How to Add Phyto – Chemicals for a Better diet:

I was looking through some old textbooks the other day and found these helpful tips (circa 2013) keys to better health for all of us – not just kids. And guess what – it still remains – most we have learned was that most of them are free radical antioxidants. Anyway here they are.

Focus on Phytochemicals

Phytochemicals are substances found in plant foods (phyto means plant) that are not essential nutrients but may have health-promoting properties.

Phytochemicals include hundreds, perhaps thousands of biologically active nonnutritive functions found in plants. For example, compounds found in onions and garlic are natural pesticides that protect them from insect infestation. Most plant chemicals have no effect on human health, but many promote health and a few can be toxic. For example, many are antioxidants that decrease the adverse effects of reactive molecules on normal physiological function. However, the phytos found in soy and teas have been shown to inhibit tumor growth.

Cruciferous vegetables are named for the cross shape of their four petal flowers. They include broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and kale among others and their consumption is linked with lower rates of cancer. The red pigment (color) in tomatoes is called lycopene which is a potent antioxidant and associated with a reduced risk of macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in older adults.

How to Choose Phytochemicals
Choose five different colors of fruits and vegetables
for each day.
Choose a new fruit or vegetable for each week.
Herbs and spices are great sources of phytochemicals.
Add vegetables to your favorite spaghetti sauces and casseroles.
Try baked or dried fruit for dessert.
Double your typical serving of vegetables.
Add pesto, spinach, artichokes or asparagus to pizza.
Buy small jars of chopped garlic, ginger and basil to make it easy to add to your cooking
Snack on whole-grain crackers.
Switch to whole wheat bread, brown rice, and whole-wheat pasta.
Add fruit to your cereal and vegetables to your eggs.
Dice up some tofu and add it to stir fry.
Include nuts to baked breads and salads (especially walnuts).
Sprinkle flaxseed in your oatmeal.

What About Cheese?

What is Lactose Intolerance?
Lactose intolerance is a condition in which there is not enough of the enzyme, lactase in the small intestine to digest the milk sugar, lactose. Most infants produce enough, but many people also become intolerant as they age. Intolerance occurs more commonly in certain ethnic groups (African American, Native Americans, Asian Americans and about 15% of Caucasian Americans. On the other hand, about 90% of Asian Americans are affected.)

When people with lactose intolerance consume milk, e.g. the lactose is not digested in the small intestine but instead passes into the large intestines and attracts more water by osmosis. The lactose is quickly metabolized by intestinal bacteria (the microbiome) and produces acid and gas. This process causes symptoms of abdominal distention, flatulence, cramping, and diarrhea. In some people, this occurs only when they consume a large amount of lactose such as a glass of milk or certain types of cheeses. In others, symptoms occur even when the food consumption contains only small amounts of this sugar (lactos

How to determine what Cheese to Eat (or not)
While it’s true that some cheeses are lower in lactose, it’s important to keep serving sizes in mind. Even a low lactose cheese may affect your stomach if you eat a ton of it. And the truth is that even among folks with diagnosed lactose intolerance, sensitivity to lactose can vary greatly. Something that barely affects one person could leave another curled up in the fetal position with stomach cramps. No matter what cheese you’re eating (even if it’s supposedly low in lactose), it is recommended tasting a small amount first, then giving yourself time to see how your body reacts.
In general, it’s also best to eat cheese as part of a larger meal whenever you can, because eating it with other foods can make it easier to digest. And unfortunately, There isn’t always an easy way to know for sure how much lactose is in a product, unless it’s explicitly marked low-lactose or something similar. So if you’re really not sure how much lactose you should (or shouldn’t eat,) check in with your doctor first.

The Bottom Line
If you can’t tolerate even a small amount of Parmesan, your problem with dairy might be something else—like a milk allergy. Most experts say that while lactose intolerance isn’t life threatening, a severe allergy definitely can be, so if you’re not sure what you have or just how sensitive you are, talk with your doctor or registered dietitian before experimenting with any cheeses.

The Blue Zones

What Are the Blue Zones? Why are they called “blue”?
An epidemiologist, Pes began to study centenarians, he denoted those areas that appeared to be long-lived on a map with a blue marker. thus the Blue Zones. He used dietary surveys from the last century and noted that from the late 20th century, certain areas in the world had diets and similar social patterns that consisted primarily minimally processed plant foods-i mostly whole grains, greens, nuts, tubers and beans. Most people ate meat on average only five times a month They drank mostly water, herbal teas, coffee, and some wine. They drank little or no cow’s milk; sweetened sodas and fast foods. were largely unknown.

Processed foods began to penetrate these areas as well as animal products and fast foods began to invade the cultures. Not surprisingly, chronic diseases began to appear on their menus.

Sardinia, Italy: Home to the World’s Highest Concentration of Male Centenarians.
In the Years after WW2, 38 people in the village of Arzana in Sardinia’s Gennargentu mountains – one out of every 100 of their peers- have reached a century at last birthday.

The following are short bios or vignettes that describe how several members of the Blue Zones have lived and practiced the ways of the centenarians they have become. Each glimpse of them is reflected in the habits they swear have contributed and shown us the way that their lifestyles may contribute to their longevity. The purpose of this is to show how they lived in their culture with a hope that we as Americans can learn how to adapt to or adopt some of the components of this way of living and show us how to adopt them to the “American” way of life. It is also important to realize that” it’s not always what we eat, but how to eat”. As we said, the information is based on a real life experiment called The Blue Zones Solution: Eating and Living Like the World’s Healthiest People by Dan Buettner. The book is very interesting.

“”Carbohydrates from Sardinian sourdough bread enter the bloodstream at a slower rate than those from plain white bread.”

“ Traditonal diets with whole grains, greens, nuts and beans offer the promise of eluding disease and staying healthy.”

In the kitchen, ninety-year old Assunta Podda flashes a toothy smile while she viigourously stirs an earthen pot of the melange of beans, carrots, onions, garlic, tomatoes, fennel, kohlrabi, and various herbs – all of which had been doused with olive oil. On table next to her sits the staples of the evening meal: some sourdough loaves, forage greens, and a carafe of garnet red wine. With the steady hand of a younger woman, she pours wine into stout glasses and ladles the steaming soup into dishes. “Now eat”, she says with a grin.”

Bread making in Sardinia is a community affair. Women can be seen making the traditional bread served at most meals. In one village bakery. The octogenarian senior baker named Regina Boi had provided the starter dough that her family had cultivated for generations. The starter contains yeast and native Lactobacilus bacteria. From these ingredients carbon dioxide leavens the bread and the lactobacilli also break down the carbohydrates to produce lactic acid that provides the traditional sour taste of sour dough bread.

As Podda’s family dinner ends, a spirited exchange ensues with the local village gossip, Pes, one of the guests raises his glass in a sense of revelry and expresses the signature toast of the island, “a kent annos”. May you live to 100”. The remaining guests respond, “And may you be here to count the years”.

Nicoya, Costa Rica: Adults Here have the Longest Life Expectancy in the Americas.

Excess access to fruits such as pineapple and papayas from home gardens extends this plant-based diet year around.
Costa Rica’s blue zone is a roughly 30-mile long strip that runs along the spine of the Nicoya Peninsula; it doesn’t include the tourist resorts on the coast.

“A healthy diet is part of the practice that can support longevity, e.g. having a circle of friends, and a strong sense of purpose. Every morning, Maria Elena Jimenez, Rojaz in Santa Cruz gathers to make the perfect tortilla. Three women mix black beans with onions, red peppers, and herbs. The beans will cook until tender and then be nixed with rice and sauteed peppers, onions and garlic to produce a uniquely Costa Rican version of gallo pinto.

The region’s Chorotega people have influenced the food supply by simply eating the same food for a millennia. This may be partly the reason adults there have the longest life expectancy for Americans and men older than 60 have the lowest reliably measured rate of mortality for their age group in the world.

Corn tortillas might affect longevity. The wood ash the women add when they soak the corn breaks down the cell walls of the kernels and releases niacin which helps to control cholesterol. Black beans contain the same pigment-based antioxidants found in blueberries. They are also rich in colon-cleansing fiber. The secret is pairing corn with beans is that then they can contribute all nine essential amino acids to make muscle in addition to less cholesterol and saturated fat. as meats.

By the way, Paulina serves this breakfast so typical in the Nicoya region to her 102 – year old father, Pachito and her nephew, Sixto every day. The meal includes coffee, eggs, rice and beans, and those famous tortillas cooked on a traditional wood-fired stove known as a fogon.

How is Longevity Studied?
Telomeres are protective “caps”on the ends of DNA strands, which wear down over time. This effect becomes a marker of biological age. Research has shown us Nicoyans have longer telomeres (a good thing) on average than Costa Ricans overall.

The Great Masticator: Speaking of Fad Diets!!

At the turn of the 20th century, Horace Fletcher, an artist, writer, importer and opera house manager who had no medical background – promoted the chewing of each bite of food at least 100 times until liquefied. The theory was that the bowel was key to good health and weight control and keeping the colon happy was the key.

“Fletcherism”, as it came to be known became a fashionable past time, and Fletcher had success in managing his own weight using the method. At age 40, he weighed 217 pounds and had been refused life insurance. By his mid 50’s, he was reportedly doing exercises with the strength and agility of a man half his age. “Nature, he said, “will castigate those who don’t masticate.” The practice has since been seen as a “fad” diet and became unpopular for obvious reasons. We can spare the details. Don’t try this at home.

Fifties Foods We Still Eat

The 1950’s saw an explosion of processed foods, many of which are still very much embraced by the buying public today. Boxed cake mixes have been around since the 1930’s but fell out of favor in the 50’s, until manufacturers began to make ready-made frosting and packaged decorations. Kraft Foods introduced the ubiquitous individual slices of mild, long lasting processed yellow American cheese, which is still the classic cheese of choice of cheesburgers and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Diet soda, originally developed for and marketed to diabetics, was repurposed as “diet” soda, and it became increasingly popular with health and weight-conscious consumers, particulaly women

And in 1958, marketing instant ramen noodles became popular in Japan and U.S. college dorm rooms. In 2019, the U.S. consumed 4.6 billion servings of instant noodles.

New Information on having a stable weight.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“The compression of morbidity in public health is a hypothesis put forth by James Fries, professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. The hypothesis was supported by a 1998 study of 1700 University of Pennsylvania alumni over a period of 20 years.^[2]“The compression of morbidity in public health is a hypothesis put forth by James Fries, professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. The hypothesis was supported by a 1998 study of 1700 University of Pennsylvania alumni over a period of 20 years.

Fries’ hypothesis is that the burden of lifetime illness may be compressed into a shorter period before the time of death, if the age of onset of the first chronic infirmity can be postponed. This hypothesis contrasts to the view that as the age of countries’ populations tends to increase over time, they will become increasingly infirm and consume an ever-larger proportion of the national budget in healthcare costs.

Fries posited that if the hypothesis is confirmed, healthcare costs and patient health overall will be improved. In order to confirm this hypothesis, the evidence must show that it is possible to delay the onset of infirmity, and that corresponding increases in longevity will at least be modest. The evidence is at best mixed. Vincent Mor’s “The Compression of Morbidity Hypothesis: A Review of Research and Prospects for the Future” argues that “Cross-national evidence for the validity of the compression of morbidity hypothesis originally proposed by Fries is generally accepted. Generational improvements in education and the increased availability of adaptive technologies and even medical treatments that enhance quality of life have facilitated continued independence of older persons in the industrialized world. Whether this trend continues may depend upon the effect of the obesity epidemic on the next generation of older people. See also “Mortality and Morbidity Trends: Is There Compression of Morbidity?” for recent evidence against the hypothesis.”

Just find this interesting and a great reason to maintain or stay at a healthy (weight) for a longer length of time.

Food, Culture, and Health

FOOD AND CULTURE
Ethic influences on the North American Diet

As cultures tend to mingle and assimilate throughout the world they blend with the so called American diet (cheeseburgers) and bring with them their ethnic uniqueness, for example, about 25% of all restaurants in the U.S. have an ethnic theme. To study these influences, we need to be aware of the nature of their traditional diets as well as how they have changed within the cultures due to migration to the new way of eating,

Native American Influences

“Studies have shown that the diseases that affected these societies differed significantly from the diseases in North American societies today. For example, Alaskan natives who sill eat the traditional diet have cardiovascular disease rates lower than those in the general North American population. Younger generations of Alaskan natives, however, who usually do not eat the traditional diet have developed cardiovascular diseases at rates similar to North American in general. This diet is often also called the “Western Diet”. It is also true of the Pima Indian tribe in Arizona compared to their counterparts in living in Mexico.” You can search Pima Indians on this blog from Food, Facts, and Fads.

Hispanic Influences

“Mexican cuisine today shows regional variety. In Southern Mexico, savory sauces and stews and corn tortillas reflect the native heritage. Yucatan cuisine follows Mayan tradition, with fresh produce adding color, flavor and nutrition to authentic Mexican dining. Traditional Mexican is healthful in that is high in complex carbs, beans, fruits and vegetables, particularly rich in vitamins A and C.”

Today true Mexican cooking bears little resemblance to the dishes usually found in “Mexican restaurants in North America. Usually it is based primarily on rice and beans. Restaurant Mexican foods tend to use large portions of meat as well as added portions of high-fat sour cream, guacamole, and Cheese to many dishes.”

Northern European Influences

Immigrants from Western Europe are responsible for the “meat-and-potates traditional manner of home cooking. This group contained large groups from The English, French, and Germans. A sizable portion of meat arranged with vegetables and potatoes that could be a dinner plate of boiled, mashed vegetables, sauerkraut, boiled or mashed still is the favorite of many Northern European dinners.

The traditional pattern provides abundant protein, starch, and dairy nutrients. However, the protein contains insufficient amounts of whole grains, vegetables and fruits or whole grains. Many people from these cultures eat less than healthy dishes combined with high-fat versions that contribute to the high rates of heart disease and obesity and cancers.

African Influences

The “soul food” of African Americans is the basis of the regional cuisines of the southern U.S. African American women. The combination of these foodways with Native America, Spanish and French traditions produced Cajun and Creole cuisines enjoyed today in Louisiana and through out the nation. Pork and corn products were the basis of soul food. Today we all enjoy it as barbecued meat since many enjoy the foods brought from Africa as well as yams, African sweet potatoes, okra, and peanuts. Corn was ground for cornbread, greens like collards, mustard, and turnip and kale. were usually cooked with a small portion of smoked pork as well as black-eyed peas. This diet is obviously high in unhealthy components as well as increased heart disease and cancer rates. For example, the South east states of the typical American or “Western’ diet” is often called “The Stroke Belt? indicating diets high in calories and/or sodium.

Asian Influences
More than 200 different vegetables are used in the Chinese cuisine, bok choy and other forms of Chinese cabbage are perhaps the most widely eaten vegetable in the world. Rice is the core of the diet in southern China, home to the Cantonese culture whereas in Northern China wheat is used to make noodles. China is the original home of pasta, bread, and dumplings. Stir fried includes hot pot stews containing many vegetable mixtures and protein sources like legumes, nuts and seeds.

Chinese migration to North America began with the California gold rush in the middle of the 19th century. Chinese workers brought with them food preparation that tend to preserve nutrients, as well as a variety of sauces and seasoning, used today in Chinese cookery.
North American restaurant versions of Chinese dishes are generally not authentic. Such food is often prepared with far more fat than true Chinese cooking which tends to use flavorful but fat free sauces and seasonings. The restaurant versions of Chinese dishes also contain much larger portions of protein.

Italian Influences

Pasta is the heart of the Italian diet. Italians eat six times more of it than do North Americans. Although some components of the Italian diet contain substantial amounts of saturated fat, we now know that other components, such as pasta, olive oil, and vegetables can contribute to healthy diets. Italian traditional diets do combine healthy food along with fat in the diets and seem to handle the diet just fine. Italians lean to a diet pattern called the Mediterranean Diet. This is a plan based on food choices like those traditionally found in the simple cuisine of Greece and Southern Italy. It now allows up to 35% of total calories in Northern Italy, the more affluent part of the country, and is the principal producer of meat and dairy products, such as butter and cheese. Rice dishes such as risotto, are popular there. Fish is more important in regions near the sea and lighter foods, such as fresh vegetables are prepared with herbs, garlic and olive oil, are characteristic. The poorer regions south of Rome, as well as the island of Sicily, have a diet rich in grains, vegetables, dried beans and fish, with little meat or oil.
Olive oil is the preferred fat.

Note:
“It is impossible to define a healthy diet with the space found in this post due to the diversity of many combined cultures and regions. However, it can be simply stated with the seven words from Micheal Pollan, author of “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto:
Eat Food. Not too Much. Mostly Plants..” I would add Bon Appetit.
AMEN!!! (SJF)

Source: Gordon M. Wardlaw. Contemporary Nutrition, Issues and Insights . Fifth Edition

Diabetes and Long-chain Fatty Acids – Omega 3 DHA and EPA

In the News

Higher Intake of Omega-3s Lowers Diabetics’ Mortality Risk

People with diabetes who had a higher intake of the omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA had a lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to diabetics whose intake was lower, a study in Acta Diabetologica reported.

The clinical study included 4,854 diabetic participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2014. Mortality data were obtained through 2015.

During the follow-up, 1102 deaths occurred. People whose intake of EPA and DHA was among the highest 20% of participants, at more than 122 mg per day, had a 25% lower risk of mortality from any cause compared to those whose intake of the fatty aids was among the lowest 20%, at 9.5 mg or less.

When the risks of all-cause mortality associated with EPA and DHA were analyzed separately, greater DHA intake emerged as significantly associated with lower mortality risk. As in all nutrition studies, more research is needed.

EPA = eicosapentaenoic acid (a long-chain fatty acid Omega-3)
DHA = decosahexaenoic acid (a long-chain Omega 3)

Acta Diabetol. 2023 Mar;60(3):353-362