Health Effects Of 'Functional Foods' Featured During Four-day Symposium

"Mandarin oranges may reduce risk of liver cancer, other diseases -- A pair of studies from Japan suggests that eating mandarin oranges may cut your risk of developing liver cancer as well as other serious diseases:
In one study, researchers at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine found that drinking mandarin orange juice may reduce the risk of developing liver cancer in patients with chronic viral hepatitis. After a one-year study period, no liver cancer was detected among a group of 30 patients with viral hepatitis who were given one cup daily of a specially prepared beverage containing mandarin orange juice, whereas an 8.9 percent rate of liver cancer was found among a group of 45 patients who did not drink the juice supplements, according to Hoyoku Nishino, M.D., Ph.D., a researcher at the university.
In an epidemiological study by scientists at the National Institute of Fruit Tree Science in Japan, scientists surveyed 1,073 people in a Japanese town noted for its high consumption of mandarin oranges. The researchers found certain chemical markers in the subjects' blood that are associated with a lower risk of several health problems, including liver disease, atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and insulin resistance (a condition associated with diabetes), according to study leader Minoru Sugiura, Ph.D."

There are a couple of more studies highlighted in this article that are very interesting. I think once we get into a major disease it takes good medicine to pull us back from it as best they can, but if we eat nutritiously ("Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food." --Hippocrates) all the time and keep in mind what it really is we're taking into our bodies, we stand a much better chance of getting around the major diseases or at least have a better chance of coming back from them if they do catch us.