Eating Fabulous

Omega 9 Oils: Healthier Oils

I’ve written about Omega-9 oils previously, but if you’d like more info, I just found out that Dow Agrosciences has created a website solely about Omega-9 Canola and Sunflower Oils. Some pdf files that may be of interest to you:

• Omega 3-6-9 Fact Sheet: What are the differences among omega-3, omega-6, and omega-9 fats, and how do they add up for better health?

• Frequently Asked Questions: Answers to questions about Omega-9 Oils, what restaurants are using them, their health benefits, and more!

• Oils Comparison Chart: Not all fats are created equal! Click on the chart to compare the profiles of commonly used oils.

• How do Omega-9 Oils benefit your health?

More information from Healthier Oils.

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By ruth -- 1 comment

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone has had a good start into 2009! Another year over, a new one just begun. And… it’s the season of resolutions! Have you jumped on the healthy eating and dieting resolution bandwagon yet? ;)

I’m not into making resolutions myself, and I’m not aiming to lose weight, but I suppose I could make it a more conscious effort to choose healthier eating options. How about you? Any targets, health wise?

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Gastric Health Over the Holidays

The holidays are already upon us, but don’t let the last minute gift shopping, meal planning and merry indulgence strain your gastric health. Here are some tips from Hollywood nutritionist and probiotic Align endorser Ashley Koff, R.D.:

Image published with permission.

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Tips for a Healthy Holiday Season

And the eating fest begins! Parties here, dinners there. Um, what about healthy eating?

Kim Galeaz, RD, CD and co-author of 4 Weeks to Maximum Immunity offer these tips (pdf files) to help keep energy levels up and support a healthy immune system throughout the holiday season and throughout the year:

• Grocery Store Roadmap: Kim navigates the aisles to make the most out of a trip to the store by showing readers how to find the best immune system-supporting foods.
• Cook Away Colds: You are home from the grocery store, what’s next? Use Kim’s mouth-watering recipes to provide the body with the nutrients and antioxidants in needs to maintain winter wellness.
• A-Z Nutrients: What is the difference between vitamin C and vitamin A? What can they do for my body? Kim explains the nutrients that help support the immune system and dishes on what foods provide them to help with nutritious holiday menu planning.
• Breakfast Booster: Kim has created a delicious Orange Cinnamon Breakfast Boost to keep you moving and healthy during your holiday activities.

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100% Organic Diet for 3 Years

Although we do buy organic foodstuff from time to time, we are by no means buying exclusively organic. It must be as tough as not buying anything that’s made in China!

So I take my hats off to Dr. Greene, the 100 percent organic man, who has been eating only organic produce (including meat!) for 3 years, even when eating out! Contrary to expectations, eating purely organic food isn’t really that much more expensive, since he has cut his meat intake quite a bit, so it somehow just balances off. Is he better off eating organic? He says he gets sick less often now. But then that could have been to more complex, compounded reasons, rather than simply the switch to organic produce.

Do YOU have what it takes to go purely organic?

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New Gene Variants Associated with Heart Disease Risk Identified

Whether the public is ready or not, big leaps are happening in the field of nutrigenomics. In a paper published in Nature Genetics, scientists have identified 11 new gene variants (in addition to 19 other previously reported) associated with three blood lipids measured to determine cardiovascular disease risk: low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and triglycerides.

These results indicate that a person may have any combination of these genes which can result to dyslipidemia, i.e., a combo of high LDL and triglyceride levels and extremely low HDL-cholesterol which is linked to cardiovascular disease risks. A personalized dietary plan drafted according to the gene variants an individual has become one step closer to reality.

“With this new knowledge, we are closer to identifying precise dietary recommendations for people at risk for cardiovascular disease. For instance, carriers of a certain variant gene could
reduce their risk of disease with a low-cholesterol diet, carriers of another variant gene
may benefit from the Mediterranean diet, while a high-fiber diet may be the healthiest
option for carriers of yet another variant gene.”

Source: Tufts University Photo Credit: svilen001

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Tomato extract “Lyc-O-Mato” May Help to Control Hypertension in Humans

High blood pressure, which often remains unnoticed by those affected, is crucial for the development of cardiovascular disease. Among the carotenoids found in plant foods, lycopene is the most powerful antioxidant in vitro. As shown by Paran and colleagues, lycopene-rich tomatoe extract (Lyc-O-Mato) - when tested in a double blind cross-over study over 6 weeks versus placebo - may help to better control hypertension in patients receiving standard low-dose medication (such as ACE inhibitors or beta-blockers).

“The benefits of our study are in the use of an effective concentration of antioxidants in their natural formulation, tomato extract with all the nutrients of the tomato included, extracted in natural tomato oil.”

“The core findings from this study are:

(1) a significant decline both in systolic and diastolic blood pressures with tomato extract therapy

(2) a significant increase in serum lycopene level after tomato extract therapy

(3) a significant increase in serum nitrate level after tomato extract therapy.”

Whether tomato extract alone is able to lower high blood pressure is currently unknown; the present data, however, are encouraging as they possibly offer means to reduce the daily intake of standard drugs for controlling hypertension in humans.

The full text article was published in Cardiovascular Drugs and Therapy on December 4, 2008.

Photo Credit: freestuf

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Does Selenium Supplementation Help Prevent Prostate Cancer?

Selenium, a micronutrient essential for human health, is often considered as a magic bullet for the prevention of age-related diseases, especially cancer. However, in the SELECT study, published in the journal JAMA on December 9, selenium supplementation in middle-aged, healthy men did not seem to help reduce the occurrence of prostate cancer. Even in combination with vitamin E, a compound often praised for its antioxidant and hence disease-preventive potential, selenium did not show any significant effect.

Notweworthy, the study confirms data from the EPIC study (December issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition) which also did not detect any association between selenium concentrations in the blood and prostate cancer risk in a large cohort of European men.

Although selenium supplements may help prevent (bladder) cancer in certain sub-populations, and may perhaps be useful in populations prone to selenium deficiency, supplementation specifically for the prevention of prostate cancer does not seem to hold water.

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Buckwheat Honey Helps Relieve Cough

Looking for something natural to help your kid’s coughs and colds? Try a dose of buckwheat honey just before bedtime. According to a study that has been published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine it might work even better than an over-the-counter cough medicine in relieving cough to help your child sleep better.

Ian M. Paul, M.D., M.Sc., Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, and team carried out a study on 105 children - they were aged 2-18, and all were suffering from upper respiratory tract infections. They were ill for up to seven days and experienced symptoms during the night. 35 of them were randomly selected to receive a dose of honey, another 33 were given dextromethorphan, while the other 37 were given nothing - those receiving treatment got it 30 minutes before bedtime. Their parents had to fill in a survey assessing their child’s cough and sleep difficulty twice - once for the night before treatment, and then again for the night with treatment.

The researchers found that honey helped children the most by far, followed by dextromethorphan. Honey helped alleviate the following problems - cough frequency, cough severity, the child’s sleep, and the parents’ sleep.

Worth a try, especially considering that the use of dextromethorphan for children’s cough is a treatment which is not supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics, nor the American College of Chest Physicians. Honey, on the other hand, is considered to be safe for use for kids at least 1 year old.

Photo Credit: nkzs

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Selenium May Help Prevent Bladder Cancer

Selenium, a trace mineral found in grains, nuts and meats, may aid in the prevention of high-risk bladder cancer.

A recently published comparing the blood selenium levels of 767 recently diagnosed bladder cancer patients with 1,108 individuals from the general population indicates that selenium levels in the blood is inversely related to bladder cancer incidence among women, some smokers and those with p53 positive bladder cancer.

The data are still preliminary, and there is no causative relationship established indicating that selenium does have chemo-preventive properties, but the data are promising.

“Ultimately, if it is true that selenium can prevent a certain subset of individuals, like women, from developing bladder cancer, or prevent certain types of tumors, such as those evolving through the p53 pathway, from developing, it gives us clues about how the tumors could be prevented in the future and potentially lead to chemopreventive efforts,” Karagas said.

This study is published in the January 2009 issue of Cancer Prevention Research.

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