NEWS: 'Green' sun cream: A new kind of sun protection ointment made from broccoli juice can marshal the body's defences against harmful ultraviolet rays, research has shown.
In early tests on six human volunteers exposed to pulses of UV radiation, the extract reduced sunburn symptoms by up to 78 per cent.
Conventional sunscreens used in the same experiments were essentially ineffective.
The ointment was made from extracts of three-day-old broccoli sprouts rich in protective compounds called sulphoraphanes.
Unlike a normal sunscreen, it does not absorb UV light to prevent it entering the skin.
Instead, it works inside the body by boosting the production of enzymes that protect cells against UV damage and the risk of skin cancer.
The effects are said to be long lasting, providing protection that lasts for several days even when all traces of the extract are gone.
US scientists at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, first tested the ointment on genetically engineered hairless mice.
The results were so promising that the team went on to carry out experiments on human volunteers.
Wholegrains protect hearts:
A bowl of wholegrain cereal each morning can reduce a man's risk of heart failure, new research suggests.
Eating cereal was associated with reduced rates of the condition, which occurs when the heart muscle becomes weakened by a poor blood supply.
People with heart failure become breathless and find even mild forms of exercise an effort. Wholegrain cereal was defined as one that contained at least 25 per cent oats or bran.
QUOTE:
"It's only now that I realise how close I was. I have two grandchildren and my son's wife is expecting their first baby in December and I was actually thinking of that at the time."
- Keith Rosser, from South Wales, who survived a massive heart attack after he was given electric shock treatment 12 times and a clot-busting injection, describing the experience.