Diabetic women lacking Carnitine more prone to damage

In this study diabetic women were split into different groups and their Carnitine levels were checked. The groups consisted of diabetics without complications, or a second group split into subgroups of patients with retinopathy, or elevated blood fats, or neuropathic nerve pain. The patients with complications had 25% lower Carnitine levels on average and their cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, blood pressure (both systolic and diastolic) triglycerides, and blood sugar were higher than the group without complications. The study is published online ahead of print in the February 21st, 2007 edition of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Adding Gamma-Tocopherol to Alpha-Tocopherol increases the anti-inflammatory effects

Researchers at the Institute for Infectious Diseases, University of Berne, Switzerland, state that recent research shows that the besides having antioxidant activity, the eight different forms of Vitamin E have different biological activity that does not depend on antioxidant effects. Both Alpha-Tocopherol and Gamma-Tocopherol have anti-inflammatory activity. Most supplements use Alpha-Tocopherol alone yet the research shows that enriching Alpha-Tocopherol with Gamma-Tocopherol is more potent than Alpha-Tocopherol alone. Researchers have to use a combination of Tocopherols in future studies for the best results. The study is published in the January 2007 issue of the journal Molecular Aspects of Medicine.

Green Tea Extract causes lung cancer cells to clump together in laboratory study

Researchers from the Center for Human Nutrition at UCLA have tested a decaffeinated Green Tea Extract on human lung cancer cells. The Green Tea Extract affected a protein in the lung cancer cells making the cells stick together and less likely to move. The scientists state that this novel clumping activity will be a target for the development of new drugs that would zero in on this protein. The study appears online ahead of print in the March 12th, 2007 issue of Laboratory Investigation.