Increased intake of the flavonoid apigenin, found in celery, parsley, and tomato sauce, may reduce the risk of ovarian cancer by 20 per cent, suggests a new study from Harvard.

“Although none of the individual foods contributing to apigenin intake in this study population were significantly associated with ovarian cancer risk, there was a suggestion of an inverse association with increasing consumption of cauliflower, raisins, tomato sauce, and several other flavonoid-rich foods,” wrote lead author Margaret Gates.
Of all the cancers of the female reproductive system, ovarian cancer has the highest mortality.

In the UK, ovarian cancer causes more than 4,000 deaths per year, according to Cancer Research UK. While in 2003 in the US, a total of 14,657 women died from ovarian cancer, said the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance (OCNA).

The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health.
Source: International Journal of Cancer
Volume 124, Issue 8, Pages 1918-1925
“Flavonoid intake and ovarian cancer risk in a population-based case-control study”
Authors: M.A. Gates, A.F. Vitonis, S.S. Tworoger, B. Rosner, L. Titus-Ernstoff, S.E. Hankinson, D.W. Cramer

Adopted from an article By Stephen Daniells, 30-Apr-2009 http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Celery-flavonoid-may-cut-ovarian-cancer-risk

Daily supplements of a patented tocotrienol (vitamin E) complex may increase hair growth in people with male pattern baldness by 42 per cent, suggests a new study from Carotech.

According to the American Medical Association, about 95 per cent of all cases of hair loss are due to male pattern baldness, a condition that affects about 40 million American men.

The balding is reported to start by the age of 30 in 25 per cent of men, and in two-thirds by the age of 60. According to the AMA, there is a 4 in 7 chance of inheriting the baldness gene.

The eight-month study included 28 volunteers aged between 18 and 59 with a hair loss problem for approximately two to five years. During the course of the study, instructions were given to not alter their hairstyle, hair care products (shampoo, conditioners, etc) or dye their hair.

Volunteers were randomly assigned to the palm tocotrienol complex (total tocotrienol intake of 100 mg) or the placebo (soft gelatin capsule containing 600 mg soy bean oil).

Hair counts, measured by the counting the number of hairs in a pre-selected 2x2 cm area, were found to significantly increase by an average of 41.8 per cent in the tocotrienol group, with eight volunteers experiencing greater than 50 per cent hair growth. In the placebo group, however, no statistically significant differences in the number of hairs were detected before or after the study period, and only one volunteer showed more than 20 per cent increase in hair count.

Adopted from an article By By Stephen Daniells, (28-Apr-2009), http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Vitamin-E-may-reverse-male-pattern-baldness-Study?nocount