The law has been in the works since October last year after a huge scandal erupted over contaminated milk which killed at least six children and sickened nearly 300,000 others in China.

“The law will see the establishment of a monitoring and supervision system, a set of national standards on food safety, a recall system, and severe punishment for offenders,” the official Xinhua news agency said.

China’s huge and poorly regulated food industry is regularly hit by scandals involving unsafe foods which harm public health and result in product recalls both at home and abroad.

In September, the tainted milk scandal — one of the biggest to hit the industry — caused a huge outcry, leading to China-made dairy product recalls and bans across the world.

A court in January sentenced the head of Sanlu — the dairy firm at the heart of the scandal — to life in prison for “manufacturing and selling fake or substandard products.”

Two others were sentenced to death over the incident, which saw the industrial chemical melamine added to watered-down milk to make it appear higher in protein.

Xinhua gave no further details of the content of the food safety law, but according to a previous report by the state-run agency, it would make health authorities directly responsible for approving additives in processed foods.

The agency also said it would prevent food safety authorities from issuing inspection exemptions to major food producers, as happened in the tainted milk scandal.

The law was passed by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, China’s top legislature.

China approves food safety law: state media

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Although diabetics are advised to limit dietary protein to delay the progression of kidney disease, recent observations suggest that the benefit to the kidneys may have to do with “the protein source rather than quantity,” the investigators note in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases.

Despite research linking fish to improved outcomes in diabetics, they add, epidemiological evidence of this benefit is scarce.

Dr. Amanda I. Adler, at the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit in Cambridge, and fellow researchers therefore conducted a population-based cross-sectional analysis of 22,000 subjects.

Among the 517 subjects with diabetes, the prevalence of albumin (protein) in the urine (macroalbuminuria), an indication of kidney disease, was 8.3 percent.

According to food questionnaire responses, 18 percent of diabetics who ate fish less than once a week had macroalbuminuria, versus 4 percent of those who included fish in their diet more than twice a week.

After adjusting the data for clinical, social, demographic, lifestyle, and dietary factors, regular fish consumption remained a significant predictor of freedom from macroalbuminuria among diabetics.

Adler’s group suggests that “the unique nutrient composition of fish” may prevent kidney damage by enhancing blood sugar control or improving lipid profiles.

They suggest that these findings set the stage for nutritional intervention trials to determine the optimal types of fish, modes of preparation, and dietary frequency to best protect the kidneys of patients with diabetes.

Reuters

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Is it just me, or does it seem like, these days, almost everyone has cancer somewhere in their family tree? Terrifying? Totally. But the good, absolutely fantastic, news is that regardless of your family history, you can very easily lower your cancer risk. The best way to start: Pile some delicious food on your fork, chew, swallow and repeat.

It turns out that a healthy diet can help to override any cancer-prone genes you might have at work in your body. “Nutrition has a bigger influence on cancer than inherited genes, which means you could significantly reduce your odds of the disease through diet alone,” explains Joel Fuhrman, M.D., author of Eat for Health (Gift of Health Press).

OK, OK. I know what you’re thinking right about now: She’s going to tell me I have to eat kale at every meal. Not so! I mean, for the record, you should always eat as many fruits and veggies as possible, because they will dramatically lower your odds of ever hearing the dreaded diagnosis. But there are many other, less rabbity ways to eat away at your cancer risk.

Add whole grains to your diet.

My two faves, aside from a thick piece of freshly baked whole-grain bread? Oatmeal with a pinch of cinnamon for breakfast, or brown rice with a chicken and veggie stir-fry for dinner. Bonus: Because whole grains are high in fiber, you won’t be hungry five minutes after you step away from the table.

Spice things up.

In India, where people cook with many cancer-fighting seasonings such as cumin, ginger, garlic and turmeric, breast cancer rates are about five times lower than in the United States. Plus, adding Indian seasonings to your brown rice or veggies adds loads of flavor without adding loads of calories. Find easy-to-make recipes with these cancer-fighting spices at Self.com.

Nibble on chocolate.

Ah, and now we’ve come to my favorite study ever! Consider this your permission slip to indulge in a dark chocolate bar, guilt-free. Researchers have discovered a compound in dark chocolate that fights fast-growing cancers, such as colorectal cancer. “The compound requires the activity of an enzyme called kinase, which causes cancerous cells to die but leaves normal cells alone,” says Richard Pestell, M.D., director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. The darkest varieties offer the greatest benefit.

The Anti-Cancer Diet on Yahoo! Health

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Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is often caused by smoking and kills about 30,000 UK residents a year.

US scientists found that sulforapane increases the activity of the NRF2 gene in human lung cells which protects cells from damage caused by toxins.

The same broccoli compound was recently found to be protective against damage to blood vessels caused by diabetes.

Brassica vegetables such as broccoli have also been linked to a lower risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Cell pollutants

In the latest study, a team from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine found significantly lower activity of the NRF2 gene in smokers with advanced COPD.

Writing in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, they said the gene is responsible for turning on several mechanisms for removing toxins and pollutants which can damage cells.

Previous studies in mice had shown that disrupting the NRF2 gene caused early onset severe emphysema – one of the conditions suffered by COPD patients.

Increasing the activity of NRF2 may lead to useful treatments for preventing the progression of COPD, the researchers said.

In the study, they showed that sulforapane was able to restore reduced levels of NRF2 in cells exposed to cigarette smoke.

“Future studies should target NRF2 as a novel strategy to increase antioxidant protection in the lungs and test its ability to improve lung function in people with COPD,” said study leader Dr Shyam Biswal.

A spokeswoman for the British Lung Foundation said: “This is an important study for the 3 million people in the UK with COPD because of its findings about the imbalance of oxidants and antioxidants in the lungs.

“We know broccoli naturally contains important compounds but studies so far have taken place in the test tube and further research is needed to find if you can produce the same effect in humans.”

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For the omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) study, Italian researchers enlisted more than 7,000 people who had been diagnosed with heart failure, a condition in which the heart becomes enlarged and loses its ability to effectively pump blood around the body. Half of the participants were given a daily capsule of omega-3, in addition to their other daily medications, while the other half took a placebo. They were followed for an average of four years, during which 1,981 (27 percent) of the group taking omega-3 died of heart failure or were admitted to the hospital with cardiovascular problems, compared to 2,053 (29 percent) of the placebo group.

In a parallel study, the same team studied heart failure rates of 2,285 patients who were given the statin rosuvastatin, also known as Crestor, while 2,289 were given a placebo. After tracking the patients for an average of four years, the doctors found little difference in the death rate between the two groups. When they compared the results from both studies, the researchers concluded that omega-3 is slightly more effective than the drug because it performed better against a placebo. “Our study shows that the long-term administration of 1g per day of omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acid was effective in reducing both all-cause mortality and admissions to hospital for cardiovascular reasons,” said Professor Luigi Tavazzi from the research center of the of the Italian Association of Hospital Cardiologists based in Florence.

This new study confirms the results of previous studies that investigated the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, but they have largely been observational and have lacked a direct comparison to a placebo. “This study changes the certainty of the evidence we have about fish oils,” said Dr. Douglas Weaver, president of the American College of Cardiology. He said that guidelines in the U.S. would likely change to recommend more heart patients take supplements or eat more fish. “This is a low-tech solution and could help all patients with cardiovascular problems,” he said.

However, in an editorial accompanying the journal report, Dr. Gregg Fonarow, professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the positive trial results doesn’t mean that a statin should not be prescribed for someone with heart failure and high cholesterol, but “indicates that heart failure, in and of itself, should not be a reason to start a patient on a statin.” He also stressed that people with heart failure should not start taking fish oil supplements on their own. “They used a specific formulation, a prescription formulation. Heart failure is a very high-risk condition. It is absolutely critical for patients, whether it is a prescription medicine or modification of diet or a supplement, that they consult their physician,” he said.

Public health organizations recommend that everyone eat fish twice a week. Oily fish, such as salmon, mackerel, halibut, herring, sardines, albacore tuna and anchovies are an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids. However, fish is not the only source. You should also consider other seafood, such as Pacific oysters, shrimp, mollusks and Alaskan king crab. Walnuts and flaxseed can also add substantial amounts of omega-3 to your diet, as can vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, and cauliflower. But the most certain prescription is to take a fish oil supplement, since it has specified doses of EPA and DHA, and can also alleviate concerns about fish being contaminated with mercury or PCB’s.

The findings of both studies were published online August 31 in the journal The Lancet and presented at a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology, in Munich, Germany.

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The technique alters the structure of the tomato molecule lycopene so that it is more easily transported into the bloodstream.

Lycopene, a powerful antioxidant, has been shown to prevent cancers and may also combat heart disease and diabetes.

Earlier studies have indicated that processing raw tomatoes into purees or sauces increased the benefits.

Now researchers have discovered a way to enhance this further, with a technique that is already used by families in making and reheating their spag bol.

In the average tomato, lycopene generally has a straight or ”linear” shape that hinders its ability to pass through intestinal walls into the blood.

However most of the lycopene found circulating in the bloodstream has a ”bent” molecular form. So scientists believe this kind of structure is more likely to pass into the blood when consumed.

“What we have found is we can take the red tomato molecular form of lycopene and by processing it and heating it in combination with added oil, we can change the shape of the molecule so it is configured in this bent form,” The Daily Mail quoted study leader Dr Steven Schwartz, from Ohio State University in Columbus, as saying.

Heat is vital to the process, but so is the addition of some fat, which helps carry the lycopene through the gut walls.

To carry out the research, the scientists processed red tomatoes into two kinds of sauce. One was rich in cislycopene – the ”bent” variety – while the other mostly contained all-trans-lycopene, the linear form.

Corn oil was added to both sauces, but the key to producing ”bent” lycopene was a 40-minute second round of heating at 127c. The resulting sauce contained nine times more ”bent” lycopene.

A small study was then conducted on 12 volunteers who were given both types of sauce to eat. After each meal, blood samples-were taken and analysed over nine and a half hours. Lycopene blood levels were 55 per cent higher after consumption of the new sauce, the scientists found.

The study has been presented at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in Philadelphia. (ANI)

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