A Good Nut To Crack

Back in 1993, the original Walnut Study from Loma Linda University made headlines around the world and was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Why all the excitement? Because Loma Linda University had broken new ground. They were the first to find that walnuts in a controlled diet reduced LDL (bad) cholesterol and heart disease risk significantly more than the Step 1 diet that was then recommended by the American Heart Association.  In other words - they proved, scientifically, that food can be thy medicine. 

In April 2000, another landmark walnut study was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The study, a follow-up to the 1993 Loma Linda study, was conducted at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona. Researchers had 49 men and women with high cholesterol incorporate walnuts into a healthy Mediterranean diet, substituting a handful of walnuts a day for some of the monounsaturated fat in the diet.

Participants lowered their "bad" LDL cholesterol by almost 6 per cent and heart disease risk by 11 per cent beyond what would be expected from the Mediterranean diet alone. The Loma Linda study participants substituted walnuts, one of nature's richest sources of polyunsaturated fat, for saturated fat. The Barcelona participants substituted walnuts for another healthy fat.

Barcelona scientists also remarked on the ease of incorporating walnuts into the diet. According to researcher Juan Carlos Laguna, Ph.D., "That's the main point of the study. You eat a normal amount, like five or six walnuts a day. That's something you can do every day without any problem."

Walnuts taste great, kids love them, and they are easy to incorporate into your day.  Try adding some walnuts and some FructiPhi to your kid's oat meal - what a healthy way to start their day.  Enjoy a handful of walnuts as a snack or toss a few walnuts in with your salad. 

For those of you who are a little more adventurous, a morning treat that we call The Farmacy Sunrise.

1 1/2 cups strawberries, halved
2 ripe peaches, pitted and quartered
1 cup non-fat yogurt
1/4 cup Fruitalicious plus

3 slightly rounded tablespoons FructiPhi
(note: BeautiPhi, ClariPhi, ElectriPhi, or GloriPhi will also work well with this recipe)
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and frothy. Serve with one slice of toasted whole wheat bread with one tablespoon natural preserves.

Enjoy!

Carrots

All our lives we've been told to eat our carrots, they help improve your eyesight. Maybe you've wondered -  what exactly is it about the carrot that is good for my eyes? That would be the beta-carotene. In addition to giving the carrot its name and orange color, it also converts to vitamin A in the body which helps improve vision. The vitamin A forms a purple pigment called rhodopsin the eye needs to see in dim light. Rhodopsin production is spurred by vitamin A, raising the effectiveness of the light-sensitive area of the retina.

But that's not all that carrots can do for you. The beta-carotene in carrots is an antioxidant combating the free radicals that contribute to conditions like cancer, heart disease, and macular degeneration. Medical studies conducted in Texas and Chicago indicates that men with the high levels of beta-carotene and vitamin C had a 37% lower risk of cancer than the men with lower levels. Carrots also contain another antioxidant called alpha-carotene. A study conducted in Bethesda, MD concluded that men who consume high amounts of alpha carotene have a lower incidence of lung cancer.

Cooking carrots actually raises the nutritional benefits. The fiber in carrots can trap the beta carotene, making it difficult for your body to extract. By cooking them slightly, you free the beta-carotene, from the fiber, which allows your body to absorb it better. Eating only a half-cup serving per day will give you more than the recommended dosage of beta-carotene. Remember, when you buy carrots raw at the store, you should cut off the leafy tops before storing for maximum vitamin retention.  Getting your carrot-a-day is easy, considering the vegetable's versatility and “blendability”. Carrots can subtlety enhance but don't overwhelm. Here are a few ways to put more carrot power on your table.

Cook grated carrots with beans, split peas, lentils, rice, or pastas. Carrots are great in stuffing. Try them roasted - split large carrots length ways and brush with a little olive oil then put on a roasting tray in a 400 degree (F) oven for about 45 minutes until tender and browned. Try roasted carrots, potato, sweet potato and pumpkin served with steamed green vegetables and a nice sauce.

Toss grated carrot with potatoes for hash browns. (Toss in grated zucchini and minced onion, too.)

Add to sauces, white or red. Grated carrots give body and impart subtle flavor, and they fit any tomato or creamy soup, sauce, or casserole.

Mix finely ground carrots into peanut butter for a new kind of healthy crunch. (If you want to make a really GOOD Peanut Butter & carrot sandwich, add a few slices of banana.)

Hot & Cold Salads: Saute onions, green peppers, and grated or finely sliced carrots. Remove from heat and pour your preferred salad vinegar over hot veggies. (It will hiss and steam.) While hot, add to chilled salad greens. Toss and serve.

Herb and Vegetable Bread or Biscuits: To your regular dough, add finely grated carrots; minced onion (dried flakes or fresh green); parsley; garlic powder; sprinkle of basil and pinch of oregano or sage. Top it all off with some dried or pesto tomatoes and a few hearty shakes of parmesan cheese.

Hot Peppers May Kill Cancer Cells

Capsaicin is the stuff that turns up the heat in jalapenos.  It also drives prostate cancer cells to self-destruct, according to studies published in the March 15, 2006, issue of Cancer Research.

According to a team of researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical and their colleagues from UCLA, the capsaicin in hot peppers caused human prostate cancer cells to undergo “programmed cell death”, a process otherwise known as apoptosis.  Apoptosis is a natural process that maintains a healthy balance between newer replacement cells and aged or worn out cells.  As cells become old and worn out, they are supposed to naturally
self-destruct.  But in the case of Cancer cells it’s a different story. Cancer cells often dodge this “self-destruct” process by mutating the genes that participate in the process, leaving the cancer cells to proliferate.

This new research showed that capsaicin induced approximately 80 percent of prostate cancer cells growing in mice to follow the molecular pathways leading to apoptosis. Moreover, prostate cancer tumors treated with capsaicin were about one-fifth the size of tumors in non-treated mice.   ”Capsaicin had a profound anti-proliferative effect on human prostate cancer cells in culture,“ said Soren Lehmann, M.D., Ph.D., visiting scientist at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the UCLA School of Medicine. “It also dramatically slowed the development of prostate tumors formed by those human cell lines grown in mouse models.”

Lehmann estimated that the dose of pepper extract fed orally to the mice was equivalent to giving 400 milligrams of capsaicin three times a week to a 200 pound man, roughly equivalent to between three and eight fresh habanera peppers, depending on the pepper’s capsaicin content.

The pepper extract also curbed the growth of prostate cancer cells through regulation of androgen receptors, the steroid activated proteins that control expression of specific growth relating genes. On top of all that, the hot pepper component also reduced cancer cell production of PSA, a protein that often is produced in high quantities by prostate tumors and can signal the presence of prostate cancer in men. PSA is regulated by androgens, and capsaicin limited androgen-induced increases of PSA in the cancer cell lines.

Habaneras are the highest rated pepper for capsaicin content according to the Scoville heat index. Habanera peppers, which are native to the Yucatan, typically contain up to 300,000 Scoville units. The more popular Jalapeno variety from Oaxaca, Mexico, and the southwest United States, contains 2,500 to 5,000 Scoville units.

Red raspberries

Red raspberries are a healthy addition to your diet. This  fruit is delicious, nutritious and packed full of vitamins, antioxidants and fiber.

The most promising benefit that red raspberries hold for consumers is their substantial quantity of ellagic acid. Ellagic Acid is a phenolic compound that has become a known as a potent anti-carcinogenic / anti-mutagenic compound. Clinical tests conducted at the Hollings Cancer Institute at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) show promising results that ellagic acid, a naturally occurring plant phenol may help prevent cancer, inhibit the growth of cancer cells, and arrest the growth of cancer in subjects with a genetic predisposition for the disease.

Research published in the August 2004 issue of Cancer Letters offered an insightful look at the reason that diets high in fruit help prevent cancer. Raspberries, blackberries and muscadine grapes inhibit metalloproteinase enzymes. When metalloproteinase enzymes are produced in abnormally high amounts, these enzymes play a significant role in cancer development by providing a mechanism for its invasion and spread. Raspberries, among other fruits help keep these enzymes at the proper level.

Nutritious raspberries are easy as ever to include in your diet. Toss a handful on your breakfast cereal, sprinkle them over your whole grain pancakes, or make a delicious fruit salad or fruit smoothie.  Make red raspberries a part of your day! 

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