SHR

Olive oil protective against type-2 diabetes in women That’s the conclusion of a recent paper by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health who analyzed data of over 145,000 women from the Nurses’ Health Study I and II. After a 22-year follow-up, it was found that each additional 8 gram intake of olive oil was associated with a 6% reduced risk of developing type-2 diabetes, regardless of whether it was consumed as a salad dressing or added to food or bread. Additionally, replacing 8 grams of stick margarine, butter, or mayonnaise with 8 grams of olive oil was associated with a 5, 8, & 15 % predicted lower risk of T2D, respectively. Is soluble fiber protective against type-1 diabetes? A low-fiber diet has been associated with other inflammatory or autoimmune diseases such as colon cancer and irritable bowel syndrome, so why not type-1 diabetes as well? Soluble fibers may be...

Over the last decade, there has been a considerable amount of literature dedicated to clarifying the role that fructose plays in health and disease. Unlike glucose, fructose is primarily metabolized within the liver and bypasses a critical rate-limiting step (phosphofructokinase) in the energy production pathway of glucose. Bypassing this step means that the metabolism of fructose is less controlled than the metabolism of glucose, and this is the main reason why fructose and glucose have different metabolic effects. It has been shown in healthy adults that fructose stimulates DNL (de novo lipogenesis; the creation of fatty acids) to a greater extent than glucose, and this is the main reason why fructose has been portrayed as particularly harmful. However, isotopic tracer studies in humans suggest that 50% of ingested fructose is converted into glucose, 25% into lactate, at least 15% into liver glycogen, and only 10% oxidized directly or converted to fatty...

There is a growing body of research suggesting resistant starches (RS) to improve glycemic control and insulin sensitivity, increase microbial diversity and digestive health, and aid in weight management. Ironically, the “unhealthy” white rice is one such source of RS, at least after it has cooked and cooled. This is because the cooking and cooling process leads to retrograded amylose and starch that is resistant to our digestive enzymes. However, the actual RS content of rice displays wide genetic diversity, with some data reporting ranges of 2 to 6.7 % dry weight. This begs the question of whether eating rice with more RS is worth the effort to seek it out, and our answer comes from the work of Alison Zenel and Maria Stewart at the University of Hawaii. They recruited 18 young and healthy men and women from their university to consume three different rice cultivars on three different occasions...

Dairy fat is a complicated topic because it is typically around 70% saturated fat but shows very inconsistent effects on blood lipids and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. However, if we narrow things down farther from dairy fat and focus on the foods which contain it, there is a lot of evidence from randomized controlled trials that diets high in saturated fat derived largely from butter fat increases LDL-c, whereas cheese intake results in lower LDL-c compared with butter of equal fat content. However, every trial showing these effects has used very high amounts of butter. For instance, one study replaced 13% of the subject’s caloric intake with butter, which corresponded to an average of 50 grams (almost one-half of a stick) of butter per day. In order to evaluate the effects of moderate butter consumption on CVD risk factors, Engel and Tholstrup from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark recruited 47 healthy...

If there is one thing that research into eating behaviors has told us, it is that we are some gullible humans. Seriously, our perceptions about eating are influenced by numerous things in the environment such as the colors, ambiance, and food presentation. It’s not entirely our fault though, as most of the environmental effects are incredibly subtle and appeal to our subconscious. Who considers the size of a plate or presence of a food label when eating? Yet they have power. Interestingly, many of the ways through which the environment acts depends upon us. Drinking coffee from a white mug, for example, does not cause the coffee to taste bitterer because of some variable the white mug imparts onto the coffee but rather because the white color contrasts the coffee color and influenced the perceived “brownness” of the coffee that implies a stronger brew. Similarly, perceiving a food to be “healthy”...