For regular readers of this blog, I have disappointing news. The Diabetes Blog is now retired. That means that, while it will still be available for reading and searching, new posts will not be added. Our Cardio and Cancer blogs are also being retired, which I mention here because some readers bookmarked more than one of the Life Sciences group.

The choice to stop publishing these three blogs is a business decision, and has nothing whatsoever to do with their quality. I am, and everyone here is, deeply grateful to the bloggers whose dedication to these sites gave so much information and inspiration to thousands of people. These three blogs are among the longest-running properties in our network, and it is sad to let them go.

Thank you to our many readers for visiting us, and sharing in the community here.

Brad Hill
Programming Director, Weblogs / AOL

Flaxseed halted prostate-tumor growth in a recent Duke University Medical Center study.  Flaxseed is edible and rich in omega-3 fatty acids and fiber-related compounds known as lignans.  Researchers believe the seed possibly interrupts that chain of events that allows cells to divide irregularly and become cancerous.

In the study, researchers looked at men who were about to undergo surgical treatment for prostate cancer.  For 30 days prior to surgery the men took 30 grams of flaxseed daily.  The tumors revealed how the cells had multiplied.  Some men took flaxseed alone, some men took flaxseed in conjunction with a low-fat diet, some men followed a low-fat diet only and took no flaxseed, and some men did nothing and served as a control group.

Researchers found that men in the two groups who took flaxseed had the slowest tumor growth, proving that the flaxseed affected tumor growth rather than the low-fat diet.  Each group included 40 participants who ate ground flaxseed (the coating on whole flaxseed is not digestible) sprinkled in drinks and on food.

One out of six American men will develop prostate cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.

Sugar-sweetened drinks can have a negative effect on preschool children, researchers at the University Of Ottawa Institute of Population Health say.  The study looked at 1,900 children’s consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks.

Researchers found that only 7 percent of children who did not consume these drinks between meals were overweight when they reached the age of 4—compared with 15.4 percent of those who did consume the sugar-sweetened drinks four to six times between meals per week.

Researchers are urging parents to limit the consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks because of the risk of weight gain in children.

The results were published in The Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

The Patrick Administration has announced a $200,000 grant has been awarded to the Greater New Bedford Community Health Center as part of the $37.5 million in grants awarded to 69 hospitals and community health centers throughout the state. The funds are provided through the Essential Community Provider Trust Fund to help hospitals and community health centers meet the needs of the populations they serve more effectively and efficiently.

Evaluation of the grant applications was based on the financial needs and the role that each institution plays in the Commonwealth’s health delivery system in ensuring access to both preventive and acute care. The Greater New Bedford Community Health Center will use its grant to start up a storefront service for weight loss and childhood obesity, diabetic teaching, and smoking cessation. The storefront services will be available not only to Health Center patients but to the community at large.

After only four weeks on a high-fat food and high fructose-corn-syrup
diet mice suffered from fatty liver disease.  Fatty liver disease
can lead to cirrhosis and, ultimately, death.  S. Louis University
researchers said they expected to see some evidence of damage but were
surprised at the severity of the damage and how quickly it
occurred.  The mice were also kept sedentary, being allowed very
little movement.  The diet consisted of 40 percent fat and enough
high-fructose corn syrup (a sweetener commonly found in many soda and
fruit-juice drinks) that would translate into about eight cans of soda
per day in a human diet.  The fat content is about what would be
found in the average fast-food meal.  Researchers say the lesson
is clear:  A high-fat and high-sugar diet combined with inactivity
can spell trouble for the liver and other vital organs.