By Lauren O’Connor, MS, RD for Nutri-Savvy.

You may tread on it, wear it, and yes, even ingest it! The same chemical used in making tires and the make-up you wear may be found in a wide variety of common, everyday food products.

Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) is a synthetic chemical found in petroleum, rubber, cosmetics, animal feed, and food packaging. Because it prevents oxidation, it is also used to “preserve freshness” in food products. It works by retarding rancidity and eliminating odors in fat and oil-containing foods. Though an “antioxidant,” this widely-used substance may be cause for concern.

The exposure to BHA in foods increased nearly two-fold from the 1970s to the early eighties, with US annual usage rising from 170,000 kg to 300,000 kg. The additive may be found in butter, meats, cereals, chewing gum, baked goods, snacks, nut products, dry beverage mixes, active dry yeast, dehydrated potatoes and beer! And let’s not forget the environment: If you work around livestock or in the cosmetics, rubber or petroleum industries, you have increased exposure. Fast-food employees who cook and serve fried, oily foods are also more exposed.
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Fran Drescher, herself a uterine cancer survivor, has launched a new campaign to get cancer-causing chemicals out of homes and banned from manufacturing. Drescher points out that these chemicals are in all kinds of household products, from cleaning to body products. So, as part of her Cancer Smhmancer Movement, she’s created “Trash Cancer,” an initiative to help promote awareness about everyday toxins.

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Fish oil has long been touted for its heart, neurological, and cancer risk-lowering health benefits. Now, an ingredient that can be extracted from fish oil may lead to a cure for leukemia.

According to Penn State researchers, a compound called delta-12-protaglandin J3 (D12-PGJ3) appears to target leukemia stem cells. The compound killed the stem cells of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in mice, said Sandeep Prabhu, Penn State associate professor of immunology and molecular toxicology in the Department of Veterinary and Medical Sciences.
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Finding calm amidst the chaos, bringing like-minded people together, and getting to a point where a life threatening disease can be dealt with in a healthy way through spiritual healing and alternative medicine is the goal of Donna Karan’s Urban Zen Integrative Therapy Program (UZIT) at UCLA, which launches today, November 17, 2011.

The idea for such a program was born when world-renowned fashion designer Karan felt a deep desire to see that her husband Stephan Weiss, who was dying of lung cancer, received the soul healing spiritual care not offered by traditional Western medicine.

Today, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is partnering with Karan’s UZIT to become the first hospital on the West Coast to offer yoga therapy, mindfulness meditation, nutrition, Reiki, and aromatherapy for patients at their bedside and beyond.

According to Dr. David Feinberg, president of the UCLA Health System, CEO of the UCLA Hospital System, and associate vice chancellor for health sciences, UZIT works perfectly at UCLA as it matches their mission of treating the whole patient rather than just the symptoms of a particular illness.
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After 14 years in the lab, scientists have revealed a new breed of broccoli, and if the studies continue to back the claims, this broccoli may really be super for the body.

Super broccoli was created at the Institute for Food Research in Norwich, England. It’s a cross breed of traditional British broccoli and a wild, bitter Sicilian variety that has no flowery head yet a big dose of the nutrient glucoraphanin. The potency of glucoraphanin in this new breed is what is making it so super.

Broccoli naturally contains glucoraphanin, however super broccoli contains two to three times the normal amount. Glucoraphanin works by breaking down fat and preventing it from clogging arteries. There have also been many studies that are pointing to glucoarphanin being a preventative agent for heart attacks and certain cancers. The nutrient is used naturally by plants to combat insects, and in humans it may stimulate the body’s natural chemical defenses, possibly making the body more efficient at removing dangerous compounds.

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