Healthy Foods

7 Best Stress-Fighting Foods is an article listing the seven as papaya, peppermint tea, pumpkin seeds, avocados, salmon, almonds and oatmeal. Papaya is very rich in vitamin C. The author noted a study indicating that the amount of vitamin C found in a large papaya was linked to the stoppage of stress hormones in rats.

Another article worthy of note is 25 Superfoods For Your Entire Body. Omega-3 fats DHA and EPA, which are found in arctic char, were credited as improving both moods and brain function.

Blood Sugar Level Benefits of White Rye Flour

A Science Daily article titled White Rye Bread Healthier Than Whole Wheat? states:

ScienceDaily (2010-02-15) -- Wholegrain bread is good and good for you, as most people know. But it is not only the fiber-rich bran, the outer shell of the grain, that is healthful. On the contrary, new research shows that bread baked with white rye flour, which is flour made from the inner, white part of the rye kernel, leads to better insulin and blood sugar levels compared with wheat bread with rye bran. White rye flour thus leads to much better values than both regular wheat flour and rye bran. At the same time, much of the bread that is sold in stores today in most countries is in fact baked with wheat flour and bran from various grains.

Also of interest to those who eat breakfast is the finding that rye porridges are particularly good for you.

Veggie Myths

Seven myths about veggies is a Shine article containing some worthy facts.

Loss of nutrients begins after picking.

Since frozen vegetables are flash frozen soon after picking they can be more nutritious than fressh produce.

Cooking can release as well as destroy nutrients. Releasing nutrients into water is a basic of good soup.

Iceberg lettuce, although mostly water, does have small amounts of vitamins and minerals.

The Benefits of Soup

Dr. Maoshing Ni has some encouraging news for soup lovers. Soup Therapy: Detoxify, Lose Weight, and Boost Immunity details the many benefits of soup. Some of the highlights:

• Including soup in your diet can help you to lose weight. Homemade soup can avoid inclusion of chemicals and too much salt that come with the more expensive commercial soups.



• Soup can confer immunological benefits. Cabbage and shiitake mushrooms are particularly useful in this regard. Ginger aids digestion and seaweed has body cleansing properties.



• The link contains a recipe for a detoxifying broth.



• Other benefits include warming effects in cold weather and healing or infection fighting properties long attributed by mothers for generations.

Fat Fighting Foods

Shine features an article of interest to those of us who should shed some weight. 8 fat fighting foods is an adequately descriptive title. The eight foods are almonds, berries, cinnamon, yellow mustard, oranges, soybeans, sweet potatoes and Swiss cheese. Turmeric, a mustard spice, may slow fat tissue growth. Cinnamon may short circuit a biochemical signal which has the effect of directing that fat be stored rather than burned. Besides inhibiting fat build-up, Swiss cheese is loaded with calcium.

Lycopene

There is a visually appealing website focused on lycopene. Lycopene is a phytochemical that is a beneficial nutrient. It is also a carotenoid pugment that gives fruits containing it their bright red color. This includes tomatoes. Carotenoids also come in orange and yellow varieties. Lycopene is a very effective antioxident.

A Bean Snack Which Limits Bone Loss

Japanese researchers have evidence indicating that a bean snack may mitigate the loss of bone volume which can lead to a condition known as osteoporosis. A newly developed snack effective for enhancing bone volume is the name of a paper published in Nutrition Journal. From the abstract:

The incidence of primary osteoporosis is higher in Japan than in USA and European countries. Recently, the importance of preventive medicine has been gradually recognized in the field of orthopaedic surgery with a concept that peak bone mass should be increased in childhood as much as possible for the prevention of osteoporosis. Under such background, we have developed a new bean snack with an aim to improve bone volume loss. In this study, we examined the effects of a newly developed snack on bone volume and density in osteoporosis model mice.

Peanut Oil

The use of peanut oil for cooking yields advantages, not simply with regard to taste and ease of food preparation, but with respect to health effects as well. Olive oil and peanut oil are largely mono-unsaturated oils which means they are better for us than some alternative cooking oils. However, unlike olive oil, peanut oil has a high smoke point. For further information on peanut oil follow this link.

Nutritional Information Sites

Nutrition is a subject matter relevant to people of every age and ethnic group. The following links are to sites with information about nutrition topics that may be both interesting and helpful.

Nutrition.gov

Nutrition Journal

Harvard School of Public Health

American Society for Nutrition

Medline Plus

Annual Reviews

Food and Nutrition Information Center

The Journal of Nutrition

Science Daily Nutrition News

Blueberries and HSP 70

Blueberries are an excellent food with many nutritional benefits. Blueberry supplemented diet reverses age-related decline in hippocampal HSP70 neuroprotection at HD Lighthouse cites a research paper with some encouraging news. As a comment by Marsha L. Miller, Ph.D. indicates, the more recent study adds to our knowledge of blueberries which already included blueberry antioxident properties and stimulating effects for new brain cell generation.

Miller writes of an enhanced capacity to generate a heat shock protein (HSP 70) in older rats fed blueberries as the newer study documents. Heat shcok proteins facilitate the capacity of cells to deal with stress, help with proper protein folding and assist with degradation of older proteins. That's quite a few benefits from a tasty fruit.

Benefits of Tart Cherries

Can Cherries Relieve The Pain Of Osteoarthritis? is the title of a Science Daily article offering hope to sufferers of osteoarthritis. Researchers at Baylor Research Institute indicate that soft gelatin capsules containing a substance formed from ground whole cherries may offer pain relief. The brand name is CherryFlex®).

A previous Science Daily article titled Natural Painkillers And Strong Antioxidants Found In Tart Cherries revealed details about the benefits of tart cherries. That article touted antioxident properties of cherries in addition to pain relief. Anthocyanins were said to prevent oxidative damage. A further benefit of anthocyanins was a capacity to inhibit enzymes known as cyclooxygenase-1 and -2. This leads to pain relief through inflammatory reduction.

Allicin

Chemists Shed Light On Health Benefits Of Garlic is the title of a Science Daily article revealing the secrets of garlic's potent antioxident properties. Allicin is the name of a compound which flavors garlic. But it also confers antioxident capabilities the details of which researchers believe they now can explain. Research findings were published in the January 2009 issue of Angewandte Chemie, a chemistry journal.

Reactions with radicals occur when allicin decomposes. A decomposition product called sulfenic acid reacts extremely quickly with damaging radicals and accounts for the very effective antioxident properties of garlic.

Another Benefit of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Extra Virgin Olive Oil Helps To Combat Breast Cancer, According To Spanish Scientists is an article published at Medical News Today. Quoting from the article:

UGR News Researchers of the Catalonian Institute of Oncology (Spain) and the University of Granada (Spain) have discovered that extra virgin olive oil may help to combat breast cancer, according to a paper published in the last issue of the renowned scientific journal BMC Cancer. The scientists have confirmed the bioactivity of polyphenols (natural antioxidants) present in olive oil in breast cancer cell lines.

The study has proved the anti-HER2 effect of fractions of phenolic compounds directly extracted of extra virgin olive oil in breast cancer cell lines. They have used solid-phase extraction methods of semi-preparative liquid chromatography to isolate fractions of commercial oils and, later, separation techniques (capillary electrophoresis and liquid chromatography connected to mass spectrometry) to check the purity and composition of the fractions.

Study findings indicate that antioxidants in olive oil called polyphenols may combat breast cancer types dubbed positive HER2 and negative HER2. It may be possible to use polyphenols as a base from which new anti-carcinogenic drugs would be designed.

Eat Cruciferous Vegetables

How Certain Vegetables Combat Cancer is a Science Daily article which notes that eating cruciferous vegetables may prevent breast cancer. Cruciferous vegetables include cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower. The article explains that broccoli and broccoli sprouts have the greatest amount of isothiocyanates; compounds known to have anti-carcinogeneic and cancer fighting properties.

Isothiocyanate compounds include a substance called sulforaphane. The Science Daily article focused on research of scientists from the UC Santa Barbara laboratories whose research paper was published in the journal Carcinogenesis. The research paper discussed sulforaphane and noted that it's already been demonstrated that sulforaphane inhibits the growth of cancerous human breast cells in cultures and induces the death of cells. Sulforaphane also has reduced the rate of chemically caused mammary tumors.

How does sulforaphane inhibit cancer? It appears to interfere with the mitosis process (cell division) by disrupting microtubule function. So by inhibiting the proliferation of cancer cells and inducing the death of precancerous cells, sulforaphane performs anti-carcinogenic functions. The good news is that it does so without incurring the toxic effects of some chemicals used in chemotherapy.

Dietary Suggestions

Dr. Mao's Secrets of Longevity, 5 Essential Weight Loss Foods, offers some intriguing dietary suggestions. Quoting from the linked article:

What follows are five foods that will help you restore your body's ability to use energy and help you become your healthy weight.

1. Millet: A well-balanced diet should consist of whole grains instead of refined grains like white rice and pasta, and millet is a beneficial and delicious staple of this category of food. This non-glutinous grain is over 10-percent protein, has high amounts of fiber and B-complex vitamins, and because it isn't an acid forming food, is easy to digest.

2. Asparagus: When losing weight, it's important to favor chlorophyll-rich foods, including asparagus. Asparagus is a nutrient-rich vegetable packed with folate, vitamins A, C, and K, and fiber. Asparagus also contains a carbohydrate known as inulin (not to be confused with insulin) that promotes healthy bacteria in the large intestine - which in turn promotes a healthier digestive function.

3. Pomegranates: Eating a balanced diet to lose weight should include eating fresh fruits, and pomegranates are a wonderful example of a healthy, nutritious fruit that has antioxidant properties and will help prevent cancer. While the benefits of drinking pomegranate juice have gained a lot of attention recently, you will be more likely to lose weight by eating the fruit fresh to increase your fiber intake and keep the calories down.

4. Pine Nuts: Pine nuts are the edible seeds of pine trees and are considered an essential ingredient in the tasty Italian mixture pesto. Chinese medicine uses pine nuts to improve gastrointestinal tract and digestive functions, and pine nut oil is even used for appetite suppression. Pine nuts and other nuts are a tasty part of a well-balanced diet intended for weight loss.

5. Green Tea: It has been found that consuming large amounts of coffee and caffeine can lead to food cravings, increase one's appetite, and induce stress-related eating. Green tea is a wonderful alternative to coffee in that it does provide a little caffeine but also contains beneficial antioxidants. So drink up!

Peanuts

Peanuts rich in 'good chemicals,' the title of a BBC website article, reports that peanuts are rich in antioxidents known as polyphenols. Peanuts are particularly rich in a type of polyphenol known as p-coumaric acid. Further good news comes from the fact that the roasting of peanuts actually increases the levels of their antioxidents. Peanuts hold their own against many fruits and berries known to be high in antioxident content.

Another advantage of peanuts is their high protein content and the fact that their fats are monounsaturated fat. Nevertheless the caloric content of peanuts must be of some concern as all fats lend calories to the foods containing them.

Benefits of Garlic

The Science Daily article titled Garlic Boosts Hydrogen Sulfide To Relax Arteries, reveals benefits that come from eating garlic. The article notes that a paper about the cited research was published in PNAS.

Data obtained from research involving rats indicates that garlic compounds interact with red blod cells. This leads to the release of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) which in turn enables blood vessels to relax. This effect makes garlic a defense against high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. The benefits are linked to the amount of hydrogen sulfide produced. The freeing up of hydrogen sulfide within cells has been linked to substances known as polysulfides found in garlic. Specifically acted on are smooth muscle cells which hydrogen sulfide induces to relax through cellular membrane channels.

Polysulfides from garlic increase the production of hydrogen sulfide within our bodies which then leads to enhanced protection of our cardiovascular systems.

Go for the Bright Colors

A Science Daily article entitled Compounds That Color Fruits And Veggies May Protect Against Colon Cancer, provides details about a linkage already known to nutritionists. Richly colored fruits and vegetables are good for you. The reason? Compounds known as anthocyanins which account for red, purple and blue found in these foods. There is now scientific data supporting the belief that anthocyanins slow the growth of colon cancer cells. The reason colon cells, as opposed to other cell types, are specially protected may lie in the fact that anthocyanins travel through the gastrointestinal tract but are not greatly absorbed into the bloodstream.

Monica Giusti, the lead author of a related study and an assistant professor of food science at Ohio State University, explained the findings. Researchers found that slightly altered anthocyanin molecules showed significant anti-cancer activity. Anthocyanins also come in many varieties and there will be much more information about them resulting from future research projects. Researchers used anthocyanin extract from different plants to test their relative potency in reducing cancer cell growth. Purple corn was found to be the most potent with chokeberry and bilberry extracts close runners up. Another piece of encouraging news was that purple corn and chokeberry pigments were found to kill 20 per cent of cancer cells while completely stopping the growth of others. Esophageal and colon cancer tumors may also be reduced by black raspberries according to other Ohio State researchers.

Anthocyanins have already been used as food dyes but research suggests that replacing synthetic dyes with them would make much sense from a health perspective.

Advantages of Dark Chocolate

This linked article details some advantages that the consumption of dark chocolate has compared to white chocolate. Advantages appear to be lowered blood pressure and better insulin resistance. The cause is attributed to cocoa flavenoids found in dark chocolate but not in white chocolate. In almost all other respects the two types of chocolates are identical which makes white chocolate an excellent means by which to detect the effects of cocoa flavenoids in dark chocolate.

About Zinc

A post about zinc appears at the linked EatingWell.com site. The article provides some excellent dietary information. The following is a quote obtained from the article which details specific foods that contain this essential element.

"It's easy to enter the danger zone with supplemented zinc, so dietitians encourage most people to depend on diet instead. Oysters offer a particularly rich source, but lean red meats and chicken, along with legumes, whole grains and dairy products, also pack a tidy sum.

Oysters, steamed (3 oz.) 30.0 mg

Cooked beef tenderloin (3 oz.) 4.8 mg

Turkey, dark meat, roasted (3 oz.) 3.9 mg

Chickpeas (7 oz.) 2.8 mg

Roast chicken leg 2.7 mg

Pumpkin seeds (1/4 cup) 2.6 mg

Cooked pork tenderloin (3 oz.) 2.5 mg

Plain low-fat yogurt (1 cup) 2.2 mg

Wheat germ (2 Tbsp.) 1.8 mg

Tofu (4 oz.) 1.7 mg

Dry roasted cashews (1 oz.) 1.6 mg"

Swiss cheese (1 oz.) 1.0 mg