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Traditional Foods Improve Health and Happiness in Dementia Patients

While most nutrition studies focus on food and nutrients, traditions and culture can also be used to enrich wellness. To see how changing the menu at nursing homes to reflect more culturally tailored meals affects dementia patients, Norwegian researchers conducted in-depth interviews with family members and nurses of patients at six nursing homes, spanning three cultural groups: Sami (or Lapps), Norwegian, and Black South African. According to the researchers, “Familiar tastes and smells awoke pleasant memories in patients and boosted their sense of well-being, identity and belonging, even producing words in those who usually did not speak.” They concluded that “traditional food further improves patients’ appetite, nutritional intake and quality of life.”
Journal of Clinical Nursing. 2016 Jan 11. [Epub ahead of print] (Hanssen I et al.)

Loss of Traditional Mexican Diet Linked with Poor Nutrition

Obesity prevalence among U.S. immigrant children, particularly those from Mexico, is high, so researchers are trying to understand how diet plays a role. Pennsylvania researchers analyzed the diet quality of Mexican immigrant mothers and their children across multiple generations. They found that first generation American children were more likely to abandon their traditional Mexican diet for more American foods (like fast food and highly processed foods), significantly lowering the nutritional quality of their diet. This suggests that encouraging families to cook with traditional ingredients, and encouraging retailers and farms to offer these traditional ingredients, may be a good strategy to improve the health of immigrant populations.
Social Science & Medicine. 2015 Dec 21;150:212-220. (Dondero M et al.)

Traditional Mexican Diet Linked with Better Inflammation, Blood Sugar Control

Researchers in Seattle created a Mexican Diet Score to assess how traditional Mexican diets are related to insulin resistance and inflammation. Higher Mexican Diet Scores indicate eating more traditional Mexican foods, such as corn tortillas, beans, soup, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and Mexican cheese, and lower levels of added sugars, refined grains, and added fats. In a study of nearly 500 healthy, post-menopausal women of Mexican descent, the researchers found that those most closely following a traditional Mexican diet had 23% lower levels of hsCRP (a measure of inflammation), and 15% lower insulin levels (indicating healthy blood sugar regulation) than those not following a traditional Mexican diet. In the overweight and obese women, a low Mexican diet score was also linked with higher insulin resistance. The researchers concluded that “greater adherence to traditional Mexican diets… could be beneficial in reducing the risk of obesity-related systemic inflammation and insulin resistance for women of Mexican descent.”
The Journal of Nutrition. 2015 Dec;145(12):2732-40. (Santiago-Torres M et al.)

Cook Vegetables in Olive Oil for High Antioxidant Content

Cooking vegetables in olive oil is a hallmark of the much-praised Mediterranean diet. To see how different cooking methods affect the antioxidant capacity of vegetables, Mexican researchers compared the antioxidant capacity in potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and pumpkin that were raw, deep fried in olive oil, sautéed in olive oil, or boiled. They found that the veggies deep fried in olive oil had the greatest total phenols, followed by the sautéed veggies, then the boiled veggies. The researchers suggest that “deep frying and sautéing conserve and enrich the phenolic composition.” That said, there is no “bad” way to eat vegetables. Rather, this research shows that if it takes a bit of olive oil to make vegetables most delicious to you, all the better.
Food Chemistry. 2015 Dec 1;188-430-8. (Ramirez-Anaya Jdel P et al).

Med Diet Improves Blood Sugar Control & Heart Disease Risk Factors in Type 2 Diabetes

Chinese researchers analyzed data from nine different studies with 1178 type 2 diabetes patients being treated with the Mediterranean diet. Compared with those on a control diet (which ranged from their usual diet, to a low fat diet, to a high carb diet, to the American Diabetes Association Diet), those on a Mediterranean diet had improved blood sugar control (hemoglobin A1c, fasting glucose, and fasting insulin), improved BMI and weight loss, lower total cholesterol, triglycerides (a type of fat in the blood), and blood pressure, and improved higher HDL (good) cholesterol.
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2015 Nov;69:1200-1208. (R Huo et al.) [published online 2014 Nov 4]

Mediterranean Diet Linked with Better Brain Structure in Elderly

The Mediterranean diet has long been associated with healthy aging, but emerging research is shedding new light onto why this might be. Researchers analyzed the eating patterns and brain size in 674 elderly (average age 80) adults without dementia in New York City. They found that those most closely following the Mediterranean diet had larger brains (total brain volume, grey matter, and white matter), with an effect similar to 5 years of aging. Of the specific foods studied, eating 3-5 oz fish weekly, and keeping meat intake under 3.5 oz per day, was also linked with larger brain volumes, equivalent to about 3-4 years of aging. These results suggest that a Mediterranean diet, especially one that encourages fish consumption over meat consumption, could promote brain health, as brain atrophy (brain shrinkage) has been linked with cognitive decline.
Neurology. 2015 Oct 21. (Gu Y et al.) [Epub ahead of print.]

Mediterranean Diet May Prevent Eye Disease

Macular degeneration, an eye condition that can lead to blindness, has no cure or restorative treatment, so prevention is especially important. To study how diet is related to this condition, scientists analyzed the eating patterns of over 2,500 adults, then monitored their eye health for thirteen years. They found that those most closely following the Mediterranean diet (especially those people eating lots of fish and vegetables) were 26% less likely to progress to advanced age-related macular degeneration. Results varied by genetics, with certain gene carriers being more responsive to diet than others.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2015 Nov;102(5):1196-206. (Merle BM et al.)

Different Oat Products Elicit Different Glycemic Responses

The Glycemic Index is a measure of how much a food spikes your blood sugar (0-55 is low, 56-69 is medium and 70-100 is high). To see if different oat products have different effects on blood sugar, researchers from Quaker Oats tested the Glycemic Index of 72 oat products. They found that steel cut oatmeal, large flake oatmeal, muesli, and granola produced a significantly lower Glycemic Response (53-56, in the low/medium range) than quick cooking and instant oatmeal (71-75, in the medium/high range). The scientists concluded that “smaller particle size and increased starch gelatinisation appear to increase the glycemic response.”
British Journal of Nutrition. 2015 Oct 28;114(8):1256-62. (Tosh SM et al.)

Moderate Wine Intake May Improve Cholesterol, Blood Sugar Control in Type 2 Diabetes

Researchers assigned over 200 patients with well controlled type 2 diabetes who don’t normally drink alcohol to eat a Mediterranean diet, and drink 5 oz of either red wine, white wine, or mineral water with dinner for 2 years. The red wine group significantly increased good cholesterol (HDL and apolipoprotein A), and the white wine group significantly decreased fasting blood sugar. “Slow alcohol metabolizers” (based on whether they carry the ADH1B*1 allele) benefited from both red and white wine on their blood sugar control. Both wine groups had improved sleep quality compared with the water group. The researchers concluded that a Mediterranean diet with moderate wine intake “is apparently safe and modestly decreases cardiometabolic risk” in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Annals of Internal Medicine. 2015 Oct 20:163(8):569-79. (Gepner Y et al.)

Replace Butter with Fish, Nuts, Seeds, and Lower Risk of Heart Disease by 25%

Harvard researchers followed over 120,000 adults for 24-30 years, tracking their diet and health records. The scientists found that replacing 5% of daily calories from saturated fat with polyunsaturated fats (found in fish, nuts, seeds, and safflower oil), monounsaturated fats (found in olive oil and canola oil), or whole grains is linked with a 25%, 15%, and 9% lower risk of heart disease, respectively. Additionally, they found that replacing 5% of daily calories from refined grains and added sugars with whole grains or polyunsaturated fats can also significantly reduce heart disease risk, and that replacing saturated fat with refined grains or added sugars does not lower heart disease risk. The researchers concluded, “Our findings provide epidemiological evidence of the current dietary guidelines, which recommend both “replacing saturated fatty acids with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids” and “replacing refined grains with whole grains.”” The Mediterranean diet, which spotlights whole grains, fish, olive oil, nuts, and seeds, is the perfect eating plan to put these lessons into practice.
Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2015 Oct;66(14):1538-48. (Li Y et al.)

Plant Based Diets with Olive Oil Cost Less than USDA MyPlate Diet

Traditional plant-centered diets (such as the Mediterranean diet) are based on affordable local specialties and garden vegetables. To see if traditional ways of getting healthy meals on the table stand up to modern food economics, researchers calculated the cost of a 7-day meal plan for an economical version of the USDA MyPlate guidelines, and compared it to that of a plant-based diet with olive oil. They found that choosing a plant-based diet, instead of the budget MyPlate diet, could save $746.46 per person per year, and provide vastly more servings of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.
Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition. 2015 Sept 23. [Epub ahead of print] (MM Flynna et al.)

Mediterranean and Vegetarian Diets May Benefit Gut Microbiome

Eating a variety of healthy plant foods is one of the best ways to nurture our friendly gut bacteria, and new research suggests that Mediterranean and vegetarian diets may be useful models. Scientists analyzed the eating patterns and gut bacteria of 153 Italian adults. They found that those most closely following a Mediterranean diet or vegetarian/vegan diet had higher levels of short chain fecal acids, a compound associated with many health benefits. On the other hand, those not following a Mediterranean diet had higher levels of urinary trimethylamine oxide, a potential risk factor for heart disease. The researchers also noted that both vegetarian/vegans and those on a Mediterranean diet scored highly on the Healthy Food Diversity Index, meaning that these eating styles could be a useful blueprint for people wanting to incorporate a variety of nutritious foods into their diet.
Gut. 2015 Sept 28. [Epub ahead of print] (De Filippis F et al.)

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