Walnuts May Prevent Breast Cancer

Walnuts May Prevent Breast Cancer

Walnut consumption may provide the body with essential omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and phytosterols that reduce the risk of breast cancer, according to a study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research 100th Annual Meeting 2009.

While the study was done with laboratory animals rather than humans, people should heed the recommendation to eat more walnuts.

Walnuts are better than cookies, french fries or potato chips when you need a snack,” researchers say. We all know a healthy diet overall prevents all manner of chronic diseases.
The researchers studied mice that were fed a diet that they estimated was the human equivalent of two ounces of walnuts per day. A separate group of mice were fed a control diet.

Standard testing showed that walnut consumption significantly decreased breast tumor incidence, the number of glands with a tumor and tumor size.

The researchers found that laboratory mice typically have 100 percent tumor incidence at five months; walnut consumption delayed those tumors by at least three weeks.

Molecular analysis showed that increased consumption of omega-3 fatty acids contributed to the decline in tumor incidence, but other parts of the walnut contributed as well.

Researchers stated that with dietary interventions one can see multiple mechanisms when working with the whole food and that it is clear walnuts contribute to a healthy diet that can reduce breast cancer.

XLPharmacy

Avoid Pistachios

FDA Warns: Avoid Pistachios

In another food scare sure to rattle consumers still reeling from the national salmonella outbreak in peanuts, federal food officials now are warning people not to eat any food containing pistachios, which could carry contamination from the same bacteria. Central California-based Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc., the nation's second-largest pistachio processor, is voluntarily recalling more than 2 million pounds of its roasted nuts shipped since last fall, the Food and Drug Administration said. The advice to consumers is that we avoid eating pistachio products, and that we hold on to those products.

The number of products that are going to be recalled over the coming days will grow, simply because these pistachio nuts have then been repackaged into consumer-level containers. Two people called the FDA complaining of gastrointestinal illness that could be associated with the nuts, but the link hasn't been confirmed. Still, the plant decided to shut down late last week, officials said.

We have a staffer who spent 3 weeks in gastro pain after eating a bulk bag of pistachios over the course of 3-4 days from a California plant. Two trips to the doctor, one to the ER, and blood tests and ultrasounds, yet still no one could say "why". Does it always seem these news stories hit the shelf weeks after the incidence of eating these tainted products? Are we all going to have to give up eating anything off the shelves...existing on what we can grow ourselves?

The recalled nuts represent a small fraction of the 55 million pounds of pistachios that the company's plant processed last year and an even smaller portion of the 278 million pounds produced in the state in the 2008 season, according to the Fresno-based Administrative Committee for Pistachios. The FDA learned about the problem March 24, when Kraft Foods Inc. notified the agency that it had detected salmonella in roasted pistachios through routine product testing. Kraft and the Georgia Nut Co. recalled their Back to Nature Nantucket Blend trail mix the next day. The FDA contacted Setton Pistachio and California health officials shortly afterward.

By Friday, grocery operator Kroger Co. recalled one of its lines of bagged pistachios because of possible salmonella contamination, saying the California plant also supplied its nuts. Those nuts were sold in 31 states. Fabia D'Arienzo, a spokeswoman for Tulare County-based Setton Pistachio, said the company was recalling only certain bulk roasted in-shell and roasted shelled pistachios that were shipped on or after Sept. 1. Because Setton Pistachio shipped tote bags of nuts weighing up to 2,000 pounds to 36 wholesalers across the country, it will take weeks to figure out how many products could be affected, the Food and Drug Branch of the California Department of Public Health states.

It will be safe to assume based on the volume that this will be an ingredient in a lot of different products, and that may possibly include things like ice cream and cake mixes. Nothing seems to be safe for us to consume now days.