KTK-Nutrition

Some interesting nutrition topics in the news this week.   Coffee Drinker?   Well good news for your health.   I love coffee and couldn’t start my day without it.   A large study has reported drinking coffee actually reduces your risk of dying from heart disease and other diseases.   Researchers at Harvard School of Public Health studied both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee in over 200,000 men and women.   For non-smokers the reduced risk is impressive.   Just one-three cups of coffee a day reduces risk of dying by 8%, 3-5 cups reduced it by 15%.   But less returns on coffee consumption for over 5 cups a day.    Interesting, these findings were also true for those drinking decaf coffee.   Cranberries – what is Thanksgiving without the traditional cranberries?   Have any leftovers?   Enjoy as cranberries are great for your health.   Eating fruits and vegetables is more than getting vitamins and minerals.   Most are loaded with antioxidant compounds that are beneficial to our h

Recently a student asked me if high fructose corn syrup was something to avoid.    Good question as there is so much being written about high fructose corn syrup.   If you watch the commercials sponsored by the high fructose corn syrup industry, all is well and there is no difference between sugar and high fructose corn syrup.   Others have renounced high fructose corn syrup almost from day one.   So what do some of the experts have to say about high fructose corn syrup? Is high fructose corn syrup the same as sugar? Actually, no.   Table sugar is about half fructose and half glucose.   High fructose corn syrup has a higher ratio of fructose to glucose having 55- 65% fructose and the rest glucose.    Does the higher fructose content of high fructose corn syrup cause health problems?     Some studies are indicating, YES.   The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported that beverages sweetened with high fructose corn syrup can significantly raise the bad cholesterol, or

Who doesn’t want to slow down the aging process? Are there foods you can eat to slow down Father Time?   WebMD has an article called, Best Foods for Your Anti-Aging Diet .    In this article, dietitian Manuel Villacorta is quoted, “ What you eat makes a huge difference in how you age and how you feel.”   An aging expert, Dr. Pontius states, “ Even your skin will stay younger-looking if you eat right ”.   So what are these foods that can help us stay younger longer?         1.          Fruits and vegetables – yes, back to at least 5 A DAY and aim for even more.   It is not just the vitamins and minerals in fruits and vegetables that are good for us but the color – and the more colorful the better.   Each color provides a different array of antioxidants.   It is the antioxidants that slow the aging process and help stop the damage to your healthy cells.                  Some vitamins and minerals act as antioxidants such as vitamin C and zinc and the precursor to vitamin A, beta-

Well the World Health Organization (WHO) has once again taken the joy out of the American diet.   They made headlines recently for their proclamation about the health risks of eating meat.   The Time headline is, The War on Delicious which is very appropriate when an organization wages war on the foods so many Americans eat.   So what are the health risks with red meat, processed meats and what meats are they talking about?   How much can you eat before you are at risk?   As a person who enjoys a bacon, lettuce, tomato sandwich, a McDonald’s Egg McMuffin with Canadian bacon, I did not take the news lightly that processed meats are bad for one’s health. Health Risks and Processed Meat WHO attributes about 34,000 cancer deaths each year to diets high in eating processed meats.   For red meat, they attribute 50,000 deaths a year.   But as Time points out, tobacco-related cancer is linked to 1 million deaths a year.   How much raises your risk, about 50 grams of processed meat a day.

What nutrients are missing in your diet?   Last week we focused on 4 nutrients that you may be missing or deficient in.   This week we look at 3 more nutrients of concern and mention fiber since it is oh so important to your health.   This information is from WebMD’s slide show, The 7 Missing Nutrents in Your Diet .   This week we focus on nutrients good for your bones, calcium, vitamin D and even vitamin C helps your bones.   Also, many of us have diets low in fiber so this is needs special attention in most people’s diets. 1.        Vitamin D –many Americans, adults and children, are deficient or have low vitamin D levels.   Bones need vitamin D as do our muscles and our nerves.   Like vitamin A, vitamin D helps our immune system. Good sources – milk and yogurt are usually fortified with vitamin D.   Milk or yogurt at meals is a great way to ensure you and your kids are getting the vitamin D needed.   Egg yolks, some cheese and liver also provide some vitamin D.   Sunshine – our