"Adding spice- in the form of curcumin supplements - to the daily diets of people with risk factors for heart disease may lower inflammation, a new study suggests."

"Inflammation is implicated in a wide range of illnesses, from heart disease to cancer and joint pain.  In the eight week trial, researchers found significant reductions in signs of inflammation, such as C-Reactive protein and other blood markers."

"Curcumin is the active ingredient of the famous spice turmeric and has a long history of culinary and medicinal use in the Asian countries," said the study's senior author Amirhossein Sahebkar."

"The exercise paradox infers that, despite the well-established cardioprotective effects of repeated episodic exercise (training), the risk of acute atherothrombotic events may  be transiently increased during and soon after an exercise bout.  However, the acute impact of different exercise modalities on platelet function has not previously been addressed.  We hypothesized that distinct modalities of exercise would have differing effects on in vivo platelet activation and reactivity to agonists which induce monocyte-platelet aggregate (MPA) formation."

"Cocoa and cocoa polyphenols appear to exert promising cardioprotective effect in humans."

Arachidonic acid (AA) pathway, a metabolic process, plays a key role in carcinogensis.  Hence, AA pathway metabolic enzymes phospholipase A₂s (PLA₂S), cyclooxygenases (COXs) and lipoxygenases (LOXs) and their metabolic products, such as prostaglandins and leukotrienes, have been considered novel preventive and therapeutic targets in cancer."

"Curcumin, resveratrol, apigenin, anthocyans, berberine, ellagic acid, eugenol, fisetin, ursolic acid, [6]-gingerol, guggulsteone, lycopene and genistein are well known cancer chemopreventive agents which act by targeting multiple pathways, including COX-2."

"In this prospective study we evaluated the relationship between thromboxane B₂ (TXB₂), prostacyclin (PGI2) and lactate concentrations, and the improvement of walking abilities and endothelial function in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) undergoing a supervised treadmill training program (STTP)."

The Maximal Walking Time (MWT) improved significantly after STTP by 91% (p<0.0001) and PFWT by 97% (P<0.0001).  Also ankle/brachial index (ABI) values improved significantly after STTP in all patient groups and was more pronounced in those with longer MWT at baseline.  FMD values increased by 45% (p<0.0001) after STTP.  Urinary 11-dehydro-thromboxane B₂ and 2, 3-dinor-6-keto-PGF1a concentration tend to decrease after STTP and their ratio remained unchanged.  Lactate levels did not change after the treadmill training program.  Hs-CRP and fibrinogen concentration decreased signficantly after STTP only in patients with longer MWT at baseline - fourth quartile".

"STTP in patients with PAD showed signficantly improved walking abilities and endothelialial function."

“The mean hs-CRP concentration was not significantly different between the two groups of subjects.”

“We found that the 11-DTXB₂ concentration was about 24% greater in smokers than in non-smokers, supporting the use of 11-DTXB₂ as a potential biomarker for smoking and CVD.”

"Dark chocolate contains many biologically active components, such as catechins, procyanidins, and theobromine from cocoa, together with added sucrose and lipids.  All of these can directly or indirectly affect the cardiovascular system by multiple mechanisms."

"The effect of chocolate is more convoluted since the sucrose and lipid may transiently and negatively impact on endothelial function, partly through insulin signaling and nitric oxide bioavailability."

"High-sensitivity CRP decreased by 24 & 29.7% (P<0.0001), whereas CD40L decreased by 64.3 and 58.6% (P=0.002), respectively.  Urinary 11-dehydro-TxB2 decreased from 1,433 to 715 and 564 pg/mg creatinine, respectively, 6 months and 12 months after LAGB (P<0.0001). PTX3 was inversely related to platelet activation markers, 11-dehydro-TxB2 and CD40L.  Moreover, multiple regression analysis on pooled data showed that plasma PTX3 was an independent predictor of urinaty 11-dehydro-TxB2."

“There is an association between inflammation, platelet activation and metabolic dysfunction in obesity, and PTX3 is a key player within these circuits.”

"Nowadays cancers pose a great threat to the health of human beings.  Based on studies on the flavonoids and other bioactive compounds of citrus fruits in current literature, it was widely suggested that the consumption of citrus fruits is beneficial to the prevention and treatment of human chronic diseases including cancers. In the past decades, the study concerning citrus flavonoids has covered various areas including the type, content and distribution of flavonoids in fruits; their variation between wild and cultivated genotypes; their antioxidant, anti-inflammation, anti-aging, antimicrobial and anticarcinogenic activities."

"Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) transcription factors regulate several important physiologic processes of the cell, e.g., cell growth, and apoptosis. Thus, inhibition of NF-κB activation offers a potential strategy for treatment of different malignancies."

"Platelet activation plays a major role in cardiovascular events.  Mediterranean diet reduces the incidence of stroke and myocardial infarction but it is still unclear if it affects platelet activation.  Aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of Mediterranean diet on the urinary excretion of 11-dehydro-thromboxane (TX) B₂, a marker in vivo platelet activation, in patients with atrial fibillation."

"Med diet adherence is inversely associated to urinary excretion of 11-dehydro-TXB_2, suggesting that Med-Diet may favorably affect platelet function in AF patients."