Nutrition News: Recipes Articles

Every few years there seems to be another diet trumpeting the need to keep potatoes off your kitchen playlist. When prepared right, however, the humble spud is more of a nutritional saint than a villain.

In the past decade or so, a number of studies have suggested that high exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical compound used in the lining of many canned foods and drinks (as well as in plastics, to make them tougher), could raise the risk for everything from heart disease to diabetes to weight gain.

While meat remains the primary protein source for most Americans, it appears that more people are considering serving up chickpeas instead of chicken more often. According to the market research firm Nielsen, 22% of Americans plan to cut back on their meat intake, and 15% of those surveyed wish to bump up their intake of plant proteins like legumes, nuts and seeds, according to a 2017 report from FoodNavigator-USA.

From previous research, we know that eating together as a family tends to improve the nutritional status of the children in the household and reduce their risk of becoming overweight. But less has been known about how the emotional climate of mealtimes influences the foods children choose to eat.

No wonder so many people drown their coffee in sugar and gravitate toward saccharine breakfast foods. In 2017, the Journal of Food Science reported that people rated a sweetened caffeinated coffee as less sweet than a sweetened decaf coffee. A sugar solution consumed after the coffee was also deemed less sweet in the caffeine trial. Interestingly, there was no impact on other taste sensations, namely bitter, sour, salty or umami. Caffeine appears to dull receptors in our sweet-sensitive taste cells.

Question: I know chocolate is considered a healthy snack, but are all kinds of chocolate healthy? Answer: Chocolate has complex flavors, amazing mouthfeel and myriad phytochemicals, including polyphenolic compounds with antioxidant activity (Katz, Doughty & Ali 2011). It is linked to reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes and even improved mood (Mostofsky et al. 2017; Scholey & Owen 2014; Sorenson & Astrup 2011).

Weight loss efforts often focus on what and how much food we eat. But it turns out we should also think about when calories go down our gullets. Based on dietary data from more than 50,000 adults, a recent study in The Journal of Nutrition reported that people who consumed their largest meal of the day at breakfast had a lower average body mass index than those who ate their most substantial meal at dinner, even when overall calorie count was similar.

Even health warriors can fall prey to the devious ways of sugar. In a 2017 study published in Clinical Science, nutrition scientists found that in otherwise healthy men (the control group in the study), eating a high-sugar diet for 3 months—650 calories a day from sugar—raised fat levels in the blood and liver, potentially heightening the risk for cardiovascular disease. It appears that, even in healthy populations, consuming excessive amounts of sugar can alter fat metabolism in ways that could increase the risk for health woes.

The past couple of decades have produced a raft of research suggesting that vitamin D has wide-ranging health benefits, and it seems that more people are catching on that they need to keep their stores topped up.newsletter_teaser: Higher amounts of vitamin D raises the risk of adverse effects, including blood vessel calcification, which can eventually damage the heart, liver and other organs.

The sheer number of calories in a plate heaped with pasta alfredo may not be the only reason you push away from the table feeling stuffed. A study presented at a 2017 meeting of the British Psychological Society suggests that sensations of hunger and satiety may be linked to how we perceive a meal, not just how many calories we consume.