How can you keep the vitamins in your food intact? Not all the food you eat have the vitamins you are supposed to get. If food is mishandled, you will not get the nutrients it contains. Here are some tips to avoid this :-

• Don't soak the vegetables to preserve vitamins B and C. Simply wash them.
• Sliced fruits and vegetables lose their vitamins. Making your own fresh salad is best instead of buying sliced veggies that are ready to cook.
• When preparing veggies, use a sharp knife. Bruised vegetables lode their vitamins A and C.
• Eat frozen green beans rather than those you left to chill in the refrigerator for a week.
  

An excellent resource on Ayurveda and it's related streams. It provides a good read about the basics of ayurveda and it's benefits. Also covers an important section about clinical research about the use of herbs and ayurvedic ingredients in the cure of everyday ailments.

Washington : Broccoli and red chilli peppers may help fight cancer by slowing the growth of cancerous tumour cells, US researchers reported recently.

They may be especially helpful in hard-to-treat cancers such as pancreatic and ovarian cancer, the team at the University of Pittsburgh said. "In our studies, we decided to look at two particular cancers - ovarian and pancreatic - with low survival rates, to ascertain the contribution of diet and nutrition to the development of these cancers," said Sanjay Srivastava, who led the study.

A chemical in tomato ketchup can prevent cancer of the pancreas, according to new research. Tests show the chemical, called lycopene, can reduce the risk of the disease by almost a third if eaten regularly.

Lycopene - which has already earned a reputation as an effective agent against prostate cancer - is a powerful anti-oxidant that comes from the skin of tomatoes and gives them their red colour.

Scientists believe its disease-fighting properties can be best absorbed by the body when eaten in ketchup and other by-products. This is because ketchup is thought to carry high concentrations of lycopene as a result of the heating process used to produce it.

Washington : A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Tennesse suggests that eating yoghurt helps fat loss in the body.

The researchers found that obese adults who ate three servings of fat-free yoghurt a day as part of a reduced-calorie diet lost 22 per cent more body fat than those who simply cut off calories and did not bone up on calcium. Yoghurt eaters also lost 81 per cent more fat in the stomach area than non-yoghurt eaters.

"Not only did yoghurt help the study participants lose more weight - the average weight loss was 6 kg - they were about twice as effective as mantaining lean muscle mass. This is a critical issue when dieting - you want to lose fat, not muscle. Muscle helps burn calories, but it is often compromised during weight-loss," said lead researcher Micheal Zemel.

Washington : Americans, who have seen matches based on sun signs and Chinese astrology fail, are turning to ayurveda for lasting relationships. They seem to be taking a cue from India, where divorce rates are just 8 per cent compared with 50 per cent in the US.

Ayurveda divides people into three basic types or dosha - vata, pitta and kapha - which encompass personality and physical characteristics. People can select the most appropriate dosha for their potential partner once they discover their type, said Lisa Marie Coffey, the author of 'What's your Dosha Baby? Discover the Vedic way for Compatibility in Life and Love.

One of the five holy crops of ancient China, soya, in all its forms, has been deemed as a versatile product. So for those who are interested to take their pick there's a host of items to choose from - whole soya beans, soya sprouts, or processed s soya milk, tofu, tempeh, soya sauce or miso.

Soya and the heart :

According to studies, soya is known to reduce the risk of heart diseases besides its anti-oxidant value. One of the reasons why soya enjoys a great deal of acceptance mong vegeterians is because of its rich vitamin, mineral and fibre content. A few ideological and medical reasons have also triggered its consumption - many abstain from consuming animal products, while some others are intolerant to milk protein and lactose.

London : Here's some wonderful news for lazy bugs. German scientists have found that too much exercise can be hazardous and doing less could lengthen one's life.

In a book called "The Joy of Laziness" : How to slow down and Live Longer : Peter Axt, retired professor of health science at Fulda University, near Frankfurt, and his daughter Michaela Axt-Gadermann, a GP, have explained that everybody has a limited amount of "life energy" and that this speed with which it is consumed determines their life span.

The authors argue that high-energy activities, such as pounding the treadmill at the gym, accelerates the aging process and makes the body more susceptible to illness. "A more relaxed way of life is important for your health. If you lead a stressful life and exercise excessively, your body produces hormones which lead to high blood pressure and can damage your heart and arteries," Axt-Gadermann, was quoted as saying by a newspaper.

London : Turmeric may quite literally be the very spice of life, helping the body ward off blood cancer and ensuring Indian children have a lower incidence of leukaemia than Western countries, scientists have said.

The research, by US Indian Dr. M. Nagabhushan and Mumbai nutritionist V. Ramaswamy, ecited considerable interest at the just-concluded, first-ever international conference on the causes of childhood leukaemia. Nagabhushan's research highlights turmeric's anti-oxidant properties, which can protect against environmental chemicals that damage DNA. The scientist said the humble 'haldi', of which India is the world's major producer and overwhelming consumer, contains Curcumin.

Kolkata : A city-based group of scientists has staked claim to a major breakthrough in the treatment of leukemia, or blood cancer. The scientists, who are with the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB), have identified a molecule in betel leaf (paan) which can be effective in killing blood cancer cells."The use of betel leaf juice to treat diseases is a common refrain in rural areas. We based our experiment on this belief and started work on the immuno-protection capabilities of the betel leaf. Our initial experiments revealed that it could be effective against leukemia," IICB director Samir Bhattacharya said.

New York : U.S. investigators have found that children who ate oranges and bananas or drank orange juice most days of the week before age two were significantly less likely than other children to be diagnosed with leukemia before age 14.

Previous research has suggested that diet may influence the risk of certain cancers, including colorectal, prostate, lung and breast cancers. Before age 15, more children become sick from leukemia than from any other type of cancer. However, the effect of diet on the childhood risk of this cancer remains unknown.

If we were all sensible, we would avoid hangovers by not drinking at all! But what would be the fun in that? So here are some tips to keep you feeling bright and breezy the morning after the night before.

- Eat before you go out.  To keep that hangover at bay, you should eat loads before you get your glad rags on and go to that party. On this occasion only, a fatty meal is beneficial - as fat is digested slowly, and will protect the stomach from the irritating effects of alcohol. A glass of fatty milk slows down the absorption of alcohol.

- Lighten up
  Avoid drinks that contain large amounts of 'congeners', as these tend to cause severe hangovers. Generally these are dark coloured drinks such as red wine, brandy, and port. Have some soft drinks too.

  And if you have water between each alcoholic tipple, you'll drink less booze and ultimately have a less severe hangover.

  But alcohol is also very dehydrating (this is the main cause of a hangover headache) so if you drink water between vodkas you'll be more hydrated and less likely to wake up with a splitting headache.

London : Vegeterian food tofu could soon be used to help mend broken bones and damaged tissue. Many existing materials used to regenerate tissue are derieved from animal sources, with drawbacks, including high costs and the risk of transmitting disease.

But de-fatted soyabean curd is derieved from inexpensive natural products, which actively encourages the formation of new bone growth and is competely biodegradable, said researchers.

Tofu is high in protein and is often used as a meat substitute in vegeterian dishes. The researchers hope the tofu-based biomaterial could offer doctors a new surgical tool to use in difficult reconstructive cases. They said dental surgeons could use it combat periodontal disease as it allows for regeneration of bones around weakened teeth and other dental implants.

For the past few decades, cancer rates have seen a sharp rise, and it is predicted that by the year 2020, one in two of us will be affected by this condition at some point in our lives. One theory about what might be feulling these scary statistics is that we are seeing rising levels of cancer-causing chemicals in our food and environment, coupled with lower levels of cancer-protective nutrients in our diets. A UK company, Nature's Defence, is helping to deepen our understanding of these factors.Work at Nature's Defence has focussed on plant chemicals dubbed 'salvestrols.' In the body, salvestrols can be chemically transformed into chemical entities that can induce cell death.