Wellness Foods - August 2008 - (Page 3)

By Diane Toops, News & Trends Editor HEALTHBITES Lose Weight, Not Bone A higher-protein diet that emphasizes lean meats and low-fat dairy foods as sources of protein and calcium can mean weight loss without bone loss. The evidence is in bone scans taken throughout a new University of Illinois study, funded by the Illinois Council on Food and Agricultural Research, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Assn., The Beef Board, Kraft Foods and the USDA, and published in the Journal of Nutrition. The study followed 130 middle-aged, overweight persons at two sites – the U of I and Pennsylvania State University – for a year. Comparing the results of a high-protein, dairy-intensive diet (representing 30 percent of all calories) with a conventional weight-loss diet based on the Food Guide Pyramid, the study found that proteinrich weight-loss diets preserve muscle mass, help lower blood sugar and lipids and improve body composition by targeting weight carried in the abdomen. Participants also ate five servings of vegetables and two to three servings of fruit each day. Bone mineral content and density were measured with DXA scans of the whole body, lumbar spine and hip at the beginning of the study, at four months, at eight months and at the end of the 12-month period. “This is an important finding because many people, especially women in midlife, are concerned with both obesity and osteoporosis,” said Ellen Evans, a U of I associate professor of kinesiology and community health and member of the university’s Division of Nutritional Sciences. “Furthermore, treating obesity often increases risk for osteoporosis. Many people lose bone mass when they lose weight,” she said. See http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/short/134/3/586. Processed Tomatoes Healthier Than Fresh Despite advice that eating a whole food can be superior to eating a supplement or processed food containing the vitamins or minerals of the real thing, the tomato is turning that dictum on its ear, reports the Detroit News. Researchers at the University of Missouri found processed tomato products fed to rats have better cancer-fighting benefits than tomatoes picked off the vine. That jibes with recent studies that found processed tomato products, particularly tomato paste, may fight prostate cancer better than a fresh red tomato. According to the study, published in the June issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Assn. for Cancer Research, and financed by the Prostate Cancer Foundation, it isn’t just the lycopene in tomatoes that protects against cancer. When linked with a compound called FruHis – an organic carbohydrate present in dehydrated tomato products – it exerts a stronger protective effect against prostate cancer. “It appears that the greatest protective effect from tomatoes comes from rehydrating tomato powder into tomato paste,” said Valeri Mossine, research assistant professor of biochemistry in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. “Processing of many edible plants through heating, grinding, mixing or drying dramatically increases their nutritional value and cancer-fighting potential. “Before this study, researchers attributed the protective effect of tomatoes to ascorbic acid, carotenoids or phenolic compounds,” Mossine continues. “FruHis may represent a novel type of potential dietary antioxidant.” A Pomegranate a Day… Researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland gave extracts of pomegranate, equivalent to 175ml of pomegranate juice, to rabbits, and found it reduced inflammation, one of the most common triggers of arthritis, by almost half. The team, which published its findings in the Journal of Inflammation, believes consuming pomegranate fruit or juice could have the same effect on humans. If so, it could lead to a new treatment that avoids the side effects of current anti-inflammatory drugs, which can include nausea and bleeding in the stomach. Further research on how the extract is absorbed into the bloodstream is needed, according to lead researcher Tariq Haqqi. See www.journal-inflammation.com/content/5/1/9/abstract. Caffeine Might Prevent MS Caffeine may help prevent multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease affecting about 400,000 people in the U.S., according to a new animal study by researchers at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Mice receiving a daily dose of caffeine equivalent to the amount in six to eight cups of coffee prevented mice from a condition similar to human MS. Lead researcher Linda Thompson explains caffeine prevents adenosine, one of the four building blocks of DNA, from binding to the adenosine receptor, a maneuver that is necessary for T-cells to reach the central nervous system and cause the animal version of MS. See www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/01/health/webmd/ main4222319.shtml?source=RSSattr=Health_4222319. Food Processing’s Wellness Foods™ www.wellnessfoodsonline.com August 2008 | 3 http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/short/134/3/586 http://www.journal-inflammation.com/content/5/1/9/abstract http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/01/health/webmd/main4222319.shtml?source=RSSattr=Health_4222319 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/01/health/webmd/main4222319.shtml?source=RSSattr=Health_4222319 http://www.wellnessfoodsonline.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Wellness Foods - August 2008

Wellness Foods - August 2008 Balance for Boomers Vitamins for Eye Health Nutraceutical Spirits New Views on Fiber

Wellness Foods - August 2008

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