Recent Food Studies and How They Can Affect Your Health
-For years people believed that red wine is healthier than white wine, but it turns out that white wine is packed with its own health benefits. A 2008 study from the University of Connecticut and the University of Milan-published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry-found that white wine is just as good for your heart as red is. White wine contains the antioxidants tyrosol and hydrotyrosol, which lower inflammation and keep the blood flowing through the arteries.
These antioxidants work like resveratrol in red wine. Resveratrol is an antioxidant found in grape skin. Because white wine is only made from grape pulp, it contains little resveratrol. But if you prefer white wine, you can drink it knowing you’re getting similar heart-healthy benefits.
Men should drink about two glasses a day and women about one a day to maximize the benefits.
-Drinking hot cocoa may improve your memory, according to a recent Harvard study published in Neurology. Sixty seniors without dementia drank two cups of hot cocoa per day for a month. These seniors outperformed seniors who didn’t drink hot cocoa on memory and thinking tests. The cocoa drinkers also showed improved blood flow to their brains.
It’s believed the improved blood flow prevents damage to the brain’s white matter. Healthy white matter is linked to learning and memory. Restricted blood flow damages white matter, which leads to dementia.
Keep in mind dark chocolate also gives you antioxidants, which can lower your blood pressure.
-Your daily can of soda is putting you at risk for a heart attack. A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reported in JAMA Internal Medicine, discovered that too much sugar increases the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. If one-quarter of your diet is made up of sugar, you’re three times likelier to die from cardiovascular disease than people are who eat less sugar, according to the CDC.
Sugar causes the body to produce extra insulin, which triggers the production of fat. The added fat can lead to a host of problems, like high blood pressure and heart disease. The American Heart Association recommends that women consume less than 100 calories from sugar and less than 150 calories from sugar for men. That means one 12-ounce can of soda would put a woman over her limit with about 132.5 calories coming from sugar.
