ISLAMABAD – Tomato juice could be better than energy drinks at helping the body rejuvenate after exercise, a new study has claimed.
Experts said that tomatoes provide vital chemicals to help muscles recover and blood levels return to normal after being stretched and strained.
Experts from a number of health institutions in Greece conducted tests on 15 athletes over a period of two months, looking at vital signs before, during and after exercise.
Nine of the athletes drank tomato juice after exercise and six consumed their regular fizzy energy drink. Those drinking tomato juice had quicker levels of muscle recovery and their glucose levels returned to normal faster after strenuous exercise.
Tomatoes contain a compound called lycopene, which principally give them their deep-red colour. Anti-oxidants in tomatoes are already known to combat cancer, heart disease and other ailments, which is why some people adopting a Mediterranean diet appear to live longer.
In the latest study, harmful levels of enzymes and proteins which contribute to muscle and brain damage returned to normal quicker in those athletes who drank tomato juice after exercise.
The researchers said that tomato juice was so effective that people with higher levels of harmful proteins could benefit in just two months.
Men’s cancer risk ‘to climb to one in two’
Men look set to have a one in two chance of developing cancer in their lifetime, UK experts predict.
The increase to 50 out of 100, up from the current 44 in 100 chance, is largely down to people living longer - age is the biggest cancer risk factor, says Cancer Research UK.
The cancers set to increase the most in men within the next 15 years are bowel, prostate and skin (melanoma).
But more will survive cancer, thanks to better screening and treatments.
Medical advances mean cancer survival has already doubled in the past 40 years. It’s desperately important that men take up any opportunity to go for cancer screening that they can”
The team from the Wolfson Institute of Preventative Medicine at Queen Mary, University of London, and Cancer Research UK reached their figures by looking at past cancer incidence and mortality rates and projected population data for the UK.
They predict that by 2027 some 416,000 UK people are expected to be diagnosed with cancer compared with about 324,000 diagnosed in 2010.
For men, the figure will be more than 221,000, up from 164,000 in 2010.
And there will be more than 194,000 women diagnosed with cancer in 2027 compared with 160,000 in 2010 - which would mean a woman’s lifetime odds of developing cancer would be 44 in 100, up from 40 in 100.
Dr Harpal Kumar of Cancer Research UK said the figures provided a glimpse into the future and what challenges lie ahead.
A pressing task is to find an effective way to screen for prostate cancer.
Not all cancer in the prostate is aggressive or life-threatening - some people live with the condition for a lifetime without any problems.
But doctors still have no reliable test that can spot which of these tumours are safe to leave alone.
Another challenge is getting men to turn up for cancer screening even when a good test for it does exist, says Alan White, chairman of the Men’s Health Forum and professor of men’s health at Leeds Metropolitan University.
Scientists working toward pill for celiac disease
Scientists say they’re working on a pill that may one day help people with celiac disease tolerate foods that contain gluten, a protein that is found in wheat and other grains.
“It would be pretty much like the Lactaid pill,” says researcher Justin B. Siegel, PhD, an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular medicine, and chemistry, at the University of California at Davis, referring to a product that helps people who get an upset stomach when they drink or eat dairy foods.
In a study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, researchers describe testing a new enzyme called KumaMax that breaks down gluten.
In a test tube, the enzyme — which was discovered in bacteria that live in Japanese hot springs and modified slightly in the lab — dismantled more than 95% of a protein component that’s thought to trigger celiac disease.
The enzyme hasn’t yet been tested in people. Researchers say that’s the next step.