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MIAMI (AFP) – Researchers said Tuesday that papaya leaf extract and its tea have dramatic cancer-fighting properties against a broad range of tumors, backing a belief held in a number of folk traditions.

University of Florida researcher Nam Dang and colleagues in Japan, in a report published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, documented papaya’s anticancer effect against tumors of the cervix, breast, liver, lung and pancreas.

The researchers used an extract made from dried papaya leaves, and the effects were stronger when cells received larger doses of papaya leaf tea.

Read more: Researchers back cancer-fighting properties of papaya

You’re stressed, I’m stressed and we really don’t have time or money to spend a day wrapped in seaweed at the spa. But dealing with stress is important — we look better, feel better and work better when we manage it. So here are 10 ways to chill out in a pinch.

1. Have a cuppa
Curling up on a couch with a cup of tea and a cookie feels luxurious, but studies have shown that black tea also helps reduce stress. Try flavoured versions such as cassis or cherry vanilla, which are lovely with a teaspoon of honey.

4. Eat!
Foods that are high in fibre, vitamin B, C and E are said to play a role in reducing stress. Put fish, almonds, fresh fruit, yogurt, veggies (carrots, tomatoes and leafy greens in particular) and skimmed milk on the shopping list.

Read more: Ten quick fixes for stress

MIAMI – Winter storms hurt Burger King’s results in January and February, the fast-food chain said Tuesday.

In the United States and Canada, Burger King’s sales in locations open at least a year fell 8.2 per cent over the two-month period. Over 75 per cent of Burger King stores are in the Central and Eastern U.S., which were hardest hit by storms.

Read more: Burger King sales in January and February hurt by severe winter storms

The findings by Danish researchers could help the fight against infectious diseases and global epidemics, they said, and could be particularly useful in the search for new vaccines.

The researchers found that immune systems’ killer cells, known as T cells, rely on vitamin D to become active and remain dormant and unaware of the possibility of threat from an infection or pathogen if vitamin D is lacking in the blood.

“When a T cell is exposed to a foreign pathogen, it extends a signaling device or ‘antenna’ known as a vitamin D receptor, with which it searches for vitamin D,” said Carsten Geisler of Copenhagen University’s department of international health, immunology and microbiology, who led the study.

“This means the T cell must have vitamin D or activation of the cell will cease. If the T cells cannot find enough vitamin D in the blood, they won’t even begin to mobilize.”

Scientists have known for a long time that vitamin D is important for calcium absorption, and that there is a link between levels of the vitamin and diseases such as cancer and multiple sclerosis.

“What we didn’t realize is how crucial vitamin D is for actually activating the immune system — which we know now,” Geisler wrote in the study in the journal Nature Immunology.

Most Vitamin D is made by the body as a natural by-product of the skin’s exposure to sunlight. It can also be found in fish liver oil, eggs and fatty fish such as salmon, herring and mackerel, or taken as a supplement.

Read more: Scientists find why “sunshine” vitamin D is crucial

Want to obtain or maintain a healthy weight, reduce your risk of disease and increase longevity? Stop eating like a typical North American.

That seems to be the message we’re getting from health experts as more research points the finger at our unhealthy eating habits as the culprit behind a growing number of health issues — like obesity, diabetes, heart disease and stroke (to name a few). Our love of junk food, lack of exercise and preference for quantity over quality can have detrimental effects on our well being.

Meanwhile, people in other countries and cultures have lower rates of disease, healthier weights and better health. It’s no surprise we often hear advice like “diet like the French” (according to trendy books) or “eat a Mediterranean diet” (according to a growing body of research). When it comes to living well and eating well, “looking elsewhere” may be our best option.

Read more: 10 diet tips from around the world

Sugary junk food or nutrition-packed snack?

That question’s on a lot of minds as chocolate milk gets an image makeover: it’s now being promoted by the American dairy industry as a healthy choice for kids. In U.S. schools, flavoured milks (like chocolate or strawberry) account for about 70 per cent of all the milk kids drink.

So, when concerns about obesity prompted some to take them off cafeteria menus, the industry was quick to respond: it rolled out a campaign, called “Raise your hand for chocolate milk,” including a petition, a Twitter feed, and slick ads with actress Rebecca Romijn. Like plain milk, flavoured milk offers nine essential nutrients, the campaign notes, “plus the taste-appeal kids go for.”

While the chocolate kind has more sugar (roughly the same as a glass of orange juice), the campaign calls this an “acceptable trade-off,” noting that over half of all teens aren’t getting enough calcium, risking their bone health down the road. Taking flavoured milks out of schools could do more harm than good, the argument goes, encouraging kids to choose less nutritious drinks like soda.

Read more: Milk skirmishes

The owner of a popular Toronto gastropub who asks to remain nameless is showing off what he calls his “nightly journal,” though “naughty journal” is a more accurate descriptor. Most of the handwritten entries deal with the dull details of restaurant life—nightly sales, tables turned, supplier snafus. Where reading turns interesting, even salacious, is in its dutiful recording of customer misbehaviour collected via staff and fellow customer complaints. Names are used when they’re known. Otherwise, physical descriptions suffice.

Read more: How to get on a restaurant’s hit list

OAKVILLE, Ont. – Tim Hortons (TSX: THI.TO) is preparing to serve up a new restaurant format as part of its expansion plans over the next three years.

The new restaurant concept will be piloted in at least 10 existing locations. The redesign is intended to more sharply define Tim Hortons image with what the company calls “enhanced finishes, fixtures and seating areas.”

The iconic Ontario-based company known for its coffee, doughnuts and light meals says it expects 900 new stores of various formats by 2013.

Read more: Tim Hortons aims for 600 new Canadian stores, 300 in U.S. by 2013

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Can’t lose weight on a low-fat diet? Maybe you need to cut carbs instead, and a new genetic test may point the way, maker Interleukin Genetics Inc reported on Wednesday.

The small study of about 140 overweight or obese women showed that those on diets “appropriate” for their genetic makeup lost more weight than those on less appropriate diets, researchers told an American Heart Association meeting.

Read more: Your best diet? It might be in your genes

SINGAPORE (AFP) – Singapore on Thursday stuck to its 18-year ban on the import and sale of chewing gum, which has become an international symbol of the city-state’s image as a strict society.

“The government stands by its decision to ban chewing gum,” Maliki Osman, parliamentary secretary at the Ministry of National Development, told parliament.

Read more: Singapore sticks to ban on chewing gum