Health Technology Research Synopsis
5th Issue Date 10 AUG 2007
Compiled By Ralph Turchiano
www.healthresearchreport.me www.vit.bz
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Public release date: 30-Jul-2007
Caffeine and exercise can team up to prevent skin cancer
A potential dynamic duo that may help avert sun-induced skin cancer
New Brunswick, N.J. — Regular exercise and little or no caffeine has become a popular lifestyle choice for many Americans. But a new Rutgers study has found that it may not be the best formula for preventing sun-induced skin damage that could lead to cancer. Low to moderate amounts of caffeine, in fact, along with exercise can be good for your health.
Some degree of programmed cell death, also known as apoptosis, was observed in the DNA-damaged cells of all four groups, but the caffeine drinkers and exercisers showed an increase over the UVB-treated control group. Apoptosis is a way in which cells with badly damaged DNA commit suicide – UVB-damaged cells in this case.
“If apoptosis takes place in a sun-damaged cell, its progress toward cancer will be aborted,” said Allan Conney, director of Rutgers’ Cullman Laboratory and one of the paper’s authors.
Compared to the UVB-exposed control animals, the caffeine drinkers showed an approximately 95 percent increase in UVB-induced apoptosis, the exercisers showed a 120 percent increase, while the mice that were both drinking and exercising showed a nearly 400 percent increase.
“The most dramatic and obvious difference between the groups came from the caffeine-drinking runners, a difference that can likely be attributed to some kind of synergy,” Conney said. The authors suggested several mechanisms at the biochemical level that might be responsible for the protective effects of caffeine and exercise, but acknowledged that what is happening synergistically is still somewhat of a mystery.
Public Release: 30-Jul-2007
New studies on goat milk show it is more beneficial to health than cow milk
-It helps to prevent diseases such as anaemia and bone demineralisation
-“http://www.ugr.es” researchers have carried out a comparative study on the properties of goat milk compared to those of cow milk. Rats with induced nutritional ferropenic anaemia have been used in the study
-Goat milk helps digestive and metabolic utilisation of minerals such as iron, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium
-Part of the results of this research have been published in the prestigious scientific journals International Dairy Journal and Journal Dairy Science
Research carried out at the Department of Physiology of the University of Granada has revealed that goat milk has more beneficial properties to health than cow milk. Among these properties it helps to prevent ferropenic anaemia (iron deficiency) and bone demineralisation (softening of the bones).
This project, conducted by Doctor Javier Díaz Castro and directed by professors Margarita Sánchez Campos, Mª Inmaculada López Aliaga and Mª José Muñoz Alférez, focuses on the comparison between the nutritional properties of goat milk and cow milk, both with normal calcium content and calcium enriched, against the bioavailability of iron, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium. To carry out this study, the metabolic balance technique has been used both in rats with experimentally induced nutritional ferropenic anaemia and in a control group of rats.
Results obtained in the study reveal that ferropenic anaemia and bone demineralisation caused by this pathology have a better recovery with goat milk. Due to the higher bioavailability of iron, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium, the restoration of altered haematological parameters and the better levels of parathyroid hormone (PTH), a hormone that regulates the calcium balance in the organism was found in the rats that consumed this food
Public release date: 30-Jul-2007
Impact on lungs of 1 cannabis joint equal to up to 5 cigarettes
A single cannabis joint has the same effect on the lungs as smoking up to five cigarettes in one go, indicates research published ahead of print in the journal Thorax.
The researchers base their findings on 339 adults up to the age of 70, selected from an ongoing study of respiratory health, and categorised into four different groups.
Cannabis smokers complained of wheeze, cough, chest tightness and phlegm. But emphysema, the progressive and crippling lung disease, was only seen in those who smoked tobacco, either alone or in combination.
It diminished the numbers of small fine airways, which are important for transporting oxygen and waste products to and from the blood vessels effectively.
Public release date: 30-Jul-2007
Negative effects of plastic’s additive blocked by nutrient supplements
In their most recent experiments, Duke University Medical Center investigators demonstrated that exposure within the womb to bisphenol A (BPA), an ubiquitous chemical used in the production of plastics, caused noticeable changes in the offspring without altering any of the offspring’s genes. Additionally, the researchers discovered that administration of folic acid or genistein, an active ingredient in soy, during pregnancy protected the offspring from the negative effects of BPA.
The researchers found that when the mouse mothers received BPA, a statistically significant increase in the number of their offspring were born with a yellow coat. Previous studies with these mice have shown that yellow agouti mice are at a much greater risk for diabetes, obesity and cancer.
“The fact that the mice fed BPA had a yellow coat and likely would grow to be obese as adults demonstrates that this single substance had a system-wide effect,” said Dana Dolinoy, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Randy Jirtle, Ph.D., senior member of the research team. “A comparison between the large yellow mice and the normal brown mice showed identical genetic makeup, yet strikingly different appearances
BPA is a synthetic estrogen first synthesized in the 1890s and is used in the manufacturing process from such everyday products as plastic water bottles, food containers and baby bottles. While laboratory studies have uncovered possible health concerns in animals, there has been considerable debate in the United States and Europe about what levels are considered safe for human consumption. Attempts have been made in Canada, California, Maryland and Minnesota to ban its use.
Jirtle, one of the leaders of epigenetics research, said that it is difficult at this point to determine what the levels of maternal BPA in humans would equal those that caused epigenetic changes seen in the mice. The levels of BPA used in the current experiments were five times lower than that considered harmful for mice, showing that even a low exposure was able to cause noticeable effects in the offspring.
“Since BPA can be detected at some level in almost all humans, the current findings could hold the promise of reducing disease susceptibility by using nutritional approaches,” Jirtle said. “The ability of some agents to counteract the epigenetic effects of a toxin, in this case BPA, with maternal supplements has the potential to protect present and future generations.”
Genistein, which is readily available in health food stores, is an active ingredient in soy. It is possible, Jirtle said, that the reason Asians have much lower rates of obesity and certain cancers is that their diet typically includes greater use of soy products than Western diets. However, he pointed out, it is not known at what doses genistein would be protective or harmful in humans. Future studies would be needed to determine optimal doses.
(Ralph’s Note- BPA should be made illegal period, this is one of the primary (HIDDEN) reasons for the obesity epidemic.)
Public release date: 30-Jul-2007
Lithium and bone healing
By studying mice with fractures the researchers were able to show that â-catenin-mediated gene transcription was activated in both bone and cartilage formation during fracture repair. In mice that lacked â-catenin fracture healing was inhibited, whereas in mice expressing an activated form of â-catenin bone healing was accelerated. Treating mice with lithium activated â-catenin in the healing fracture, but healing was enhanced only when treatment was given after the fracture occurred, rather than before.
Public release date: 31-Jul-2007
Study helps explain how HIV becomes AIDS
UCI biologist Dominik Wodarz has shown for the first time that the development of AIDS might require HIV to evolve within a patient into a state where it spreads less efficiently from cell to cell. This counters the current belief that AIDS develops when the virus evolves over time to spread more efficiently within a patient, ultimately leading to the collapse of the immune system.
The study also finds that multiple HIV particles must team up to infect individual cells, called co-infection, in order for deadly strains to emerge and to turn the infection into AIDS. If just one virus particle infects a cell, the deadliest strains may not be able to evolve, stopping HIV from progressing to AIDS. By keeping more than one HIV particle from infecting a cell, scientists might be able to ward off AIDS, the study suggests. AIDS killed more than 17,000 people in the United States in 2005.
These notions can be tested experimentally. If confirmed, Wodarz believes scientists could use this knowledge to develop a drug that blocks the cellular invasion of multiple HIV particles. This would create an environment in which the most deadly HIV types cannot emerge. This, he says, could keep HIV from developing into AIDS. No such drug currently exists.
This theory could explain why certain monkeys that are naturally infected with the monkey version of HIV never develop AIDS. According to Wodarz’s model, multiple virus particles may infect cells at reduced levels or not at all. Wodarz says this theory also could be tested experimentally.
****Ralph’s Note- I put this article in for two reasons. The first one being, it leaves the possibility that certain strains of HIV may be protective against AIDS. Second that drugs currently designed to lower primary HIV levels, may Inadvertently trigger AIDS. This should be investigated immediately. So now there is a good HIV and a bad HIV it appears.
Public release date: 1-Aug-2007
Medications are frequently prescribed for children with sleep problems
WESTCHESTER, Ill. — Physicians frequently prescribe medications for sleep difficulties in children in U.S. outpatient settings, according to a study published in the August 1st issue of the journal SLEEP.
“According to our study, 81 percent of visits among children with sleep difficulties resulted in a prescription for a medication,” said Nahata. “Many of these medications were frequently used to treat children with sleep difficulties in outpatient settings despite lack of FDA approved labeling to assure their effectiveness and safety in this population.”
Public release date: 1-Aug-2007
Marijuana component opens the door for virus that causes Kaposi’s sarcoma
PHILADELPHIA – The major active component of marijuana could enhance the ability of the virus that causes Kaposi’s sarcoma to infect cells and multiply, according to a team of researchers at Harvard Medical School. According to the researchers, low doses of Ä-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), equivalent to that in the bloodstream of an average marijuana smoker, could be enough to facilitate infection of skin cells and could even coax these cells into malignancy.
“These findings raise some serious questions about using marijuana, in any form, if you have a weakened immune system,” said lead study author Jerome E. Groopman, M.D., professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “While THC is best known as the main psychotropic part of marijuana, an analog of THC is the active ingredient of marinol, a drug frequently given to AIDS patients, among others, for increasing appetite and limiting chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.”
Public Release: 1-Aug-2007
The memory of water is a reality
Oxford, UK, 01 August 2007 – A special issue of the journal Homeopathy, journal of the Faculty of Homeopathy and published by Elsevier, on the “Memory of Water” brings together scientists from around the world for the first time to publish new data, reviews and discuss recent scientific work exploring the idea that water can display memory effects. The concept of memory of water is important to homeopathy because it offers a potential explanation of the mechanism of action of very high dilutions often used in homeopathy.
The concept of the memory of water goes back to 1988 when the late Professor Jacques Benveniste published, in the international scientific journal Nature, claims that extremely high ‘ultramolecular’ dilutions of an antibody had effects in the human basophil degranulation test, a laboratory model of immune response. In other words, the water diluent ‘remembered’ the antibody long after it was gone. His findings were subsequently denounced as ‘pseudoscience’ and yet, despite the negative impact this had at the time, the idea has not gone away.
Professor Chaplin and Dr Peter Fisher, editor-in-chief of the journal, agree that the current evidence brings us a step closer to providing an explanation for the claims made for homeopathy and that the memory of water, once considered a scientific heresy, is a reality. “These discoveries may have far reaching implications and more research is required,” comments Dr Fisher.
Public release date: 1-Aug-2007
Scientists find why red beans and rice can be nauseating
Scientists have discovered how lectins, a family of proteins believed to be a natural insecticide that is abundant in undercooked legumes and grains, can make you feel temporarily miserable.
It’s known that it can be a toxin,” Dr. Paul L. McNeil, cell biologist at the Medical College of Georgia, says of the lectin protein that’s commonly found in vegetables. Lectins, which bind strongly to carbohydrates that decorate cell surfaces, have a particular affinity for the heavy-carbohydrate coats of epithelial cells that line the gastrointestinal tract.
Researchers have long known that ingesting too much undercooked lectin can cause nausea, diarrhea and vomiting. What they didn’t know was how lectin caused food poisoning.
Work published Aug. 1 in PloS One shows lectins disable GI tract cells, which are constantly bombarded while digesting food, from repairing tears in cells walls from all the activity. Repair normally occurs in seconds: internal membranes move up to patch the tear, the cell recovers and the one-cell layer lining of the GI tract remains intact.
“If those individual cells cannot repair tears, they die,” says Dr. McNeil. “That means you have gaps in the integrity of the surface area of the epithelium and you are exposing the nasty internal world of your GI tract to your blood supply.”
The epithelial lining is a continuous, natural barrier between digesting food in the GI tract and the blood supply. When intact, it allows only good stuff like nutrients to pass through.
“Your body senses that lack of barrier function and tells you to eliminate the entire contents of the GI tract,” says Dr. McNeil, noting that lectin’s apparent role as a natural insecticide and as a source of food poisoning are related. “If you get vomiting and diarrhea you are going to eliminate the entire contents of your gastrointestinal tract, right” And, you are not going to eat red beans again the next day, right” That is probably the point if they are natural insecticides. Alcohol will do the same thing. When you drink too much alcohol, you can destroy the lining of your stomach.”
But the scientist who first identified how injured cells patch themselves says lectin blocks this repair mechanism better than anything else he’s seen. Interestingly, he and his colleagues showed in PloS Biology in 2006 how roughage – which includes beans – help people stay “regular” by causing more cell tears, which enables more mucus to escape from cells, essentially greasing the GI tract.
That same research team, which includes Dr. Katsuya Miyake, MCG cell biologist, and Dr. Toru Tanaka, pharmacologist at Josai University in Japan, has now shown lectin is also very good at blocking mucus expulsion from cells.
In fact, they discovered lectin’s role in stopping cell-patching and mucus release while researching roughage. The multipurpose lectin is a powerful stain the team used to look at mucus released by cells after tearing. They found if they used too much lectin there was no patching or mucus, just cell death.
“Biologically it’s interesting because it might tell us more about the mechanism of repair,” says Dr. McNeil, who wants to learn more about how lectin interferes with repair. “We know the mechanism involves surface binding because you can add lectin and the cells can’t repair. You take the same culture of cells, wash the lectin away, injure other cells in the culture and they repair fine. We also know it’s a very rapid, surface-initiated inhibition.”
In addition to the immediate discomfort undercooked beans and rice can cause, long term concerns ingestion of lectin has also been linked to colorectal cancer and celiac disease, a common problem in which individuals are sensitive to gluten, a mixture of proteins derived from wheat flour that includes lectins. The small intestine of the celiac sufferer is unable to properly absorb nutrients after gluten ingestion.
Oddly, in a laboratory dish, safe from mechanical stresses that cause surface tears, lectin can make cells divide, “which is quite the opposite of making cells sick,” Dr. McNeil says. A recent Science paper implicated lectin in diabetes as well.
“It’s possible that this bioactive property of lectin that binds to our cells could have long-term consequences taken even in small amounts,” he says, noting that thorough cooking destroys most but not all lectin. “Maybe the bloating and gas is telling us something about lectin when it’s just a minor irritation.”
He notes lectin is easily among the top-10 causes of food poisoning but is unlikely to be lethal because the body is so good at sensing the break in the GI barrier and eliminating the problem.
Public Release: 1-Aug-2007
Study Shows Cigarette Additives Could Be Making It Tougher for Smokers to Quit
A new UCLA study shows that at least 100 of the 599 documented cigarette additives have “pharmacological” actions, many of which enhance or maintain the delivery of nicotine and may increase the addictiveness of cigarettes.
Public release date: 1-Aug-2007
Coffee drinking related to reduced risk of liver cancer
After lung and stomach cancer, liver cancer is the third largest cause of cancer deaths in the world. A new study on the relationship between coffee drinking and the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) confirmed that there is an inverse association between coffee consumption and HCC, although the reasons for this relationship are still unresolved.
The results of this study appear in the August 2007 issue of Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc
At least eleven studies conducted in southern Europe and Japan have examined the relationship between coffee drinking and the risk of primary liver cancer. The current study, led by Francesca Bravi of the Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri in Milan, Italy, was a meta-analysis of published studies on HCC that included how much coffee patients had consumed. Researchers combined all published data to obtain an overall quantitative estimate of the association between coffee consumption and HCC.
The results showed a 41 percent reduction of HCC risk among coffee drinkers compared to those who never drank coffee. “Moreover, the apparent favorable effect of coffee drinking was found both in studies from southern Europe, where coffee is widely consumed, and from Japan, where coffee consumption is less frequent, and in subjects with chronic liver diseases,” the researchers state.
“In conclusion, the results from this meta-analysis provide quantitative evidence of an inverse relation between coffee drinking and liver cancer,” the authors state. “The interpretation of this association remains, however, unclear and the consequent inference on causality and worldwide public health implications is still open for discussion.”
Public Release: 2-Aug-2007
Cognitive Impairment Link Found in Popular Medications
Indianapolis, Ind. – August 02, 2007 – Long-term use of histamine2 receptor antagonists (H2A), one class of drugs that blocks stomach acid, may be associated with cognitive impairment in older African-American adults. According to an Indiana University School of Medicine and Regenstrief Institute study published in August issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, the risk for showing signs of cognitive impairment is 2.5 times greater for patients using these medications long-term.
These acid blockers, including ranitidine and famotidine, are among the most popular medications prescribed in the United States. More than 16 million prescriptions were dispensed in 2005 and several of these medications are also available over-the-counter. The drugs are sold under brand names such as Axid, Pepcid, Tagamet and Zantac, and are used to treat ulcers, acid reflux and other gastrointestinal disorders.
The five-year observational study included 1,558 cognitively normal African-Americans aged 65 and older. After controlling for other possible factors, nearly 18 percent of H2A users studied exhibited signs of cognitive impairment.
Public Release: 2-Aug-2007
Zinc Lozenges an Ineffective Treatment for Colds (Anatomy of a stupid non-study)
Despite 20 years of research, the benefits of zinc lozenges as a therapy for the common cold have not been proven. A new study, published in the Sept. 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, currently available online, reviews the 14 placebo-controlled studies from the past two decades and finds significant fault with 10 of the studies. Of the four remaining studies, three reported no therapeutic effect from zinc lozenge or nasal spray, and one study reported positive results from zinc nasal gel.
***** Ralph’s note- This is where the researcher decided to pick and choose which studies they used. They decided that about 72% (the majority ) of the research was poor.
“The best scientific evidence available indicates that zinc lozenges are not effective in treating colds,” said Jack M. Gwaltney, Jr., MD, one of the authors.
In this new research, the authors have sorted through 105 studies of zinc and the common cold. From this, they extracted the 14 randomized, placebo-controlled studies, the type of study that might provide the strongest evidence for or against zinc’s usefulness in cold-relief. They then checked each study for 11 features of experimental design that needed to be met in order for the study to produce valid results.
***Ralph’s note – So really they tossed out 96% of the research they felt did not meet their criteria. Wow with that much wiggle room, I think I can prove the world is flat.
The research was performed by medical student Thomas Caruso of Stanford University School of Medicine with the direction of Dr. Gwaltney, a professor of internal medicine, emeritus, at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, and with the assistance of Charles Prober, MD, also at Stanford.
***Ralph’s note- Now they go in for the kill. Note the state a potential toxicity of Zinc at 40mg or above with out any reference to where they get their hypothesis. This is a great example of researcher bias.
As the search for a cure for the common cold continues, some may be happy to learn that it isn’t contained in a zinc lozenge, as the lozenges are frequently reported to be unpleasant to the taste and may produce stomach ache and nausea as side effects. In addition, chronic zinc intake of greater than 40 mg/day can lead to malfunctioning of the immune system and chronic fatigue (various brands of lozenges have between 5 and 24 mg of zinc in each lozenge).
Public release date: 6-Aug-2007
In women, caffeine may protect memory
ST. PAUL, MN- Caffeine may help older women protect their thinking skills, according to a study published in the August 7, 2007, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The study involved 7,000 people whose cognitive abilities and caffeine consumption were evaluated over four years. Compared to women who drank one cup or less of coffee per day, those who drank over three cups were less likely to show as much decline in memory. Moreover, the benefits increased with age – coffee drinkers being 30 percent less likely to have memory decline at age 65 and rising to 70 percent less likely over age 80
Taking a supplement of glycine, a food additive, helps to prevent Degenerative diseases such as arthrosis or osteoporosis
– A doctoral thesis presented in the UGR has established that these diseases are due to a lack of this amino acid which is present in food such as fish, meat or dairy products.
– The research, which was carried out at the Cellular Metabolism Institute in Tenerife, studied the effect of the glycine supplement in the diet of a group of 600 volunteers affected by different diseases related to the mechanical structure of the organism.
Glycine is a non-essential amino acid used by the organism to synthesise proteins and is present in foods such as fish, meat or dairy products. The study, carried out at the Cellular Metabolism Institute in Tenerife and at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the University of Granada by Doctor Patricia de Paz Lugo and supervised by Doctors Enrique Meléndez Hevia, David Meléndez Morales and José Antonio Lupiáñez Cara, established that the direct intake of this substance as a food additive helps to prevent arthrosis and other degenerative diseases, in addition to other diseases related to a weakness in the mechanical structure of the organism, including the difficulty of repairing physical injuries.
The work of De Paz Lugo was developed at the Cellular Metabolism Institute (CMI) in Tenerife, where researchers studied the effect of the glycine supplement on the diet of a group of 600 volunteers affected by different diseases related to the mechanical structure of the organism such as arthrosis, physical injuries or osteoporosis. The patients analysed were aged 4-85, and the average age was 45.
In all cases, there was a notable improvement in the symptomology. “Thefore –according to De Paz Lugo- we concluded that many degenerative diseases such as arthrosis can be treated as deficiency diseases due to the lack of glycine, since supplementing a diet with this amino acid leads to a notable improvement in symptomology without the need to take pain-killers”.
Arthrosis is the most common osteoarticulary problem in our society: more than 50% of the population suffer from it after the age of 65, and 80% of people over 75. It consists of a degeneration of the articulary cartilage which disappears until it leaves the subchondral bone exposed. Arthrosis has no cure at present and the most widely used treatments are pain-killers and NSAID (non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs), which only relieve pain but do not repair the damage in the cartilage or influence the development of the disease.
The work carried out by the scientist from the CMI shows that collagen has a unique structure with a right-handed triple superhelix in which the glycine represents a third of its residues. Mathematical analysis of the metabolic route of the synthesis of the glycine, developed by the research group to which Patricia de Paz belongs, demonstrated that this amino acid should be considered an essential amino acid.
The doctoral thesis carried out at the CMI and the UGR has shown that the capacity of the metabolism to synthesise glycine is very limited. The conclusion of this study is that glycine, administered in daily doses of 10 grams divided into two doses of 5 grams ?one in the morning and one at night? leads to a general improvement in these problems over a period of time which, in most cases, is between two weeks and four months
Researchers find vitamin B1 deficiency key to vascular problems for diabetic patients
Researchers at Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, have discovered that deficiency of thiamine – Vitamin B1 – may be key to a range of vascular problems for people with diabetes. They have also solved the mystery as to why thiamine deficiency in diabetes had remained hidden until now.
In a paper entitled “High prevalence of low plasma thiamine concentration in diabetes linked to a marker of vascular disease”, published in Diabetologia on 4th August, the team found that thiamine concentration in blood plasma was decreased 76% in type 1 diabetic patients and 75% in type 2 diabetic patients. This significant decrease had been previously masked as the conventional way of assessing levels of thiamine status was to measure the activity of an enzyme called transketolase in red blood cells. Past studies had seen normal activity of this enzyme and assumed normal levels of thiamine when in fact the normal enzyme activity was due to increased amounts of two proteins THTR-1 and RFC-1 that help transport thiamine into red blood cells. The increased levels of these proteins were a direct response to there being a deficiency of thiamine in the body.
***Ralph’s note (meaning the current test for B-1 levels in the blood is WRONG)
The researchers found that the decreased plasma thiamine concentration in clinical diabetes was not due to a deficiency of dietary input of thiamine. Rather it was due to a profound increased rate of removal of thiamine from the blood into the urine.
***Ralph’s note (meaning the RDA for B-1 in diabetics may be critically low).
Green tea holds promise as new treatment for inflammatory skin diseases
Green tea could hold promise as a new treatment for skin disorders such as psoriasis and dandruff, Medical College of Georgia researchers say.
Researchers studied an animal model for inflammatory skin diseases, which are often characterized by patches of dry, red, flaky skin caused by the inflammation and overproduction of skin cells. Those treated with green tea showed slower growth of skin cells and the presence of a gene that regulates the cells’ life cycles.
“The traditional treatment of ultraviolet light and medication, while it can control the lesions and be used long term, may cause squamous cell carcinoma – the second most common form of skin cancer,” Dr. Hsu says. “Some of the most effective anti-dandruff shampoos also have carcinogens in them. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allows that in small amounts, the bottom line is that we don’t know the long-term effects of using those products continuously.”
Animal models treated with green tea also showed reduced levels of proliferating cell nuclear antigen, a gene expressed when skin cells multiply. In psoriasis, the gene is over-expressed and speeds production of skin cells. “Before treatment, the antigen, PCNA, was present in all layers of the skin,” Dr. Hsu says.
“Typically, PCNA is only found in the basal layer, the innermost layer where skin cells continually divide and new cells push the older ones to the skin surface, where they eventually slough off. After being treated with green tea, the animal models showed near-normal levels of PCNA in only the basal layers.”