|
|
|
 |
This page has the latest news on food and health. It is updated regularly so remember to add it to your favourites and return often to keep up to date. Why not get involved at Wendy's Nutritional Blog. Functional Foods Chocolate may soon be good for you in that it will have CM-X added; this lowers blood sugar and cholesterol. Innovative Life Sciences have added bitter melon and cinnamon to give these benefits. Dark chocolate is better than milk as it contains polyphenols, in fact 5 times more than an apple. Polyphenols may reduce blood pressure and cardiovascular risk. Don't forget 100g of dark chocolate contains 551 calories and 33g of fat - no good for those of you who are overweight.Yakult yogurt drink plus various ‘live’ yogurts. Contain probiotics, which can be of benefit to the digestive tract. The live bacteria is often Lactobacillus casei Shirota. Cheese fortified with live bacteria is also available. Helpful if you have been on antibiotics but yogurts only contain a minute amount, better to buy a probiotic supplement. Yogurts can also contain prebiotics, carbohydrates that stimulate the growth of good bacteria in the stomach and control the bad. These can help to prevent diarrhoea and control bowel disorders.Look out for cosmecueticals coming to the UK soon. These are cosmetic items with pharmacy ingredients added. Have you tried any goji berries? They are sold dried in health food stores; best to re-constitute them for more flavour. Can be added to breakfast cereals, yogurts, cakes, smoothies or eaten alone. They are full of anti-oxidants (nutrients that mop up free radicals helping to prevent cancer). Advice Nothing new about herbs but are you aware of their many functions. Parsley aids digestion and is rich in anti-oxidants (fight off free radicals) which reduces cancer risk. Mint is antibacterial and antifungal and calms I.B.S. Another favourite is basil this is good for digestive disorders and is antibacterial. Herbs are cheap to grow in the garden or in flowerpots and can also be obtained fresh from supermarkets. Try your tea black - no sugar or milk. Tea contains flavonoids that help protect you from cancer but the protein (casein) in milk destroys this. Give the sugar a miss - too many calories and causes dental caries. Try some non-caffeine tea e.g. nettle - nettle infusions have been used throughout the centuries for purifying and cleansing the body. Aloe Vera is a great plant and the juice has many health giving properties. A study in Texas shows that it can be made into a powder and used as an innoculation (without the need for a needle). Don't follow the atkins diet if you are pregnant. A new study, shows that children born to mums that ate excess meat whilst pregnant had high levels of cortisol (stress hormone). Warnings More on functional foods -they may be a waste of money - are these a fashion craze or health cure? Milk with omega 3 fatty acid added to lower your risk of heart disease and stimulate brain cells - this has never been proved, go to www.durhamtrial.org for further info. We could just enjoy some milk and reap the benefits of the calcium. Margarines with added plant sterols to lower cholesterol do the job but whether it will decrease your risk of heart attack is debatable. 75% of the cholesterol in your blood is made in the liver, only 25% is ingested with food. Treat functional foods with caution, enjoy your foods, eat healthily but remember it is not medicine. Trans fats - commonly found in ready-made pies, biscuits and cakes are known to be bad for your arteries but researchers have just found that they make heart attacks more likely by speeding up the heart rate. Use olive oil or a seed oil when cooking and make your own pies and cakes using soya spread. Eggs - check the F.S.A. website (link below) to see a recent report on imported eggs in our supermarkets. Remember to cook your eggs thoroughly to kill the Salmonella bacteria. Cheaper, imported eggs often contain this bacteria in their raw state. Sausages, burgers and other processed meat products may cause cancer. Try to cut down on your consumption of these as well as smoked and cured meat and fish. Salt - The government recommend that adults do not consume more than 6g per day. Flavour your food with herbs and spices instead of adding salt. Always taste food before automatically reaching for the salt cellar - the habit can be broken. For more information and product recalls please go to the UK Government's Food Standards Agency web site.
|
|
Send mail to
webmaster@stswithins.plus.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
|