Coffee Buzz, Melanoma, Fat Toddlers, Natural Blood Pressure Treatments, More on Supplements - a Food Blog

A number of articles have appeared this week addressing how your diet can affect your health.

In an intriguing report, Danish researchers followed patients for 10 years and found there were 20% less cases of Malignant Melanoma, a dangerous skin cancer, in those who drank 4 or more cups of caffeinated coffee daily. On the other hand, too much coffee by itself has its own side effects; and the protection was quite small.

Nitrates are compounds which can lower your blood pressure. Beet juice and beet soup (borsht) releases nitrates. In a recent study it was found that about 8 oz daily resulted in significant 8 point drop in blood pressure. A natural way to lower your BP. Could that be the reason my mother made borsht all the time?

Infant food has been studied extensively and now is usually low in sodium and processed sugars. But what about toddlers? Researchers found:

• Of nearly 660 infant food products examined, all but 2 were considered low in sodium (≤40 mg/recommended amount customarily consumed per eating occasion. In contrast, 72% of toddler dinners were high in sodium (>210 mg/).
• Most infant foods did not contain added sugars; the exception was ready-to-serve mixed grains and fruits, half of which contained added sugars.
• One third of toddler dinners and most toddler fruit-based snacks and cereal bars had added sugars.

Finally, I have mentioned many time the lack of oversight of the supplement industry. You may recall that one of the advertised impotence drugs contained active Viagra! Now, the New York Attorney General's office has warned GNC, Target, Walmart, and Walgreens to stop selling many common store-brand herbal supplements after DNA tests found that many did not contain the ingredient listed on the product's label or contained contaminants or fillers not included on the label.

Only 21% of the test results from store-brand herbal supplements indicated that the supplements had DNA from the plants listed on the labels. Walmart fared the worst, with only 4% of tests indicating that the product contained DNA from the advertised plant.

New York Times Article

I almost never recommend taking these supplements and now have another reason!