Nutrition

When you are trying to lose excess weight, eat lots of leafy green vegetables. Researchers at Imperial College in London found that high-fiber foods from plants help people lose weight by causing the intestines to release an appetite-suppressing gut hormone called PYY (Science Translational Medicine, June 19, 2024:16 (752)). This could save your life: the Center for Disease Control reports that more than 73 percent of North American adults are overweight (National Health Statistics Reports, June 14, 2021;158:1-19) and being overweight markedly increases a person’s risk for heart attacks, strokes, cancers and organ damage.

Sellers of cow's meat either let their cows eat grass, or they can make the cows fatter and produce more meat by feeding them corn. The latest argument for eating meat from grass-fed cows is that grass is full of vitamin K1. Animals that graze on grass can convert the vitamin K1 in grass into vitamin K2 and it accumulates in their muscles, so when you eat meat from grass-fed cows, you gain the health benefits of vitamin K2 (listed below). Vitamin K2 is soluble in fat so it can also be found in other fatty foods such as eggs and fatty dairy products. Fermented foods are also good sources of vitamin K2.

Doctors used 24-hour dietary recalls on 12,716 US adults, of whom 1290 suffered from constipation and 1067 had diarrhea. Those who ate the most...

Extensive research has found that a plant-based diet is significantly less likely than a meat-based diet to be associated with increased risk for heart attacks or diabetes (American J of Preventive Cardiology, Sept 2021;7:100182). Entrepreneurs in the plant-meat industry have stepped in and added chemicals to processed parts of plants to make a plant-based food that looks and tastes like meat. However, very recently, Singaore researchers found no evidence that plant-based meat substitutes are less likely than animal meats to increase heart attack or diabetes risk

Some of the bacteria growing in your colon may help to protect you from getting infections throughout your body. Researchers cultured stool samples from more than 10,000 people, including more than 600 people hospitalized for serious infections. The stool was specifically checked for 16 types of bacteria that produce Short Chain Fatty Acids (SCFAs). They found that over six years, those who had 10 percent more colon bacteria that produce SCFAs were 15-25 percent less likely to be hospitalized for serious infections.

Nitrates from the foods you eat can be converted in your body to nitric oxide, which widens blood vessels to increase blood flow throughout your body, to improve exercise tolerance and to help prevent heart disease and to lower high blood pressure

A recent study of 92,000 French adults suggests that people who eat lots of emulsifiers in processed foods are at significantly increased risk for certain cancers. Those who ate the most foods with an emulsifier called carrageenan, had a 32 percent increased risk for breast cancer, and those who ate the most mono- and diglyceride emulsifiers had a 46 percent increased risk for prostate cancer. Other studies found that people who eat the most food with emulsifiers, such as ice cream and processed cheeses.

A recent analysis of 86 studies found that "there is no association between nuts and weight gain, and in fact some analyses showed higher nut intake associated with reductions in body weight and waist circumference. The researchers from University of Toronto noted that even though nuts are concentrated sources of fats, "The physical structure of nuts may also contribute to fat malabsorption due to the fat content in nuts being contained within walled cellular structures that are incompletely masticated or digested."

Most of you already know that weight gain, diabetes and heart attacks are associated with eating pro-inflammatory foods such as mammal meat, sugar-added foods and fried foods. However, you may not know that people who eat their meals very fast (an average of less than six minutes), snack after supper just before going to sleep, or who skip breakfast, are also at increased risk for these three conditions.

Researchers at the Mass General Hospital report that stool samples from more than 1,400 participants in the Framingham Heart Study grew certain bacteria, such as Oscillibacter or Eubacterium coprostanoligenes, that break down cholesterol in your gut to lower blood cholesterol levels. Realize that these bacteria lower cholesterol only as long as you don’t take in more calories than you burn. When you take in lots of extra calories, your liver makes so much more cholesterol that your blood cholesterol level will still rise.

Everyone should get vitamin B12 and vitamin D tests on their routine medical blood tests, particularly if you have diabetes or have risk factors for diabetes. A recent study from China found that vitamin D deficiency (hydroxyvitamin D less than 20 ng/mL) is common in diabetics, and that diabetics who lack .vitamin D are at markedly increased risk for nerve damage when compared to diabetics who are not vitamin D deficient.

A study of more than 20,000 U.S. adults, average age 48 years, found that those who limited their eating to a period of less than eight hours a day had almost double the risk of dying from heart disease, compared to those who ate meals over 12-16 hours per day.

Each month North American doctors write more than three million prescriptions for the new weight-loss medications called GLP-1 agonists. Examples include semaglutide in Ozempic and Wegovy and tirzepatide, the drug in Mounjaro and Zepbound. Also each year, these doctors perform more than 200,000 stomach surgeries to help people lose weight.

Since the 1940s, the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, 137.165 (a), has recommended that each pound of food made from flour should contain 24 milligrams of niacin to help prevent vitamin B3 deficiency. For years, some doctors have prescribed niacin to treat people with low blood levels of the good HDL cholesterol. (Low levels of HDL are associated with increased risk for heart attacks). However, a new study from a highly-respected group of researchers at the Cleveland Clinic found that high doses of niacin may increase risk for arteriosclerosis, heart attacks and strokes.

Several older studies suggest that taking in one glass of wine per day for women or two glasses of wine per day for men is associated with reduced risk for a heart attack. However, a review of 107 studies involving more than 4.8 million participants found no reduction in in death rate for people who drank fewer than two drinks (25 grams) of alcohol per day, and there was marked increase in risk of death among female drinkers who drank 25 or more grams per day and male drinkers who drank 45 or more grams per day.

The Nurses’ Health Study II found that depressed women were significantly more likely to take in ultra-processed foods and fluids, particularly those flavored with artificial sweeteners. In this study of 31,712 women between the ages 42 to 62, 4840 cases of depression were found, including 2122 cases of severe depression. The depressed women were also more likely to be fatter, more likely to smoke, more likely to suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and less likely to exercise regularly.

A serving of 100 percent fruit juice contains the same amount of sugar as a sugared soft drink. Eight ounces of fruit juice contains the same 30 grams of sugar (eight teaspoons) that is found in eight ounces of soda, because that is the concentration at which sugar tastes best in drinks.

The French NutriNet-Sante study found that eating dinner late in the evening is associated with increased risk for both heart attacks and strokes. Having a first meal for the day (breakfast or lunch) late in the morning also increased risk. The researchers followed 103,389 people, average age 42.6, for 7.2 years, during which time there were 2036 cases of heart disease, 988 cases of strokes, and 1071 cases of heart attacks, angina and heart stents. The researchers found that each hour of delaying dinner after 5 PM was associated with a 7 percent increased risk for a stroke.

More than 75 percent of the U.S. population drinks coffee and about 50 percent report drinking it daily. If you ask people why they drink coffee, you will most often be told that it makes them more alert so that they can do their work more efficiently. A recent study of MRIs of the brains of habitual coffee drinkers found that coffee, but not caffeine alone, increased activity of the parts of the brain regulating vision and executive function.

Many studies show that vegetarians have a significantly reduced risk for certain cancers and heart attacks, but there is some controversy on the effects of vegetarian diets on bone fractures. Vegetarians may be at increased risk for osteoporosis and bone fractures, although some studies show no increased risk.

The greatest increase in "junk foods" (tasty processed foods with low nutritional value) in our food supply occurred when tobacco companies such as Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds owned the world’s largest food companies. They used some of the same chemicals and marketing techniques to sell food that they used to sell cigarettes.

Don’t believe ads that say coconut oil is healthful because it contains medium chain triglycerides that can raise the good HDL cholesterol a little bit. Medium chain triglycerides are only a small part of the fat in coconut oil. Ninety-two percent of the fat in coconut oil is saturated, which is 50 percent more saturated fat than is in butter, and is far higher than levels in olive, canola and other plant-based oils.

The rate of obesity in the U.S. is worse now than it has ever been: 43 percent are obese, 10 percent are morbidly obese, and childhood obesity rates have tripled from five percent in the early 1970s to more than 19 percent now. If you are trying to lose weight, or to avoid gaining weight, work on: picking the right foods, preparing your foods so you absorb fewer calories, and moving about before and after you eat.

Eating two servings of meat from mammals per week can increase risk for type II diabetes by 62 percent, and the more meat you eat, the greater your chance of developing diabetes. Replacing meat from mammals ("red meat") with a healthful plant-based diet primarily of vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains and beans reduces diabetes risk.

A healthful diet can help to prevent diseases and prolong life, but snacking on unhealthful foods can negate your diet efforts even if your regular meals are healthful. Highly-processed, sugar-added snacks can make you hungrier so you eat more food and have higher blood levels of triglycerides that are associated with increased risk for obesity, heart attacks and strokes. The ZOE PREDICT study from London followed the snacking habits of 854 people, and found that 50 percent of those who ate primarily healthful meals did not eat healthful snacks.

The French NutriNet-Santé cohort study has strengthened the association between processed foods and heart attacks. Their results suggest a link between the dietary intake of emulsifiers and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

There are healthful and harmful fats and healthful and harmful carbohydrates. It makes no sense to try to restrict either most fats or most carbohydrates. You need soluble fiber and resistant starch carbohydrates to help prevent heart attacks and prolong your life, and you also need monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats to help prevent heart attacks, certain cancers and premature death.

A UK-based study followed the amounts of ultra-processed foods consumed by 200,000 middle-aged adults for 10 years (EClinicalMedicine, Jan 31, 2023 31;56:101840). The authors found that eating ultra-processed foods was associated with a higher risk of developing cancer, particularly ovarian cancer, breast cancer and brain cancers.

About 65 percent of North American adults drink sugar-sweetened beverages every day (NCHS Data Brief, No 270, 2017). Two recent studies show how sugared drinks are associated with liver damage and kidney stones. A study of nearly 100,000 postmenopausal women followed for an average of more than 20 years found that compared to women who had fewer than three sugar-sweetened drinks per month, those who drank one or more sugar-sweetened beverages per day had an 85 percent increased risk for liver cancer and 68 percent increased risk for death from chronic liver disease.

Eating fermented foods is healthful because they contain many short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that can reduce inflammation and lower high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high insulin and high blood sugar levels. A plant-based diet has lots of soluble fiber and resistant starches that are not absorbed in your upper intestinal tract, but when they reach your colon, healthful bacteria there ferment these fibers and starches to form SCFAs.