Why Fish Is the Ultimate Superfood

You’ve heard fish is good for you. Avid fishermen on the thousands of lakes and rivers across the U.S. enjoy catching fish for dinner. In the U.S., folks on both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts have found fish to be plentiful, delicious and a good source of protein.

But a new study shows that eating fish is better than first realized: It seems to be a factor that raises the odds of becoming pregnant, not only because couples who included fish on the menu had sex more often, but because they also conceived more quickly compared to people who had something else for dinner instead.

Scientists conducting the study, which was published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, interviewed 501 couples who were actively endeavoring to become parents without involving medical intervention and followed them for a year or until they became pregnant, whichever came first.

Each couple kept a journal to record their health and behavioral habits, including what they ate — particularly their individual fish consumption — and the frequency of sexual intercourse. The study was controlled for things like smoking and alcohol intake, physical activity, the age of each individual, education level and other factors. The New York Times notes:

“They found that men who had two or more four-ounce servings of fish a week had a 47 percent shorter time to pregnancy, and women a 60 percent shorter time, than those who ate one or fewer servings a week.

Partners who ate fish also had sexual intercourse, on average, 22 percent more frequently, but the association of eating fish with pregnancy persisted even after controlling for frequency of lovemaking. By 12 months, 92 percent of couples who ate fish twice a week or more were pregnant, compared with 79 percent among those who ate less.”

Article Source: Dr Mercola at Mercola.com 

How Cooked Tomatoes Help Fight Cancer

                                                          Image Credit: Mercola.com       

Noting that prostate cancer is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer among men worldwide, researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign conducted a meta-analysis of 30 studies related to dietary tomato intake and prostate cancer, which was published in the journal Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Disease.

After summarizing data from more than 24,000 cases involving upward of 260,000 participants, they concluded "increased tomato consumption is inversely associated with prostate cancer risk." The findings were summarized as follows:

Higher total tomato consumption was associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer

Specifically, tomato foods, cooked tomatoes and tomato sauces were linked to a reduced risk of prostate cancer

No associations were found with respect to raw tomatoes

A 2011 study published in the British Journal of Nutrition demonstrated lycopene in cooked tomatoes was able to slow the growth of, and even kill, prostate cancer cells in test tube-based experiments. Researchers from the U.K.'s University of Portsmouth tested the effects of lycopene on the mechanism through which cancer cells flourish by disrupting your body's blood supply. Specifically, they found lycopene prevented cancer cells from attaching to a healthy blood supply.

Mridula Chopra, Ph.D., study author and senior lecturer for the school of pharmacy and biomedical sciences at the University of Portsmouth, said, ''[While] more testing needs to be carried out to confirm our findings, the laboratory evidence we have found is clear. It is possible to intercept the simple mechanism some cancer cells use to grow at concentrations that can be achieved by eating sufficient [amounts of] cooked tomatoes.''

The research was partially funded by H.J. Heinz, and the food manufacturer requested follow-up research related to previous studies conducted by the same group of scientists. The earlier studies showed a significant increase in lycopene levels in blood and semen samples after subjects ate 14 ounces (400 g) of processed tomatoes for two weeks.

The current study underscored lycopene for its anti-angiogenic properties, which explains why it has been recognized as an important anticancer compound. Before any firm conclusions can be drawn, however, researchers noted the need to conduct tests involving human participants. Chopra stated:

"Individuals will vary in how much lycopene their bodies make available to fight cancer cell growth. The ability of lycopene to 'intercept' in this way in the body is likely to vary between tomato products — both processing and cooking with fat have previously been shown to make lycopene more effective biologically. The type of tomatoes that offer the most effective lycopene also differs, and more tests need to be done to find the best breed of tomato for this purpose.''

Article Source: Dr Mercola at Mercola.com