Pulse Beat

Prof Dr BM Hegde 20 July 2015

Go Nuts for Longevity!

A recent Maastricht University (Germany) study found that those who consumed nuts daily (at least 0.3 ounces or 8.5gm) have a reduced risk of many serious chronic diseases: consumption of nuts reduces the risk of diabetes by 30%, of cancer by 39% and of degenerative neurological disorders (like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease) by a whopping 45%. A 30-year follow-up study from Harvard University found that those who consumed nuts daily were 20% less likely to die for any reason than those who did not consume such high amounts of nuts in their diet. However, another study, published in The Annals of Internal Medicine, found that, with a nut-rich diet, women did not live longer but did not have any chronic illnesses.

Dandelion: Weed with Yellow Flowers

A very powerful anti-cancer agent in this flower will amaze even cancer specialists. The most exciting study about dandelion’s anti-cancer abilities was published in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (eCAM). The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Windsor, Ontario (Canada), in conjunction with the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre, tested the effects of an extract of dandelion root (taraxacum officinale) on melanoma—an aggressive form of skin cancer—and found that after 48 hours of exposure to dandelion extract, cancer cells begin to die off. The study also found that dandelion was effective on cancer cells that were resistant to chemotherapy.

There are other research reports also on this plant. An herbal tea made from this plant has been shown to slow down the growth of some breast cancers as well as prostate cancer. The last study was published in the International Journal of Oncology.

Ahead to Nature

If you read this book, Ahead to Nature, it will give you lots of tranquillity in the midst of the hi-tech medical claptrap that makes you a patient. The author is a telecommunications engineer, who understands nature very well, and is currently exploring the meta questions behind ‘life’ and ‘sustainable living’.

The ‘Cartesian outlook’, fostered by our education system, makes us look at each of these problems in fragments. This book shows us how all of these problems are inter-related and deeply connected. Thus, the crisis is not merely ‘out there’. The crisis outside is merely a reflection of the ‘crisis within’. Hence, the solution for such problems needs to transcend the ‘outer’ and the ‘inner’. Therefore, the solution is essentially ‘spiritual’ or ‘metaphysical’ in essence. The author proposes that the spiritual solution, if implemented, will not ‘solve’, but ‘dissolve’ the problems, at all levels. The book provides a vivid description with several examples about “the beautiful coexistence and mutual cooperation that exists within nature,” says a review. I feel, the book will allay a lot of hypochondriasis and anxiety associated with it.

Powerful Anti-hypertensive

Beetroot seems to be a very powerful therapeutic tool in nature. A study by the London School of Medicine suggested that beetroot juice brought down even the normal BP of medical students and was found to be a powerful anti-hypertensive. Another study quoted often is an old study by Dr Alexander Ferenczi of the Department for Internal Diseases, Csoma (Hungary), in the late 1950s. “Using nothing but raw red beets, the doctor was able to record amazing results of remission in cancer patients.” Years later, this study was republished in the Australian International Clinical Nutrition Review.

A caution: Cancer patients should not drink too much of beetroot juice as the cancer cell breakdown products might overwhelm the kidneys. Small doses, regularly, will do the trick without any collateral damage.

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