Adding Color to Your Diet

The rainbow diet! Well sort of. This article from the Korea Times stresses the importance of eating a colorful diet. Short version? More nutrients in the form of phytonutrients!

Note: I am less willing than the article is to beleive some of these claims, but at the margin, the information is good.

The Korea Times : Adding Color to Your Diet: "Yoon Dong-hyuk writes in his recent book ``Let's Eat According to Color'' that the reason why the color of food has become the center of attention is because of the phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables."


Now where is that black sesame ;)

Elderly might not benefit from regular aspirin - Yahoo! News

A good reminder that there are dangers of too much aspirin!

Elderly might not benefit from regular aspirin - Yahoo! News:

"To further investigate the matter, the research team constructed a mathematical model based on clinical trial data and demographics to compare risks and benefits of low-dose aspirin in a theoretical cohort of 10,000 men and 10,000 women ages 70 to 74. The virtual participants were 'followed' until they died or reached 100 years of age.

The model suggested that, for men, routine low-dose aspirin therapy would prevent 389 heart attacks and 19 strokes; for women, the numbers were 321 heart attacks and 35 strokes.

However, this benefit was offset by an extra 499 episodes of gastric bleeding in men and 572 in women. On top of that, the team calculated that 76 more men and 54 more women would suffer bleeding in the brain.

'On balance, there was no indication of a net benefit or harm in terms of deaths, years of life saved, or years of healthy life saved,' the researchers report."

The study is by Dr. Mark R. Nelson.

BBC NEWS | Health | Vitamin E cuts Parkinson's risk

More good news on the healthy eating front!

Diets high in vitamin E appear to cut risk of Parkinsons.

BBC NEWS | Health | Vitamin E cuts Parkinson's risk: "A study in Lancet Neurology pooled available data and found people who ate plenty of [foods rich in vitamin E] were far less likely to develop Parkinson's."

"Dr Mayhar Etminan, from Queen's University in Canada, and colleagues scrutinised eight studies published between 1966 and 2005 looking at the effects of vitamins E and C, and the nutrient beta carotene.

Both moderate and high doses of vitamin E appeared to reduce the risk of Parkinson's.

Neither vitamin C or beta carotene had a similar effect, however. "

I have a friend/co-author who's mom has a severe case of Parkinson's and trust me, NO ONE wants it! So eat your spinach and peanut butter and improve your odds.

Oats and Cholesteral - How Oats Work

Oats and Cholesteral - How Oats Work
Yeah it is biased, but Quaker Oats has put together a pretty cool description of how oatmeal may reduce cholesterol.

Super Short version:
"Think of rolled oats as tiny sponges that soak up cholesterol and carry it out of the bloodstream."


As an aside, Oatmeal is really a staple in my diet. I have it virtually for all meals--as a cereal, mixed with mashed potatoes, mixed with frozen squash, or as a desert. Truly one of my favorite foods!

Experts Debate Study on Fat, Breast Cancer - Yahoo! News

you probbaly saw the study suggesting a low fat duet and aspirin can reduce the reoccurence of certain cancers. Maybe the study needs some more analysis.

Experts Debate Study on Fat, Breast Cancer - Yahoo! News

"However, the only women who benefited were those whose tumors were not helped to grow by estrogen. These women had 42 percent lower risk of recurrence if they ate low-fat diets, but they accounted for just 1 out of 5 women in the entire study — similar to breast cancer cases in the general population.

Results for the other 4 out of 5 women in the study did not reach statistical significance, meaning they could have occurred by chance alone — a point the
American Cancer Society noted in a statement posted on its Web site Monday."