Who will be the next Bb. Pilipinas?

Will this year’s Bb. Pilipinas titleholder continue  Shamcey Supsup and Venus Raj’s winning streak? 

No one knows as of now.  But the 30 beauties vying for the Bb. Pilipinas 2012 title surely hope so.

This year’s batch is a mixture of professionals, students, pageant first-timers and experienced contestants. 

“This year, halos lahat sila titulado, meaning professionals. A lot of them are professionals, and then some are, like, siguro safe to say mga sampu, came back (to join),” Araneta Group’s Public Relations and Corporate Communications Manager Tessa Mangahas said.

The candidates were screened from a field of 100 hopefuls.

“Tumaas ang standards. Dahil more than just face and figure, (dapat) very smart ‘yung mga girls, hindi ba? Mrs. (Stella) Araneta (chair of the Bb. Pilipinas Charities Inc.) said before na, ‘You just know when you look at them,” Mangahas added.

Some of the candidates work as registered nurses. One is an interior designer. Another is a doctor. There’s a  a certified public accountant and a fashion designer. 

The candidates also have interesting backgrounds. Liezl Alcantara from Basco, Batanes is the first pure Ivatan who has joined Bb. Pilipinas. Ayelee Marie Dasalla used to be obese and thought of joining a beauty pageant as an impossible dream.

Other candidates are Karen Gallman, Romelin de Castro, Nicole Marable, Rose Ann Aguilar, Patricia Lae Ejercitado, Nicole Schmitz, Mary Jean Lastimosa, Jillean Camille Orbina, Marie Virgenia Peter, Katrina Dimaranan, Gina Joy Howell, Elaine Kay Moll, Anna Czarina Buenviaje, Janine Tugonon, Roxanna Jesalva, Giselle Munoz, Meiji Cruz, Goldy Baroa, Fer Baliquig, Chloe Zanardi, Annalie Forbes and Sherlyn Gonzales.

The Bb. Pilipinas 2012 coronation night will be aired live on ABS-CBN on April 15. A primer will be aired on ABS-CBN’s Sunday Best on April 8.

People hurt in Robinson's Galleria robbery

Sketchy reports say shots were fired and a grenade exploded at the Robinson's Galleria Mall in Ortigas Thursday.

An initial DZMM report says robbers attacked a money changing store, lobbed a grenade and injured at least four people.

Authorities have already barred the public from entering the mall as reports say another grenade was seen in the vicinity, added the report.

A separate MMDA report says three people were injured in the shootout along east-bound Ortigas.

(Photo courtesy of Carlo Lorenzo)

MEDICAL NOTES: Guyabano - Miracle Cure For Cancer?

Q. Yesterday, I heard a radio announcer say that the guyabano fruit is a natural cancer cell killer that is 10,000 times stronger than chemotherapy. Is there any truth to this?

--linda_e2009@yahoo.com

A. That the guyabano has anti-cancer properties is one gross misinformation that has been circulating in the Internet for years now. More than two years ago, I was sent an email by a cancer-survivor friend of mine who attributes her survival from breast cancer to her regular intake of guyabano juice. About eight years earlier, she was diagnosed with stage I cancer of the breast for which she underwent surgery and chemotherapy. She started drinking guyabano juice after her chemotherapy and has since credited the fruit, rather than her doctors, for her apparent cure.

When I received her email, out of curiosity, I did a library and Internet search for guyabano. I was amazed with what I found out and wrote an article, which was later published in this column, about the alleged "miraculous properties" of guyabano. Nothing much has changed regarding this issue since, so most of what I am going to write herewith I have told readers before.

Guyabano is the Filipino term for the graviola tree (Annona reticulate). Its delectable fruitis also locally referred to as guyabano but is known as custard apple or sour sop in English.

Folklore attributes some medicinal properties to guyabano. Supposedly, its unripe fruit can relieve diarrhea, its leaves can eliminate worms when taken internally and heal wounds when applied topically, and a concoction of its roots can reduce fever.

Traditional medicine does not ascribe anti-cancer properties to guyabano but there are numerous web sites that promote graviola as an anti-cancer remedy. Of course, most of these web sites also promote the graviola supplements made from roots, stems and fruits of the tree that they sell. There are web sites that claim that guyabano is 10,000 times stronger than the Adriamycin, a drug which is used in the chemotherapy for breast and other forms of cancer. But, the numerous evidence that these websites present to support their claim are mostly anecdotal and pseudoscientific in nature. Simply put, there is no scientific evidence that proves that guyabano has anti-cancer properties.

The idea that graviola is an effective cancer fighter evidently stems from research (published in 2008) conducted at the Purdue University's School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences on the unique substances known as annonaceousacetogenins that have been extracted from the graviola tree. The Purdue investigators found these substances to be potent inhibitors of cancer cells while leaving normal cells alone. They also found the compounds to be effective against drug-resistant cancer cells.

But these studies were conducted in vitro, i.e., conducted on cancer cells in test tubes. These are a long way from clinical trials that determine the efficacy and safety of these compounds in people with cancer. In fact, I have not found any human study on graviola and cancer.

As to the suggestion, by some of the websites, that scientific evidence in favor of graviola is being suppressed by drug corporations, I find this inconceivable. I'm more inclined to believe that this conspiracy theory has been concocted by those who sell graviola supplements. In fact, if these business entities that manufacture and sell supplements want to, they can easily undertake scientifically acceptable research on guyabano and publish their findings. But they don't. Instead, they label their products as having "no therapeutic claims" while at the same time they try to make the public believe that they are actually effective and even better than proprietary medicines.

(Email inquiries on health matters to: medical_notes@yahoo.com)

Katrina Halili admits pregnancy

Actress Katrina Halili is three months pregnant.

This she confirmed in an interview with columnist Ricky Lo for Startalk TX aired on GMA-7's 24 Oras on Friday, March 24. 

"Tinago ko muna sa sarili ko. Mga weeks pa bago ko sabihin sa Mama ko," Katrina said.

The father of Katrina's unborn child is R&B singer Kris Lawrence. Tinnie Esguerra, Kris's PR manager told Yahoo! Philippines OMG! that the singer takes full responsibility for Katrina's pregnancy but they are not yet ready to get married.