In Chinese Traditional Medicine, celery is used as a cure for hypertension. It is now known that celery contains phytochemical compounds called phthalides, which not only give it its flavour but have also been shown to lower blood pressure. In lab tests, when animals were injected with 3-n-butylphthalide (3nB) extracts from celery, their blood pressure fell by 12-14%.

Studies in vitro and in animals have also shown that 3nB can lower blood cholesterol levels and reduce the formation of the arterial plaques which can result in cardiovascular disease. In animal studies, 3nB has also been found to help prevent strokes and to enhance energy production in the brain, as well as to improve neurological function after simulation of a stroke.

Antioxidant celery compounds called coumarins are the focus of much current scientific research due to their potential as anti-cancer therapies. The celery seed oil extract sedanolide has, along with 3nB, been found to inhibit tumours in lab tests. Celery is an excellent source of vitamin C, which has anti-carcinogenic properties through its role as an antioxidant and is rich in folate a vitamin required to make DNA and to prevent pre-cancerous changes to it. In addition, celery is a good source of Manganese, which is important for normal central nervous system and reproduction functions; fibre, which keeps your colon healthy, preventing constipation, diverticulitis and cancer, and potassium which can also help to keep blood pressure low.

For years we’ve been told that eating grapefruit was a healthy choice for breakfast and for those who want to lose weight but a new study has suggested that eating grapefruit can increase the risk of breast cancer.

It is thought that the fruit boosts blood levels of oestrogen, the hormone associated with the risk of the disease. According to the research carried out by the universities of Southern California and Hawaii and based on more than 50,000 post menopausal women from five ethnic groups, including 1,657 with breast cancer and published in the British Journal of Cancer, eating as little as a quarter of grapefruit a day can raise the danger by 30 per cent for older women.

It’s important to bear in mind that many lifestyle factors contribute to breast cancer risk. Earlier this year it was revealed that just one alcoholic drink a day may increase your risk by 9 per cent. A major European study also recently showed that eating junk food raises a woman’s risk of developing a range of cancers. And older women with the fattiest diets have a 15 per cent increase in their chances of developing beast cancer according to a separate US study.

Also bear in mind that other studies have suggested that grapefruit has anti cancer properties and may play a role in weight management. It’s also high in fibre which is good for your digestive health and vitamin C which is good for boosting your immunity. The key, as with everything in life, is moderation. You could still have grapefruit once a week and have other choices for breakfast the rest of the week.

Yo-yo dieting, also known as weight cycling, is a repeated loss and gain of body weight due to excessive dieting, but new research shows that it can more than double the risk of kidney cancer.

Researchers from the University of California who reported their research in the American Journal of Epidemiology in June 200 7 followed 140,057 women aged between 50 and 79 for almost eight years to study the consequences of yo-yo dieting and compared women of average waist size to those with the large waistlines. The study found that ‘weight cycling’, along with a large waistline pose an even higher risk in the development of kidney cancer in older women than just obesity.

According to the study women whose weight fluctuates by more than 10 lbs or 4.5 kg on more than 10 occasions were more likely to develop kidney cancer than women whose weight remained stable. The researchers also found it was safer for women to gain weight steadily as they grew older than to lose weight and keep it that way through strict dieting. Women who did this were found to have a 60 per cent increased risk of developing the cancer.

The authors suggest that there may be a connection between yo-yo dieting, large waistlines and kidney cancer and point out earlier studies that have already linked weight cycling to increased incidence of obesity and high blood pressure, other risk factors for kidney cancer. They also suggested that frequent weight fluctuations might lead to kidney damage by stirring up metabolic or functional changes that increase cancer susceptibility.