Capers Pack Big Nutritional Punch

Capers, used in such culinary delights as chicken piccata and smoked salmon, may be small. But they are an unexpectedly big source of natural antioxidants that show promise for fighting cancer and heart disease when added to meals, particularly meats, researchers in Italy are reporting in the current (Oct. 17) issue of ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication.

The flower buds of a small bush, capers have been used for centuries in Mediterranean cuisine, where they provide a salty tang and decorative flair to a variety of meats, salads, pastas and other foods. In the new study, Maria A. Livrea and colleagues note that other foods in the so-called Mediterranean diet have gotten plenty of attention for their health benefits. Capers, however, have been largely overlooked.

Their laboratory study involved adding caper extracts to grilled ground-turkey, and analyzing byproducts formed during simulated digestion. The scientists found that caper-extract helped prevent the formation of certain byproducts of digested meat that have been linked by others to an increased risk of cancer and heart disease. That beneficial effect occurred even with the small amounts of caper typically used to flavor food. "Caper may have beneficial health effects, especially for people whose meals are rich in fats and red meats," the study concluded.

Appendix Not As Useless As Once Thought

U.S. medical researchers theorize the so-called vestigial -- or useless -- appendix may have a purpose after all: a "safe house" for beneficial bacteria.

William Parker and Dr. R. Randal Bollinger, both of Duke University in Durham, N.C., said they believe the appendix is where the beneficial bacteria in the human gut are stored when a bout of diarrhea completely evacuates the intestines.

Parker explained that it has already been hypothesized that the rates of allergy and autoimmune disease may go up in the hygienic conditions of industrialized life because the immune system -- unchallenged day-to-day -- may overreact in the face of a threat.

"This over-reactive immune system may lead to the inflammation associated with appendicitis and could lead to the obstruction of the intestines that causes acute appendicitis," Parker said in a statement. "Thus, our modern health care and sanitation practices may account not only for the lack of a need for an appendix in our society, but also for much of the problems caused by the appendix in our society."

The findings are published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology.