Super Foods For A Healthy Heart

Everybody now knows that the nature and quality of what we eat and drink, are the most important determinants of our state of being. That is an old truth that naturopath writers Pierre Jean Cousin and Kirsten Hartvig are bearing message in their book “Vitality Foods for Health and Fitness.” The theme of their book can be expressed in a few words : Food and nutrition is crucial to health.

The two authors have listed their personal choices of “superfoods” they regard as having exceptional health-promoting qualities for the heart and blood vessels :

• Increase your intake of oily fish and fiber-rich foods;

• Eat more potassium-rich vegetables, garlic, ginger, greens, and fruit, as these may      help to lower your blood pressure.

• Bioflavanoids, found in yellow, orange, red, and green vegetables and fruit, are antioxidants that help to reduce the formation of fatty deposits and clots in the arteries.

• Reduce your consumption of red or fatty meat (especially pork), full-fat dairy products, eggs, sugar, salt, and alcohol.

• Eliminate fried and fast foods from your diet.

• Take regular, low-intensity exercise, such as swimming, cycling, walking, or jogging, three times a week for at least one hour at a time.

• If you smoke, it is vital that you make every effort to give up.

Carotenes In Cancer Prevention

A variety of published studies show that a high carotenoid intake is directly related to a decreased risk of cancer. The carotenoids are the pigments that give vegetables such as carrots, squash, and tomatoes their bright colors. All yellow and orange fruits and dark-green leafy vegetables have these compounds. Carotenoids were first discovered in carrots, which is how they got their name.

High dietary intake of carotenoids is known to result in high concentrations of carotenes in the bloodstream. A large study of the effect of beta-carotene in cancer prevention was reported in the American Journal of Nutrition (1991 : v.53, 2605-2645). This study involved 25,802 volunteers in rural Washington County, Maryland, representing about 30% of the population of the the whole country. Blood samples were carefully drawn and kept frozen during a follow-up period of more than 10 years. A total of 436 people developed cancer in this interval. The cancer cases were matched to 765 controls of the same age, then all of the case and control serum samples were analyzed, with a focus on cancers of the colon, rectum, pancreas, lung, skin, breast, prostate, and bladder.

Results of the study showed the ff: High serum beta-carotene levels showed a strong protective effect for lung cancer, and a somewhat weaker protective effect for melanoma and bladder cancer. High levels of serum lycopene, another major carotenoid, were strongly associated with a reduced risk of pancreatic cancer and less strongly associated with protection from bladder and rectal cancer. The study shows a reduced risk of cancers, particularly lung cancer, with increasing consumption of beta-carotene, researchers concluded.