Yeah, but who would drink the stuff?

Bobby
----- Original Message -----
From: "ken barber" <[log in to unmask]>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.c-palsy
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, July 01, 2005 2:03 PM
Subject: Re: Emailing: Pomegranate Juice For Moms May Help Babies Resist
Brain Injury


> isn't this interesting?, a natural preventative.
>
>
> --- Meir Weiss <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > The message is ready to be sent with the following
> > file or link
> > attachments:
> >
> > Shortcut to:
> >
> http://www.sciencedaily.com/print.php?url=/releases/2005/07/050701062536
> > .htm
> > Source: Washington University School of Medicine
> > Date: 2005-07-01
> > URL:
> >
> http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/07/050701062536.htm
> >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > --------
> >
> > Pomegranate Juice For Moms May Help Babies Resist
> > Brain Injury
> > St. Louis, June 28, 2005 -- Expectant mothers at
> > risk of premature birth
> > may want to consider drinking pomegranate juice to
> > help their babies
> > resist brain injuries from low oxygen and reduced
> > blood flow, a new
> > mouse study from Washington University School of
> > Medicine in St. Louis
> > suggests.
> >
> > In humans, decreased blood flow and oxygen to the
> > infant brain is linked
> > to premature birth and other irregularities during
> > pregnancy, birth and
> > early development. The phenomenon, which is called
> > hypoxia ischemia,
> > causes brain injury in approximately 2 of every
> > 1,000 full-term human
> > births and in a very high percentage of babies born
> > before 34 weeks of
> > gestation. Hypoxic ischemic brain injury can lead to
> > seizures, a
> > degenerative condition known as hypoxic ischemic
> > encephalopathy, and
> > mobility impairments including cerebral palsy.
> >
> > When scientists temporarily lowered brain oxygen
> > levels and brain blood
> > flow in newborn mice whose mothers drank water mixed
> > with pomegranate
> > concentrate, their brain tissue loss was reduced by
> > 60 percent in
> > comparison to mice whose mothers drank sugar water
> > or other fluids.
> >
> > "Hypoxic ischemic brain injury in newborns is very
> > difficult to treat,
> > and right now there's very little we can do to stop
> > or reverse its
> > consequences," explains senior author David
> > Holtzman, M.D., the Andrew
> > B. and Gretchen P. Jones Professor and head of the
> > Department of
> > Neurology. "Most of our efforts focus on stopping it
> > when it happens,
> > but if we could treat everyone who's at risk
> > preventively, we may be
> > able to reduce the impacts of these kinds of
> > injuries."
> >
> > The study, which appears in the June issue of
> > Pediatric Research, was
> > conducted in collaboration with POM Wonderful, a
> > U.S. producer of
> > pomegranates and pomegranate juice, and scientists
> > at the University of
> > California, Los Angeles. Lead author David Loren,
> > M.D., formerly a
> > neonatal critical care fellow in the Department of
> > Pediatrics, performed
> > the research. He is now at the University of
> > Washington in Seattle.
> >
> > Holtzman's lab has been studying neonatal brain
> > injury for more than a
> > decade by temporarily reducing oxygen levels and
> > blood flow in the
> > brains of 7-day-old mouse and rat pups. The model
> > produces brain
> > injuries similar to those seen in human infants
> > injured by hypoxia
> > ischemia.
> >
> > Pomegranates contain very high concentrations of
> > polyphenols, substances
> > also found in grapes, red wine, and berries that
> > scientists have linked
> > to potential neuroprotective and anti-aging effects.
> >
> > Scientists gave pregnant female mice water with
> > pomegranate juice, plain
> > water, sugar water or vitamin C water to drink
> > during the last third of
> > pregnancy and while they suckled their pups for
> > seven days after birth.
> >
> > After performing the procedures that exposed mouse
> > pups to low oxygen
> > levels, scientists examined the brains, comparing
> > damage to the cortex,
> > hippocampus and the striatum. Researchers who
> > conducted the examinations
> > were unaware of what the pup's mother drank. Mice
> > whose mothers drank
> > pomegranate juice had brain injuries less than half
> > the size of those
> > found in other mice.
> >
> > Much of the damage from hypoxia ischemia results
> > when oxygen-starved
> > brain cells self-destruct via a process known as
> > apoptosis. Scientists
> > found an enzyme linked to apoptosis, caspase-3, was
> > 84 percent less
> > active in mice whose mothers drank pomegranate
> > juice.
> >
> > Holtzman says the results suggest the need for
> > studies of pomegranate
> > juice's effects in humans, but he cautions that
> > because of the relative
> > unpredictability of hypoxia ischemia in newborns, it
> > would be difficult
> > to assemble a sufficiently large study group.
> >
> > Hypoxic ischemic brain damage is frequently
> > associated with premature
> > delivery. The lungs, brain and circulatory systems
> > in some premature
> > babies are insufficiently mature to supply the brain
> > with enough
> > nutrients and oxygen outside the womb. Scientists
> > know some of the
> > factors that increase risk of premature birth,
> > including diabetes, low
> > economic status, youthful mothers, weakness in the
> > cervix and a personal
> > or familial history of miscarriage.
> >
> > "One might advise this group that studies in animals
> > have suggested
> > drinking pomegranate juice may reduce the risk of
> > injury from hypoxia
> > ischemia," he says.
> >
> > Holtzman's findings and other research into the
> > potentially beneficial
> > effects of pomegranate juice, red wine, and other
> > natural foods form a
> > neurological parallel to chemoprevention, an area of
> > oncology research
> > focused on finding naturally-occurring substances in
> > foods that reduce
> > the chances of developing cancer.
> >
> > "For pregnant women previously interested in the
> > neuroprotective effects
> > of red wine, these results suggest that pomegranate
> > juice may provide an
> > alternative during pregnancy, when alcohol
> > consumption is unacceptable
> > because it increases risk of birth defects,"
> > Holtzman says.
> >
> > Holtzman's group is attempting to isolate the
> > neuroprotective
> > ingredients in pomegranate juice as a possible
> > prelude to concentrating
> > those ingredients and testing their ability to
> > reduce brain injury. They
> > also plan to investigate the possibility that
> > polyphenols from
> > pomegranates and other natural foods can slow other
> > neurological
> > disorders including Alzheimer's disease.
> >
> >
> >
> > ###
> > Loren DJ, Seeram NP, Schulman RN, Holtzman DM.
> > Maternal dietary
> > supplementation with pomegranate juice is
> > neuroprotective in an animal
> > model of neonatal hypoxic-ischemic brain injury.
> > Pediatric Research,
> > June 2005, 858-864.
> >
> > Funding from the Stewart and Lynda Resnick Revocable
> > Trust and the
> > National Institutes of Health supported this
> > research.
> >
> > Washington University School of Medicine's full-time
> > and volunteer
> >
> === message truncated ===
>
>
>
>
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