Deliciously good news on oysters
12.nov.08 dailycomet.com
It doesn't happen often, but once in a while, scientists come up with a good piece of dietary news.That was exactly the case when researchers announced oysters contain fat compounds that could help treat and prevent cancer. LSU experts say ceramides are found in oysters and a handful of other sea creatures. They harvested the compound from oysters, concentrated it and studied it in test tubes and in laboratory rats.
The results are compelling: The ceramides seem to restrict the growth of blood vessels in cancerous growths. Without those blood vessels, the cancer cells can¹t grow and multiply. Cancer growth went down by 57 percent in seven days in the lab trials. And there didn¹t seem to be any adverse effects to the rats.Although the researchers used concentrated ceramides, they said the naturally occurring substance can also be absorbed by the body from raw or cooked oysters.
And here's the best part: "You can't grill them with these popular countertop grills that discard the fat. The ceramide is in the oil, which is lost when you use a tilted grill," said Jack Losso, a researcher at the LSU AgCenter's Department of Food Science.
