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Nutrition

The foods we eat and how they keep us healthy

Potatoes and BP? - we couldn't resist this image

The first study to check the effects of eating potatoes on blood pressure in humans has concluded that two small helpings of purple potatoes (Purple Majesty) a day decreases blood pressure by about 4 percent without causing weight gain. The researchers say that decrease, although seemingly small, is sufficient to potentially reduce the risk of several forms of heart disease, in a report in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry,

Joe Vinson and colleagues point out that people in the U.S. eat more potatoes than any other vegetable. Purple-skinned potatoes, a boutique variety increasingly available in food stores, are noted for having high levels of healthful antioxidant compounds. And in Korea, purple potatoes are renowned in folk medicine as a way to lose weight. Vinson’s team thus decided to investigate the effects of eating 6-8 small microwaved purple potatoes twice a day on 18 volunteers, most of whom were overweight with high blood pressure. The volunteers ate potatoes or no potatoes for four weeks, and then switched to the opposite regimen for another four weeks while researchers monitored systolic and diastolic blood pressure (the higher and lower numbers in a blood pressure reading like 120/80), body weight and other health indicators.

Average diastolic blood pressure dropped by 4.3 percent and systolic pressure decreased by 3.5 percent. The majority of subjects took anti-hypertensive drugs and still had a reduction in blood pressure. None of the study participants gained weight. Vinson said that other studies have identified substances in potatoes with effects in the body similar to those of the well-known ACE-inhibitor medications, a mainstay for treating high blood pressure. But he suspects that the effects may be due to other substances in potatoes. The scientists do not know yet whether ordinary white potatoes have the same beneficial effects.

Researchers found that the mice that consumed the human equivalent of 2.4 ounces of whole walnuts daily, gained weight at the same rate as mice fed a soybean oil diet formulated to match the nutrients, fat levels and fatty acid profiles of the walnut diet. At 18 weeks, however, the tumor weight of the walnut-fed group was approximately half that of the mice consuming the soybean oil diet. Overall, the rate of tumor growth was 28 percent lower in the walnut-fed mice.

The authors conclude: “In a Mediterranean country where olive and sunflower oils are the most commonly used fats for frying, and where large amounts of fried foods are consumed both at and away from home, no association was observed between fried food consumption and the risk of coronary heart disease or death.”

We should all be eating more dietary fiber to improve our health – that’s the message from a health review by scientists in India.

The poor diet of shift workers should be considered a new occupational health hazard, according to an editorial published in this month’s PLoS Medicine. The editorial draws on previous work published in the journal, which showed an association between an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and rotating patterns of shift work in US nurses.

People with diets high in several vitamins or in omega 3 fatty acids are less likely to have the brain shrinkage associated with Alzheimer’s disease than people whose diets are not high in those nutrients, according to a new study published in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Those with diets high …

Women with celiac disease — an autoimmune disorder associated with a negative reaction to eating gluten — are more likely than the general population to report symptoms of depression and disordered eating, even when they adhere to a gluten-free diet, according to researchers at Penn State, Syracuse University and Drexel University. People with celiac disease …

Research studies ever since the 1950s have shown that a Mediterranean diet, based on a high consumption of fish and vegetables and a low consumption of animal-based products such as meat and milk, leads to better health.

Increased consumption of ground beef or processed meat is positively associated with aggressive prostate cancer, according to a study published Nov. 23 in the online journal PLoS ONE.

A new study has found that protein and not sugar activates the cells responsible for keeping us awake and burning calories. The research, published in the 17 November issue of the scientific journal Neuron, has implications for understanding obesity and sleep disorders.

News You Can Use

Nutrition

Potatoes reduce blood pressure

Walnuts slow cancer in mice

Olive and sunflower seed can make for healthier frying

Eat more fiber

Bad eating – occupational hazard?

Diet can stop your brain from shrinking

Women celiacs suffer depression, eating disorders

Mediterranean diet – longer life

Prostate cancer linked to ground and processed meat

3 pm slump? Sugar may not be the answer

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Living Longer

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