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Mistletoe Meds Fight Cancer, Studies Show
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

Dec. 24, 2008 -- Another reason to celebrate under the mistletoe this holiday season is that researchers have just determined a medicine made out of fermented mistletoe may prolong the lives of cancer patients.

The plant is Viscum album, the most common holiday mistletoe of Europe, and the species that first inspired the tradition of couples sharing a kiss under its evergreen leaves and waxy berries.

Americans, on the other hand, might kiss under Phoradendron serotinum, which resembles the European plant but was not the focus of the study.

The fermented mistletoe medicine is called Iscador.

"For the production of Iscador, mistletoe plants are harvested in the summer -- the stems and leaves -- and in the winter -- the stems, leaves and berries -- and then are fermented with lactobacillus," Renatus Ziegler, a research scientist at Institute Hiscia in Arlesheim, Switzerland, told Discovery News.

Various species of lactobacillus, a type of bacteria, are also used in the production of many foods and drinks such as yogurt, beer, wine and pickles.

Ziegler and co-author Ronald Grossarth-Maticek studied cervical and ovarian cancer patients to see how they might benefit in the long run if mistletoe extracts, such as Iscador, were added to their treatment regimes.

WOMEN CARRY MORE BACTERIA THAN MEN

Nov. 4, 2008 -- Wash your hands, folks, especially you ladies. A new study found that women have a greater variety of bacteria on their hands than men do. And everybody has more types of bacteria than the researchers expected to find.

"One thing that really is astonishing is the variability between individuals, and also between hands on the same individual," said University of Colorado biochemistry assistant professor Rob Knight, a co-author of the paper.

"The sheer number of bacteria species detected on the hands of the study participants was a big surprise, and so was the greater diversity of bacteria we found on the hands of women," added lead researcher Noah Fierer, an assistant professor in Colorado's department of ecology and evolutionary biology.

The researchers aren't sure why women harbored a greater variety of bacteria than men, but Fierer suggested it may have to so with the acidity of the skin. Knight said men generally have more acidic skin than women.

Other possibilities are differences in sweat and oil gland production between men and women, the frequency of moisturizer or cosmetics applications, skin thickness or hormone production, he said.

Women also may have more bacteria living under the surface of the skin where they are not accessible to washing, Knight added.

Asked if guys should worry about holding hands with girls, Knight said: "I guess it depends on which girl."

I´m sure the peppermint will make up for all the sugar in those candy canes! They drink lots of mint tea in Spain to aid in digestion... I really think the whole mediterranean diet is so much healthier then most of the world... that´s why you get those old italian guys who have smoked and sucked down their daily bottles of red wine living to be ninty something.

How are you MF... have you moved yet?

nope not yet



s'ok

we are fine w/ the schedule
and no less married/committed

and i figgered out thats whats important

The extra bacteria might have something to do with the fact that in general, women spend more time in the kitchen preparing uncooked food, cleaning toilets, wiping babies bums, cleaning up vomit etc etc....

Phew, glad I´m a single woman with grown up kids off my hands, and no pets.

yes jan
im sure you are sanitary



i however am a dirty girl-

You´re talking like bacteria is a bad thing! Actually being exposed to small amounts of bacteria is what helps our bodies produce immunity to so many diseases... I honestly think that this whole sanitation and sterilization attitude may well lead to the worst health crisis ever... and then there is the good bacteria... if we didn´t have it, our digestive systems would cease to function.

I totally agree with this. People who now get M R S A and "flesh eating" diseases are only getting them because the good as well as the bad bacteria is destroyed, causing lack of immunity to even antibiotics.

Even scrubbed, we are the dirtiest creatures on the planet bacterialogically speaking, internally as well as externally, and it is essential that we are this way for the survival of the species.

My mother used to always say that "good clean dirt" is essential, even though she was a clean freak in her daily habits and her housekeeping.

I think we don't rely on our own intuition enough. Common sense says if it smells bad it is bad, but if it doesn't, then it does us no harm. I think that is primal.

Yeah, I´m all over that 10 second rule... if you drop something on the floor and pick it up within 10 seconds it´s good to eat...

i wasnt talking anything
i just posted some partial 'news' stories