Kristen Seymour Published 7:00 a.m. ET Nov. 30, 2019

Make your party plant-based and inclusive with simple tips and swaps.(Photo: Foxys_forest_manufacture, Getty Images/iStockphoto)

It wont surprise food lovers to hear that healthier fare is having a moment. In fact, a report from food delivery service Grubhub showed that plant-based eating is a top trend in America; even fast food chains are jumping on the meat-free train, with Carls Jr. partnering with Beyond Meat and Burger King adding a Whopper version of the Impossible Burger to the fast-food giants menu (currently at select U.S. locations).

And there are plenty of good reasons to veer toward veggies. A plant-based diet (which emphasizes minimally processed foods made from plants, sometimes including small amounts of seafood, poultry and dairy, but usually little or no red meat) has loads of benefits: reduced risk of obesity, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and cancer, along with increased brain health. Its also a solid choice for those who want to score points with Mother Nature, since cutting back on our meat consumption reduces our environmental footprint and helps combat climate change.

If you find yourself hosting a holiday gathering with some vegetarian or vegan guests and have never cooked a vegan dish in your life, dont worry plenty of other people have, like Whitney English Tabaie, a Los Angeles-based registered dietitian, nutritionist and founder of WhitneyERD.com, as well as the pediatric nutrition platform Plant-Based Juniors. Shes made her vegan lentil loaf for the past three Thanksgivings. Everyone, meat eaters included, loved it! she says. But if thats not quite what youre looking for, the world is your (vegan) oyster, says Tabaie. If youre stumped on what to make, just Google vegan before any classic holiday dish, and youll find tons of animal-friendly options. And even if you have an absolutely incredible vegan dish as your main dish, she suggests having more than just that one veg-friendly item on your table.

Kathryne Taylor, author of the vegetarian cookbook Love Real Food and creator of the popular vegetarian cooking blog Cookie + Kate (cookieandkate.com), agrees. To be honest, Im content eating side dishes at holiday dinners, she says. Turkey is boring, and I dont have any interest in a vegan meatloaf, since I didnt like meatloaf to begin with.

However, Taylor has plenty of crowd-pleasing suggestions. You could make a hearty vegetable lasagna with vegetarians in mind, for example, and everyone could enjoy it. I also love layered platters with whole grains and beans, roasted vegetables and a fresh sauce or herbs, like the roasted carrots with farro, chickpeas and herbed crme fraiche recipe on her website. Technically, theyre composed of a couple of side dishes, but the combination looks purposeful and beautiful, she says.

Once youve gone to the effort to offer a veg-friendly dish, Tabaie has one more recommendation. Make sure to let your plant-based guests know which dishes contain animal products, so they dont have to ask you about every dish before they take a bite. That can get annoying for everyone.

If you find yourself feeling a little veg-curious this holiday season, go ahead and get creative in your kitchen. Vegetarian cooking can be completely satisfying, says Taylor. They can also be more exciting (and colorful) than conventional diets. Eating a variety of whole foods is key, and you can get plenty of protein from beans, eggs, tofu and dairy.

And even though it may seem exciting to go all in on plant-based eating once you realize just how good it can be, Tabaie urges people to take it slow. Try easing in with a Meatless Monday or even a one-meal-a-day option where you go plant-based for a specific period of time, she says. Good health is not all or nothing.

Recipe Ruiners & Simple Swaps

Theres little more frustrating than making a dish specifically to accommodate a guest, only to learn that youve used an ingredient they dont eat. So, before you say, Soups on! make sure you know some of the common ingredients that make dishes nonveg-friendly and get the scoop on some swaps you can make instead. Just be sure to read up on how to adjust measurements when swapping out one ingredient for another, as its not always a 1:1 ratio.

Avoid: Meat

Use: Lentils and walnuts combined in a food processor can be a great substitute for ground beef, saysTabaie.And mushrooms have a meaty texture, so theyre an awesome replacement for beef in many recipes. You may also find that beans work well as a substitute, adds cookbook author Kathryne Taylor, who likes to use black or pinto beans in recipes with a Mexican flair, opting for chickpeas in Mediterranean recipes.

Avoid: Eggs

Use: Vegan eggs can be made using a tablespoon of ground flax seeds or chia seeds with 2-3 tablespoons of warm water, suggests Tabaie.

Avoid: Dairy

Use: It depends on what type of dairy youre trying to replace, but there are countless vegan milks, plant-based yogurts and dairy-free cheese options on the market. Just make sure to pay attention to whether its flavored or not.

Avoid: Chicken stock

Use: Substituting vegetable stock for chicken or beef is a great option in soups, stews and risottos, says Taylor.

Avoid: Butter

Use: Applesauce or mashed banana in baked goods, or a vegan butter substitute for spreading on rolls and such.

Avoid: Honey

Use: Agave nectar or maple syrup.

USA TODAY's Modern Woman magazine(Photo: Ricky Middlesworth)

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2019/11/30/recipe-holiday-vegan-diet-hosting/4307586002/

Go here to see the original:
Plant-based holiday entertaining is easier than you think - USA TODAY

Thirty percent of all Americans avoid gluten, a type of protein found in wheat.

As low-carb,keto, and paleo diets continue to rise in popularity, you may be wondering if you too should swipe left on the bread basket at dinner. Gluten-free diets are becoming more popular in the US, with more grocery stores carrying gluten-free products and restaurants adapting to gluten-free requests than ever before. It's estimated that 30% of all Americans avoid gluten, but only a small percentage of those people are diagnosed with Celiac disease or a severe gluten allergy. So why is everyone hopping on the gluten-free bandwagon?

The answer? It's kind of complicated. Gluten is a mix of two proteins found in bread and any food products that contain wheat, such as cereal, pasta and packaged foods. Those proteins can be difficult for people to digest, and are thought to aggravate or even cause some health issues.

Some people need to avoid gluten to save their lives, while others simply feel better and believe they are healthier without it. Whether or not you should eat gluten is definitely not black or white, which is why I'm diving into the top common reasons people avoid it below. If you're considering cutting out gluten, here's what you need to know about why people avoid it, and what effects nutrition science and health pros say it can have on your health.

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past five years, then you've probably noticed that the low-carb diet trend is booming. And while science and health pros still debate about whether it's really healthy for you to cut out carbs, people are turning to low-carb style of eating with the aim to lose weight, feel more energized or to manage certain diseases or conditions (among other reasons).

Some of the most popular diets, including the Keto diet and the Paleo diet, require you to cut out bread and gluten. For the Keto diet, you cut bread and wheat products, mainly because they are high in carbs; the goal of the Keto diet is to restrict enough carbs and consume more fat so you're body goes into a ketogenic state (where you body runs on fat for energy). The Paleo diet restricts bread and all grains (including gluten-containing grains), since the aim of the diet is to reduce your consumption of processed foods and stick to foods in their whole form (i.e. mainly veggies, fruit, meat, eggs, nuts).

There's a lot of confusion around whether everyone should avoid gluten or if it's just for those with diagnosed conditions (more on that later) to worry about. The main argument surrounding problems with gluten is that it contains proteins that are resistant to digestion in humans. And while you may think this is not that big of a deal (besides causing come bloating or discomfort), many experts disagree.

Many restaurants and stores offer gluten-free menu options and food products now that more people avoid gluten in their diets.

According to some, when this happens, it can cause "leaky gut" or intestinal permeability, where molecules are able to cross out of your small intestine and into your body (which is not supposed to happen when you digest food),triggering an autoimmune response. Science shows that this happens to people with celiac disease, although the evidence that it can happen to nonceliac people is only confirmed in test-tube studies.

And the proteins in gluten aren't the only issue -- gluten found in wheat also contains Amylasetrypsin inhibitors, which are shown to cause inflammation in the digestive system. Wheat germ agglutinin is a type of lectin found in wheat that is also linked to autoimmune issues and inflammation.

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder where consuming gluten causes damage to the small intestine, resulting in painful and uncomfortable digestive distress. The small intestine is responsible for helping the body absorb nutrients. When it's damaged, that means you're not getting what you need from the food you eat, which can cause a lot of health problems. When celiac disease is undiagnosed or left untreated, it can lead to serious health issues like diabetes, multiple sclerosis or GI cancer.

Even if you don't have a severe wheat or gluten allergy or celiac disease, it's possible to develop a sensitivity to gluten that causes symptoms like headache, fatigue, "brain fog," bloating or gas. This is commonly reported and it's estimated that 18 million people in the US report having a gluten sensitivity.

If you suspect you have a gluten sensitivity, one way to know is to try removing it from your diet for a period of time. Then when you reintroduce it and notice symptoms, then you may be able to pinpoint if it's the culprit behind a headache or stomach ache you experience.

It's always best to take a personal approach when deciding what foods do and don't work for you, and that includes gluten.

Whether or not you avoid gluten is a personal preference. Some people simply avoid it because they follow health experts who recommend cutting it out (which is totally fine). If you don't think you have any issues with it and aren't concerned, you don't have to follow a trend simply because other people do. And if the evidence above concerns you, then taking out gluten is a simple way to avoid the health risks some claim are associated with it.

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.

Here is the original post:
The top reasons why people go gluten-free, explained - CNET

Name: Alissa Mashburn

Age: 31

Residence: Massapequa, NY

Job: Administrative Assistant

Home life: Single, lives alone

Peak weight: 235

Current weight: 140

Alissa Mashburn has lost a substantial amount of weight not once, but twice. "After losing 70 pounds, I thought it was going to be easier to maintain than what it was," she says. "I stopped going to the gym. And slowly but surely, started eating everything I missed from my dieting era." To get to her weight-loss goal, Mashburn had put herself on a very restrictive diet no carbs or sugar plus two-a-day workouts that involved a two-mile morning run followed by an evening stint at the gym.

It wasn't sustainable. "I noticed that my weight was creeping back up, so I did what many sane dieters do ... I hid the scale. Put it away so I wouldnt have to look at it," she says.

Mashburn started a new job in September of 2018 and found herself surrounded by temptation. "There was nothing but food and stress as far as the eye can see," she says. "Every day someone was bringing in treats or candy and I was having to learn an entirely new process. So this combination meant, by the middle of October, I was weighing in at 230."

It was a combination of seeing that number on the scale and a change in her relationship status that pushed her to make a change. "I also became single for the first time in my adult life, and I used that as my motivation for putting myself and my health first," she says. "Self-care and self-love really became the staples of what I was doing this for. I deserved to be healthier and look the way I wanted to look, feel the way I wanted to feel."

In October of 2018, Mashburn started with a simple goal: to walk three miles in 30 minutes Monday through Friday after work. "Even that was tiring," says Mashburn. "[On the treadmill] my walk was a 3.0 and my run was a 5.5, no incline. I would stay at a speed for a few days and then up it by .1." By the end of the month, she felt her stamina increase, and even noticed her clothes were looser.

During month two, Mashburn added resistance training into the mix. "I'd complete my three miles on the treadmill, hop over to the Stairmaster for a quick 10-minute walk/jog up those steps, then head over to the weight machines," she says. At first, the machines she chose were at random. "I'd jump on whatever was free at the time," she says. Mashburn would then head home to do at home resistance training (exercises she was too embarrassed to do at the gym). "Any sort of crunches/core work was always done at home because I wanted to get better before anyone saw me work out my toughest parts," she says. "I was sweating and cursing and did not feel ready for anyone, even like-minded workout souls, to see me struggle like that."

Her typical at-home workout consisted of:

Get the better newsletter.

"My at-home workout is where I really felt the difference," says Mashburn. "I was losing a few pounds every week. My muscles were looking toned and while I was exhausted because of the long hours of working out, my body never felt stronger!" After five months, she was down 40 pounds.

Having tried and failed at keeping the weight off with a super restrictive diet, Mashburn made sure she wasn't setting herself up to fail by dieting in a way that was so limiting it wouldn't be sustainable in the long run.

"During the first month of this journey I made some quick cuts to the amount I was eating as well as being aware of the amount of sugar I was putting into my body," says Mashburn. "I had to start seeing food as energy and sustenance, not just something to kill the boredom." To make sure she didn't feel deprived, Mashburn still paid a visit to her favorite fast-food chain, Taco Bell, 3-4 times per week though she modified her order to include less items. "It let me keep some semblance of my normal routine, and still let me have something delicious while losing weight," Mashburn says.

Mashburn educated herself on portion sizes during her first few months of the diet, paying attention to the serving size on labels and making sure to proportion her snacks and meals accordingly.

She also scheduled her meals and snacks around her workouts. "I would eat breakfast at 8 a.m., a snack at 10 a.m., lunch at 1 p.m., a small snack before the gym and dinner whenever I got home from the gym," she says.

During her weight-loss journey, Mashburn didnt take anything out of her diet completely, but modified the amount, which she says was key. "I knew that if I didnt allow myself to have what I loved I would binge on it whenever I gave myself the opportunity and do more harm than good," she says.

See more here:
How one woman lost 95 pounds and still got her Taco Bell fix - NBC News

Serena Williams is one of the worlds most famous athletes. Having been at the top of her game for many years now, its not surprising that Williams leads a very healthy lifestyle to keep herself fit for competition. However, Williams still occasionally craves unhealthy food like everyone else and is not afraid to cheat on her diet. Find out what exactly Williams indulges in below.

One most days, you will find Williams eating healthy because she follows a raw and vegan diet.

Williams started eating this way because of her sister, Venus. In 2011, Venus was diagnosed withSjogrens Syndrome, an autoimmune disorder that causes a person to have dry eyes, mouth, and throat. Venus began following a plant-based diet to help keep her condition under control, and because of this, she was able to return to playing tennis.

Serena Williams, who has always shown a lot of support for her older sister, also started helping eating raw and vegan often as well. Since then, she has been trying to eat as much plant-based as possible during the tennis season.

For breakfast, Williams likes to eat oats with some fruits like strawberry or tangerine. At lunch, she enjoys a light salad that consists of lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, almonds, and pita croutons. In the evening, Williams eats brown rice with hemp and chia seeds, as well as a salad. Throughout the day, she also enjoys healthy snacks like toasted Ezekiel bread and green tea.

While Williams tries to stay on her diet as much as possible, she does cheat sometimes. For example, both she and her sister eat chicken and fish to get more protein in their bodies.

Additionally, Williams has shared that she still loves things like pizza, tacos, fried chicken, and Moon Pies. As such, on some days, she will eat what she wants to satisfy her cravings.

Being a very disciplined athlete, its clear that Williams does not take her indulgence too far and completely breaks her diet. Instead, she simply allows herself to enjoy the good things in life while also understanding well what her goals are.

In any case, since Williams has been eating healthy for a long time, her body naturally becomes used to it. When she was pregnant with her daughter Alexis Olympia in 2017, Williams actually craved healthy veggies.

Aside from eating healthy food throughout the day, Williams keeps her body in shape by working out often. Williams has shared that she does not like going to the gym, but she has a personal trainer who designs workout plans in order for her to have flexibility and endurance on the tennis court.

Before Williams got pregnant, her workout included a lot of cardio and strength training. She enjoyed Zumba, running, swimming, cycling, and doing core and leg workouts. Williams once shared with Fitness Magazine that she often switches up what she does and is not afraid to be creative about it.

Even when she was pregnant, Williams did not stop working out. She did a lot ofhigh-intensity exercises with medicine balls and sled pushes. She also posted videos of her playing tennis on Instagram as well.

Anyone who wants to workout during pregnancy should definitely consult a doctor before doing so, but as Molly Galbraith, C.S.C.S., noted: Women who were engaging in high-intensity exercise prior to pregnancy, like Serena, can continue engaging in high-intensity activity during pregnancy.

Since giving birth to her daughter in September 2017, Williams seems to have gone back to doing hardcore training for tennis matches.

See more here:
Serena Williams Cheats on Her Diet in a Truly Indulgent Way - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body doesn't produce enough insulin to function properly, or the body's cells don't react to insulin, which causes a rise in blood sugar levels.

Insulin is a hormone that made by the pancreas that allows the body to use sugar (glucose) from carbohydrates in the food that you eat for energy or to store glucose for future use but but it also plays a crucial role in stopping blood sugar levels from getting too high.

Consistently high blood sugar levels, if left unreated, can cause life-threatening risks, such as heart disease and stroke, so it is important that people with type 2 diabetes find alternative ways to control their blood sugar.

Diet is a key component of blood sugar management, and, as a general rule, cutting back on carbohydrates can help to lower blood sugar.

As Diabetes.co.uk explains: Carbohydrate is broken down into glucose relatively quickly and therefore has a more pronounced effect on blood sugar levels than either fat or protein.

A helpful way to distinguish between high-carb and low-carb food items is to follow the Glycemic Index (GI) - a relative ranking of carbohydrate in foods according to how they affect blood glucose levels.

Carbohydrates with a low GI value are more slowly digested, absorbed and metabolised and cause a lower and slower rise in blood glucose and,

therefore usually, insulin levels.

READ MORE:Type 2 diabetes symptoms: Noticing this sign on your skin could mean youre at risk

One food item with a particular low GI rating is chickpeas, and in addition, the legume is a good source of fibre and protein, which are both known for their role in blood sugar regulation.

Research into the effects of fibre shows that it slows carb absorption, which promotes a steady rise in blood sugar levels, rather than a spike.

Also, evidence shows that eating protein-rich foods may help maintain healthy blood sugar levels in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

In one study, 19 people who ate a meal that contained 200 grams of chickpeas had a 21 percent reduction in blood sugar levels, compared to when they ate a meal that contained whole-grain cereal or white bread.

Another 12-week study found that 45 individuals who ate 728 grams of chickpeas per week had a notable reduction in their fasting insulin levels, which is an important factor in blood sugar control

Furthermore, several studies have associated chickpea consumption with a reduced risk of several diseases, including diabetes and heart disease. These effects are often attributed to their blood-sugar-lowering effects.

In addition to focusing on the blood-sugar lowering benefits of eating specific food items, for optimal blood sugar management, it is important to adopt a healthy, a balanced diet.

According to the NHS, following the glycaemic index can help to stave off the risk of rising blood sugar levels, but other factors must also be taken into account.

It's also important to eat a healthy, balanced diet that is low in fat, sugar and salt, and high in fruit and vegetables, advised the health body.

If you've been advised to make changes to your diet, or you need advice, a diabetes dietitian can help you work out a diet plan, says the health site.

You can ask your GP about being referred to a dietitian.

Read the original post:
Type 2 diabetes: Include this 55p food in your diet to lower your blood sugar - Express

ROCHESTER, Minn. If you are a doctor and devout person of faith, and if your religion says vegetarianism is the diet endorsed by the Bible, can you be expected to study the science of food and health without bias?

Its an emerging question for the communities waging battle over methodological weaknesses in the dietary sciences, one highlighted by a recent, widely reported Mayo Clinic clinician-authored paper on the association between diet and prostate cancer.

The publication, a Journal of the American Osteopathic Association study by the Mayo oncology and hematology fellow Dr. John Shin and four Mayo Clinic Scottsdale colleagues, reviewed 47 studies dating back 11 years. It rendered a timely, vegan-friendly conclusion that diets high in dairy products may be associated with increased prostate cancer risk, and diets high in plant-based foods may be associated with decreased prostate cancer risk. The study was reported in new outlets across the U.S., U.K. and Australia.

For those who heard the news and came away with new reasons to swear off animal foods, a valuable piece of context went missing, however. Shin, like thousands of other clinicians across the country, is Seventh-Day Adventist. Sermon-hosting sites offer links to the physicians religious lectures and he serves as a speaker in the Adventist Medical Evangelical Network (AMEN), an independent organization with the goal of uniting the church to restore Christs ministry of healing to the world, hastening His return.

Why should a nutrition researchers faith tradition matter? Because an Adventist ministry of healing includes the promotion of a plant-based diet. In response to a recent Forum News Service question asking if Adventism seeks to move the public towards a plant-based diet in keeping with religious beliefs about the foods that promote health, Shin responded in the affirmative.

Yes, he replied, because the original diet given to man in the garden of Eden as described in the Bible was a plant-based diet, Seventh-day Adventists believe that this is the ideal diet for maintaining and restoring health. Shin added that the purpose of the AMEN organization is to inspire Christian medical professionals to incorporate whole person care into their practices, and he disputed that its mission is to bring about dietary change.

Questionable science

Like much of the research that now informs the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, the 47 studies the Shin paper analyzes to impugn dairy are of a methodologically weak form of science known as nutritional epidemiology, so-called case-control and cohort studies that contain no information about cause and effect. The studies were of varying size and quality, moreover, and their findings were all over the place. Most showed no effect, protective or harmful, for any foods in relation to prostate cancer.

Given these results, how did the Mayo group come to their dairy-cautioning, plant-promoting conclusions? By citing the plentiful number of studies with no finding, alongside the few studies showing plants were good and dairy was bad, all as part of the same trend. Shin says this step was justified because the vast majority of papers with findings, outnumbered though by null findings, showed plants to be protective and dairy harmful, a pattern favoring his vegan-friendly findings on foods and cancer.

Earlier this year, however, a team of Canadian researchers conducting a more rigorous statistical method found dairy to be without effect as often as harmful in relation to prostate cancer. The diagnosed rates of prostate cancer within the US during the period studied, moreover, are widely recognized to be inaccurate thanks to the overdiagnosis of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screenings. When it comes to diet and prostate cancer, in other words, the room for investigator bias to affect an outcome is high.

Visions from God

Adventist dietary beliefs derive from the writings of Ellen White, its mid-19th century co-founder and spiritual prophet.

She would go into trances and receive what she called visions from God, says Ronald L. Numbers, a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin and expert on the history of Adventism. Numbers says White began to describe visions on diet and health, leading her to become a vegetarian distinguishing between clean and unclean meat according to the Levitical laws.

Among the hundreds of passages concerning diet which are attributed to White are several that look decidedly vegan or vegetarian. These include meat eating deranges the system, beclouds the intellect, and blunts the moral sensibilities, and, people everywhere should be taught how to cook without milk and eggs, so far as possible, and, grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables constitute the diet chosen for us by our Creator. Numbers says Adventists have a diversity of views about the dietary positions of Ellen White.

But Adventist scholars have taken credit for over 100 years of moving food practices away from animal foods and toward plants. Whites contemporaries were early cereal pioneers in Battle Creek, Mich., and their products were instrumental in diverting Americans from bacon and eggs towards carbohydrate-laden breakfasts of today, changes believed to have contributed to the skyrocketing global burden of Type 2 diabetes and secondary illnesses of heart disease, hypertension, Alzheimers and some forms of cancer.

Contemporary Adventism has figured in over 300 health outcome studies of its communities, often conducted with NIH funding and in partnership with researchers from Harvard School of Public Health. Though studies of church-going populations have characteristics that limit their usefulness, this sustained appeal within the medical literature to the benefits of Adventist so-called lifestyle medicine is cited widely, including by the so-called Blue Zones longevity initiative adopted in cities like Albert Lea, Minn.

In perhaps the most direct position of influence on the direction of dietary policies today, Joan Sabate, an acknowledged Adventist and professor at the SDA-affiliated Loma Linda University School of Public Health, currently sits on the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee of the USDA.

Shin says Adventists focus on health because we believe that when the body is healthy, the mind is better able to comprehend spiritual truths, thus enhancing ones relationship with God. He adds that the teetoling, tobacco- and caffeine-avoiding faith also promotes exercise, adequate sleep and spending time with family. But while exercise, sleep, and family time is largely uncontested in medicine, a rigorous debate exits over the wisdom of the advice to avoid animal foods.

Should being Adventist while studying nutrition require a disclaimer?

The real issue for me is that Seventh-Day Adventists began their religion as a health religion, so they are compromised in making broad decisions about societys health

The real issue for me is that Seventh-Day Adventists began their religion as a health religion, so they are compromised in making broad decisions about societys health, says Belinda Fettke, an Australian who blogs on the subject of Adventism and health. We should be asking them how best to do a vegetarian or vegan diet, because they understand it. But they shouldnt be telling the world that animal fats and protein are dangerous, which is what they do ... I dont think Ive ever come across a religion thats so involved in a health message, and I think thats a concern.

Shin counters that all researchers approach their work with a bias, its just that his is visible.

My Seventh-day Adventist faith provides me with the predisposition to believe that plant-based foods are healthful, and therefore I have an interest in conducting research to show whether or not this is true, he says. In this sense, my ability to maintain my objectivity in conducting diet-related research would be no more compromised than any other dietary researcher, the only difference being that my predispositions can be more readily traced to my religion.

He says he believes requiring a disclosure would imply that someone of that faith is somehow less qualified or trustworthy to conduct the research in question. It would be a form of discrimination.

When asked if a devout Adventist could make a dietary recommendation contrary to the faith, the historian Ronald Numbers is skeptical. That would be difficult, he says.

If you even found that eating pork contributed to health, you would be in a bad quandary ... I assume that the nutritional studies that show Adventists live longer, healthier lives are reasonably accurate. But then of course, studies of Mormonism show they live longer lives. And theyre not vegetarian.

So, should Adventists be asked disclose their faith when conducting nutrition studies?

That is an incredibly interesting question, he says.

Go here to see the original:
Are dietary studies influenced by religious beliefs? | State - Southernminn.com

Researchers fed extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) to mice that are genetically engineered to get dementia from the accumulation of toxic proteins (tau proteins) in the brain that lead to alzheimer's. After six months the researchers saw a "60% reduction in toxic tau deposits in the brains of the mice fed the EVOO-enriched diet compared to the mice eating a regular diet," reports Forbes.

The article includes some caveats to this promising news:

While this line of research is promising (along with the list of EVOO studies leading up to the latest), a few limitations apply. Mouse research can point to important directions for human research, but its not the same as human research and does not demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship between EVOO and brain-health benefits for humans. The positive results found in this and related studies suggest potential benefits, but they are not proof of anything.

Along with that limitation, its also important to note that the accumulation of tau in the human brain typically occurs over many years, for reasons were only starting to understand. The mice in this and related studies have been genetically altered to develop a similar condition in a matter of months. While this acceleration provides a useful model for research, its not nearly the same as what happens in humans over the course of decades.

Photo byDavid ClodeonUnsplash

Although scientists already believed that drinking coffee could possibly reduce the risk of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimers disease, a new study by Krembil Brain Institute in Toronto, Canada suggests that the kind of roast you drink might determine how much protection your cup of joe might actually give you.

Researchers are starting to think that Alzheimers disease could be caused by microbial infections that cause plaque to form in the brain. This opens the possibility for a vaccination against Alzheimers. Support for the immune defence idea comes from work by Jacobus Jansen of Maastricht University in the Netherlands. Using MRI brain scans, his team []

American artist William Utermohlen (1933-2007) was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease in 1995. For the remaining five years of his life, he painted self-portraits which revealed the progression of the disease and its effects, as well as Mr. Utermohlens heartbreaking, desperate attempts to understand what was happening to him.

When it comes to drone technology, one name stands out: DJI. The company makes some of the best quadcopters currently available, along with some ultra-cool video cameras. Over Black Friday weekend, there are some great deals available on DJI tech here are five of the best: Ryze Tech Tello Quadcopter Iron Man Edition Powered []

The problem with being a slow reader is that it takes longer to wade through emails and study for exams. Thankfully, anyone can improve their reading speed. ZapReader is an online platform that offers coaching from world-leading speed reading experts with scientifically designed exercises. Many users report a three-fold increase in reading speed without losing []

Normally speaking, recording audio with your phone is a last resort. The built-in mic simply wasnt designed for picking up guitar riffs and powerful vocals. However, the Shure MV88 Digital Stereo Condenser Microphone adds the necessary hardware for high-quality audio recordings. Made for iOS devices, this accessory is a must-have for any musician and []

See the rest here:
Extra virgin olive oil prevented build-up of toxic proteins in brains of mice - Boing Boing