Mediterranean diet against cancer and senile dementia
Miracle Diet
Tatiana Shcheglova, Copper News – based on ScienceDaily (Compound in Mediterranean Diet Makes Cancer Cells 'Mortal') and EurekAlert! (Mediterranean diet seems to boost ageing brain power).
Recent studies by scientists from different countries have provided new evidence of the diverse health benefits of the so-called Mediterranean diet, rich in olive oil, nuts, beans, fish, seafood, fruits and vegetables, as well as accompanied by moderate consumption of wine, but at the same time characterized by a low content of dairy products and red meat. So, American scientists managed to establish the molecular mechanism underlying the previously noted anti–cancer effect of such a diet, and Spanish scientists managed to identify its positive effect on the preservation of cognitive abilities in the elderly.
Until now, knowledge about the benefits of a healthy diet, in particular the Mediterranean diet, was based only on the results of epidemiological studies that showed a steady positive effect on various body systems from eating certain foods. But how exactly the molecules that make up them work at the cellular level, for the most part, has been shrouded in mystery, which researchers from Ohio State University, as they believe, have managed to crack.
Molecular geneticists Andrea Doseff and Erich Grotewold, studying the properties of various flavonoids, found that the protective anti-cancer functions of the Mediterranean diet are associated with the flavonoid apigenin, abundantly contained in parsley, celery, pharmacy chamomile, as well as in many fruits and vegetables, which reprograms cancer cells to at the genetic level, thereby making them more vulnerable. The results of their research will be published this week in the online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
During in vitro experiments on breast cancer cells, the authors of the study found that apigenin, due to binding to the hnRNPA2 protein that regulates RNA metabolism, actually turns cancer cells into normal cells by restoring the process of single splicing - a set of reactions that occur during the maturation of informational RNA, from which proteins are then read.
With about 80 percent of oncological diseases, abnormal, doubled splicing is observed in cancer cells, which causes their "survivability" and rapid reproduction. Normalization of this process returns the ability of cancer cells to apoptosis – programmed death, and also makes them more susceptible to the effects of chemotherapy drugs.
"We know that we should eat healthy food, but in most cases we have no idea why a healthy diet has such a beneficial effect on the body. It turns out that by consuming this substance, apigenin, we activate the mechanism that kills cancer cells," Doseff noted. "Therefore, a healthy diet ensures the normal functioning of the cells of our body."
Doseff and Grotewold also found that apigenin interacts, in addition to hnRNPA2, with about 160 other proteins in the body, while drugs, as a rule, bind to only one, which may cause its biological activity. Scientists believe that the potential of apigenin has not yet been identified. "This trace element is involved in the game with many participants, and this circumstance can only enhance the effect of its action on the body," Grotewold said.
Currently, his colleague Andrea Dosseff, conducting experiments on mice, is trying to figure out exactly how a change in the content of apigenin in food affects the forms of splicing in malignant cells and, accordingly, the degree of the anticancer effect of the flavonoid.
In addition to protecting against cancer, the Mediterranean diet, the main culinary fat in which is olive oil, as experts from the University of Navarre (Spain) have found, has a positive effect on cognitive function in the elderly. The results of their work are published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.
The authors made their conclusion based on data from a study that lasted more than seven years, the participants of which were 522 men and women aged 55 to 80 years who did not have cardiovascular diseases, but there was a high risk of vascular problems due to concomitant factors such as excess weight, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, heredity, and so on.
Therefore, these people took part in a clinical study on the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. They were all divided into groups. Some of the subjects were put on a strictly Mediterranean diet with a higher than usual content of olive oil or a mixture of crushed nuts, and some on a regular low–fat diet, which is prescribed for the prevention of strokes and heart attacks.
After six and a half years of such nutrition, participants underwent standard tests for cognitive decline, as well as a more detailed study of higher brain activity, including assessment of spatial orientation, memory, language abilities and speech function, attention, abstract thinking, and so on.
As a result, a decrease in cognitive abilities was recorded in 60 participants – in 18 of the group who "sat" on a Mediterranean diet with a high content of olive oil, in 19 of the group whose diet had an increased content of nuts, and in 23 who received a regular low-fat diet. Subsequently, a few years later, 35 people developed dementia – 12 from the "olive" group, six from the "nut" group and 17 from the control group.
According to the authors, despite the relatively narrow spectrum and specific composition of the study participants, its results strongly indicate the positive effect of the Mediterranean diet on brain function in old age.
This is not the first evidence of such an effect of the Mediterranean diet on human health. So, in February 2013, scientists from the University of Barcelona reported the results of the world's first large-scale clinical study of the effect of the Mediterranean diet on the cardiovascular system. At the same time, the benefits of this influence turned out to be so obvious that the study was completed earlier than expected, after five years, since the authors considered it unethical to continue observations and not publish their results.
As a result of the study, it was found that about 30 percent of heart attacks and strokes, as well as deaths due to cardiovascular diseases, can be prevented if people at risk of developing these diseases switch to a Mediterranean diet.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru21.05.2013