Tag: cancer

Fear

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As I have mentioned on previous occasions, I subscribe to the Cancer Compass newsletter where I frequently come across items of interest. I read one such item yesterday, titled “A patient’s perception of peril can cloud treatment decisions.” It discusses the feelings surrounding a cancer diagnosis, feelings such as fear that can sometimes lead us to make mistakes.

An excerpt (you can read the full text here: http://tinyurl.com/344rsl): often, a patient’s perception of peril – whether before a screening test or upon a definitive diagnosis – exceeds the genuine risk and can cloud treatment decisions. The fear is a reflection, in many respects, of what science has wrought in recent decades: More cancers than ever are being diagnosed, and they’re being found earlier and earlier. Tumors that would have gone unnoticed and untreated in an earlier era are now identified and addressed, even when the benefits aren’t fully clear.

"We’ve exaggerated the efficacy of our treatment and prevention at the same time we’ve spread fear of cancer," said Dr. Robert A. Aronowitz of the University of Pennsylvania, who has studied the history of cancer extensively. "And it’s led to a lot of individual and policy level mistakes.”

The benefits aren’t fully clear?…We’ve exaggerated the efficacy of our treatment and prevention? Whoa!!!

This reminded me of when my former haematologist was pushing me to begin Velcade in the fall of 2005, and had introduced the possibility of chemotherapy even earlier that year. He told me that we shouldn’t wait until I began having symptoms (bone lesions and whatnot). Well, today I ask myself: where would I be now if I had been overcome by fear and followed his advice? I don’t mean to sound judgmental of those who choose conventional treatments, oh no, quite the opposite!…what I mean is that sometimes, or even frequently, as Dr. Aronowitz admits, our doctors tend to scare us…perhaps (!) unnecessarily…into making hasty decisions. Remember the case of Michael Gearin-Tosh? (see the link here on the right, under "MM blogs/sites.")

Cancer is still seen by many as a death sentence, so it’s natural to be scared. I have been scared, too. And, heck, I still have some fear on an occasional basis, in spite of my incurable () optimism. I have already written a bit about my reaction to finding out that I had benign MGUS (I burst into tears in my car) and, many years later, myeloma (a few more tears, soon replaced by determination). But, luckily for me, I was, still am, in an early stage, and had time to think and do research. I sought other medical opinions (Dr. Robert Kyle was one of the myeloma specialists who confirmed I was right to wait, by the way). If you are diagnosed with MGUS, SMM or MM (at any stage, but an early stage in particular), I urge you to read Michael Gearin-Tosh’s book, "Living Proof." He writes, if you are diagnosed with cancer, you need time to think. So true. Thinking is not enough, though. There are other things you can do. As follows.
 
We (patients) can ease the fear of cancer, according to the Cancer Compass article, by being informed. Find out everything that you possibly can about your type of cancer. A recent study found that men’s concerns about prostate cancer eased – once they received information via a sophisticated Internet program. Bingo! 
 
Information, say cancer specialists, “is not only power. It can also forge hope. That’s exactly what happened when parents whose children were gravely ill with cancer received a more detailed description of how the disease might progress. The families getting the most information reported the greatest degree of hope, even in the face of a grim prognosis. And, even though such matters are not mentioned in this article (quelle surprise!), don’t forget to research, and speak to your healthcare provider about, diet and supplements.
 
When I was first diagnosed with myeloma, some of Stefano’s relatives became concerned that I was doing so much research online. "It is better for her not to know," they whispered to him. Well, today I feel vindicated: it is better to KNOW.
 
The Cancer Compass article mentions something that I have experienced, too. That I still experience, in fact! Whenever I get an unfamiliar or odd ache or pain, the first thing that pops into my mind is “oh bother, is this the myeloma, is this a bone lesion?” (Okay, so I use much stronger words than "bother"! ). Apparently, that’s a normal reaction (phew). So what do I do about it? Well, I simply tell myself not to be silly, shrug my shoulders and forget about it. The pain goes away.

I’d like to end today’s post with the following excerpt from "Living Proof": Even if you find it difficult to go so far in your own thinking, active involvement in your therapy may lead to your consciousness and subconscious to trigger complex biological creativities, a presence in you of ‘decisions of endless creation’ that may help to fight a terrible disease.

Thank you, Michael.

Sicko

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My English classes were cancelled today. I found out just as I was about to leave the house. Just as well, since I still feel a bit under the weather. So I decided to take the day off. Well, okay, not entirely off, since I had housework to do, but after lunch I lay down with the cats and watched one of my Xmas presents to Stefano, a dvd we hadn’t watched yet: “Sicko,” the Michael Moore documentary on U.S. healthcare.

I went through a gamut of emotions. I cried (buckets). I was angry. I was…sickened. Sicko is shocking. I am still in shock. I thought I knew, but I really didn’t. Until today. Sicko made me realize how lucky, how privileged I am to live in Italy, the second country, after France, with the best healthcare system in the world.

A few personal stories. During one of my parents’ recent visits to Italy, my father needed to see a doctor. This happened on a Sunday in August, while my family doctor was on holiday. So my parents had to go to the emergency room at Careggi hospital (the same hospital where I have my blood tests and see my haematologist). Since Dad wasn’t an emergency case, my parents had to wait for a while, I don’t recall how long, perhaps an hour or so. No longer. Then Dad was seen by a doctor and treated for what turned out to be a large and painful abscess (sorry, Dad!). After treating him, the doctor told him to call the out-patient surgical clinic at Careggi hospital on Monday. That’s what he did; he was given an appointment for the very next day. He was also given follow-up appointments for each of the four subsequent visits (so he wouldn’t have to wait each time). After the…condition had finally cleared up, my parents asked the doctors how much they owed the hospital. A lot of head-scratching. Finally, my parents were told “you owe us nothing.” All that healthcare…for free.

Would the same thing have happened to foreigners with no health insurance in the U.S.? I think we all know the answer.

Another story. Before my condition turned malignant (in December 2005), like every healthy Italian I had to pay what is called a “ticket” for hospital lab tests and visits. A small fee, in other words, oh but nothing like the thousands of dollars that uninsured folks, and even insured folks!, pay in the U.S.

This situation changed in January 2006. I took my mieloma multiplo test results to the local healthcare office and officially became a “cancer patient.” And do you know how much I pay now for ALL of my healthcare, even unrelated to the cancer? Nothing. Absolutely nothing (of course, if I wanted to have private healthcare, that would be a different matter). I have blood and urine tests run every two months, heaps of tests, and I pay: zero. If I had chemo, that’s what I would pay. Zero.

I would like to point out that I am not an Italian citizen. I am a U.S. citizen, a permanent resident of Italy married to an Italian. The only privilege I don’t have over here is being able to vote in the Italian political elections. (Although I was able to vote in a recent referendum on an issue involving the municipality of Florence.).

Back to us. Is it fair that people with cancer or other health problems have to worry ALSO about paying their hospital or doctors’ bills? Is it fair that people with cancer (etc.) lose their jobs and go bankrupt?

I echo Michael Moore’s question: what is WRONG with us?

I remember when I went to the hospital near my parents’ house in the U.S. when I came down with a simple urinary tract infection many years ago. I had just gotten out of college, as I recall. When I checked in at the hospital, the first thing I had to do was produce my health insurance card. I was lucky. I had insurance at the time (for which I paid a pretty penny). Then I had to wait until the administration folks checked me out to make sure I was covered. Financially, I mean. Some time passed, then I was taken into the emergency ward where I went through a battery of tests. Even a pregnancy one (guess they didn’t believe me when I told them I was NOT pregnant!). I still have the forms and test result sheets somewhere in my files. Anyway, all I remember was that I was run through a series of unnecessary tests. I tried to tell the staff that I believed it was a urinary tract infection. At a certain point, though, I gave up arguing, and had all the tests. In the end, I was proven right. I had a urinary tract infection. Hello?

Well, today I wonder: what would have happened to me if I hadn’t had any health insurance? Wait, I am not sure I want to know the answer to that question.

Weeping for health…

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That onions are good for us is nothing new. If you have high glucose, a cold, a cough, high cholesterol, heart disease, asthma, high blood pressure or are at risk of developing certain types of cancer (colon, ovarian, prostate and so forth), etc., incorporate onions into your diet. Onions are good for us, period.

But the real reason I am writing this post is as follows: a recent Ralph Moss report, titled (hehe) “Read it and weep” (see: http://tinyurl.com/ytc2mp), contains some interesting titbits about onions. In recent years, he tells us, sweet onion varieties have been becoming more popular in U.S. supermarkets, mainly because they are less expensive than the red, yellow and white varieties, but also because they don’t make you weep all over the place when you cut them.

But are these blander varieties as healthful as their more pungent cousins? Not by a long shot. A group of Cornell scientists, Moss writes, compared the “phenolic and flavonoid content of 10 varieties of onion.” Shallots made the top of the list, followed by yellow and red onions (varieties grown in the U.S., but I presume or hope the same would be true of European varieties…?). And so on. You can see the list on Moss’ website, and you can also read the Cornell University news release here: http://tinyurl.com/yptld2.

The Cornell researchers tested all the onion varieties with cancer cells (for details, see the above-mentioned news release). Upshot: shallots and yellow and red onions had the strongest anti-cancer effects.

If you have a hard time peeling onions, the World’s Healthiest Foods website suggests chilling them for about an hour before using. That is a better method than peeling them under running water, which may wash away some of the healthful compounds, thus defeating the purpose.

I learned a fascinating little fact on the WHF website: the workers who built the pyramids in ancient Egypt were paid with…yes, with onions. I must admit that I wouldn’t be too happy if my salary consisted of onions! 

Seriously, now, my final point is: forget about sweet or white onions, but buy or grow shallots or yellow or red onions. The bitterer, the better!

The dual nature of NF-kB

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This is the continuation of my January 22 post. From the Aggarwal (et al) NF-kB study, we know that when NF-kB “is found to persist in the nucleus, it is referred to as constitutive activation. […] The precise role of constitutive activation in tumors is not known but has been linked to resistance to apoptosis in human cutaneous T-cell lymphoma cells. It is tempting to believe that a similar mechanism accounts for the progression of all tumors that constitutively express NF-kB, but such a link has yet to be clearly identified.”

This entire section is interesting, actually, since it reports that another thing that has not been identified is the actual stimulus that renders NF-kB active all the time. What is clear, though, is that “Cells that express constitutively activated NF-kB are resistant to various chemotherapeutic agents and radiation treatment.”

And read this. In renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients, “Serum C-reactive protein (CRP) elevation correlated with the increase in NF-kB activation; therefore, NF-kB may be a cause of the inflammatory paraneoplastic syndrome.” As we Myeloma Club members know, CRP reflects IL-6 activity and is thus an important marker for us. (My CRP, by the way, is within the normal range.) At any rate, I thought it interesting that this study reports a connection between high CRP and NF-kB. Well, well.

Another interesting quote: “Another virus that contributes to human cancer via NF-kB is the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) implicated in Burkitt’s and Hodgkin’s lymphomas. The EBV nuclear antigen (EBNA)-2 and latent membrane protein (LMP)-1 enhance NF-kB activity thereby preventing apoptosis in EBV-transformed B cells.” While I was in grad school in Toronto, I tested positive for EBV. I was quite ill for about a month, tired all the time, etc., as I recall. Anyway, coincidentally (or…not?), a few years later I was diagnosed with MGUS. Well, I suppose it’s pointless to speculate, but this is not the first time I have read about the EBV-cancer link. Let’s proceed.

I found a fascinating study online (full study: http://tinyurl.com/2ntng6) titled “Good cop, bad cop: the different faces of NF-kB” that appeared in the January 2006 issue of “Cell Death and Differentiation.” It examines the different functions of this transcription factor, including that (drum roll!) of TUMOUR SUPPRESSOR. No kidding. NF-kB can promote both tumour growth and tumour suppression. Bad cop, good cop. How about that?

It is in this study that I read that NF-kB can be triggered by hundreds of “activators.” Hundreds?  Parts of this study are barely intelligible, but I did manage to grasp a few basic concepts. The “classical” or “canonical” NF-kB pathway occurs when this transcription factor translocates, or moves, from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. This is when NF-kB gets activated by inflammatory cytokines such as tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and IL-1, in response, say, to a bacterial infection. The rest of that particular paragraph is not meant for non-scientific brains, for sure. So, skip, skip, skip! What matters is that at the end of this complicated process of activation, NF-kB ends up in the cell’s nucleus. This can occur in a matter of minutes. Amazing, eh? Then, once it has performed its good cop duties, under normal circumstances, NF-kB is escorted back (by a gene called IKB-alpha) to the cytoplasm, a process I mentioned briefly in my earlier post.

Then we have the “noncanonical” or “alternative” NF-kB pathway, which is activated by other kinases and, for instance, chemotherapy drugs. Some stimuli, such as UV-C (Short-wave ultraviolet radiation), activate NF-kB both by IKK-dependent and IKK-independent pathways.  Ok, ok, my eyes are glazing over, too, and besides, I don’t want to get into too many details. Let’s stay focused on the main points.

Under certain conditions and in response to certain types of stimuli, it would appear that NF-kB can have proapoptotic effects. This “is consistent with the hypothesis that it is the mechanism of induction of NF-kB that determines its physiological function.” It’s all a matter of context, in other words. The important thing is that “If differences in the NF-kB response to a chemotherapeutic drug also occur in different tumors in patients or between patients with apparently the same type of cancer, the ability to more accurately diagnose NF-kB status could profoundly affect treatment choice and outcome.” (Apart from that unfortunate split infinitive, this is quite an interesting statement.)

We already know that NF-kB has pro-inflammatory effects. But the study shows that “NF-kB activity can also be required for the resolution of an inflammatory response. NF-kB activity in the later stages of inflammation has been associated with induction of anti-inflammatory genes and the induction of cell death. Moreover, inhibition of this late-stage NF-kB activity extended the length of the inflammatory response, inhibited the expression of p53 and Bax, and prevented apoptosis.” So sometimes NF-kB can reduce inflammation. I am not sure what late-stage NF-kB activity means, but the inhibition of the tumour-suppressing p53 gene is certainly not a good thing. More research needed.

Now read this shocker: “Because NF-B can perform a tumor suppressor function in some tissues, will its inhibition actually promote cancer in some situations?” Ouch!

The answer is: probably not, since treatment is “relatively short term,” and thus its inhibition of NF-kB would not have enough time to give rise to cancer. So the inhibition of NF-kB, the study states, seems to be the best approach to treating cancer. If the treatment were long-term, though, such as in the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases, the “continuous suppression of NF-kB activity over a number of years could manifest itself in, for example, squamous cell carcinoma.”

This is a real head-scratcher. A "damned if you do, damned if you don’t" situation. I’d better stop here before my brain melts. But I have not finished with this topic. Not at all.

A quick update before I sign off to go feed the cats: since my so-so test results, I have introduced flaxseed oil capsules into my protocol, also because Sherlock is taking them, too. A slight change. I will update my protocol soon. Have a great weekend, everyone! 

PERSONAL SUCCESS STORIES

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A couple of days ago a blog reader privately suggested that I create a permanent page listing all the personal stories that have been published on my blog and the ones that may get posted (in the comment section only) in the future. This will ensure that they won’t get "lost." It’s true, I have more than 250 posts now, so yes, blog readers’ stories will eventually be impossible to find again, even for me! So this is a brilliant idea, thank you!

Below I list only the three stories published in the comment section of my January 27 post, but there are a few "older" stories listed on the permanent page (right-hand side of my homepage). Yesterday, in fact, I took off some time to go through some of the older post comments searching for personal stories (I will post only the ones that have been published on my blog; I will NOT publish any personal exchanges, of course, no worries), but I may have missed someone, so please remind me if you don’t see your story posted here. I have taken the liberty of editing out the parts that I thought less important, but feel free to scold me if I took out too much. 

And by the way, I will be happy to post any stories concerning supplement-taking and dietary changes, so please don’t hesitate to send me the details. Now and in the future. And you can also send me updates as your story progresses. They don’t have to be success stories, necessarily, of course.

The following is not paraphrased, but is in your (blog readers) own words.

January 25 2008 post. Sherlock’s story: "I’ll just say how I took my curcumin capsules (8 gr./d). I took them all together (I follow a personal theory of the ‘atomic bomb’), late in the afternoon or late at night. I’ve not been very regular in the way I took them because I work out of town and sometimes is really difficolt for me to get hot milk and melt there 16 capsules of curcumin. So I used different systems, according to the situation:

– capsules melted into hot milk
– capsules taken drinking hot milk
– capsules taken drinking cold milk (not so often)
– capsules taken with just water

sometimes my stomach was empty, somethimes was full.
When I melted the capsules into hot milk I added either some olive oil, or some butter or some chocolate. Most of the time I did not add anything. My protocol also included 1.5 gr of quercetin and 1 gr. of fish oil every day. That’s all. I’m very happy that curcumin worked even if I changed the method of assumption according to my daily schedule. I think the most important thing has been to take all the 8 gr. together. My body knew that once a day a big dose of curcumin was going to cause apoptosis where it was needed."

JHope (she has been taking curcumin for more than two years, as I recall): "I have been taken curcumin – approximately 10 grams/day in podwer form (with bioperine) dissolved in hot milk. I also add fish oil (lemon flavor). I have been doing this for 2 years. My IgA marker has improved to the point that last test in December it was only 63 points above normal. This week I went to see a multiple myeloma specialist and shared with him what I was doing and he said to continue taking it that he has another patient that is doing the same and his numbers have improved tremendously. He also suggested to drink green tea.

Earl: "I have comments that could be helpful to others. My wife passed away 10 years ago due to MM. Five years ago I got a “pre-cancerous” prostate called high grade PIN. The doctor said there is nothing you can do except watch it……..I said, ” I think not.” I came up with a plan after checkng the internet extensively. I was able to REVERSE the pre-cancerous cells; as of August 13, 2008, they became non-existent. It was the last of three biopsies. Big picture: I went to an ALL organic diet; got a vita mix and drank approx 48 ounces a day of vegetables (Kale, broccli, red cabbage,parsley,carrots, and apples)…it tasted awful but I didn’t care. Also took “ground” flaxseed, cod liver oil, Aloe Vera, Vit c, N acyetal cysteine (NAC), Saw Polmento, Zinc, and selenium. Walked 45 minutes every day, lost 25 lbs and never regained the weight, stopped smoking and drinking. I stopped eating red meat and went to free range chicken and wild catch fish. BIG PICTURE: I placed all good things in my body and kept out the bad. The doctor reluctantly said I have changed the cell structure back to normal again. I have added curcumin the last 2 months: result, my triglycerides went down to 71 and my CRP, C-reactive protein is .2 The inflammation in my system is about 0…..a very good indicator of no cancer. If this article helps someone I will be happy. I too watched test results for 12 years and know the fear and excitement with bad and good results. I was VERY disciplined…..I realize that. But I made a choice to live and it worked. Sincerely Earl"

NF-kB: Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde?

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A blog reader and I recently had an interesting exchange about this transcription factor, which is so important in myeloma…in a negative sense, unfortunately. Our discussion gave me the incentive to read more about it. My good friend Sherlock (grazie!) sent me a study published in January (2008) in “Experimental Biology and Medicine,” titled “Nuclear Factor-kB Activation: From Bench to Bedside,” and co-authored by Prof. B. Aggarwal (abstract: http://tinyurl.com/2m6j2g).

This transcription factor, discovered in 1986, was called NF-kB “because it was found in the nucleus bound to an enhancer element of the immunoglobulin kappa light chain gene in B cells.” Okay, wrap your brain around that!  But seriously, if you reread the quote slowly, it begins to make sense: it’s a thingie (protein complex or transcription factor) sticking to the “kappa” gene inside a B cell’s nucleus.

Under normal circumstances, our immune system needs NF-kB to fight off diseases and infections. And until it is needed, this transcription factor follows my cats’ example and takes a lot of very long naps. I don’t want to go into its mechanisms of action (complicated stuff!), at least not today. Let it suffice that, once it has accomplished its task, it settles back down for another nap.

The study informs us that NF-kB is present in every type of cell, not just B cells as was first thought. Researchers have in fact discovered that it is located in the cytoplasm (the watery environment surrounding the cell nucleus) of all types of animal (from the fruit fly to us) cells. Another important finding is that it moves, or translocates, to the cell nucleus only when activated. Otherwise, it stays in, or (once it has finished its task) goes back to, the cytoplasm.

Things change with cancer. That’s when NF-kB turns into Mr. Hyde: it goes bonkers for a variety of reasons and ends up being active ALL the time, or constitutively active. And when this happens, NF-kB remains inside the cell nucleus, that is, it doesn’t return to the cytoplasm. No more naptime!

Skipping the technical parts about heterodimers, polyubiquitination and nuclear localization sequences (!), let me get to what we are really interested in: how does this transcription factor get activated in cancer cells? The study provides an answer: “NF-kB is activated by many divergent stimuli, including proinflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), epidermal growth factor (EGF), T- and B-cell mitogens, bacteria and lipopolysaccharides (LPS), viruses, viral proteins, double-stranded RNA, and physical and chemical stresses.” Radiation and chemotherapy also activate NF-kB. Speaking of which, the study tells us also that "Cells that express constitutively activated NF-kB are resistant to various chemotherapeutic agents and radiation treatment.” Vicious circle?

Another key sentence: “In tumor cells, different types of molecular alterations may result in impaired regulation of NF-kB activation. In such cases, NF-kB loses its transient nature of activation and becomes constitutively activated. This leads to deregulated expression of NF-kB– controlled genes.” NF-kB, the study continues, plays a critical role in cancer cell survival, inflammation, growth and so on. It regulates genes that are implicated in cancer cell proliferation, including TNF-alpha, IL-6, to name just a couple that we know are essential growth factors in multiple myeloma. It also regulates some of the cell cycle-regulatory proteins such as cyclin D1, also involved in myeloma (see my page on Ursolic Acid or my December 4 2007 post for more info on this gene, which has recently been associated with disease activity and progression).

Activated NF-kB is also implicated in the control of anti-apoptotic genes, that is, genes that keep cancer cells healthy and alive, such as survivin and Bcl-2 (again, see my post on ursolic acid). Furthermore, it regulates matrix metalloproteinases, or MMPs, which are proteases (protein-dissolving enzymes) that, among other things, promote cancer cell growth and angiogenesis. Okay, so there is no question that constitutively active NF-kB is not a good thing.

That’s enough for today, but I would like to end with a question: if we systemically inhibit NF-kB in order to stop our cancer from progressing, doesn’t that leave us more susceptible to infections? (More on this topic SOON!)

Curcumin Dreams And Culinary Tips

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I am about to begin poring over a handful of studies on general bioavailability (sigh), but I am a bit sleepy this morning and my coffee hasn’t kicked in yet, so I thought I would share a few recent odd discoveries with y’all.

Dreaming background: I have only on extremely rare occasions in the past been able to remember my dreams. At times I might wake up with a start after a particularly bad nightmare, but I would remember very few details. And if anybody asked me right then and there what the nightmare was about, I would be hard put to answer. This has changed in recent times, it would seem.

I don’t remember exactly WHEN I became aware of this new phenomenon, but I now remember my early morning dreams. I mean, EVERY single one! I now I wake up with a sort of clear “dream movie” in my brain. I remember details, colours, language spoken (I dream in at least two languages!) and so on. How long has this been going on? I am not sure, but my best estimate is: for about a month.

Another point. I think that most people would be able to relate to the following: even when you wake up remembering a dream clearly, this memory starts fading straight away, and if you don’t tell someone or write things down immediately, you will forget everything, no matter how hard you may try to recapture the moment later on in the day. Well, right now I can remember the dream I had before waking up…more than two hours ago, although, yes, the images are beginning to fade.

Only yesterday did I think of a possible connection between remembering dreams and my sublingually-absorbed curcumin mixture.

Could curcumin be affecting parts of my brain that are normally not “awake”? Could that be possible? Is there any other explanation? Are there any brain cell experts among us who could clarify this point, or tell me that I am simply…dreaming things?

Culinary Tips: yesterday I read a Science Daily article on boiling broccoli (see: http://tinyurl.com/3xzq59). Since you can go read the article for yourself, I won’t go into any details, but, in two words, a just published Italian (YEAH!) study has shown that some cooking methods actually seem to increase the release of certain nutrients contained in vegetables, which is contrary to conventional wisdom. I did know that cooked tomatoes have a higher content of lycopene compared to their raw counterpart, but broccoli? Apparently, if you steam (NOT boil, mind you) broccoli, you increase “its content of glucosinolates, a group of plant compounds touted for their cancer-fighting abilities.” How about that? I am very glad to learn this, since Stefano and I love steamed broccoli, which we eat the Italian way, almost as a hot salad, adding extra virgin olive oil, raw chopped garlic, lemon juice and a bit of salt.

Another titbit I read yesterday, and that someone actually told me about during the Xmas holidays, is that crushing garlic before cooking with it reduces the loss of its healthful properties. I found a February 2007 Science Daily article on this: http://tinyurl.com/2zu9v3 If you cook garlic whole, you lose a lot of the healthful compounds. But if you crush or even chop it before cooking, you release an enzyme called alliinase “that catalyzes the formation of allicin, which then breaks down to form a variety of healthful organosulfur compounds.” Crush garlic and then wait at least ten minutes before cooking with it, to give this enzyme enough time to work.

This is not a new discovery, eh. A study reported in 1998 (see: http://tinyurl.com/27hh3f) showed that garlic loses its anti-cancer characteristics if roasted for 45 minutes or cooked even just for one minute (!) in a microwave oven. But the good news is that “Garlic’s anti-cancer activity was retained, however, if the herb was first chopped or crushed and allowed to stand for 10 minutes before being heated. In the case of roasted whole garlic, anti-cancer activity was partially retained if the top of the bulb was sliced off prior to heating.”

Interesting stuff. Since I eat a lot of garlic, from now on I will crush it, just as my favourite British chef Jamie Oliver ("easy peasy!") does. Okay, back to my bioavailability studies. If I find some pearls of wisdom, I will be sure to report them here…tomorrow!