Canadian researchers evaluated the benefits of a daily soy beverage in prostate cancer patients who where treated with radiation. The 29 patients were without clinical disease but had a rising PSA level, a bad sign after radical radiation treatment to their prostate. They were instructed to consume 500ml of the soy beverage daily for 6 months.

     288 hospitalized patients were compared to 144 hospitalized cervical cancer patients. Patients with cancer had a lower intake of Beta-Carotene from their diet and a lower intake of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and Vitamin E from both their diet and supplements. Those with the highest dietary intake of Vitamin A had a 64% decreased risk of cervical cancer, highest intake of Beta-Carotene lowered the risk of cervical cancer by 52%, and Vitamin C lowered the risk by 64% compared to those with the lowest dietary intake.          Higher total intakes of Vitamin C from both diet and supplements strongly reduced the risk of cervical cancer by 65%, Vitamin A by 65%, and Vitamin E by 47%.

     If you cull through the research there is a lot of support for Green Tea’s ability to trim belly fat. Green Tea has been studied extensively for its potential in the weight management category, with its most important compound EGCG highlighted as a key component. Science indicates that Green Tea’s EGCG increases energy metabolism (burning of calories) and fatty acid oxidation (burning of fat), inhibits adipogenesis (the swelling and formation of fat cells or increasing belly fat), increases the excretion of fat and reduces the absorption of some fats.

     Researcher’s analyzed data from a group of prospective studies carried out on over 111,000 people who were all free of heart disease and stroke at the start of each study. Depending on the study the subjects were followed for 6 to 28 years. The researchers noted that a high intake of flavonols particularly from tea in the Dutch and from tea, onions, apples and broccoli in the USA cut the risk of stroke by 20%.

     Cranberry juice rich in antioxidant proanthocyanidins is effective at boosting the health of blood vessels, thereby supporting previous research displaying the cardiovascular health benefits of such compounds. While the potential heart health benefits of flavonoid-rich diets have been reported previously, there was uncertainty about which constituents in flavonoid-rich foods may be behind the benefits, according to the British and Japanese researchers authoring the new study. The findings published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry indicate that Oligomeric Proanthocyanidins (OPC) had “by far the most potent effects” on the function of the endothelium (the cells lining blood vessels).