Impotence Drugs May Aid Brain Tumor Treatment

(HealthDay News) -- A drug already approved for the treatment of erectile dysfunction may actually help boost the effectiveness of treatments for brain tumors tied to both lung and breast cancer, research shows.

The finding stems from an animal study that indicated that leading erectile dysfunction medications sildenafil (Viagra) and vardenafil (Levitra) can enable the chemotherapy drug Herceptin to more easily penetrate the so-called blood-brain barrier that must be breached in order to successfully target cancer that has spread to the brain.

Although the blood-brain barrier is a naturally occurring mechanism designed to protect the brain from exposure to dangerous substances, in the case of cancer treatment it can significantly impede drug delivery, particularly of large-molecule drugs, such as Herceptin. However, erectile dysfunction drugs appear to increase the barrier's permeability. Read more...

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Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP) recall leaves food consumers wondering: What is this stuff?

Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP) is one of most common soy-based food "fillers" used to make literally thousands of processed food products. It's found in veggie burgers, gravy mixes, soups and many other grocery products. Last Thursday, one of the largest producers of HVP in the United States, Las Vegas-based Basic Food Flavors Inc., was the subject of an FDA consumer safety warning announcement. Salmonella had been found contaminating the company's HVP production equipment, the FDA said, and a nationwide recall was initiated.

Most Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein isn't purchased directly by consumers; it's used by food production companies as an ingredient in mainstream processed foods. So it shows up in thousands of grocery products -- and most consumers are not aware they're eating this ingredient. In fact, many consumers are, for the first time, asking, "What is HVP?" Read more...

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Protect yourself from Alzheimer's disease with cinnamon

Degenerative mental diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia continue to ravish the lives of millions around the world. And to make matters worse, the financial burden of caring for dementia patients now tops one percent of the entire world's gross domestic product (GDP). But there are ways to help prevent and treat serious mental decline, including simply eating lots of cinnamon.

Dr. Richard Anderson, a diabetes expert from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, discovered several years ago that cinnamon helps to stabilize blood sugar levels by improving the quality of insulin in the body. But more recently, he found that cinnamon also helps to stop the formation of Alzheimer's disease, the sixth-leading cause of death in the U.S.

When eaten with food or taken in extract form, cinnamon helps block the formation of "tau filaments" that are associated with the development of Alzheimer's disease. In tests, cinnamon actually disassembled and eliminated these filaments from within cells, effectively reversing the effects of the disease. Read more...

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