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April 2002
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Lifestyle, Not Genes, Offers Best Hope Of Living Healthier, Longer
By Elizabeth M. Ward, M.S., R.D.
Would you want to live to 85, 90 or maybe even 101 if you could? For most people the answer is a qualified yes—yes, provided you could dodge the disabilities and dependency caused by the typical ailments of aging, such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis and Alzheimer’s disease. Aging is, of course, inevitable. But some people seem to bypass the physical declines that come with age and live in good health long past the average life expectancy of
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Point-Counterpoint On Milk: Is It Healthful Or Is It Harmful?
By Catherine Golub, M.S., R.D.
Your Mom told you milk was good for you. The dairy industry spends big bucks to reinforce that message, and has garnered much attention with its popular milk mustache ads and a new $170 million campaign aimed at children. Also attracting attention are dissenting voices, some thoughtful and some shrill, that are difficult to ignore, such as a new ad with the tag line, "Milk. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be." What does the science say? Is
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Hidden Health Benefits of Cooking With Herbs
Oregano and other common cooking herbs not only flavor food, they also spice up the body’s antioxidant capacity and augment natural defenses against age-related conditions. In a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, scientists tested the antioxidant capacity of 27 culinary herbs and 12 medicinal herbs, all grown under identical conditions. They found many to be, ounce for ounce, more potent than fruits and vegetables. Three varieties of oregano, including Italian, exhibited the most antioxidant activity of the herbs
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Research Roundup
Eating fatty fish several times a week can lower the risk of endometrial cancer, according to a Swedish study of 3,500 postmenopausal women ages 50 to 74. Women who ate two servings of fatty fish per week were 40% less likely to develop endometrial cancer than women who ate less than one-quarter serving per week. Researchers found no protection from lean fish. The omega-3’s in fatty fish like tuna and salmon may reduce blood levels of certain tumor-promoting prostaglandins.
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Multis Without Iron, for Men (and Older Women)
Once upon a time, supplements aimed at older women bragged about the amount of iron they contained, implying it could boost energy (remember Geritol ads?). No longer. More supplement manufacturers are finally offering a growing number of multis without iron (see chart) or with little iron—though usually marketed to men. Once past the teenage years, men don’t need much iron. Neither do postmenopausal women. Worse, excessive iron can contribute to hemochromatosis (iron overload), the most common inherited disease, affecting 1.5 million
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Making Healthier Cookie Choices Is a Tough Call
By Densie Webb, Ph.D., R.D.
Memories of milk and cookies with Mom or simply the aroma of baking cookies can make you feel warm all over. But that was then. This is now. Most of us are as concerned with the calories as with the comfort cookies offer. Most packaged cookies are loaded with fat and sugar, of course, but there are some "healthier" options that offer less. Nutrition numbers on cookies vary a lot, even among "healthy" cookies, which can range from a
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Food Folate May Protect Against Colorectal Cancer
Eating a diet that includes foods rich in folate, the food form of folic acid, may protect against colon and rectal cancers. That’s what researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City concluded after following 56,837 women in the Canadian National Breast Screening Study. This finding confirmed that of the Nurses’ Health Study, but was not complicated by multivitamin use, as that one was. Thus, the researchers concluded that dietary sources of folate may be enough
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Nutritional, Environmental Horrors Masquerade as Food
By Anastasia Schepers, M.S., R.D.
Apple pie à la mode in a plastic cup? Hot pink margarine? Chocolate French fries? We wish these products were April Fools’ jokes…but they’re not. These items aren’t on your shopping list? Perhaps not, but you may hear clamoring from the youngest generation for the latest food-turned-toy. Should you bite? Not on your life. Here are the sordid details on the latest nutritional and environmental horrors.
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Adaptable Avocados Make for Heart-Healthy Fare
The Folklore: Called "ahuacatl," meaning testicle, by the Aztecs, probably because of the fruit’s shape and the way it hangs from trees in pairs, avocados are thought to have originated in Central America. We know now that avocados indeed "nourisheth and strengtheneth" the body, as an early physician presciently stated, but whether they are aphrodisiacs, as the Aztecs believed, has yet to be confirmed.
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Gardening in Containers
In celebrating 25 years of EN, we found timely tips for spring in the piece "Container Gardening for City Folks," from May/June 1978—the perfect ode to Earth Day on April 22. Here are excerpts: Vegetables can be grown indoors or on windowsills, front steps and balconies, in all manner of containers—anything that holds soil and provides drainage. Tips for successful container gardening:
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Tainted Supplements
If you take either of the herbal supplements known as PC-SPES and SPES, stop their use immediately. PC-SPES (spes means "hope" in Latin) has shown success in alleviating symptoms of benign prostatic hypertrophy and even advanced prostate cancer. But random samples were recently found to contain warfarin (Coumadin), a prescription blood thinner. SPES, a supplement to strengthen immunity, was found to contain the anti-anxiety drug alprazolam (Xanax). People taking these supplements should see their doctors, particularly if they take prescription drugs
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Easy Ways to Compensate for Minor Mineral Losses in Soil
Q. I’ve heard the soil today is depleted of minerals, making crops mineral-poor and that we need to compensate by taking supplements. Is this true? A. Perhaps partly. While it appears there may been some decline in the mineral content of fruits and vegetables—based on two reports we found—the evidence is not solid. Moreover, even if true, the situation is not as dismal as some supplement manufacturers would have you believe. Two separate studies, one in the United Kingdom and the other
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Spring Allergies? Natural Remedies Nothing to Sneeze At
Q. Are there natural remedies I could try for my annual bouts with hay fever? A. Yes. Along with a good diet, several herbs may work as well as over-the-counter antihistamines for symptomatic relief with no drowsiness, says David Winston, a noted herbalist and founding member of the American Herbalists Guild. They work, he says, primarily by reducing inflammation. Known as hay fever, seasonal allergic rhinitis arises when the body perceives a normally innocuous substance (e.g. pollen) as foreign and produces antibodies, triggering
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