Salt Substitutes

 

Salt is so pervasive, our entire food supply is so loaded with salt, that trying to reduce your sodium intake can seem almost impossible. So it is not surprising that many people have turned to a salt substitute products for help. Most salt substitutes make use of potassium chloride, which has a taste very much like sodium chloride - aka salt.

There is some evidence that switching to a substitute can lower your blood pressure as well as lower your risk of heart attack and stroke. Many people are deficient in dietary potassium, which helps regulate nerve impulses, metabolism, and blood pressure, so potassium-based salt substitutes can help there as well. But the news is not all good.

If your blood potassium level gets too high it can produce a number of problems. Having too much potassium in your blood is known as hyperkalemia, which can lead to complications in your heart and other areas of your body. The symptoms of high potassium may be unnoticeable to you. You may only find out that you have hyperkalemia after routine blood tests.

A better approach would be to cut back on processed and restaurant foods, which supply over 70% of the sodium in the American diet. That's right, most sodium does not come from your salt shaker. If you still think a salt substitute would benefit you, talk with your healthcare provider about the pros and cons.

 

 

Junk Food and Dementia

 

There are all sorts of very good reasons for you to limit or, better yet, eliminate fast foods and highly processed foods from your diet. These include weight gain, increased risk for cancer, diabetes and heart disease, high blood pressure and many more benefits. Now a new study is adding yet another reason to the list. Ohio State University scientists report ultra processed foods actively harm memory function within older brains. 

The study is preliminary and more research is needed, but it raises a concern over the possible relationship between a diet high in processed foods and dementia. In the study, researchers fed a group of older rats a diet of highly processed food for four weeks and observed a strong inflammatory response and behavioral signs of memory loss. Importantly, younger rats fed the same highly processed diet did not experience similar memory declines.

The study used a specially crafted diet to re-create ready-to-eat human foods like potato chips, frozen foods, and deli meats containing preservatives. “The fact we’re seeing these effects so quickly is a little bit alarming,” says senior study author Ruth Barrientos, an investigator in Ohio State’s Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral health. “These findings indicate that consumption of a processed diet can produce significant and abrupt memory deficits and rapid memory decline has a greater likelihood of progressing into neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. By being aware of this, maybe we can limit processed foods in our diets and increase consumption of foods that are rich in the omega-3 fatty acid DHA to either prevent or slow that progression.”

If you need that last part decoded, it means eat more fish. If you can remember.

 

Four Fad Foods

 

A fad is defined as "a practice or interest followed for a time with exaggerated zeal." Nowhere is this more prevalent than at the grocery store. Once the Marketing Department gets hold of some new nutrition news, no matter how speculative or flimsily supported, you can bet a new superfood will shortly follow. Some of these die a mercifully quick death like gelato or frappucino. They are both still around but have lost their fad status. Others seem like they will never go away. Every year it seems there's a new "it" food. Suddenly, every restaurant is serving up the latest craze -- foams, sundried tomatos , kiwi cocktails. But soon the fad fades, and the "flavor of the week" settles into obscurity, or at the very least, the below-eye-level grocery shelves.

Some of these foods have promising research behind them - in fact the promising research is why they are heavily promoted. Others have little behind them other than skilled marketing. Here are four recent fad foods and the reality behind them from nutrition expert Janet Bond Brill, PhD (http://DrJanet.com).

Sriracha. Sriracha is a southeast Asian chili sauce made from chili peppers, vinegar, garlic, sugar and salt. It tends to be pretty high on the hotness scale. There is some evidence that the capsaisin in the chilis (in any chilis for that matter) has a small but positive effect on metabolism and may help with weight loss. On the downside, the high sugar and sodium content disqualify it as a healthy food. Use it sparingly as a condiment.

Oat milk. The popularity of oat milk is due largely to the clever marketing of a Swedish company named Oatly. Because it has a thick, creamy consistency it will froth up better than any other plant-based milk product. By marketing it to coffee shops, Oatly created a loyal following for what is otherwise a ho-hum product. It has much less protein than, say, soy milk, and most commercial oat milks are heavy laden with sugar and poor quality oils. If you like it, read the label and choose the one with the fewest additives.

Bone broth. This is a broth made by brewing the connective tissue and bones of animals such as cattle or poultry. It is low in calories and fairly high in protein. There is some evidence that bone broth can help with joint issues and digestive problems and it is a good source of collagen. There are recipes for it all over the internet, so make your own to avoid the additives.

Acai berries. These berries are a rich source of antioxidants and definitely a healthy fruit. Whether they do a better job of fighting disease and helping with weight control than other berries, as their proponents claim, has not been proven. But they are well marketed, and so very expensive.

 

Losing Weight is the Easy Part

 

On any given day about 45 million Americans are "on a diet", mostly in order to lose weight. And each year they spend almost $80 Billion on diets, diet plans, programs and memberships. And most of them end up either being diet nomads - wandering from one diet to the next - or just giving up. Do diets really work? Yes. And no.

“People can lose weight on a diet, but usually that weight loss is not sustained,” says Megan Baumler, director of the didactic program in dietetics at St. Catherine University. On average, people regain more than half their lost weight within two years. Within 5 years almost 95% of dieters regain all their lost weight and often more.

But when people say "Diets don't work" they are not technically correct. A more accurate judgement would be to say that 95% of "diets" are ones that people can't or won't stick with. There are hundreds of diet plans –- ketogenic, Atkins, Whole 30, Weight Watchers, low-carb, just to name a few –- and studies have shown they can help people lose weight and lower blood pressure in the short-term. It’s the long-term where people have a hard time keeping the weight off. Keeping the lost weight off requires long term changes to a persons lifestyle and eating behavior and most diets do not succeed in the long term.

Dr. Iesha Galloway-Gilliam, co-director of Hennepin Healthcare’s Comprehensive Weight Management Center says that managing weight is a lifelong process. She points to four categories to think about when it comes to sustainable weight loss:

Nutrition. People should minimize eating ultra-refined processed foods and reduce sugar their intake.

Exercise. While exercise is helpful, it’s not the most potent factor. She says people should exercise because of the health benefits, but have an expectation that is appropriate for their age, health and life situation..

Sleep. Adults need seven to eight hours of restorative sleep. Getting less will make overeating easier.

Stress. Managing stress can better help people change their behaviors like emotional eating.

What this means is that you should think of a "diet" as a noun, not a verb. Your diet is simply the way you eat. Permanently. So the first step towards permanent healthy weight loss is to lose the diet and the diet mindset. Instead think about a Healthy Eating Plan that you can live with and enjoy for the rest of your life. The best answer to permanent weight loss is a lifelong program of everyday healthy, pleasurable eating coupled with regular exercise. To lose weight, eat less and exercise more. How boring. How annoying. How true.

 

The Basic Weight Loss Basics

 

Americans alone spent over $78 Billion in 2019 on diets, supplements, programs and plans claiming to help them lose weight. And yet the average weight of Americans keeps going up. In fact there is no magical, one-size-fits-all solution to the problem of getting rid of excess weight. Losing weight can be challenging for many people, but there is nothing complicated about it.

There are three basic biological realities we must consider if we wish to lose weight.

1. You have to consume fewer calories than you burn through metabolism and activity. That is, you need to eat less, move more or, ideally, both.

2. Foods that take a longer time and consume more energy to digest will make you feel fuller after eating them, hopefully making the "eating less" part easier.

3. Caloric availability refers to the percentage of usable calories that our body obtains by digesting a food.

Foods that take longer to digest and have a lower caloric availability are therefor your allies in the weight loss war. The two types of food that take the longest to digest and have the lowest caloric availability? Fiber and protein.

Fiber is a type of plant-based carbohydrate that is difficult or even impossible for humans to digest. Consuming fiber slows down the rate of digestion and reduces the number of calories actually absorbed.

Protein is, chemically, the most complex of all macronutrients. It requires a lot of time to break down and digest and has a caloric availability of around 70% - meaning that for every 100 calories of protein you consume, you have only 70 for energy. By way of comparison, the caloric availability of fats and carbohydrates is 98% and 90% - 95%, respectively.

So keep it simple. When trying to lose weight make protein about 20% of your total daily calories and try to include as much fiber as possible from fruits, vegetables and whole grains. That is the simple foundation for effective weight loss. If the structure and support that a particular diet or program provides is helpful to you fine, go for it. Just make sure it is something you can sustain over the long term. Otherwise any weight you do lose will surely find you again.

Managing Chronic Inflammation

 

Cellular inflammation comes in two versions - acute and chronic. Inflammation is an important aspect of your immune system. The inflammation response that attends an injury, infection or virus is your immune system's first line of defense. This sort of inflammation is called acute and is short-lived and temporary. Common signs of acute inflammation include fever, pain, redness and swelling.

Chronic inflammation is much more severe and can last for months, or even years. With chronic inflammation, the body’s immune response is overcompensating for  stress, illness or lifestyle factors like smoking or obesity. Over time, chronic inflammation can damage healthy tissue, organs and cells and lead to a number of serious chronic diseases including Alzheimer's, cancer and heart disease. If you suffer from a condition with a name ending in -itis (arthritis, tendonitis, gingivitis, colitis, etc.) then chronic inflammation is likely at the root of it. Because chronic inflammation initially produces few noticeable symptoms, it often goes undiagnosed until it reaches a more severe stage.

"The only way to detect chronic inflammation is to have an evaluation by your doctor. He or she will review your symptoms, perform a physical exam, and perhaps check your blood for signs of inflammation," says Dr. Robert H. Shmerling, medical editor of Understanding Inflammation from Harvard Health Publishing and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "Otherwise, the best approach is to prevent the conditions related to chronic inflammation. It goes back to the basics: maintaining a healthy weight, choosing a good diet, getting plenty of sleep, and exercising regularly."

Fortunately, there is a great deal you can do to prevent, control or even reverse chronic inflammation and much of it will sound familiar. Diet and exercise have an especially strong impact on managing chronic inflammation since they both also can help control weight and improve sleep. The evidence for a specific type of diet to prevent chronic inflammation is unclear.

However, certain foods are associated with either promoting or inhibiting the inflammatory response. For instance, cut back or eliminate foods high in simple sugars like soda, fruit juices with added sugars, sports drinks, processed meat, and refined carbs like white bread and pasta. Eat more foods high in the antioxidants, which can lower inflammation. Examples include all types of berries, cherries, plums, red grapes, onions, turmeric, green tea, and dark green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale.

Regular exercise can help protect against conditions linked with chronic inflammation, especially heart disease and obesity. A 2017 study in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity found that just 20 minutes of moderate-intensity walking  each day can have an anti-inflammatory effect.

Finally, make sure that you are getting 7 - 8 hours of restful sleep every night and that you are actively managing the inevitable stress in your life. 

If all this sounds amazingly similar to the advice you get for many other health issues, that's because it is. Managing chronic inflammation is just one more good reason to take it.

 

Sweet Surprise

 

Most of us realize that added sugar is not good for us. Besides providing lots of nutrition-free calories, it supports the cellular inflammation that is at the root of many serious health problems like diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancers. But avoiding it is anything but simple. Until recently, the amount of sugar added to our food did not even have to be disclosed to us on food labels.

First, we must distinguish between sugar that occurs naturally in food and sugar that is added to it.  Fruits and dairy contain fructose and lactose, natural sugars that are digested much slower than added sugar and keep your metabolism stable over time. Natural sugars are processed more slowly, meaning your blood glucose level stays elevated for a longer period.

Added sugars are typically sucrose or highly processed and concentrated fructose. You body processes them quickly, either immediately used for energy or sent directly to the liver for fat storage. Your blood glucose level drops quickly after eating added sugars, known as a sugar crash, that leaves you hungry, irritable, and usually craving another pickup. When this happens, you may not be able to make smart choices about what and how much to eat which could contribute to weight gain.

We all know that sodas, deserts, snack foods and candy are loaded with added sugar. But many foods that we typically think of as healthy and good for us are sugar bombs as well. Here are a dozen such foods to get you thinking.

Food                                  Serving Size                             Added Sugar (tsp)

Orange Juice                                8 oz                                                    10
Bottled Tea                                 16 oz                                                   9.5
Fruit-flavored Yogurt                   5 oz                                                   7.25
Sports/Energy Drinks                16 oz                                                     7
Baked Beans                               1 cup                                                 3.75
Salad Dressing                           2 tbsp                                                 3.5
Tomato/Spaghetti Sauce           1/2 cup                                                  3
Instant Oatmeal                       1 packet                                                 3
Raisin Bran Cereal                     1 cup                                                  2.25
Non-dairy Milks                         1 cup                                                  2.25
Ketchup                                     2 tbsp                                                    2
Whole Wheat Bread                  1 slice                                                    1

To put this in some perspective, the Recommended Daily Allowance for added sugar is 9 tsp for men and 6 tsp for woman. Your only defense it to become a label reader and packaging claim ignorer.

Seniors Need More (Protein)

 

A 2019 study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concluded that nearly half of older adults are consuming less protein than the National Academy of Medicine recommends. And that recommendation may be too low for them to begin with. The Recommended Daily Allowance for protein is 0.36g per pound of body weight. That would be about 65g for a person who weighs 180 pounds. But older adults consuming that much may still be falling short of what they need, and most are not getting that much anyway. There are a number of reasons for this.

As we age, our bodies simply process protein less efficiently, so we may need more to get the same benefit. Another factor is chronic cellular inflammation, which many older people suffer from, or chronic diseases, which raise protein requirements. Some medications can also increase your protein needs. Nearly 90% of adults over age 65 are taking at least one prescription medication, and more than half are taking at least four. Finally, many seniors simply do not eat as much as they used to, or as well.

Due to all of these factors, current research supports increasing the RDA of protein for seniors from 0.36 to 0.50 grams per pound of body weight. If you exercise regularly (and you should be) 0.55g per pound would be better. That means our 180 pound senior who is meeting the current guideline is falling 25g to 35g short each day. If you suffer from chronic illness such as diabetes, coronary disease or autoimmune diseases the RDA increases to 0.68 grams per pound - nearly 90% more than the current RDA.

Meat, poultry, seafood and dairy are all excellent sources of protein, and plant sources such as beans, nuts and whole grains also contain significant amounts. Animal sources are "complete" proteins - meaning that they supply all nine of the essential amino acids that the body must obtain through food. With a few exceptions (soy, quinoa) plant sources are not complete so you need to consume a variety of different foods to get all nine.

What about supplementing your protein intake with protein-based drinks and powders? It is always best to meet your dietary needs by eating whole foods but these supplements can be very helpful in closing the gap between what you get from your diet and what your body requires. These come from plant sources however so they are usually not "complete". They may also contain additives for flavor and preservation as well as a lot of added sugar. So read the ingredient list and choose wisely.

Four Pillars of Strong Immune Systems

 

With the emergence of Covid the immune system has become a popular target for opportunists and outright scammers who would like you to think that they can sell you something to strengthen, support or otherwise supercharge yours immunity. What really works and what doesn't?

The immune system is a very complex network of cells, organs and tissues that help your body defend itself against infection and disease. Most of the recent tidal wave of immune support supplements are worthless as far as improving your immune response. But your immune system does become less effective as we age. So here are four things that a consensus of actual experts say can help your immune response stay strong.

1. Get vaccinated. (Those opposed to vaccination for whatever reason can skip ahead to #2, but now you have a stool instead of a chair). Some vaccines - measles or mumps - provide essentially lifetime protection. Others - chickenpox, influenza - require repeated exposures. Here are the ones the experts recommend for anyone 65 years of age or older: Annual flu, Pneumococcal pneumonia, COVID-19 and boosters, Shingles and TDAP (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis).

2. Eat to Nourish Your Immune System. In regions where people follow what we know as the Mediterranean Diet, infections and deaths from Covid are lower than in regions where people do not, according to a March 2021 study published in Frontiers in Nutrition. To craft an immune system supporting diet choose a largely plant-based diet including lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and small amounts of lean protein, fish and healthy fats.

3. Exercise. Even a 30 minute daily walk will pay benefits. Exercise is shown to improve the effectiveness of T-cells, the attack submarines of your immune system. Get up, move.

4. Get your sleep. Even a single night of poor sleep suppresses the functioning of your T-cells by as much as 45%. Try to maintain a regular sleep schedule, good sleep hygiene and 7 to 8 hours of sleep per day.

Granted that none of this is as easy as buying and taking one of Real Doctor Wizmo's Super Germ Busting Immune Support Supplements every day. The difference is that these things work.

Brain Food

When I was a child, I was not especially fond of seafood. This is a shame since, living as I did  on the south shore of Long Island, seafood was commonplace and plentiful. My mother would try to persuade me to eat it by claiming it was "brain food" and would make me smarter. I wasn't buying it.

It turns out that she may have been onto something.

Adherence to the MIND diet (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, if you were curious) can improve the memory and thinking skills of older adults, even in the presence of Alzheimer's disease pathology, new data from the Rush Memory and Aging Project (MAP) shows. The MIND diet features leafy greens, whole grains, nuts, berries, beans and, yes, fish.

"The MIND diet was associated with better cognitive functions independently of brain pathologies related to Alzheimer's disease, suggesting that diet may contribute to cognitive resilience, which ultimately indicates that it is never too late for dementia prevention," lead author Klodian Dhana, MD, with the Rush Institute of Healthy Aging at Rush University in Chicago. Read that again..... it is never too late to make a difference.

The study focused on 569 older adults who died while participating in the MAP study, which began in 1997. Participants in the study were mostly white and were without known dementia. All of the participants agreed to undergo annual clinical evaluations and to undero brain autopsy after death. Researchers found that the cognitive benefits of the diet applied even to those who's brains already showed signs of Alzheimer's disease.

"Diet changes can impact cognitive functioning and risk of dementia, for better or worse. There are fairly simple diet and lifestyle changes a person could make that may help to slow cognitive decline with aging and contribute to brain health," Dhana said in a news release.

As for the fish, MIND recommends having it "at least" once a week. Thanks for the effort, mom.

I Can Stop Any Time I Want

Drugs, alcohol and tobacco are all well understood to be substances to which we can develop physical and mental addictions. But what about fast food? One thing is certain and that is that fast food companies invest a lot of time, money and resources into creating products that keep you coming back for more.

“I consider junk food to be anything that doesn’t have any nutritional value,” says Shayna Komar, a licensed and registered dietitian at Thomas F. Chapman Family Cancer Wellness Center. “Processed foods are mainly salt, sugar, fat and preservatives — all of which create a combination of different sensations in your mouth. Your brain is involved as well. Foods that rapidly vanish or ‘melt in your mouth’ signal to your brain that you’re not eating as much as you actually are. In other words, these foods literally tell your brain that you’re not full and you need more of the food. It sounds good, but actually, you are not fueling your body, but burdening it to work very hard to metabolize junk food.”

Most fast food items are heavily flavored using synthetic ingredients that are scientifically designed to get you "hooked". In his disturbing book, The Hacking of the American Mind, Dr. Robert Lustig explains how the design of fast foods intentionally stimulate the same regions of the brain as alcohol or cocaine by acting on the neurotransmitter dopamine. Fast food is a factor in more annual deaths in the United States than smoking.

Junk food addiction is a comprehensive term and pretty much encompasses anything which adds calories, fat, and sugar with few nutrients to back it up. Soda, salty snacks, many traditionally prepared baked goods, fast food, packaged food the list goes on and on. Fast food outlets typically offer little else. Even if you head for the salad bar you will find plenty of unhealthy choices, high calorie dressings and pastas.

Though the term “addiction” is often thrown around lightly, having a true addiction is a serious problem. The symptoms and thought processes related to food addiction are similar to those of drug abuse. It’s just a different substance and the social consequences may be less severe. Food addiction causes physical harm and leads to serious diseases like obesity and type-2 diabetes. It may negatively impact your self-esteem and self-image, making you unhappy with your body. Food addiction may also take an emotional toll and increase your risk of premature death.

What to do? The best, smartest choice would be to never set foot in a fast food restaurant again - at least not until they get the message, which will be a very long time.  

But junk foods are everywhere and a major part of modern culture. They are cheap, convenient, fast and deviously satisfying. Avoiding them is not easy but does become easier with time. The less junk food you eat, the less you will crave. and your cravings may disappear entirely in time, often is a little as 6 months. So take heart.

As with other addictive substances, you can break free of your cravings. Follow these tips from experts at the University of California to break your junk food habit:

1. Plan your meals: If you already have a healthy meal prepared, that will help you avoid unhealthy choices. “Not all foods are created equally,” said Ashley Gearhardt, assistant professor of clinical psychology at the University of Michigan, who co-developed the Yale Food Addiction Scale to help identify people at high risk for food addiction. “You don’t see people binging on apples.”

2. Learn your "triggers".  Awareness is an important first step. Pay attention to those moments when your cravings start so you can figure out what unleashes them. Stay away from situations and places that usually end up with a trip to the Coronary Burger Barn.

3. Replace addictive foods with foods you like but don’t struggle with: “We need food to survive,” Gearhardt said. “You should enjoy eating. You’re not going to stick to a diet of gruel and broccoli.” Remember it need not be all or nothing. Even cutting back will make a difference and make further progress easier.

4. Remember that nobody is perfect. Don’t judge yourself too harshly for occasional junk food lapses. If you take an all-or-nothing approach, you can feel even more hopeless after giving in to your cravings. Food cues are strong and can be difficult to avoid, and it takes time to learn your triggers and get better at making healthy choices. 

Or, just ignore it all and enjoy your diabetic heart attack. After all, what's good for Fast Food is good for America!

Resolutions vs Goals

 

New Year's resolutions are so famously fleeting that there is now an official day to abandon them. That's right. Those annoying commitments you made to yourself in the last hours of 2021 can now be guiltlessly forgotten. Monday, January 17th is Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day. (Google it. Its a thing.)

By most estimates (if this doesn't prove that there is a study of everything I don't know what does) your odds of keeping those resolutions are pretty slim. Of those who make a New Year’s resolution, 25% have given up on it after one week. After one month, 36% have called it quits. Fifty-four percent of us are done with our resolutions after 6 months and by the end of the year 91% of resolution makers have forgotten all about them as they make their new ones. In fact, one study shows that of those who make a resolution, only about half of them even expect to be successful in keeping it when they are making it!

What is going on here? Why do so many people fail to do things that they want to do? And given these failure rates, why do we do it over and over again?

The temptation is to conclude that, faced with the reality of the effort required to succeed, most of us are just too lazy to carry on. In fact, it is a little more complicated than that.

Tony Robbins says that the real secret to happiness is not success but progress. People have a need to feel that their lives are progressing. The calendar makes it seem like we can have a new start. It is a natural time to look back and see how far we have (or have not) come and where we want to go next. The problem with that is that it is not a new start at all. It is just an arbitrary date and you are exactly the same person on January 1st that you were on December 31st.

Does this mean we should just give up and accept ourselves as we are? Of course not! We just need to be a little more realistic about how we plan to move forward. Most resolutions amount to nothing more than a wish list, things that we would like to have happen for us. Like winning the lottery, the chances of those things just happening are not great. 

Resolutions also tend to be Big Picture statements. I will go to they gym 4 days a week. I will lose 50 pounds. I will start that part-time business. I will quit smoking. I will reconnect with my family and friends. All laudable wishes. But that is all they are, wishes. Especially when we make all of them at once.

Instead of resolutions, what we need are goals and a plan. To create real change we have to create real change, not just hope that things magically change for us. Success comes from many small steps, not one giant one. 

What are the areas of your life that you want to improve/change/make progress in? Write them down. All of them. 

Then select the 1 to 3 areas that matter most to you, where you feel most motivated to actually do something about them.

Think about where you are now in just those areas. This calls for brutal honesty, but you need not share your thoughts with anyone. How did you get there? Why is that how things are? What things, if you changed them, would move you toward where you want to go?

Now break those changes down into smaller pieces. Be realistic about what you can do. One big reason people fail to achieve their resolutions is that they just set unrealistic expectations and timeframes, things they do not really believe they can do. If you want to lose 50#, you can't do it until you have lost 5 pounds. Anyone can lose 5 pounds in a month or two. Start there. Build momentum toward success by creating small successes, one after another. Then don't stop.

Make a plan for your small steps. What will you do and by when will you do it? What help or support or resources would you need, from who? How will you track your progress? How will you reward yourself?

This way, when you get to February, instead of broken resolutions and disappointment you will have just a few small successes to celebrate. You are on your way! Just keep going.

 

No, Avocados Don't "Scorch" Belly Fat

 

Avocados are good food. One-half of an avocado provides 160 calories, 2g of protein, 8.5g of carbohydrates, and 15g of fat. Avocados are an excellent source of magnesium, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin E, and vitamin K. While most of the calories in an avocado come from fat, they are mostly in the form of healthier monounsaturated fat. Monounsaturated fatty acids or come from plant sources and may be helpful in lowering your LDL or "bad" cholesterol. For this reason, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends that you choose foods with monounsaturated fats instead of saturated fat.

But will avocados "scorch belly fat", as a 12-week study funded by the Haas Avocado Board and reported on the "Eat This, Not That" website claimed?

The two main types of fat stores in our bodies are subcutaneous fat and visceral fat. Subcutaneous fat is the body fat which is found directly under your skin and is normally pinchable and can be measured with fat/skin fold callipers. Visceral fat (also known as abdominal or belly fat) is found within the abdominal cavity, between the stomach, intestines, liver, kidneys etc., making it much trickier to measure.

The 12-week study on which the "scorching" claim based included 105 adults who were either overweight or obese. One group was provided a daily meal that included an avocado and the other group an equivalent meal that did not. The results? There was no difference in visceral fat between the study and control groups. Ooops! Not what the Avocado Board wanted to hear!

No worries though. Just dice and slice the data in different ways until you find something that you are looking for. In this case, that the women participants who were consuming a daily avocado showed a slight reduction in visceral fat. It was not statistically significant but that did not prevent a press release from claiming that "Women who consumed avocado as part of their daily meal had a reduction in deeper visceral abdominal fat." Nor did it stop the media from publishing breathless headlines about "scorching belly fat".

This is a classic example of a study that starts out with the results it wants, mines the data till it finds it - however meaningless the result may be - and than feeds it to an uncritical and headline hungry media. Always at least glance at the underlying study behind some new amazing claim. Who funded it? How was it conducted? For some unbiased advice on how to interpret nutrition studies, here is a quick read.

Go ahead and eat avocados, they really are good for you. Just don't expect them to "scorch" any belly fat. No matter what the Avocado Board tells you.

Long-term Tea Drinkers May Have an Edge on Avoiding Dementia

 

A 2019 study led by researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) concluded that long-term regular tea drinkers have better organized brain regions -- and that this is associated with healthier cognitive function -- compared to non-tea drinkers. The research was carried out together with collaborators from the University of Essex and University of Cambridge, and the findings were published in scientific journal Aging.

"Our results offer the first evidence of positive contribution of tea drinking to brain structure, and suggest that drinking tea regularly has a protective effect against age-related decline in brain organization," explained team leader Assistant Professor Feng Lei, who is from the Department of Psychological Medicine at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.

The research team recruited 36 adults aged 60 and above, and gathered data about their health, lifestyle, and psychological well-being. The elderly participants also had to undergo neuropsychological tests and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of their brains. The research team found that individuals who consumed tea at least four times a week for about 25 years had brain regions that were interconnected in a more efficient way. The type of tea did not seem to matter and green tea, oolong tea, and black tea were equally effective.

"We have shown in our previous studies that tea drinkers had better cognitive function as compared to non-tea drinkers," added Lei. "Our current results relating to brain network indirectly support our previous findings by showing that the positive effects of regular tea drinking are the result of improved brain organization brought about by preventing disruption to interregional connections."

While this is great news for those of us who have been regular tea drinkers for 25 years, it is not clear what it means for the rest of us. Further research is needed to determine how short a time might produce similar results. In the meantime, what could it hurt to start?

 

Can Bacon Be Part of a Healthy Diet?

 

There is really no question about whether or not processed meats are healthy food. They aren't. The World Health Organization warns that a person who eats just 2 slices of bacon each day increases their risk of colorectal cancer by almost 20%. But what about eating bacon, sausages, hot dogs or lunch-meat just occasionally. Is that safe? And how often is "occasionally" anyway?

All of these meats are high in saturated fats, sodium and nitrate preservatives (not to mention calories), so they should absolutely not be a staple part of anyone's diet. Besides raising your cancer risk they also put you at higher risk for heart disease. Still, having a weekly serving (2 slices of bacon, one sausage or hot dog, or 3 ounces of ham is most likely not a problem for most people, according to Lauri Wright, chair of the department of nutrition and dietetics at the University of North Florida. 

So go ahead and have some bacon with your Sunday morning meal. Just don't forget that it is loaded with things that are doing you no good. Enjoy it. But avoid it the for rest of the week.