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Eating Baked, Broiled Fish Weekly Boosts Brain Health

Food.SalmonEating baked or broiled fish once a week is good for the brain, regardless of how much omega-3 fatty acid it contains, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The findings, published online recently in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, add to growing evidence that lifestyle factors contribute to brain health later in life.

“Our study shows that people who ate a diet that included baked or broiled, but not fried, fish have larger brain volumes in regions associated with memory and cognition,” senior investigator James T. Becker, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry, Pitt School of Medicine said. “We did not find a relationship between omega-3 levels and these brain changes, which surprised us a little. It led us to conclude that we were tapping into a more general set of lifestyle factors that were affecting brain health of which diet is just one part.”

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Source: University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences. “Eating baked, broiled fish weekly boosts brain health, study says.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 4 August 2014.

Rosemary, Oregano Contain Diabetes-Fighting Compounds

Food.Rosemary.LavenderThe popular culinary herbs oregano and rosemary are packed with healthful compounds, and now lab tests show they could work in much the same way as prescription anti-diabetic medication, scientists report. In their new study published in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, they found that how the herbs are grown makes a difference, and they also identified which compounds contribute the most to this promising trait.

The researchers tested four different herbs, either greenhouse-grown or dried commercial versions, for their ability to interfere with a diabetes-related enzyme, which is also a target of a prescription drug for the disease.

They found that greenhouse herbs contained more polyphenols and flavonoids compared to the equivalent commercial herbs. But this didn’t affect the concentration required to inhibit the enzyme. Commercial extracts of Greek oregano, Mexican oregano and rosemary were better inhibitors of the enzyme, required to reduce risk of type-2 diabetes, than greenhouse-grown herbs.

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Source: American Chemical Society. “Rosemary, oregano contain diabetes-fighting compounds.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 23 July 2014.

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Anti-Cancer Mechanism of Green Tea Revealed

Food.Tea.GreenLactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA) is an enzyme that is elevated in several human cancers, including pancreatic cancer. Wai-Nang Lee, MD, from the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed; California, USA), and colleagues observe that epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), the active biologic constituent in green tea, changes the metabolism of pancreatic cancer cells by suppressing LDHA expression.

The researchers also found an enzyme inhibitor, oxamate, which is known to reduce LDHA activity, operated in the same manner: It also disrupted the pancreatic cancer cells metabolic system. The study authors submit that: “These results suggest that phytochemical [epigallocatechin gallate] and LDHA inhibitor oxamate confer their anti-cancer activities by disrupting the balance of flux throughout the cellular metabolic network.”

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Source: MedicineNet.

 

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Research Shows Almonds Reduce the Risk of Heart Disease

Food.Almonds1Scientists have found that eating almonds in your diet can reduce the risk of heart disease by keeping blood vessels healthy.

Research found that they significantly increase the amount of antioxidants in the blood stream, reduce blood pressure and improve blood flow. These findings add weight to the theory that Mediterranean diets with lots of nuts have big health benefits.

The study was led by Professor Helen Griffiths, Professor in Biomedical Sciences and Executive Dean of the School of Life and Health Sciences at Aston University in Birmingham, UK. Researchers tested the effects of a short-term almond-enriched diet on healthy young and middle-aged men as well as on a group of young men with cardiovascular risk factors including having high blood pressure or being overweight.

At the end of the study period, the group eating an almond-enriched diet had higher levels of antioxidants (alpha-tocopherol) in their blood stream, improved blood flow and lower blood pressure, potentially reducing their risk of heart disease.

Professor Griffiths said: “Our study confirms that almonds are a superfood. Previous studies have shown that they keep your heart healthy, but our research proves that it isn’t too late to introduce them into your diet – adding even a handful (around 50g) every day for a short period can help. You could replace a daytime snack with a bag of almonds or add them to your regular meals like porridge or muesli to help reduce your risk of heart problems.”

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Source: Medical News Today.

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Diet Rich in Plant Antioxidants Helps Blood Sugar

Food.Chocolate.DarkA substance found in a variety of plant-based foods may improve blood sugar in people at risk for heart disease and diabetes, according to a recent study.

Researchers found that a diet rich in plant antioxidants (called polyphenols) lowered blood sugar. The antioxidants are found in dark chocolate, green tea, coffee, and extra virgin olive oil, among other foods.

Lead researcher Lutgarda Bozzetto, MD, says the people in the study felt the diet was easy to stick with. Bozzetto is with the University of Naples Federico II in Italy and presented the study at the European Atherosclerosis Society 2014 Congress.

In this new study, 45 overweight or obese people followed one of four diets:

  • A diet low in omega-3 fatty acids and polyphenols
  • A diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids
  • A diet rich in polyphenols
  • A diet that included omega-3 fatty acids and polyphenols (in lower amounts than group 3)

Those on the omega-3 fatty acid-enriched diets lost more weight during the 8-week study. But blood sugar and insulin levels improved more with the polyphenol-enriched diet. The researchers also noticed improvements in the way the pancreas worked in people on the polyphenol-enriched diet.

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Source: MedicineNet.

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Canola Oil May Be an Oil of Choice for People with Type 2 Diabetes

Food.RapeseedNew research suggests canola oil may be one of the oils of choice for people with Type 2 diabetes. Researchers compared people with Type 2 diabetes who ate either a low glycemic index diet that included bread made with canola oil, or a whole wheat diet known to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. The research found that those on the canola bread diet experienced both a reduction in blood glucose levels and a significant reduction in LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol.

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Source: St. Michael’s Hospital. “Canola oil may be an oil of choice for people with type 2 diabetes.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 14 June 2014.

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Why You Need Olive Oil on Your Salad

Food.Olive.OilA diet that combines unsaturated fats with nitrite-rich vegetables, such as olive oil and lettuce, can protect you from hypertension, suggests a new study led by King’s College London. The findings, published in the journal PNAS, help to explain why some previous studies have shown that a Mediterranean diet can reduce blood pressure.

The Mediterranean diet typically includes unsaturated fats found in olive oil, nuts and avocados, along with vegetables like spinach, celery and carrots that are rich in nitrites and nitrates.

When these two food groups are combined, the reaction of unsaturated fatty acids with nitrogen compounds in the vegetables results in the formation of nitro fatty acids.

Professor Philip Eaton, Professor of Cardiovascular Biochemistry at King’s College London, said: “The findings of our study help to explain why previous research has shown that a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts can reduce the incidence of cardiovascular problems like stroke, heart failure and heart attacks.”

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Source: King’s College London. “Why you need olive oil on your salad.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 19 May 2014.

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Green Tea Extract Boosts Your Brain Power, Especially the Working Memory

Food.Tea.GreenGreen tea is said to have many putative positive effects on health. Now, researchers at the University of Basel are reporting first evidence that green tea extract enhances the cognitive functions, in particular the working memory. The Swiss findings suggest promising clinical implications for the treatment of cognitive impairments in psychiatric disorders such as dementia. The academic journal Psychopharmacology has published their results.

In a new study, the researcher teams of Prof. Christoph Beglinger from the University Hospital of Basel and Prof. Stefan Borgwardt from the Psychiatric University Clinics found that green tea extract increases the brain’s effective connectivity, meaning the causal influence that one brain area exerts over another. This effect on connectivity also led to improvement in actual cognitive performance: Subjects tested significantly better for working memory tasks after the admission of green tea extract.

“Our findings suggest that green tea might increase the short-term synaptic plasticity of the brain,” says Borgwardt.

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Source: University of Basel. “Green tea extract boosts your brain power, especially the working memory, new research shows.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 7 April 2014.

Unique Compounds in Oats Help Protect the Heart

Body.Heart1Ample evidence has been published that demonstrates that a diet abundant in whole grains associates with a reduced risk of chronic disease, including cardiovascular disease. Most of the benefits have been attributed to the relatively high fiber, vitamin, mineral and phytochemical content of whole grains. Notably, the soluble fiber beta-glucan found in oats has been recognized for its ability to lower both total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C).

Unique compound found in oats – avenanthramides – may play an important role in protecting the heart. Oliver Chen, from Tufts University (Massachusetts, USA), reports that avenanthramides exert antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that likely contribute to the atheroprotection of oats. Further, Mohsen Meydani, from Tufts University (Massachusetts, USA), revealed that oat avenanthramides suppress the production of inflammatory cytokines associated with fatty streak formation in the arteries. In addition, oat avenanthramides appear to repress the process associated with the development of atherosclerosis.

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Source: WorldHealth.net.

Increasing Consumption of Coffee Associated With Reduced Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

Food.Coffee.BeansNew research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) shows that increasing coffee consumption by on average one and half cups per day (approx 360 ml) over a four-year period reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes by 11%. The research is led by Dr Frank Hu and Dr Shilpa Bhupathiraju, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA, and colleagues.

Coffee and tea consumption has been associated with a lower type 2 diabetes risk but little is known about how changes in coffee and tea consumption influence subsequent type 2 diabetes risk. The authors examined the associations between 4-year changes in coffee and tea consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes in the subsequent 4 years.

The authors documented 7,269 incident type 2 diabetes cases, and found that participants who increased their coffee consumption by more than 1 cup/day (median change=1.69 cups/day) over a 4-year period had a 11% lower risk of type 2 diabetes in the subsequent 4-years compared to those who made no changes in consumption. Participants who decreased their coffee intake by 1 cup a day or more (median change=-2 cups/day) had a 17% higher risk for type 2 diabetes. Changes in tea consumption were not associated with type 2 diabetes risk.

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Source: Diabetologia. “Increasing consumption of coffee associated with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, study finds.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 24 April 2014.