Pass The Fiber

You don't usually see it or taste it, but fiber works wonders for your body. Dietary fiber, or roughage, is a known cancer fighter found only in the cell walls of plant foods. For years, studies have pointed to the fact that increased fiber intake decreases the risk of colorectal cancer. 

According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (1999), this protective effect may be due to fiber's tendency to add bulk to your digestive system, shortening the amount of time that wastes travel through the colon. As this waste often contains carcinogens, it is best if it is removed as quickly as possible; so, increased fiber decreases chances for intestinal cells to be affected.

The Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1999) reported that Fiber may also help protect against breast cancer, an effect noted especially with consumption of whole grains and wheat bran.  Additionally, studies suggest that high amounts of fiber may also prevent breast cancer by binding to estrogen.  When bacteria in the lower intestine break down fiber, a substance called butyrate is produced which may inhibit the growth of tumors of the colon and rectum as reported in the Journal of Oncology Research in 2000. Fiber may also have a protective effect against mouth, throat, and esophageal cancers according to a study published in the International Journal of Cancer in 2001. 

If you're like most North Americans, you take in only 10 to 15 grams of fiber per day. However, most studies have shown that optimal intake for cancer prevention is at least 30 to 35 grams per day. Recent studies suggest that small increases in fiber, such as adding vegetables to a chicken stir-fry or having a hamburger on a whole wheat bun, do not offer much protection. On the other hand, when we replace high-fat, animal products such as chicken, fish, cheese, and eggs with plant foods, we easily boost fiber to levels where real protection is possible.

Whole foods contain two types of dietary fiber which are known as soluble and insoluble.  Soluble fiber dissolves in water and is found in a variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and grains. It cuts cholesterol and adds to your feeling of fullness.  Good sources of soluble fiber are oats, oat bran, oatmeal, apples, citrus fruits, strawberries, dried beans, barley, rye flour, potatoes, raw cabbage, and pasta.

As you may have guessed, insoluble fiber does not dissolve in water and is found in whole grain bran’s, fruit pulp, and vegetable peels and skins. It is the type of fiber most strongly linked to cancer protection and improved waste removal. Good sources of insoluble fiber are wheat bran, whole wheat products, cereals made from bran or shredded wheat, crunchy vegetables, barley, grains, whole wheat pasta, and rye flour.

It is best to choose fiber-rich foods over fiber supplements in order to get the full range of the cancer-fighting phytochemicals that fruits, vegetables, legumes, and grains contain. 

Active kids do better in school

Middle school students who perform more vigorous physical activity than their more sedentary piers tend to do better in school, according to a new study done by researchers from Michigan State University and Grand Valley  State University. The research is published in the August issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine.

For one academic year, the study tracked more than 200 sixth graders. For one semester half of the students took the general physical education class offered by the school, while the other half took part in a non-physical education course. Halfway through the school year they switched. The researchers found that students taking the physical education course did no better or worse in their academic classes.

Physical education and activity during the school day reduce boredom and help keep kids’ attention in the classroom,” said Dawn Podulka Coe, the study’s lead author who is now an assistant professor in the Department of Movement Science at Grand Valley State University. “We were expecting to find that students enrolled in PE would have better grades because of the opportunity to be active during the school day. But enrollment in PE alone did not influence grades.”

However, the researchers also found that students who took part in more vigorous physical activities – such as organized sports like soccer or football, or non-organized after-school activities such as skateboarding – did approximately 10 percent better in core classes such as math, science, English and social studies.

The students who performed better academically in this study were the most active, meaning those who participated in a sport or other vigorous activity at least three times a week” added Coe.

The difference between vigorous activity and moderate activity is heart rate. Moderate activities, such as walking or raking leaves, don’t get the heart rate up or make the person breathe harder.  Vigorous activities, such as running or swimming for exercise, increase heart rate, causing the exerciser to breathe harder and increasing oxygen to the brain.

With school about to start, we encourage all parents to take this new study to heart.  We encourage you consider organized sports as a way to help your child do better in school, be healthier, maintain the proper weight, and to build a foundation of health that can last a lifetime.  And don’t forget your favorite Wholefood Farmacy foods for practice and game days!

What’s for Breakfast?

The science is crystal clear.  Children who eat a healthy breakfast before school are healthier, more alert, have more energy, exhibit better behavior and get better grades. 

A recent State of Minnesota Breakfast Study found that students who ate breakfast before starting school had a general increase in math grades and reading scores, increased student attention, reduced nurse visits, and improved student behaviors.  (December, 1997)

Researchers at Harvard Medical/Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston found that hungry children are more likely to have behavioral and academic problems than children who get enough to eat.  At school, hungry children had more problems with irritability, anxiety and aggression, as well as more absences and tardiness.  (Pediatrics, January, 1998; Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, February, 1998)

The recent Tufts University Statement (1998) on The Link Between Nutrition and Cognitive Development in Children cites new findings: "Recent research provides compelling evidence that under-nutrition impacts the behavior of children, their school performance, and their overall cognitive development".

The importance of a healthy breakfast is paramount to your child’s health, behavior, and academic performance.  As the new school year begins, we encourage you take a stand for your children and make a healthy breakfast, everyday, the rule in your home.

If you’re on go and don’t have much time, please consider these quick, easy and very nutritious ways that The Wholefood Farmacy foods can help.

Our fruit based Farinas (BeautiPhi, ClariPhi, ElectriPhi, FructiPhi & GloriPhi) can provide a wonderful way to add taste, variety and nutrition to oat meal, cream of wheat, and whole grain breakfast cereals.  Simply sprinkle them over these healthy breakfast foods and you’re done!  Phi Plus, TropiPhi and Fruitalicious also make a wonderful and very delicious addition to these healthy breakfast foods and they provide a wonderfully sweet alternative to processed sugar.

Breakfast Smoothies are also a quick and easy way to start your child’s day with healthy whole food nutrition.  Start with some fresh fruit and your choice of milk, then add any of our fruit based Farinas – hit the button and in 15 seconds it’s ready to go. 

Make Phi Plus cookies the night before. Form Phi Plus into the shape of cookies then drizzle with Wholefood Farmacy Organic Coconut Oil and refrigerate.  In the morning, you’ll have some very healthy and very tasty treats ready when you’re on the go.

Set the alarm clock a few minutes earlier and give your kids the daily advantage of a Healthy Start – it makes all the difference in the world.

Lasting Vision

Many of us heard, as children, that carrots are good for our eyes. When questioned about this, moms would regularly retort with a well known question: “Well, have you ever seen a rabbit wearing glasses?”

Carrots are certainly a potent whole food with many wonderful health benefits, but the latest research indicates that fruit is even more important for the nutritional support of your eyes and vision.  A recent study published in the June 2004 issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology indicates that eating 3 or more servings of fruit per day may lower your risk of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), the primary cause of vision loss in older adults, by 36%, compared to persons who consume less than 1.5 servings of fruit daily.

In this study, which involved over 70,000 women and over 40,000 men, researchers evaluated the effect of consumption of fruits; vegetables; the antioxidant vitamins A, C, and E; and carotenoids on the development of early ARMD or neovascular ARM, a more severe form of the illness associated with vision loss.

Food intake information was collected periodically for up to 18 years for women and 12 years for men. While, surprisingly, intakes of vegetables, antioxidant vitamins and carotenoids were not strongly related to incidence of either form of ARM, fruit intake was definitely protective against the severe form of this vision-destroying disease.

Three servings of fruit may sound like a lot to eat each day, but The Wholefood Farmacy foods offer you a convenient way to you reach this goal.

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