Cancer-fighting vanilla fudge

[Absinthe62]

Not sure where to post this, but I figured I'd stick it here since it was from a magazine.

A small article from First magazine (January 1, 2007 issue) summarizes the findings from a study published in the European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences which researched the effect of vanillin on cell growth in breast tissue. Abstract here. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T25-4FN2N86-1&_user=10&_coverDate=05%2F31%2F2005&_alid=511094738&_rdoc=1&_fmt=summary&_orig=search&_cdi=4909&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=771230d983dc372e8f311204e2d22b65)

In light of this information, First has published a "wonderful" recipe for Cancer-fighting Vanilla Fudge containing: 3.75 cups of confectioner's sugar, 6 Tbs butter, 3 Tbs milk, and 1 Tbs vanilla.

I realize First is far from an expert nutritional source, but how can they recommend these little sugar bombs as cancer fighters? I'd rather toss back a spoonful of pure vanilla extract.

[Rachel1]

Well, we don't know if it works on humans, and we don't know how much vanilla is necessary, and it doesn't cure breast cancer, it inhibits the spread of cancer to the lungs (in mice). I'm not going to start drinking gallons of vanilla, and I'm CERTAINLY not going to eat sugar fudge bombs, especially since I've read that sugar has been shown to feed cancer cells.

Rachel

[Dodger]

I guess the best way to use vanilla to slow down cancer would be to chew the beans. I have never chewed one of the beans (and at what they cost, I won't) but they would seem to be really strong in taste.

[Nancy LC]

I think Vanillin is actually derived from other sources too, including wood and petrochemicals. Yum!

The demand for vanilla flavoring has long exceeded the supply of vanilla beans. As of 2001, the annual demand for vanillin was 12,000 tons, but only 1800 tons of natural vanillin were produced.[21] The remainder was produced by chemical synthesis. Vanillin was first synthesized from eugenol (found in oil of clove) in 1874–75, less than 20 years after it was first identified and isolated. Vanillin was commercially produced from eugenol until the 1920s.[22] Later it was synthesized from lignin-containing sulfite liquor, a byproduct of wood pulp processing in paper manufacture.[23] Counter-intuitively, even though it uses waste materials, the lignin process is no longer popular because of environmental concerns, and today most vanillin is produced from the petrochemical raw material guaiacol.[24] Several routes exist for synthesizing vanillin from guaiacol.[25] At present, the most significant of these is the two-step process practiced by Rhodia since the 1970s, in which guaiacol reacts with glyoxylic acid by electrophilic aromatic substitution. The resulting vanilmandelic acid is then converted to vanillin by oxidative decarboxylation.[26]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanillin

[ysabella]

Yup, fake vanilla extract is made from pulp-mill runoff.

So everyone in Tacoma should be cancer-free from smelling that all the time. :p