And the eating fest begins! Parties here, dinners there. Um, what about healthy eating?
Kim Galeaz, RD, CD and co-author of 4 Weeks to Maximum Immunity offer these tips (pdf files) to help keep energy levels up and support a healthy immune system throughout the holiday season and throughout the year:

Grocery Store Roadmap: Kim navigates the aisles to make the most out of a trip to the store by showing readers how to find the best immune system-supporting foods.
Cook Away Colds: You are home from the grocery store, what’s next? Use Kim’s mouth-watering recipes to provide the body with the nutrients …read more

Although we do buy organic foodstuff from time to time, we are by no means buying exclusively organic. It must be as tough as not buying anything that’s made in China!
So I take my hats off to Dr. Greene, the 100 percent organic man, who has been eating only organic produce (including meat!) for 3 years, even when eating out! Contrary to expectations, eating purely organic food isn’t really that much more expensive, since he has cut his meat intake quite a bit, so it somehow just balances off. Is he better off eating organic? He says he gets sick …read more

Whether the public is ready or not, big leaps are happening in the field of nutrigenomics. In a paper published in Nature Genetics, scientists have identified 11 new gene variants (in addition to 19 other previously reported) associated with three blood lipids measured to determine cardiovascular disease risk: low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and triglycerides.
These results indicate that a person may have any combination of these genes which can result to dyslipidemia, i.e., a combo of high LDL and triglyceride levels and extremely low HDL-cholesterol which is linked to cardiovascular disease risks. A personalized dietary plan drafted according …read more

High blood pressure, which often remains unnoticed by those affected, is crucial for the development of cardiovascular disease. Among the carotenoids found in plant foods, lycopene is the most powerful antioxidant in vitro. As shown by Paran and colleagues, lycopene-rich tomatoe extract (Lyc-O-Mato) – when tested in a double blind cross-over study over 6 weeks versus placebo – may help to better control hypertension in patients receiving standard low-dose medication (such as ACE inhibitors or beta-blockers).
“The benefits of our study are in the use of an effective concentration of antioxidants in their natural formulation, tomato extract with all the nutrients …read more

Selenium, a micronutrient essential for human health, is often considered as a magic bullet for the prevention of age-related diseases, especially cancer. However, in the SELECT study, published in the journal JAMA on December 9, selenium supplementation in middle-aged, healthy men did not seem to help reduce the occurrence of prostate cancer. Even in combination with vitamin E, a compound often praised for its antioxidant and hence disease-preventive potential, selenium did not show any significant effect.
Notweworthy, the study confirms data from the EPIC study (December issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition) which also did not detect any …read more

Looking for something natural to help your kid’s coughs and colds? Try a dose of buckwheat honey just before bedtime. According to a study that has been published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine it might work even better than an over-the-counter cough medicine in relieving cough to help your child sleep better.
Ian M. Paul, M.D., M.Sc., Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, and team carried out a study on 105 children – they were aged 2-18, and all were suffering from upper respiratory tract infections. They were ill for up to seven days and experienced symptoms during …read more

Selenium, a trace mineral found in grains, nuts and meats, may aid in the prevention of high-risk bladder cancer.
A recently published comparing the blood selenium levels of 767 recently diagnosed bladder cancer patients with 1,108 individuals from the general population indicates that selenium levels in the blood is inversely related to bladder cancer incidence among women, some smokers and those with p53 positive bladder cancer.
The data are still preliminary, and there is no causative relationship established indicating that selenium does have chemo-preventive properties, but the data are promising.
“Ultimately, if it is true that selenium can prevent a certain subset of …read more

Are you still using corn oil? You might want to switch to canola, according to a recent study on the effects of these oils on breast cancer risks.
In this study, researchers fed one group of mice a diet containing corn oil and another group a diet containing canola oil, then recorded the incidence of breast cancer and changes to breast cancer regulating genes in the offspring. All offspring were fed a diet containing corn oil after weaning.
While both groups of offspring were about the same weight, the total tumor weight, number of glands with tumors and fraction of mice with …read more

Yet another report on the cancer-fighting properties of broccoli: it appears that the cancer-protective properties of broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables lower the lung cancer risk among smokers.
Among smokers, the protective effect of cruciferous vegetable intake ranged from a 20 percent reduction in risk to a 55 percent reduction in risk depending on the type of vegetable consumed and the duration and intensity of smoking.
For example, among current smokers, only the consumption of raw cruciferous vegetables was associated with risk reduction of lung cancer. No significant results were found for consumption of vegetables in general and fruits.
Researchers further divided their …read more

A new probiotic bar said to contain 10x more live culture than yogurt has been released to the market. Pop Culture Probiotic Bars contain GanedenBC30(TM), a patented probiotic strain that can survive baking and manufacturing processes, remain viable even if unrefrigerated, and –take this– withstand the acidic stomach environment. Apparently, the secret lies on the bacteria being protected by a “naturally-occurring hardened shell of organic material”.
I can’t find information on what bacteria they are using (would be good to know what they’re putting in your food, wouldn’t it?) and what this organic material shell is made of. If this …read more