Tag Archives: Dietary Health

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Diet: Benefits Of Eating Blueberries (Mayo Clinic)

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Blueberries might be the best example of how good things come in small packages. Dietitian Anya Miller says that includes protection for your heart, thanks to something called an anthocyanin – a compound in these berries that gives them their deep blue hue. Studies have shown eating foods high in these anthocyanins can help lower your risk of developing coronary heart disease. Besides the heart-healthy perk, that serving of blueberries will get you some vitamin C, dietary fiber and natural sweetness. That makes them blueberries a boost for physical and mental health.

COMMENTARY;

Anthocyanins are a member of the flavonoid plant-chemical family and are responsible for the red and purple colors of many fruits and vegetables. They are pleiotropic (Multi faceted )In their health benefits, and are good for diabetes and metabolic syndrome, obesity, cardiovascular disease,  inflammation, dementia and cancer. If this sounds almost too good to be true, the OPTIMAL AMOUNT of anthocyanins has not yet been determined. let’s hope that you cannot ingest too much of these marvelous substances, and that they don’t follow the path of vitamin C, an excess of which can prove detrimental to inflammatory defenses..

On the optimistic side, it’s been stated multiple times in the literature that antioxidant and free radical effects are just part of the benefits conferred by anthocyanins, and that the mechanism of benefit remains to be discovered.

Anthocyanins are present in blueberries, blackberries, bilberries, cherries, red cabbage and so many other fruits and vegetables. The benefits of a fruit and vegetable-based diet have been extolled for a long time, and I am buying into this narrative.

The large amount of fiber present in fruits and vegetables is an independent benefit, not to mention taking up space in the stomach that could displace red meat, saturated fat, and that great enemy of modern civilization, sugar.

Be sure to eat your fruits and vegetables as such, and not in the form of juices, which have the habit of being sweetened, or in the case of tomatoes, loaded with salt.

With fall coming on, also remember that anthocyanins form the basis for much of the brilliant reds and oranges present in the fall leaves; They nourish the eyesight along with the rest of the body.

—Dr. C.

Men's Health, Opinion, Women's Health

DIETARY HEALTH: “SALT AND THE HUMAN CONDITION”

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Salt, so important to human health and disease, is also prominent in HUMAN HISTORY. Civilization has required it from earliest times. Cereal grains, the ‘Staff of life” is relatively low in SODIUM CHLORIDE, salt, making it a desirable food additive.

PRESERVATION of food before refrigeration required salt. Natron (Natrium is latin for salt, and Na is its chemical symbol) was the Egyptian city known for its salt. Salary was an income supplement to Roman Legionnaires for purchase of salt.

Salt, gold and slaves were prominent in north African trade, and salt was often as valuable, ounce for ounce, as gold. “Below the salt” in medieval times meant the “cheap seats” in Feasts; only the “high table” had salt.

SEA WATER was about 0.9% salt at the dawn of Life, and that is presently the salt concentration in EXTRACELLULAR FLUID.

TASTE BUDS are happy with salty foods, and one set is specialized to pick up salty favors. The 4 others are sweet, sour, bitter and umami. As you can see, these taste buds were pro-evolutionary in our paleolithic ancestors.

The extra salt, sugar, and fats that taste so good in our present modern, excessive society are over-generously supplied by capitalistic producers intent on enhancing sales. Portions keep getting ever larger to encourage us to eat more.

Salt supports BLOOD PRESSURE, and sometimes ER Patients in shock are given saline infusions. More commonly, HYPERTENSION is treated by salt restriction, as illustrated in the accompanying Infographic.

POTASSIUM is the most common cation in the INTRACELLULAR FLUID, just as Sodium is most common in the Extracellular fluid. Our bodies fastidiously defend narrow concentration limits of Sodium, Potassium and other electrolytes which are important constituents of the famous Milieu interieur.

It is interesting that the Sodium-Potassium ATP Pump requires a large percentage of the ENERGY used to keep us alive. This pump also keeps our cell membranes POLARIZED, so important in NERVE TRANSMISSION.

So eat a lot of NATURAL FOODS, high in potassium, and avoid the catsup, sauces and condiments that riddle our high sodium, Fast food, modern diets.

–Dr. C.