We've all heard about foods so super in their powers they can fight off disease. This past week, broccoli made headlines for its ability to protect men from prostate cancer.

How exactly is this possible?

Researchers believe a chemical in broccoli sparks hundreds of genetic changes, activating some genes that do battle with cancer and turning off others that fuel tumors. This study is more than just evidence backing the notion that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables reduces cancer risk. It's the first human trial that looks at the potential biological mechanism at work. We know it's good to eat fruits and veggies. Now we know why.

Specifically, the broccoli eaters in this study showed 400 to 500 positive genetic changes. Men carrying a gene called GSTM1 enjoyed the most benefit. About half the population have this gene.

Source

I always blame my headaches on food -- not enough food or too much of a certain food usually. Sugar definitely brings them on for me -- it's the reason I gave up sweets more than a year ago -- and sometimes, a snack full of protein helps them fade away. I've never given much thought to these three headache triggers, however. Real Simple magazine thinks they're worthy of a warning, though, so here they are.

• Ice Cream. Yep, I guess this makes sense. I just haven't ever had this type of headache last for very long. That's because it only lasts for about one minute, say the Real Simple folks. "Brain freeze" is caused when cold food touches the roof of your mouth and alters the blood flow in the brain or causes pain on a major nerve.
  
  
• Sex. It's not very common, but it's possible that sexual activity can trigger severe head pain. Usually nothing to worry about, you should see a doctor if the pain recurs.
  
  
• Secondary headaches. Also rare, these headaches are caused by a tumor or aneurysm. If your headaches worsen over time, see a doctor.
  
  

So, these three are possibilities. Think they're responsible for your headaches?

Source

In our never ending quest to be healthy (well, that's not entirely accurate -- there's definitely an end), it's sometimes easy to consider how we look on the outside to be the paradigm of our level of fitness. This frequently ends up being the case, and in our efforts to look healthy we sometimes sacrifice opportunities to be healthy.

I was reminded of this by a small side-bar article I just read in Men's Health magazine. The piece took a look at a study conducted by researchers at the University of Hawaii, who discovered that drinking whole milk may reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Tracking the diets of about 82,000 men for a period of eight years, the researchers found that men who drank whole milk decreased their risk of prostate cancer by 12 percent over men who either didn't drink milk at all or who usually drank the low or non-fat variety.

According to the article, the researchers weren't exactly sure why this was the case, but they suspect that it may have to do with the fact that the vitamin D is fat soluble. So, this vitamin -- which has been found in previous studies to inhibit prostate tumors -- may be absorbed with greater ease by the body because whole milk obviously contains higher fat content than low and non-fat milk.

Source

A recent study indicated that Avastin (a cancer-fighting drug) and a form of chemotherapy can help cancer patients with a deadly type of brain tumor called a glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Normally, a cancer drug and chemo should help against tumors, one would think.

But this form of brain tumor is highly deadly once it reaches a certain stage, and the combo treatment was found to extend the life of patients with GBM and also improve overall survival as well.

The study involved 35 people with GBM who had their cancer return after standard therapy, including surgery, radiation treatment and chemotherapy. The "bevacizumab/irinotecan" therapy was then found to halt tumor progression and 80 percent were alive after six months as well.

Source

In much of the current cancer research, the focus is on drugs and methods that will starve a tumor's blood supply, effectively killing it and hopefully stamping out cancer in the process.

In an interesting twist of sorts, Spanish researchers are looking at a new drug for skin cancer that does the opposite -- it causes tumors to explode due to overloading them with oxygen.

Tumor cells are susceptible to this since they cannot balance the levels of free radicals, unlike normal cells. In effect, the overloading of oxygen in certain cancer cells causes them to end up dying, as they cannot cope with and balance the extra oxygen that comes aboard the cell. And, cancer research takes another interesting turn.

Source