Chocolate may deepen depression

Chocolate may give you short-term pleasure if you crave it. But it’s not an antidepressant, as many people think (Image: iStockphoto)

Chocoholics can happily eat chocolate for pleasure, but for those who are stressed and clinically depressed, the high is short-lived and chocolate may even deepen the downer, a review shows.

The findings, which will be published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, fly in the face of the myth that chocolate is an antidepressant.

The analysis, which is the most comprehensive literature review on how chocolate affects mood, shows that the motivation behind eating chocolate determines which neurotransmitters are activated, and hence your mood.

The review’s Australian authors, from the Black Dog Institute at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney, identified two groups of chocolate eaters based on motivation.

They identified the cravers, who eat chocolate as an indulgent pleasure, and the emotional eaters, who use chocolate in a bid to alleviate depression.

Professor Gordon Parker, executive director of the Black Dog Institute and lead author, says cravers see chocolate like a good glass of wine, and anticipating and eating the treat releases ‘feel good’ neurotransmitters.

“Chocolate craving as an indulgent pleasure seems to stimulate the dopamine system in the brain, and provides an enjoyable experience,” he says.

“But the emotional eaters, people who eat chocolate to relieve boredom, stress or clinical depression, are looking for an opioid effect to improve their mood.”

For them, at best chocolate only provides temporary relief, he says. But this is quickly followed by a return to or a worsening of their earlier negative state.

Consuming sweet foods is thought to release the neurotransmitter beta-endorphin in the hypothalamus, which is said to have an opiate effect on the body.

But why the chocolate high is so transient and insufficient to sustain mood in those who eat it for emotional reasons remains unknown.

Busting the myth

The theory that chocolate acts as an antidepressant comes from the common belief that a serotonin deficiency causes chocolate cravings, but the review found no support for this hypothesis.

“It is true that chocolate acts on the same neurological system as serotonin. But you’d have to eat a truck load of chocolate before you have had the equivalent of one antidepressant tablet,” Parker says.

“Our review rejects any possibility that chocolate desired as a way of relieving stress or when feeling down has any antidepressant benefit.”

Stimulants such as caffeine, theobromine, tyramine and phenylethylamine, are also present in concentrations too low to have any significant psychoactive effect, the review says.

For more information about depression, including fact sheets, support and referrals, see the websites for beyondblue, Australia’s national depression initiative, and depressioNet.

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 13th May 2009

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Chocolate beer 3000 years old

People were enjoying chocolate 3000 years ago, but in the form of alcoholic brews or beers drunk at births and weddings (Source: iStockphoto)

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People in Central America were drinking beverages made from cacao before 1000 BC, hundreds of years earlier than once thought, a new study shows.

These early cacao beverages were probably alcoholic brews, or beers, made from the fermented pulp of the cacao fruit.

These beverages were around 500 years earlier than the frothy chocolate-flavored drink made from the seed of the cacao tree that was such an important feature of later Mesoamerican culture.

But in brewing this primitive beer, or chicha, the ancient Mesoamericans may have stumbled on the secret to making chocolate-flavoured drinks, the paper says.

“In the course of beer brewing, you discover that if you ferment the seeds of the plant you get this chocolate taste,” says John Henderson, a professor of anthropology at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and lead author of the paper.

“It may be that the roots of the modern chocolate industry can be traced back to this primitive fermented drink.”

The cacao bean played an important role in Mesoamerican civilisation, the native civilisation in parts of Mexico and Central America prior to the Spanish exploration and conquest of the 16th century.

The bean was a form of currency in Aztec society, and the frothed chocolate drink made from fermented beans or seeds was central to social and ritual life throughout Mesoamerica.

In the 16th century, invading Europeans acquired a taste for the beverage and brought it back to Europe, which led to the rise of the modern chocolate industry.

An elite drink

The archaeological evidence recovered by Henderson and colleagues from a site in Puerto Escondido in modern-day Honduras suggests that the beer that probably preceded the chocolate beverage was popular among wealthy people at least as early as 1100 BC.

Chemical analysis of residues found on fragments of pottery vessels recovered from the site tested positive for theobromine, a compound found in cacao trees that were limited to Central America.

The vessels were found in the “fancier, bigger houses” in the village of Puerto Escondido in the Ulua Valley in northern Honduras, says Henderson.

He suggests the elite members of society would have drunk the beverage to mark special occasions such as births and marriages.

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Ancient yeast reborn in modern

beer

The beer has been made using a yeast that has a unique metabolism (Source: iStockphoto)

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A tiny colony of yeast trapped inside a Lebanese weevil covered in ancient Burmese amber for up to 45 million years, has been brought back to life in barrels of beer.

Emeritus Professor Raul Cano of the California Polytechnic State University, originally extracted the yeast a decade ago, along with more than 2000 different kinds of microscopic creatures.

Today, Cano uses the reactivated yeast to brew barrels of pale ale and German wheat beer.

“You can always buy brewing yeast, and your product will be based on the brewmaster’s recipes,” says Cano. “Our yeast has a double angle: We have yeast no one else has and our own beer recipes.”

The beer received good reviews at the Russian River Beer Festival and from other reviewers. The Oakland Tribune beer critic, William Brand, said the beer has “a weird spiciness at the finish,” and The Washington Post said the beer was “smooth and spicy.”

Part of that taste comes from the yeast’s unique metabolism. “The ancient yeast is restricted to a narrow band of carbohydrates, unlike more modern yeasts, which can consume just about any kind of sugar,” says Cano.

Eventually the yeast will likely evolve the ability to eat other sugars, which could change the taste of the beer. Cano plans to keep a batch of the original yeast to keep the beer true to form.

If this has a ring of deja vu, it could be because Cano’s amber-drilling technique is the same one popularised in the movie Jurassic Park, where scientists extracted ancient dinosaur DNA from the bellies of blood-sucking insects trapped in fossilised tree sap.

Cano’s original goal was to find ancient microscopic creatures that might have some kind of medical value, particularly pharmaceutical drugs.

Going to sleep

While that particular avenue of research didn’t yield significant results, the larger question of how microscopic creatures survived for millions of years could help scientists understand certain diseases, says Professor Charles Greenblatt, a scientist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem who studies ancient bacteria.

“We’ve got cases of guys who contracted [tuberculosis] during World War II and lived with it for 60, 70 years,” says Greenblatt. “Then suddenly they get another disease, the TB wakes up from its dormancy and kills them.”

Inducing dormancy could be a new way to fight disease and infection, says Greenblatt.

Instead of outright killing infectious creatures, doctors could instead put them to sleep. The infection would still be present in the patient’s body, but it wouldn’t hurt the patient.

Neither Cano nor Greenblatt can say what the upper limit for hibernating yeast or bacteria is – it could be hundreds of million years.

But while other scientists work on that, Cano plans to spend his time tossing back a few cold ones, and hoping others will too.

“We think that people will drink one beer out of curiosity,” says Cano. “But if the beer doesn’t taste good, no one will drink a second.”

Sourced and produced by Henry Sapiecha 13th May 2009

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Protecting wood without solvent emissions

NEW TREATMENT FOR LOGS A new process to treat timber so that it lasts longer has been developed. Unlike the current Light Organic Solvent Preservative (LOSP) process, the new process doesn’t release organic solvents into the atmosphere. This new process is an alternative to the current LOSP process widely used in Australia to reduce rot and breakdown in timber. Read more on timber protectant technology. Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 9th May 2009 New life for African mahogany African mahogany is a high-value hardwood timber species with great potential for forest plantations in northern Australia. A genetic program is underway to provide quality control in the growth of this species. This will result in fast growing trees with good form for logging and ultimately high value use. More information on African mahogany hybrids. Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 9th May 2009

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Glaxo’s cervical cancer vaccine

faces US battle

New studies show the vaccine Cervarix blocks the virus that causes cervical cancer, but if it wins approval for U.S. sales, it will face an uphill battle against Gardasil, which has owned the market  for three years.

Cervarix, Glaxo’s vaccine against human papilloma virus or HPV, already is approved in more than 90 other countries, but has been held up by delays in the United States. Several years ago, the British drugmaker was in a neck-and-neck race with rival Merck & Co., Gardasil’s maker, to be first on the U.S. market, but it lost when Gardasil got approved in June 2006.

Late in 2007, U.S. regulators said they wouldn’t approve Cervarix without additional data. from n extensive  study still in progress at the time.

Final results from that 18,000-women study and two others are being presented this weekend at a conference in Sweden on papillomavirus. The data was submitted to the Food and Drug Administration on March 30, and FDA is expected to decide whether to approve Cervarix within several months.

If it does, analyst Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan‘s Ross School of Business, said doctors who have prescribed Gardasil for a few years may see no reason to switch – unless GlaxoSmithKline convinces them its product is much more effective or has fewer side effects.

Both vaccines target the two types of HPV that cause about 70 percent of cervical cancers, types 16 and 18, and data indicate both are about 98 percent effective. But Merck also has data showing Gardasil blocks two other HPV types that cause most cases of genital warts that Cervarix does not target.

That will be a key factor for doctors, experts said.

“All else being equal, it’s a no-brainer for the doctor, (who) wants to give the most efficacious treatment,” Gordon said.

Despite Merck owning the U.S. market, Gardasil racked up only $262 million in global sales in the most recent quarter, versus $320 million for Cervarix, which has won more contracts from government health programs in other countries.

Partial results of the new Cervarix studies released to The Associated Press indicate it also offers good protection against 12 other HPV types.

One of the studies, which looked at looked at levels of antibodies to some HPV types after study participants were vaccinated with Cervarix or Gardasil, found higher antibody levels induced by Cervarix. But Dr. Gary Dubin, head of one of Glaxo’s clinical development centers, said that doesn’t prove Cervarix is more effective.

New data will be presented at the same conference on Gardasil, indicating it blocks HPV 16 for at least 9 1/2 years, according to Merck. Glaxo has followed women for up to 7 1/2 years and continues to test some to see if they develop cervical lesions or cancer.

Dr. Cynthia Rand, a researcher, pediatrician and associate professor at the University of Rochester Medical School, said Cervarix appears to be effective. But she said the higher antibody levels triggered by Cervarix, compared with Gardasil, might be meaningless. She said doctors don’t know if they will have to give booster shots years from now for either vaccine.

“It won’t change my practice” of giving Gardasil and likely won’t do so for other doctors, said Rand, whose university has patent claims and receives some royalties related to both vaccines. “Pediatricians prefer in general to also protect against genital warts.“

Associated Press

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 9th May 2009

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White tea may fight obesity

BEIJING (UPI) — A study funded by a German health food company suggests Chinese white tea may fight obesity by reducing fat cells.

The study by Beiersdorf AG, published in the journal Nutrition and Metabolism, said extracts of white tea reduced fat levels on laboratory-grown human fat cells, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

Nutritionist Marc Winnefeld said the white tea extract induced a decrease in the expression of genes associated with the growth of new fat cells and prompted existing adipocytes to break down the fat they contain, the British newspaper reported.

White tea is named for the white downy fur that covers the unopened bud of the tea leaf. During manufacturing, the buds are lightly steamed instead of being rolled and fermented, the report said.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 4th May 2009

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Phthalates found in obese children

NEW YORK (UPI) — A U.S. study suggests endocrine disruptors such as phthalates may play a role in childhood obesity, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine said.

Researchers found children in New York’s East Harlem are three times more likely than other children in the United States to be overweight.
The study determined neighborhood characteristics — including availability of convenience foods — likely play a strong role in the number of obese children. Eighty percent of the children in the study reported purchasing food items from convenience stores at least one time per week, the hospital said in a report released Thursday.

High levels of phthalates and Bisphenol A found in the children’s urine may play a role in obesity by disrupting hormones that regulate growth and development, researchers said. Higher levels of three endocrine disruptors — 2,5 DCP, MBP and MEHHP — were also found.

The levels of DCP, formed in the body from the chemical DCB, were three to 10 times higher than those found in a national sample of children the same age, the report said. The chemical is common in mothballs, room deodorizers and toilet bowl deodorizer cakes.

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 22nd April 2009

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Study finds all octopuses are venomous

MELBOURNE (UPI) — Researchers from Australia and Belgium say they have determined all octopuses, cuttlefish and some squid are venomous.

The scientists at the University of Melbourne, University of Brussels and Museum Victoria said their discovery indicates the octopus, cuttlefish and squid share a common, ancient venomous ancestor.

Bryan Fry, director of the University of Melbourne’s Australian Venom Research Unit, said that while the blue-ringed octopus is the only octopus that’s dangerous to humans, the other species have been using their venom for predation, such as paralyzing a clam into opening its shell.

“Venoms are toxic proteins with specialized functions, such as paralyzing the nervous system,” Fry said. “We hope that by understanding the structure and mode of action of venom proteins we can benefit drug design for a range of conditions such as pain management, allergies and cancer.”

Fry said that while many creatures have been examined as a basis for drug development, cephalopods (octopuses, cuttlefish and squid) remain an untapped resource and their venom might represent a unique class of compounds.

The research appears in the Journal of Molecular Evolution.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 20th April 2009

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Fujitsu Vein-Pattern

Recognition

True identity isn’t in your fingertips, argues Fujitsu. It’s in your blood. The company’s newest biometric mouse uses infrared cameras to look beneath your hand’s skin and map its pattern of veins as a substitute for entering a password. That vein-pattern recognition system is 99.9992% accurate, the company spokesperson says–far greater than fingerprint systems, which often suffer from dirty sensors or hands and can sometimes be spoofed with copied prints.

On a morbid note, even chopping someone’s hand off won’t allow a would-be intruder access: A lack of blood flow would change the hand’s capillary pattern, Fujitsu says.

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 16th April 2009

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UPEK Eikon Fingerprint

USB Drive

Security gurus recommend what they call “three-factor” authentication.” That means requiring users to prove their identity with something they know, (say, a password) something they have (like a physical token) and something they are (such as a fingerprint). A cheap USB stick from UPEK incorporates all three for around $75. The thumb drive uses RSA software to generate a changing password every minute, ensuring the user has the drive in hand.

It also incorporates a fingerprint reader to make sure the tiny gadget hasn’t been stolen.

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 16th April 2009

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