Health

12 Delicious Fruit Salads and Salsa Recipes

Cotton-candy sweet melon. Juicy, heart-healthy berries. Plump, mellow mango. Sweet, fragrant peaches, nectarines and apricots. All these summer fruits are delicious alone, but chopped and tossed in low-fat dressings spiked with ginger, lime, or mint, they make colorful, low-calorie dishes you'll want to serve every day.

This Strange Little Melon May Cure Pancreatic Cancer

A new study from the University of Colorado Cancer Center reveals that bitter melon juice restricts the ability of pancreatic cancer cells to metabolize glucose, thus cutting the cells’ energy source and eventually killing them.

The findings of the study were published in the journal Carcinogenesis.

“Three years ago researchers showed the effect of bitter melon extract on breast cancer cells only in a Petri dish. This study goes much, much farther,” says Rajesh Agarwal, PhD, co-program leader of Cancer Prevention and Control at the CU Cancer Center and professor at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

“We used the juice – people especially in Asian countries are already consuming it in quantity. We show that it affects the glucose metabolism pathway to restrict energy and kill pancreatic cancer cells.”

Argwal became interested in bitter melon juice by connecting the dots of existing research in new ways. Pancreatic cancer is typically preceded by diabetes, and bitter melon juice has been shown to effect type-II diabetes. It has been used for centuries in the folk medicines of China and India to combat diabetes. Argwal and colleagues wondered what would happen if they left diabetes out of the equation and directly examined the link between pancreatic cancer and bitter melon.

Argwal says the result is an “alteration in metabolic events in pancreatic cancer cells and an activation of the AMP-activated protein kinase, an enzyme that indicates low energy levels in the cells.”

Bitter melon also regulates insulin secretion by pancreatic beta cells. The mouse model of pancreatic cancer was fed bitter melon juice after studies of cell cultures were done. Compared to the control group, the mice fed the bitter melon juice were 60 percent less likely to develop pancreatic cancer.

“It’s a very exciting finding,” Agarwal says. “Many researchers are engineering new drugs to target cancer cells’ ability to supply themselves with energy, and here we have a naturally-occurring compound that may do just that.”

Argwal’s team is applying for grants to allow them to continue studying bitter melon in further chemoprevention trials in mouse models of pancreatic cancer.

Explanation: How Brain Training Can Make You Significantly Smarter

It happens to most of us, but is it inevitable? 

Neuroscientists are increasingly showing that there's actually a lot that can be done.  It turns that the brain needs exercise in much the same way our muscles do, and the right mental workouts can significantly improve our basic cognitive functions.  Thinking is essentially a process of making neural connections in the brain.  To a certain extent, our ability to excel in making the neural connections that drive intelligence is inherited.  However, because these connections are made through effort and practice, scientists believe that intelligence can expand and fluctuate according to mental effort.

Now, a new San Francisco Web-based company has taken it a step further and developed the first "brain training program" designed to actually help people improve and regain their mental sharpness.  Called Lumosity, it was designed by some of the leading experts in neuroscience and cognitive psychology from Stanford University.

Lumosity, is far more than an online place to exercise your mental skills.  That's because they have integrated these exercises into a Web-based program that allows you to systematically improve your memory and attention skills.  The program keeps track of your progress and provides detailed feedback on your performance and improvement.  Most importantly, it constantly modifies and enhances the games you play to build on the strengths you are developing--much like an effective exercise routine requires you to increase resistance and vary your muscle use.

Does it work?

Apparently it does. In randomized, controlled clinical trials, Lumosity was shown to significantly improve basic cognitive functions. One study showed students improved their scores on math tests by 34 percent after using Lumosity for six weeks, significantly greater gains than those made by other students in the same class, who were not training with the Lumosity program.

The company says its users have reported clearer and quicker thinking, improved memory for names, numbers, directions, increased alertness and awareness, elevated mood, and better concentration at work or while driving.

While many of the games at Lumosity are free, a modest subscription fee is required to use the full program over the long term.

However, Lumosity is currently offering a free trial of their program to new users so that you can see how well it works before you decide to subscribe.  The trial is completely free (no credit card required) and the company believes the results will speak for themselves.