During a 13 year period, about 71,400 women aged 50-79 participated in the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study to help researchers finally answer that old question– Is there a health benefit to eating margarine, rather than butter?  A 2016 issue of the journal Epidemiology, reported on this revealing study. For every teaspoon per day of […]

Gluten is the protein in breads that gives them that chewy elasticity.  When kneading bread dough, bakers stimulate the gluten molecules to get that wonderful texture.  Without that stimulation, the bread would be more tender and cake-like in texture. Found in grains like wheat, barley, and rye, gluten is known to cause serious illness in […]

What could be better than sitting down to a steaming bowl of pasta fagioli?  Or, how about spicy chili without the carne, ladled over rice?  Then, of course there might be beans and greens served over linguini with grated Romano cheese twirled on your fork.  How about a fragrant bean curry served with chewy naan […]

Data from the Women’s Health Initiative compared inflammatory components in subjects’ diets to bone mineral density and fractures.  As reported in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research earlier this year, the women were observed over a six year period.  Those with the least inflammatory diets lost less bone density than those with the most […]

The media love to alarm people with, what I dub, The Nutrition Gospel of the Week.  I read many articles describing studies on nutrition and health, and I often reassure people about their food choices, or teach them how to modify and incorporate scientific findings into their own unique eating styles. When I see articles from different sources […]

Would it not be a dream come true, if eating pasta fragioli, vegan black bean soup, beans and greens, chili without the carne, hummus, and vegan lentil curry were among the best food choices for lowering your risk of Type II Diabetes?  I am happy to report that our dreams have indeed come true. The Journal of […]

Years ago, after suffering bouts of benign positional vertigo, I happened to read about the value of ginger root as a treatment for my miserable symptoms, including nausea.  Eager to find relief, I purchased Nature’s Way ginger root capsules containing 550mg of the herbal powder.  The instructions said to take 2 capsules, and some studies recommend […]

Too often, when people want to shed extra pounds, they eliminate carbohydrates- especially the white potato, thinking they offer little nutritional value.  Remember, when the potato crops failed in successive years in Ireland in the mid to late 19th century, people starved.  This human catastrophe is what led so many of the Irish to flee to […]

Bone density declines in post-menopausal women.  It has long been known that diet and lifestyle have a significant influence on this change in bone health which can lead to fractures and deadly complications.  Many years ago, it was noticed that Chinese women in China, who traditionally eat no dairy products, have fewer bone breaks than Scandinavian women who consume […]

People with IBS [Irritable Bowel Syndrome] with diarrhea and pain experience relief when following a diet invented in Australia, according to a study reported in a recent issue of the American Journal of Gastroenterology.  A diet low in Fermentable Oligo-, Di and Mono-saccharides, and Polyols [FODMAPs] limits foods containing certain carbohydrates that ferment in the intestines […]