December 2006
Superfoods: Strength in numbers
Cashew nuts might help the body maintain normal blood pressure by making arteries better able to expand and contract, according
to a report published in the June 2006 American Journal of Hypertension.
Lemonade, with its abundant citric acid, might help in warding off kidney stones, according to the buzz at a recent meeting of urologists.
And the humble artichoke has emerged as an even better source of disease-fighting antioxidants than chocolate, blueberries, or red wine, according to a Norwegian study of 1,100 foods.
Reports like those might make you think you can protect your health by simply working a few star ingredients into your diet. But decades of research has convinced many experts that the overall pattern of eating--not just individual foods--has the strongest effect.
Case in point: The diet of people living in the Mediterranean region. Long known for its heart-protecting benefits, this dietary pattern might also help prevent cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, new evidence suggests. And no single component of the diet appears to do it alone.
Brain food
In a study published in June 2006 in the journal Annals of Neurology, researchers at Columbia University analyzed the diets of more than 2,200 older adults. Those who ate closest to the Mediterranean model were about 40 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s over the follow-up period (four years on average) than those who least adhered to it.
A middle group, who followed some but not all of the Mediterranean pattern, cut their risk by 15 to 21 percent.
When the researchers investigated the data for individual foods, though, no single nutrient or food group had a measurable effect on Alzheimer’s risk.
The authors surmised that it’s the cumulative makeup of the Mediterranean diet that accounts for most of its benefits. It’s full of vegetables and legumes, low in saturated fat, and moderately high in fish, which supplies lean protein and omega-3 fatty acids. It also includes unsaturated fat from virgin olive oil and nuts.
What you can do
Maximizing the potential health benefits of food is more about following certain principles than eating certain “superfoods.” The foundation of the Mediterranean diet includes:
Lemonade, with its abundant citric acid, might help in warding off kidney stones, according to the buzz at a recent meeting of urologists.
And the humble artichoke has emerged as an even better source of disease-fighting antioxidants than chocolate, blueberries, or red wine, according to a Norwegian study of 1,100 foods.
Reports like those might make you think you can protect your health by simply working a few star ingredients into your diet. But decades of research has convinced many experts that the overall pattern of eating--not just individual foods--has the strongest effect.
Case in point: The diet of people living in the Mediterranean region. Long known for its heart-protecting benefits, this dietary pattern might also help prevent cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, new evidence suggests. And no single component of the diet appears to do it alone.
Brain food
In a study published in June 2006 in the journal Annals of Neurology, researchers at Columbia University analyzed the diets of more than 2,200 older adults. Those who ate closest to the Mediterranean model were about 40 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s over the follow-up period (four years on average) than those who least adhered to it.
A middle group, who followed some but not all of the Mediterranean pattern, cut their risk by 15 to 21 percent.
When the researchers investigated the data for individual foods, though, no single nutrient or food group had a measurable effect on Alzheimer’s risk.
The authors surmised that it’s the cumulative makeup of the Mediterranean diet that accounts for most of its benefits. It’s full of vegetables and legumes, low in saturated fat, and moderately high in fish, which supplies lean protein and omega-3 fatty acids. It also includes unsaturated fat from virgin olive oil and nuts.
What you can do
Maximizing the potential health benefits of food is more about following certain principles than eating certain “superfoods.” The foundation of the Mediterranean diet includes:
- Eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables to increase your intake of different phytochemicals, the substances in plants
thought to help fight disease. In studies of blueberries, pomegranate juice, chocolate, and even coffee, researchers nearly
always attribute the health benefits to phytochemicals, which include antioxidants such as lutein and lycopene.
- Choosing real foods over supplements so that you get the whole range of plant chemicals in each, plus the fiber.
- Snacking on nuts. They’re rich in fiber and substances called sterols that can help lower cholesterol. But remember that they’re
also high in calories, so keep portions to about an ounce.
- Getting at least two small servings a week of fatty fish, such as wild salmon or sardines. Pregnant or nursing women and young
children should avoid fish that is high in mercury.
- Minimizing artery-clogging saturated fat and trying to avoid the even more dangerous trans fat, which comes from partly hydrogenated vegetable oil. Use heart-healthy olive oil instead.
