Meat IS Associated with Heart Attacks and Some Types of Cancer
Don't believe the recent headlines suggesting that people can continue to eat their usual amounts of meat without suffering any increase in risk for illness or premature death.
Alcohol Does Not Appear to Prevent Heart Disease
The World Heart Federation reports that even small amounts of alcohol increase heart attack risk. Taking one drink a day does not help to prevent heart attacks and appears to increase risk for heart attacks. A study of 371,463 individuals found that no amount of alcohol helps prevent heart disease, even low amounts of alcohol increase heart attack risk, and the more you drink, the greater your chance of suffering a heart attack.
You Can Get Enough Protein Without Eating Meat
You can get all the protein your body needs by eating plants if you want to avoid protein from animal sources. Researchers used sophisticated blood tests and muscle biopsies to show that healthy young males were able to grow the same amount of muscle after eating 30 grams of a blend combining wheat, corn, and pea protein as they did after eating the same amount of milk protein.
Red Meat, Neu5Gc and Risk for Cancer
This year, researchers have identified the CMAH gene in meat, dairy, and even caviar from some fish that produces a sugar-protein called Neu5Gc, which may explain the association between eating red meat and increased risk for certain cancers. We do not have an explanation for the association between eating meat from mammals and various diseases in humans, but a leading theory was offered by Ajit Varki in 1982 when he discovered a sugar-protein on the surface of all cell membranes in mammals except humans. He called this sugar-protein Neu5Gc.
How Gut Bacteria Affect Weight
Since bacteria in your colon eat the same food that you do, what you eat determines which types of bacteria thrive in your colon. These bacteria are a prime driver of how high your blood sugar rises after meals and how many calories you absorb from the food you eat.
Avocados Linked to Reduced Heart Attack Risk
Whenever you read about a study on health benefits from a specific food or food group, you can bet that there is a food industry organization or lobbying group involved in funding the study, and in promoting favorable results. The avocado is a perfect example. When popular weight loss diets were focusing on cutting back on fats, avocados got a bad reputation because they are a concentrated source of fat and are high in calories compared to most other vegetables and fruits.
Artificial Sweeteners, Obesity and Diabetes
Virtually all scientists agree that North Americans need to reduce their intake of sugar, but their views on artificial sweeteners are not as clear. Increasing evidence is showing that artificial sweeteners are not benign substitutes for sugar. In a new study, people who took sucralose (an artificial sweetener) for just one week developed signs of insulin resistance and diabetes.
Even Small Amounts of Alcohol Can Increase Risks for Cancer and Heart Attacks
The United States Public Health Service says that alcohol kills more than 88,000 people in the United States each year, and has shortened the lives of those who died by an average of 30 years. Alcohol also causes one in 10 deaths among working-age adults aged 20-64 years and the health damage it causes costs $223.5 billion, or $1.90 per drink.
No Amount of Overweight is Healthful
Researchers at Boston University and Harvard reviewed three studies following more than 225,000 adults over age 50, for eight to twenty years, and showed that being even slightly overweight can increase your risk of dying by six percent, and in those who are obese, by a whopping 73 percent (Annals of Internal Medicine, April...
Mediterranean Diets are Safer than Keto Diets for Controlling Blood Sugar
A 36-week study from Stanford University compared the benefits of two diets -- a Mediterranean diet and a ketogenic diet -- for treating 33 individuals with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. Both diets were based on eating lots of non-starchy foods that do not cause a high rise in blood sugar, and avoiding foods that cause a high rise in blood sugar such as sugar-added foods or drinks and foods made from flour (ground-up whole grains).
Low Vitamin B12 May Increase Risk for Bleeding Strokes
A surprising study from the UK shows that vegetarians and pescatarians (those who eat fish but not meat) appear to be at increased risk for suffering bleeding strokes, even though they are at reduced risk for heart attacks and are not at increased risk for clotting strokes.
Emulsifiers May Disrupt Gut Bacteria
A study in mice showed that emulsifiers can disrupt intestinal bacteria to cause inflammation and weight gain (Nature, Feb 25, 2015). Emulsifiers are added to many foods, such as ice cream, salad dressing, pastas, bread and cookies, to prolong shelf life and keep ingredients from separating.
Energy Drinks
Energy drinks can raise blood pressure and may cause irregular heartbeats, according to a new study conducted at Travis Air Force Base in California.
Caveman Diet, Paleo Diet, NeanderThin
Some popular books tell you that because some prehistoric humans lived on large amounts of meat, you should do the same. I think that is lousy advice.
Stainless Steel for Exercise Water Bottles
Most exercise water bottles are made from plastic, and about 10 percent of them contain the chemical BPA, a highly suspected carcinogen and hormone blocker. The Food and Drug Administration plans to decide by October 31, 2022 whether to ban BPA from most containers and utensils that come in contact with food. They have already banned BPA from baby bottles. “Most Americans get 5,000 times more BPA in their daily diet than the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) expert panel says is safe."
Why You Feel Sleepy After Eating
If you feel sleepy after eating, particularly after sweets or bakery products, you are normal. Eating sugary foods causes your brain to make large amounts of the neurotransmitter, serotonin, that makes people fall asleep naturally at night.
Cooking and Human Evolution
For years, anthropologists have told us that humans dominate the earth because they learned to make tools that could kill big animals that would give them more food so that they could survive. Dr Richard Wrangham of Harvard thinks they are all wrong. He thinks that man dominates earth because he learned how to cook.
Eat Fish Twice a Week
The American Heart Association recommends that you eat two servings of non-fried fish twice a week to reduce your risk for congestive heart failure, heart attacks, strokes, and sudden death from heart disease.
Processed Meats and Cancer Risk
The World Cancer Research Fund International Continuous Update Project has released its recent findings from their review of about 400 studies. They found that the risk for colorectal cancer increases by 12 percent for every 100 grams per day of processed meat or red meat.
Diet Shown to Reduce Risk for Dementia
A study from Rush Medical School in Chicago shows that a special diet can reduce the risk for Alzheimer's disease by 53 percent in those who follow the diet rigorously, and by 35 percent in those who follow it and cheat some of the time.
Excess Sugar Favors Growth of Harmful Gut Bacteria
Dietary sugar is supposed to be absorbed in the upper intestinal tract, but new research from Yale suggests that taking in excessive amounts of sugar can cause some of the sugar to pass through the intestines unabsorbed. This sugar arrives in your colon where it can harm you by keeping healthful bacteria from growing in your colon and encouraging the overgrowth of harmful bacteria.
Eggs Do Not Prevent Heart Attacks and Strokes
A recent news headline proclaimed, "An Egg a Day May Keep Heart Disease Away" (Time, May 21, 2018), based on a study of 512,891 adults in urban and rural areas of China. Those who ate one egg a day were reported to have an 18 percent reduced incidence of heart attacks and an incredible 26 percent reduction in bleeding strokes.
Best Breakfast
For many years I have recommended oatmeal as the ideal breakfast food. It is filling, does not cause a high rise in blood sugar and is an excellent source of soluble fiber. You can enhance the flavor and nutritional value of your oatmeal by adding your choice of nuts, raisins or other dried fruits,
Artificial Sweeteners Can Change Your Gut Bacteria
A study from Israel found that two artificial sweeteners, saccharin and sucralose, significantly raised blood sugar levels in healthy adults. Transferring their colon bacteria to mice caused the mice to suffer the same elevations in blood sugar. Artificial sweeteners can harm you by altering the bacteria in your colon (Nutrition Today, May 6, 2021;56(3):105-113). Some artificial sweeteners may cause inflammation, a condition in which your own immune system, which is supposed to kill invading germs, stays active all the time to attack you
More Reasons to Eat Plants
Two strong studies show that 1) giving people with heart disease a diet that is high in fruits and vegetables and low in red meat is more effective than taking statin drugs in preventing heart attack deaths, and 2) eating red meat regularly increases risk for death from a heart attack.
Artificial Sweeteners Alter Gut Bacteria
Many research papers have associated artificial sweeteners with increased risk for cancer, weight gain and diabetes, but nobody yet has proven that artificial sweeteners cause these conditions.
Can You Eat Too Much Fruit?
Many scientific studies show that eating whole fruit is healthful, even for people who are diabetic. However, this month I learned that some people, especially those who are overweight, prediabetic or diabetic, may be harmed by eating very large amounts of fruit.
Nuts Associated with Reduced Risk for Diabetes and Weight Gain
Nuts are full of fat, but it appears that eating nuts does not increase risk for obesity or diabetes. Almost 1000 people who did not have diabetes or metabolic syndrome were followed for six years. Those who ate nuts at least twice a week were 32 percent less likely to develop metabolic syndrome than...
Skipping Breakfast May Harm Immune Response
A new study found that skipping breakfast could damage your immune system. Missing the first meal of the day can suppress the immune cells of the brain to make it more difficult for your body to fight off infection. Mice that received no breakfast had an incredible 90 percent fewer monocytes in their blood four hours after skipping breakfast and even lower levels eight hours later.
Plant-Based Diets Help to Prevent Dementia
A review of 14 studies with a total of 224,049 participants found that the MIND diet ("Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay") is associated with reduced dementia risk for middle-aged and older adults, and with reduced risk for Alzheimer’s disease
