HEALTH-Eating tomatoes helps fight depression

London: Eating tomatoes few times a week can reduce your chances of suffering from depression by half, a new study has claimed. Researchers analysed the mental health records and diet habits of around 1,000 men and women aged 70 or over. They found that those eating tomatoes two to six times a week were 46 per cent less likely to suffer the blues than those eating them less than once a week, the 'Daily Mail' reported. The study was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

Eating tomatoes every day slashed the risk by 52 per cent. Other fruits and vegetables do not have the same benefits, the study found. Eating healthy foods like cabbage, carrots, onions and pumpkins appeared to have little or no effect on psychological well-being.

Tomatoes are rich in antioxidant chemicals that are thought to protect against some diseases. They are a particularly good source of lycopene, an antioxidant that gives them their deep red colour and has been linked with reducing the risk of prostate cancer and heart attacks.

The team of researchers from China and Japan, led by Dr Kaijun Niu from China's Tianjin Medical University, wanted to investigate preliminary reports that lycopene might also promote psychological and well as physical health by reducing oxidative stress, or damage to healthy brain cells. They analysed the mental health records and dietary habits of just under 1,000 elderly Japanese men and women aged 70 or over.

The researchers said they cannot be sure if lycopene in tomatoes directly affects the mind, or whether it simply protects against the depression caused when people develop potentially fatal diseases like cancer. "These results suggest that a tomato-rich diet may have a beneficial effect on the prevention of depressive symptoms. In contrast, no relationship was observed with intake of other kinds of vegetables," researchers said.

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HEALTH, Fruits, vegetables reduce risk of breast cancer

London: A diet full of fruits and vegetables could help women reduce risk of developing breast cancer, a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute said. Long hailed for their anti-oxidant properties, researchers now believe carotenoids can also help prevent cancerous tissue in the breast due to their effect on mechanisms such as the immune system, Daily Express reported.

Scientists at Harvard Medical School in the US, who pooled studies from across the world, concluded: "A diet high in carotenoid-rich fruits and vegetables offers many health benefits, including a possible reduced risk of breast cancer."

Melons, oranges, peppers, carrots, broccoli, spinach and sweet potatoes are among foods rich in nutrients known as carotenoids.

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HEALTH,--Scientists solve mystery behind human itching

New York: Scientists have discovered nerve cells that deal solely with itching sensations in humans, a breakthrough which can lead to effective treatments for pain relief. The new findings are also important because they provide a target for new gen-next anti-itch medications.

According to a new study, certain nerve cells are specialised to detect itchy sensations, and those receptors don't detect painful sensations. The study helps resolve a long-standing debate over whether itchiness is just a weird form of pain, 'LiveScience' reported.

Researchers have pinpointed the responsible nerve fibers, which could be silenced to develop better anti-itch treatments, said Ethan Lerner, a neuroscientist at Harvard University. "This is a very convincing piece of work," Lerner said.

According to a new study, certain nerve cells are specialised to detect itchy sensations, and those receptors don't detect painful sensations.

"Scientists can perhaps target this particular type of nerve as a means of treating itch, but still allow you to experience the protective aspect of pain," he said. For decades, why people itch has been a mystery. While some pain nerves have been found to fire in response to itchy stimulants, nerves that responded solely to itch proved elusive.

Some researchers even wondered whether itch and pain were always processed by the same nerve fibers, but interpreted by the brain differently, said study co-author Xinzhong Dong, a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University.

However, the urge to scratch seemed different in key ways from the experience of pain. For instance, when a mosquito bites, most people feel a powerful desire to scratch the bite, while the pain of touching a hot stove causes people to recoil, Dong said.

To identify cells that sense itch, researchers genetically engineered mice whose nerve cells glowed fluorescent green when firing. They then exposed the mice to irritating compounds, such as histamine and the active ingredient in itching powder, and looked for nerves that fired (and glowed green) as a result.

When researchers burned out the nerves that lit up, the mice scratched a lot less, suggesting they were less itchy. The newly discovered itch nerves sit inside the spine, near the spinal cord, and only innervate locations within the skin. That explains why people feel the urge to scratch their skin, but don't feel itchy in internal organs, Dong said. "You can't have an itchy pancreas," he said.

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