Health World News and Features

Bracken is polluting water supplies worldwide – and causing cancer. You may not be surprised to get cancer if you smoke, or drink too much alcohol, but no one expects to get it from drinking water.

Glugging plenty of glasses each day is supposed to be good for us, but now you might want to think twice before turning on the tap.

New research, being presented at the British Ecological Society Annual Meeting in Lancaster in north-west England, has revealed that a common fern may be poisoning water supplies all over the world.

Bracken is a fern that grows on every continent except Antarctica.

Its curling green fronds decorate many British hillsides, dying down and turning a distinctive rusty-red color through the winter. Due to changes in farming practices over the past hundred years, bracken has proliferated and now it sprawls across much of Scotland and northern Britain.

For a long time scientists have known that bracken contains a carcinogenic compound called ptaquiloside (PTQ), but thought it dangerous only if eaten.

Now Lars Holm Rasmussen, a scientist at The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Denmark, has shown that PTQs from bracken can enter the water supply and that some of us may be gulping poison every day.

Scientists have already shown that the PTQs ingested from eating bracken can increase your chances of getting gastric and oesophageal cancer.

In Brazil and Japan, young bracken shoots are often used in salads and cooking.

“The young ferns are quite tasty, a bit like asparagus with almonds,” says Holm Rasmussen.

But their toxic qualities are also quite clear, with higher incidence of cancer in both these countries. Now he has shown that eating bracken isn’t the only way of ingesting PTQs.

Last year, Holm Rasmussen measured the concentration of PTQs in water from wells on Danish and Swedish farms, which had lots of bracken growing in the area.

To his horror, some of the water had PTQ levels that were over 20,000 times higher than the suggested tolerable levels for environmental carcinogens.

The story is likely to be similar for many other farms and villages worldwide, where water is sourced from a brackenstrangled borehole or well.

“PTQ is somewhat like sugar, it dissolves easily and is just as mobile as pollutants like nitrates,” says Holm Rasmussen.

By measuring PTQ levels in soil and soil-water at different times of year, he has shown that the highest levels are found after heavy summer rainfall.

“PTQ is washed out of the bracken fronds by rain and since the bracken has the most biomass in summer, this is when we find the highest concentrations of PTQ in water,” he explains.

Particularly high levels were found on farms where the water table was high, five to 10 meters below ground.

Soil type is also important in helping or hindering PTQ to travel.

Sandy soils act like motorways to the water supply, while peat soils and chalks are more like very windy country roads.

“The situation is worst in sandy soils with a pH between five and six. Once the soil gets too acid (peat for example), or alkaline (limestone or chalk for example), then it becomes less mobile and degrades before reaching the groundwater,” explains Holm Rasmussen.

To make matters worse, families living on dairy farms may have also been drinking contaminated milk.

PTQs can be transferred into milk when cows nibble on bracken, particularly during the spring when the shoots are young and tasty.

Farmers often keep the buttermilk for their family, giving it to their children as a healthy drink. This buttermilk will have had the highest proportion of PTQs because it has not been diluted with milk form other, less bracken-infested farms.

What is more, PTQs are attracted towards water, so tend to concentrate in the buttermilk, rather than enter the cream, butter and cheese that will have been made from the fat that was skimmed off.

“Bracken certainly could be an environmental factor that explains the raised levels of cancer in certain areas,” says Holm Rasmussen.

What is perhaps more concerning is that it may not just be bracken that we need to worry about.

A number of important agricultural crops such as canola and clover already produce toxic natural products with similar structures to PTQ. These toxins are not carcinogenic, but may behave in a similar way in the soil.

Furthermore, many of the new GM crops, such as GM maize, are developed with an increased natural defence against pests and weeds, by inserting genes that code for the high production of toxic compounds.

“Some of these toxic natural products have a similar structure to PTQ and I think they will behave in a similar way,” says Holm Rasmussen.

Given that crops are often planted on sandy soils with a high water table, some crops could have an even worse effect on the water supply than bracken.

There are no easy solutions to this problem.

Farmers and landowners are trying to reduce the amount of bracken, but it is difficult to get rid of and the most effective mechanism is to spray hillsides with a noxious pesticide: not ideal for improving the water supply.

Meanwhile, Holm Rasmussen is hoping to carry out more research to discover which GM crops and which type of environment present the greatest threat to our water.

In the meantime, don’t give up drinking water but to keep trampling down the bracken when you’re out for a walk.

KATE RAVILIOUS IN LONDON, September 19, 2004, Manila Bulletin

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Child nutrition experts confirm that there are indeed foods that increase a child’s ability to develop his brain and thereby affecting his scholastic achievements later on.

The brain has two sides. Your child’s left brain is responsible for his logical functions while his right brain is responsible for his creative functions. Both sides of the brain can develop together in such a way that both are able to function together without overpowering or placing distorted demands upon one another.

So what are some of the best examples of foods that give power to the brain?

1. Milk with clinically proven levels of DHA and ARA. Recent studies have shown that a baby’s brain will develop properly with the help of two important nutrients: Docohexaenoic Acid (DHA) and Arachidonic Acid (ARA, basic building blocks which help greatly in mental and visual development.

From childbirth, the infant brain needs DHA supplementation, which helps in increasing a child’s mental functions. ARA on the other hand, is responsible for baby’s physical growth. It complements DHA for optimum physical and mental development. Both also play significant roles in developing sharper vision in babies.

Mother’s breastmilk is a rich source of DHA and ARA. Breastfeeding your child will certainly help him gain these two important nutrients. However, when this is not possible, choose an infant formula that contains clinically proven levels of DHA and ARA.

2. Protein-rich foods chicken, meat and fish. Protein in food is critical to alertness, attention and thinking. Amino acids, the chief components of protein, are the building blocks of our bodies. Protein provides the building blocks for most of the body’s tissues, nerves and internal organs, including the brain and heart.

3. Raw fruits, vegetables and orange juice. These contain folic acid, that is essential for the formation and maturation of red and white blood cells. Research shows that and white blood cells. Research shows that lack of folic acid leads to tiredness, irritability and forgetfulness in children.

4. Choline-rich foods like egg yolk, green vegetables, dairy products and soybeans. These contribute to memory-enhancement. Choline is an amino acid commonly found in egg yolk. It is also present in dairy products, green vegetables and soybeans. Choline increases the brain’s rate of metabolism; it is also involved in the production of ‘acetylcholine’ (a neurotransmitter helping in memory function).

Iron-rich foods. These may increase a child’s attention span for challenging tasks. Iron carries oxygen in the blood and helps transport oxygen into cells where it is used. Some studies show that iron-deficiency in children results in decreased attention span. Children who are low in iron tend to do poorly in vocabulary, reading and other tests and this means that left side of the brain (logic) functions may be on the low level.

5. Good nutrition is important to proper and balance brain development. The choices you make for your baby’s foods will allow him to perform well not only in school but also in the environment around him.

Manila Bulletin

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CHARLESTON, S.C. – It turns out that what you long thought to be true is true: Mosquitoes prefer biting some people more than others. “Some people are just more attractive,” said Ulrich Bernier, a research chemist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“Mosquitoes are so keen at figuring out who the best people are to have a blood meal,” he said. “We still don’t understand how they figure it out so well. They know how to do it and we don’t know how they know.”

Mosquitoes are highly attracted to one in every 10 people. Bernier is working to discover which of the more than 1,000 chemicals on the skin people attract and which repel mosquitoes.

Figuring out what attracts mosquitoes has been an easier chore that determining what repels them.

Mosquitoes are attracted to lactic acid in sweat and to carbon dioxide. They’re so attracted to the latter that Martin Hyatt, Charleston Country mosquito control super-intendent, sometimes baits traps with dry ice which is simply solidified carbon dioxide.
Mosquitoes are also attracted to sweet smells including perfume, hair oil, and deodorant. They also are attracted to dark clothing, said Joe Conlon, American Mosquito Control Association technical adviser.

Bernier has identified some of the body chemicals that repel mosquitoes but wouldn’t say which ones. There are patents involved but the research is encouraging, he said.
Bernier’s lab in Gainesville, Fla., was created after World War II to find repellents for the military. After investigating 80,000 chemicals, scientists developed DEET as an insect repellent.

But it’s not only the scent of a person that can cause a mosquito to bite. The pesky insects also have their own quirks.

But home remedies like eating brewer’s yeast, garlic, or vitamin B-12 don’t seem to help much.

Hyatt said one way to avoid being bitten is prevent mosquitoes from hatching.

He said a lot of homeowners could help themselves simply by draining the standing water where mosquitoes breed.

Manila Bulletin

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NOWADAYS, moms are faced with the challenge of providing and establishing the right dietary habits for their children. Imagine a mother’s frustration when the child wants to eat junk food for lunch and dinner. But before she gives into her child’s nutrient requirements that will ensure proper growth and development of both and development of both body and mind.

A study utilized by the Department of Health shows the worsening malnutrition problem in the Philippines, especially among school age children. It pinpointed eight essential nutrients that are deficient in the Filipino child: Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, folic acid, calcium, iron and iodine.

The following lists the reasons they are necessary for your growing child:
*Vitamin A helps strengthen the immune system.

Vitamin C aids in faster recovery from wounds and burns, and together with Vitamin E, helps reduce the risk of developing cancer later in life.

Vitamin B1 assists in blood formation and brain function.

Vitamin B2 or riboflavin is essential for healthy red blood cell formation and antibody production, and helps in the metabolism of food.

*Iron makes kids more energetic and gives their skin a healthy pinkish glow.
*Folic acid promotes healthier hair and nails.

*Calcium is needed for muscle growth and is critical for bone growth and bone development in children.

*Iodine is important for the proper development of brain and body coordination.

It is therefore crucial for Filipino parents to know the essential nutrients they must provide their kids, may it be from balanced diets or from nutrition-packed chocolate-powdered drinks. Picking the right supplement, the one which contains the right blend where the macronutients complement the micronutients, can spell a great difference to a child’s future. In the meantime, finding more creative ways to serve the right food can be just as fun to the mom and the child.

Manila Bulletin

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