combination thereof.
Hansen concluded: “There are many ways to be physically active at little or no cost. Our study provides yet more evidence for the rewards of exercise.”
ALSO, recent research has also highlighted links between exercise and other cancers. In one recent experiment using mice, scientists, funded by Cancer Research UK, compared a group that led sedentary lives with another group that was placed on treadmills for 30 minutes, three times a week. The scientists found gentle exercise reduced the levels of liver inflammation, which can lead to tumours, and improved the metabolism of older mice, even in those that had advanced liver disease.
In addition, the study, which was led by Prof Derek Mann, from the Newcastle University Centre for Cancer, found that exercised mice had less fat in their liver and moved more quickly.
“We wanted to see if exercise in mice – crucially, a gentle routine that may mirror exercise achievable for frailer people – could help throw immune decline into reverse and help reduce the risk of liver tumours developing,” said Mann.
The research is important because liver cancer rates in humans have increased by three- fifths in the UK in the last decade, with 17 new cases being diagnosed every day, and rates are projected to continue increasing.
“Understanding how best to prevent some of those cases could have a huge impact for people at risk of the disease,” Mann added.
Another recent study by Cancer Research UK showed that more than 135,000 cases of cancer – about four out of 10 British cases – could be prevented each year largely through lifestyle changes, with increased physical activity of any kind playing a key role.
The crucial point is that extra fat does not just sit quietly around our bodies, say researchers. It is active, sending out signals to other organs and tissue, which can affect growth, metabolism and reproductive cycles.
Also, studies have found that high protein vegan diet can slash risk of early death in older women by almost 50 per cent and that diet high in carbohydrates increases risk of heart disease.
Diet is one of the most important modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease and other non- communicable diseases. In 2017, we published results of the PURE study in the Lancet and reported the association between the number of carbohydrates and health outcomes.
Also, research has found that postmenopausal women who ditch meat in preference of plant- based alternatives are less likely to die prematurely.
Eating nuts in place of red meat, poultry, dairy, eggs and fish was linked with lower risk of early death in a landmark study.
Eating nuts instead of eggs slashed the likelihood of dying in the study by 47 per cent whereas switching red meat and dairy out for nutbased meals reduced the risk of early death by 11 and 12 per cent, respectively.
Research conducted by the American Heart Association also found vegan women who use nuts to get their dietary protein were 56 per cent less likely to die from cardiovascular disease.
While the study did not look at reason for the link, the researchers hope the findings will encourage older women to consider incorporating more nuts into their diet in place of other proteins.
Postmenopausal women who ditch meat in preference for plant- based alternatives are less likely to die prematurely, research has found
The analysis revealed women who eat the highest amount of animal protein are more likely to be white, well educated and wealthy. They are also more likely to be past smokers, drink heavily and live sedentary lifestyles with little physical activity. This culminated in the studied cohort of women having higher rates of Type 2 diabetes and higher Body Mass Index ( BMIS), all of which are cardiovascular disease risk factors.
In contrast, women who obtain more of their protein from plants also consume fewer calories per day, eat less saturated fat and have more fibre in their diet.
The study recruited 102,521 postmenopausal women with an average age of 63 between 1993 and 1998, and followed their lives and health for 18 years.
Over this time almost
26,000 women died with 6,993 dying from cardiovascular disease, 7,516 women dying of cancer and 2,734 deaths attributed to dementia.
Regular follow- ups and questionnaires revealed that, on average; around one sixth of the diet of the women is protein.
“According to a study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology ( ESC), an active lifestyle is linked with a lower chance of dying immediately from a heart attack. Heart disease is the leading cause of death globally and prevention is a major public health priority. The beneficial impact of physical activity in stopping heart disease and sudden death on a population level is well documented. This study focused on the effect of an active versus sedentary lifestyle on the immediate course of a heart attack — an area with little information. “