Archive For The “Health” Category
Washington state’s cherry growers are touting the fruit’s health benefits, including the ability to reduce the risk of arthritis, diabetes and cancer. (Next week, we’ll have a shipping out look for the state’s cherries.)
“Consuming about 45 cherries daily may significantly decrease circulating concentrations of specific inflammatory biomarkers in the blood. The findings of the study were published in the Journal of Nutrition,” According to the Yakima-based trade group Northwest Cherries.
The group cites the fruit’s high levels of fiber, potassium and melatonin, in a new campaign.
The 2014 season for Washington state cherries hasn’t started yet. In 2012, cherries ranked only behind apples as the most valuable fruit crop in Washington state.
Cherry shipments from Washington state typically peak during June and July and continue into August.
Sweet cherries are a good source of potassium, which has been shown to lower blood pressure. Studies also demonstrate that a diet includes cherries can help prevent cancer and reduce inflammation.
The best tasting and most popular variety of cherries is the bing variety, which usually comes shortly after the earlier variety rainier.
However, there are a number of other varieties, which help to extend the cherry season. Chelan and tieton cherries are early seaon offerings, while lapins, skeena and sweetheart cherries can extend the season after the bing harvest.
California cherry shipments are just getting underway and Washington state cherries follow on the heels of the California season.
Eating blueberries reduces the risk of contracting Parkinson’s disease and may protect human brain performance, according to a new study.
Scientists from North Carolina State University, Purdue University and Rutgers University investigated how extracts from blueberries, grape seeds, hibiscus, blackcurrant and Chinese mulberries, all of which are rich in health-promoting phytochemicals, could suppress cell death caused by Parkinson’s. The study, Neuroprotective effects of anthocyanin- and proanthocyanidin-rich extracts in cellular models of Parkinson’s disease, was published in the March 25 issue of the Brain Research scientific journal.
Two specific classes of phytochemicals are effective against the neurodegeneration or loss of nerve cell function in the brain brought on by Parkinson’s,the study indicates. Anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins are naturally occurring plant compounds prevalent in some fruits and vegetables.
“Blueberries have both of these natural chemicals in high concentrations, so they pack a more powerful, 1-2 punch,” researcher Mary Ann Lila, director of North Carolina State University’s Plants for Human Health Institute in Kannapolis, N.C., said in a release. “They can have synergistic benefits that surpass many other fruits when it comes to protection against brain cell death, which in turn may reduce the risk of contracting Parkinson’s.”
In the U.S., 1 million people are estimated to suffer from Parkinson’s, a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that involves the malfunction and death of vital brain nerve cells. The disease leaves people unable to control movement normally. Early symptoms include shaking, stiffness, slowed movement and difficulty walking.
By The California Strawberry Commission
WATSONVILLE, Calif. — According to new published research in the Journal of Nutrition, consumption of anthocyanin-rich foods such as strawberries may play an important role in lowering cholesterol and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
To evaluate the effects of strawberries on cardiovascular risk factors, researchers at Oklahoma State University conducted a 12-week study with a group of 60 overweight adults. Participants were randomly selected to consume a high (equivalent to 500 g fresh strawberries) or low (equivalent to 250 g fresh strawberries) daily dose of a beverage made with freeze-dried strawberries, or a control beverage.
The study revealed the high dose strawberry supplements were effective in significantly reducing total and LDL cholesterol levels. Additionally, both the low and high dose supplements were equally effective in decreasing lipid peroxidation compared with the control groups.
“With more than two-thirds of U.S. adults being overweight or obese, and having metabolic abnormalities associated with increased cardiovascular risk factors, we are pleased to see the positive effects that strawberries can have on lowering serum cholesterol,” said lead researcher Arpita Basu, Ph.D., RD, associate professor of nutritional sciences, College of Human Sciences at Oklahoma State University.
As the first 12-week study to report the total and LDL cholesterol-lowering effects of a higher amount of strawberries in obese adults, the researchers suggest that a strawberry-supplemented diet may be of clinical significance as a nutritional strategy to help reduce cardiovascular disease risk.
About the California Strawberry Commission
The California Strawberry Commission, www.californiastrawberries.com, is a state government agency representing all of California’s strawberry farmers, shippers and processors. With an emphasis on food safety education, commission activities focus on production and nutrition research, trade relations, public policy, marketing and communications. California produces more than 85 percent of all strawberries grown in the United States.
Eating seven or more portions of fruit and vegetables per day reduces your risk of death at any point in time by 42 percent compared to eating zero portions, claims a recent study published in the Journalof Epidemiology & Community Health by researchers from the University College London (UCL).
The research revealed the more fruit and vegetables people ate, the less likely they were to die at any age. Eating seven or more portions reduced the specific risks of death by cancer and heart disease by 25 percent and 31 percent respectively. Interestingly, vegetables were found to have a significantly higher health benefit than fruit.
“We all know that eating fruit and vegetables is healthy, but the size of the effect is staggering,” says Dr Oyinlola Oyebode of UCL’s Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, lead author of the study. “The clear message here is that the more fruit and vegetables you eat, the less likely you are to die at any age. Vegetables have a larger effect than fruit, but fruit still makes a real difference. If you’re happy to snack on carrots or other vegetables, then that is a great choice but if you fancy something sweeter, a banana or any fruit will also do you good.”
This is the very research to link fruit and vegetable consumption with all causes including cancer and heart disease, across a nationally-representative population, as well as the first to measure health benefits per portion.
Researchers studied from 2201 to 2013 the eating habits of more than 65,000 people, which were said to be representative of the English population. The data was collected as part of the Health Survey for England.
By American Chemical Society
Jong-Sang Kim and colleagues note that people have used garlic for medicinal purposes for thousands of years. Today, people still celebrate its healthful benefits. Eating garlic or taking garlic supplements is touted as a natural way to reduce cholesterol levels, blood pressure and heart disease risk. It even may boost the immune system and help fight cancer. But those benefits are for fresh, raw garlic. Sprouted garlic has received much less attention.
When seedlings grow into green plants, they make many new compounds, including those that protect the young plant against pathogens. Kim’s group reasoned that the same thing might be happening when green shoots grow from old heads of garlic. Other studies have shown that sprouted beans and grains have increased antioxidant activity, so the team set out to see if the same is true for garlic.
They found that garlic sprouted for five days had higher antioxidant activity than fresher, younger bulbs, and it had different metabolites, suggesting that it also makes different substances. Extracts from this garlic even protected cells in a laboratory dish from certain types of damage. “Therefore, sprouting may be a useful way to improve the antioxidant potential of garlic,” they conclude.
The authors acknowledge funding from the IPET High Value-Added Food Technology Development Program.
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 161,000 members, ACS is the world’s largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
Americans are nearly twice as likely to buy blueberries now as nine years ago, Hebert Research found in its recent survey of 3,765 primary household shoppers.
“We do these surveys every five years to make sure we’re moving the needle, and this one shows an excellent return on our investment,” said John Shelford, a member of the council’s promotion committee. “We went from 39 percent awareness of health benefits in 2004 to 84 percent today, more than doubling awareness in 10 years. That’s remarkable.”
As in 2008, the typical blueberry consumer in 2013 was upscale, well educated and white — but more likely to be from a minority. Consumers, primarily ages 46 to 65 in 2008, have grown more likely to be 35 to 44.
“We really have been focusing our efforts on developing the future generation,” Shelford said. “In terms of market channel, fresh has a preference with customers. We work hard to bring fresh to them, but it’s challenging given the labor situation. The industry has a number of ready-to-eat providers today thanks to new sorting methods, so the consumer can have that fruit before it’s frozen.”
Shoppers are now likely to buy blueberries based solely on health benefits, the survey found.
Asked what they like most about the fruit, consumers cited health (84%), taste (81%), convenience (61%) and versatility (44%), among other attributes.
Nutritional benefits were widely acknowledged. For example,, 99 % believe blueberries are a healthy food.
By The NPD Group
The recently released Harvard study on the health benefits of eating nuts just confirmed what health conscious consumers already know, that nuts are good for you, reports The NPD Group, a leading global information company. NPD’s food market research finds that nuts rank among the top 10 snack-oriented convenience foods for U.S. consumers motivated by health and weight needs.
Nuts are a popular snack for breakfast and morning snack but are eaten throughout the day by health and weight conscious consumers who want a nutritious, natural, better-for-you snack, according to NPD’s Snacking in America report, which examines long-term attitudes and behaviors about snacking as well as snack selection drivers. Consumers who are motivated to choose nuts and other better-for-you snacks based on health and weight needs tend to be seniors and empty nesters, adult females, and higher income households.
The consumption of nuts is not limited to the health and weight conscious. Seventy-seven percent of U.S. households have nuts or seeds on-hand and 19 percent of individuals eat nuts at least once in a two week period, finds NPD. Nuts are consumed primarily as an in-home snack but are often incorporated into morning, lunch, and dinner meals. In addition to its choice as a healthier snack, nuts are also popular among consumers looking for a filling or a quick, convenient snack.
“Whether to meet the needs of the health and weight conscious or as an easy grab-and-go snack, nuts are a popular choice among snackers,” says Darren Seifer, food and beverage industry analyst. “Food manufacturers and retailers have a variety of options and audiences for marketing nuts.”
Consumption of wild blueberries can help blood vessel function and health, according to new research conducted by European researchers.
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, in a study supported by the Alpro Foundation Grant and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, published the report last September.
The Wild Blueberry Association of North America in Portland, ME donated blueberry test materials (typically freeze dried powder of whole blueberries) for the study, which was conducted by researchers at the University of Reading in Reading, United Kingdom, University Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf, Germany, and the University of Northumbria, Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K.
The findings are the first to link wild blueberry polyphenols, natural compounds that are present in goods volume in wild blueberries, to improvements in vascular function in healthy men, according to a news release from the WBANA.
“Importantly, even the lowest amount of wild blueberries tested in the study, equivalent to 3/4 cup of wild blueberries, was able to improve endothelial function, which is an amount easy to incorporate into a daily diet,” Ana Rodriguez-Mateos, from the Division of Cardiology, Pulmunology and Vascular Medicine at the University of Dusseldorf, said in the release.
“The simple message is eat your fruits and vegetables in all the colors,” said David Bell, executive director of the Wild Blueberry Commission. Bell said the research on health benefits may perhaps be true for cultivated blueberries, but researchers only studied wild blueberries.
Less than one percent of Maine’s wild blueberries are sold fresh, with nearly all the harvest frozen. Maine’s growers harvest about 86 million pounds of wild blueberries annually.
Bell said there are many more health studies “in the pipeline,” with more studies using clinical human trials and also delving into the “why” behind apparent health benefits.“What I think we are figuring out is that blueberries are up regulating some (positive) genes and down regulating other (negative) genes,” he said.
by Robert Orchanian
As an author and longtime educator, Robert Orchanian leaned heavily on his personal experiences when he came up with the idea for the VEDGE Kids project. The goal of the initiative, which stands for Vigorous, Educated and Good Eaters, is to instill healthy eating habits in children between the ages of two and five, and his book, titled The ABCs of Nutrition: Learning the Alphabet the Healthy Way, Volume 1, encourages those healthy habits while teaching children the alphabet as they are having fun.
“I’m a father of five,” said Orchanian, “and VEDGE Kids is a reflection of how I raised five healthy children.” He explained that kids under five years of age are in a highly formative state, so they’re essentially metabolically programmed during that time to eat the food they will crave for the rest of their lives. Because that age is so important, Orchanian stressed that it’s essential to make eating fruits and vegetables a fun and tasty thing for children early on.
“We feel we needed a different approach to get kids to eat healthy, so we went for something that’s fun and entertaining, as opposed to something that’s fact-based,” said Orchanian. The ABC’s of Nutrition introduces each letter of the alphabet with a VEDGE’ Kid and a colorful illustration of a fruit or vegetable. Drawing on his experience as a teacher, Orchanian also focused very much on the details of each page of the book tailoring it to the learning needs of toddlers.
“We paid close attention to the sizing of letters and counters, for example, because toddlers and see letters and form words in a special way” said Orchanian. “We also spent a lot of time collaborating with our illustrator over the details of each of the VEDGE’ Kids so toddlers would be drawn to them. Andrew is extremely talented and is now a lead illustrator of Angry Birds. We wanted fun, color and energy and that’s what he gave us.” Orchanian is sure the book, which came out in September and is available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble, will set kids on the right path in terms of eating habits.
“The idea is to get children to eat healthy at the earliest possible age,” said Orchanian. “And we feel we have a unique approach to accomplish that with this book.”
On the business side, several online organic home delivery companies are now using Orchanian’s book as a premium. “Companies whose customer base is mommies, see The ABCs of Nutrition: Learning the Alphabet the Healthy as a great way to say thank you during the holiday season. Moms want their kids to eat right and grow up healthy. The ABCs of Nutrition helps make the connection. Those companies see it as something that’s special and a lot more targeted than say a calendar. It’s a way for companies to distinguish themselves and build good will in a crowded market place.” Orchanian is also in early negotiations with one of those companies to license the VEDGE’ Kids. “Branding one’s product with recognizable cartoon characters is a sure win in the marketplace.” Orchanian says to stay tuned. “There’s a lot more to come!” You can see an electronic version of The ABCs of Nutrition: Learning the Alphabet the Healthy Way, Volume 1 at: TheABCsofNutrition.com
Consuming grapes may help protect bone health, according to research presented recently at the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research annual meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. Natural components found in grapes are thought to be responsible for these beneficial effects.
The eight week feeding study, undertaken by Purdue University, was designed to investigate the long term benefits of grape consumption on bone health using an animal model for menopause. An earlier study had demonstrated short term benefits with grape intake in these animals.
The study results, presented by Emily Hohman of Purdue University, showed that animals consuming a grape-enriched diet had improved bone calcium retention compared to those fed the control diet without grapes. Additionally, the grape-fed group had greater femur cortical thickness and strength.
Approximately 57 million Americans are affected by osteoporosis or low bone mass, the effects of which can be debilitating. Until the age of thirty, our bones naturally rebuild themselves on a daily basis, but as we age, we begin to lose bone density. For women, this loss is accelerated during the transition to menopause. Bone mineral density loss during menopause – once attributed solely to the loss of estrogen – actually depends on a combination of factors.
“These results suggest that grapes can improve yet another important aspect of health – our bones,” said Dr. Connie Weaver, lead investigator of the study. “This is an exciting new area of grape research that merits additional focus and study.”
The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research is a professional, scientific and medical society established to bring together clinical and experimental scientists involved in the study of bone and mineral metabolism.
Source: California Table Grape Commission