IN THIS ISSUE

This month, fight back against cancer and don't just sit around waiting for it to eat away at you.

Secondly find out if your memory loss is simply from a well celebrated St. Patricks day or Alzheimer's disease.

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What if this springtime you had an opportunity to lose weight, increase your energy, and protect yourself against various types of cancer? Sounds like an absolute no-brainer, right? But is there actually a way to do all of this and prevent cancer at the same time?

Move More, Fear Less

The American Cancer Society suggests that one of the most effective weapons you can add to your cancer-fighting kit is regular exercise. They indicate that participating in healthy habits, including nutritious eating and regular exercise can prevent fifty percent of cancer-related deaths.

In fact, a study by Macmillan Cancer Support disclosed that 150 minutes of exercise per week had the potential to reduce the relapse or death of a breast cancer patient by forty percent. Furthermore, the same amount of exercise was attributed to a thirty percent decrease in a prostate cancer sufferer's risk of death. If your eyes are bulging, you're not the only one. These stats are impressive.

These are not the only studies correlating exercise with cancer prevention. The British Medical Journey published a study in October that stated that individuals who exercised for thirty minutes or more daily (and participated in a healthy lifestyle) significantly decreased their risk of colorectal cancer.

The Journal of Breast Cancer Research associated twenty minutes of vigorous exercise, five days a week, with a twenty-five percent reduction in breast cancer risk in those with a family history of the disease. And wait, there’s more - a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology even indicated that participation in low to moderate physical activity could reduce the risk of lung cancer, even in smokers.

Decrease the Impact of Cancer

Not only can regular exercise prevent various types of cancer, it can also help current cancer sufferers recover faster. The traditional advice given by medical practitioners was for cancer patients to load up on rest. The last thing doctors wanted them to do was to partake in activities such as exercise. It was thought that they needed all the energy they could get to help fight the disease.

However, more and more studies and research show that rather than decreasing (or eliminating) the amount of exercise a cancer suffer participates in, if they are looking to beat the disease they should actually do the recommended daily exercise for their age. While this may not be practical for people involved in aggressive cancer treatment, inactivity is definitely not recommended.

Kathryn Schmitz, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and a researcher at the Abramson Cancer Center, suggests that the benefits of exercising throughout cancer treatment are plentiful. They include an increased chance of survival, increased energy, decreased reduction in muscle and bone mass, and an increase in positive emotions. She also believes that exercise can increase the effectiveness of cancer treatment.

Why Not Start This Spring?

The great news is that many experts agree that it's never too late start. According to the Journal of Clinical Oncology, postmenopausal women who were previously sedentary reduced the risk of breast cancer when they commenced an exercise regime.

So why not make this springtime the season you kick-start your exercise regime and scare cancer off?

Worried that your recent memory loss isn't the result of your St. Patrick's Day celebrations? If so, you might want to look into the health benefits of red wine, green tea, and dark chocolate.

The Alzheimer’s puzzle

In America alone, over 5.3 million individuals suffer from Alzheimer's disease. One of the biggest risk factors for Alzheimer's is aging and although researchers have been working hard to discover a cure, as of now nothing conclusive has been found.

Not that they're not trying. In fact, they could even be pretty close to finding the solution. According to researchers from the University of Leeds, Alzheimer's can be categorized by the build-up of amyloid proteins in the brain, which latch onto and destroy nerve cells.

Early results from research conducted by the University showed that green tea and red wine extracts were able to change the shape of amyloid protein build-up to prevent it from attaching to nerve cells. By adjusting the shape of the proteins, the amyloid balls were unable to latch onto nerve cells and cause them to breakdown and die.

Where green tea fits in

But that's not all. The University of Newcastle in the U.K. recently discovered that digested green tea is effective for protecting against the development of Alzheimer's disease. Although there have been numerous studies chronicling the benefits of green tea in an undigested and recently brewed form, this is the first study to show the protective qualities of green tea once digested.

And according to the researchers, not only does green tea protect against the development of Alzheimer's, but it can also slow down the growth of cancerous cells. While the results are by no means definitive, they do stir hope for Alzheimer's sufferers.

How red wine can help

Further research into a potential Alzheimer's cure comes from a U.S. based study. The Georgetown University Medical Centre in Washington is one of 26 American sites that are involved in a groundbreaking government-sponsored Alzheimer's disease study.

Over the course of 12 months, non-placebo participants will be given capsules of unadulterated resveratrol. Resveratrol is believed to protect against aging and is derived from the skin of tomatoes, dark chocolate, nuts and red grapes.

The study hopes to eventually reveal a cure for preventing and treating Alzheimer's disease.

And while none of the studies are wholly conclusive, it does show that the attempts being made to find a cure for Alzheimer's have been positive.

So if your St. Patrick's Day memory lapse is still causing you worries, feel safe in the knowledge that researchers worldwide are close to finding a cure.