Weekly Science Digest: Fruit & Vegetables

Strawberries are good for you! A pan-European team of researchers has shown that eating strawberries reduces the damage alcohol causes to the stomach’s mucous membrane. By giving ethanol to laboratory rats, the team found that the stomachs of those who had eaten strawberry extract suffered less damage than those who had not. The research further showed that the positive effects of strawberries are not only linked to their antioxidant capacity and high levels of phenolic compounds, but also to the fact that they activate antioxidant defences and enzymes occurring naturally in the body. In the study, the team set out how the antioxidant properties found in strawberries could be used to prevent some gastric illnesses and improve the treatments currently available for stomach ulcers.

Grapefruit, a fruit long off-limits to many patients, may soon be making a return to the menu. For years, doctors have advised patients on certain medications, including those designed to lower cholesterol, to steer clear of the grapefruit - and grapefruit juice - as it can change the way the drugs are absorbed into the bloodstream. Researchers at the University of Florida now believe they will soon be able to release a grapefruit-pummelo hybrid that will contain no furanocoumarin, a chemical found naturally in certain fruits and vegetables and which is responsible for this adverse effect.

A study by researchers at McMaster and McGill University suggests those who are genetically susceptible to heart disease could considerably lower the risk of developing it by eating five or more portions of raw fruit and vegetables daily. The research indicates that somebody with a high-risk version of the 9p21 gene who consumed a large amount of fresh produce would only be as likely to suffer a heart attack as somebody with a low-risk variant of the same gene. The results are a testament to the ‘Five-A-Day’ campaign and reminds us that while both lifestyle and genes can increase the risk of heart disease, the way they interact with each other is also of great importance.    

The remarkable plasticity of the brain has once again been highlighted, this time thanks to a study released by the California Institute of Technology. Researchers showed that those born without a link between the brain’s right and left hemispheres, around one in 4,000 of us, still exhibit surprisingly normal communication across the gap. The condition results from the lack of a corpus callosum - a ‘c’-shaped structure containing some 200 million connections - and leads to a radical rewiring of the connections between the two hemispheres. What the team found to be most surprising is that despite the lack of coupling, the brain was able to maintain synchronised activity on both sides.

The world’s population has officially reached seven billion, and continues to grow by a further 200,000 each day. This week’s video takes a look at what this all means and this graph might help you to understand where you fit into the story of life on Earth.

October has been a good month for those seeking to capture snap some photographs of space. So here’s another selection of some of this month’s best images, including one particularly stunning auroral display (no. 23).

The 'Weekly Science Digest' is a compilation of science news from around the world. News suggestions are always welcome: mark.howardbanks (at) researchgate.net