Posts Tagged ‘nutritious foods’

Leafy greens foil type 2 diabetes in studies.

Leafy Plants

Researchers from Leicester University in the UK analyzed pooled data from six studies examining links between fruit and vegetable consumption and type 2 diabetes found that the increased intake of green leafy vegetables lowered the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

They said it should be investigated further. They also cautioned that further research is needed before this can be used for giving specific advice to individuals.

Greens 

To recommend a diet high in greens may be dangerous. Not so much to the patient, but to the green paper coming in from the prescription pad.

It amazes me that this needs further study, while drugs are being used on a regular basis. It is either researchers, and doctors are so well educated by the drug companies, that they now have tunnel vision, or they have no understanding of how a body functions.

Diet and Nutrition

Diet and nutrition are the two missing ingredients when talking about chronic health problems in America. This fact is bankrupting the nation while causing undue suffering.

On the other hand it is the pharmaceutical companies and health care that brings in the big bucks. This may have a lot to do with the direction of health care or sick care depending how you look at it.  

All things related to health are related to nutrition. Any eye health guide has to emphasize this connection.

Vision 

Your eyes may the window to your soul; they are also a reflection of your health. Many eye problems are a refection of your nutritional status. As people age they may experience vision loss due to cataracts, macular degeneration (AMD) and other sight problems.

Eye Health Study   

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) – funded scientists at the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research are finding that healthy eating can reduce health costs by protecting the vision and the quality of life. The laboratory study directed by Allen Taylor is part of the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutritional Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston. Mass.

One study indicated that regularly consuming a combination of protective nutrients and a low-glycemic-index, or “slow carb,” diet provided an AMD protective effect. A food’s glycemic index is an indicator of how fast the carbohydrate it contains will spike blood sugar levels. The macula is a 3-millimeter-wide yellow spot near the center of the retina responsible for the central field of vision.

For the study, the researchers analyzed dietary intake and other data from more than 4,000 men and women, aged 55 to 80, who had participated in the long-term Age-Related Eye Disease Study, or AREDS. Led by Chung-Jung Chiu, the researchers ranked intake of each of several nutrients consumed during the AREDS study, then calculated a compound score to gauge their combined dietary effect on the risk of AMD. The scoring system allowed them to evaluate associations between individual – and combined – dietary nutrients.

The nutrients that were found to be most protective in combination with the low-glycemic-index diet were vitamins C and E, zinc, lutein, zeaxanthin, and the omega-3 fatty acids known as DHA and EPA. The 2009 study was published in Ophthalmology

No Surprise

It’s no surprise that every cell, function, and organ is dependent on the nutrition that you supply them with. It is simply, disease can’t take root as easily in a healthy body. The way to good vision is by consuming a nutrient rich diet.

Most fruits and vegetables supply vitamin C in ample amounts. This list includes oranges, grapefruit, strawberries, papaya, green peppers, and tomatoes. Vitamin E is found in nuts, seeds, and wheat germ. Lutein and Zeaxanthin are found together in many foods. Dark green leafy vegetables are a good source. It is also found in smaller amounts in broccoli, orange peppers, corn, peas, persimmons, and tangerines.

These are delicious ways to both general health and vision health.  Achieving the benefits of good eyesight supports vascular health within the eye and improves visual acuity. It has been found than carotenoids protect against free-radical induced DNA damage. The density of your macular pigments composed (composed of Lutein, Zeaxanthin, meso-zeaxanthin) is essential to proper vision.

These may be big words, but all one has to know is eating lots lutein and zeaxanthin containing vegetables can help maintain the structural integrity of the macula.

As We See It

Plant compounds halt the progression of both macular degeneration, and cataracts. These are a significant cause of decreased vision. To halt vision loss with nutritional interventions is a very attractive solution.

Yes, brown rice is a whole grain. U.S.research wizards suggest that eating more brown rice and less white rice will lower people’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes. This also means that a diet with more whole grains and less refined grains will lower people’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

I hope these guys got their degree at Harvard, yes they did.  How astute of them to realize the whole natural form of a food is better for you than a refined version.

Brown Rice Secret Revealed

The reason for their observation was that a National Institutes of Health sponsored study led up to these finding in the June issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine. The lead author was Dr. Qi Sun who worked on the study while at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and is now an instructor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, both in Boston, Massachusetts.

Sun, whose work was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Unilever Corporate Research, told the press that this was the first study to compare links between white and brown rice consumption and diabetes risk among Americans, who are eating more rice now than they did a few decades ago.

The reason that is given for the difference is unrefined grains have more nutrients and fiber, which slow the sugar spikes.

Government Guidelines

The US government’s guidelines recommend that Americans get at least half their carbohydrates from grains including rice. Americans are eating more rice, but the choice is usually white rice. Senior author Dr. Frank Hu professor of nutrition and epidemiology at HSPH, said:  “From a public health point of view, whole grains, rather than refined carbohydrates, such as white rice, should be recommended as the primary source of carbohydrates for the US population.”

Think Again

Unilever is on a mission to let you have all the refined food they can manufacture, with some whole grain brown rice thrown in for good measure. Hello, all studies show the importance of a whole food diet. This can include whole grains, but if the truth be known you can include or not include them and avoid diabetes.

Unilever has the biggest market share and is dominant in the food sector. The firm produces a variety of goods in the snack foods, fats and spreads, sauces and seasonings and beverages sectors.

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Food

All you have to do is remove all food with high fructose corn syrup, wrapping, and a long shelf life. This is how you stay healthy, and do it your own way.  Any health secret revealed from main stream studies are a watered down recipe for healthy living. Most health conditions are preventable, the key to a healthier you is to realize all manufactured processed food is not food.