CW 12
www.canarianweekly.com
News
19th October - 25th October 2018
Canary bananas may counter colon cancer RESEARCHERS at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid are carrying out a study into whether Canarian bananas can prevent colon cancer, because of the high content of their soluble-fibre pectin. The study, backed by the Association of Organisations of Canary Banana Producers (Asprocan), is looking into the possible, positive effects of Canarian-banana intake, as an aid to combat colon cancer. During a Madrid conference at the second Congress on Nutrition, Food and Dietetics, the study’s scientific director, Professor Antonio López, said the diet was a “fundamental factor” in preventing diseases such as cancer. “Hence the importance, in this case, of gaining scientific knowledge on the possible positive effects that banana intake may have,” he said. The main objective of this research is to understand the role fibre can play in the prevention of colon cancer. Fruit, and the banana, especially, is an important source of fibre, and bananas from the Canary Islands have a particularly
high content of a soluble fibre called pectin, when compared with those from other countries. In fact, the bananas grown in the Canary Islands contain almost twice as much pectin as those of other origins. And, according to Prof López: “This could, potentially, have beneficial effects on the human intestine, and, therefore, play an important role in the prevention of colon cancer.” In short, he added: “The goal of this scientific study is to find out whether any component of bananas is capable of reducing the growth of colon epithelial tumour cells, because of its capacity to act on the mitochondria.” And, after the first results obtained, he said: “The prospects are very promising.”
Timeshare victory for relieved couple A COUPLE from Southampton are celebrating one of the biggest, individual, timeshare victories of all, thanks to a Spanish law firm, against a Tenerife company. Max and Britt SewellRutter, from Southampton, won 365,000 euros against La Pinta Beach Club, after being forced to remortgage their home in England, as well as losing most of their life-savings because of dodgy contracts. The historic victory came after the judge ruled that the contracts should be deemed null and void, because of perpetuity. Under Spanish Timeshare Law, any weeks sold after 5th January 1999, cannot be in perpetuity, and not for more than 50 years. A relieved Max SewellRutter said: “We have had timeshare weeks with La Pinta for over 10 years, and every year we went there, we were approached by the resales department,
pressuring us to buy additional timeshares, which they promised to sell at a profit. “They put so much pressure on us each time, to make us part with our money, that we felt quite exhausted and gave in. “As a result, we lost most of our savings, and had to remortgage our house. We
also had to take out a bank loan, and, in the end, we had lost a considerable amount of money.” Sharon Johnson, of Malagabased M1 Legal ECC, who acted for the SewellRutters, told the Olive Press: “As far as we are aware, this is the largest timeshare victory ever achieved.”