Olive Oil Suppresses a Breast Cancer Gene

As of today this article that I found through ABC news which focuses on research done by Spanish researchers, discovering what they say are “anti-cancer chemicals in extra-virgin olive oil” and its relation to breast cancer, is the most exciting and interesting article based on the Mediterranean Diet that I’ve seen thus far. I thought I’d share what I learned from their research. This news basically shows that the anti-cancer chemicals that are found in extra-virgin olive oil is linked to the healthiness of an olive oil-rich Mediterranean diet and how studies have shown that it reduces one’s risk of breast cancer. In terms of the study, the Spanish researchers “separated extra-virgin olive oil into fractions and tested these against breast cancer cells in the lab.” Olives contain phytochemicals which can be found in antioxidants.


During testing they were able to find that “all the fractions that contained major extra-virgin phytochemical polyphenols effectively inhibited the breast cancer gene HER2.” These major complex phenols found in the extra-virgin olive oil has shown to have a drastic effect on the cancer gene so that it “suppresses [the] overexpression” of the cancer gene. Studies are still trying to find out how this can be better applied to individuals since the amount of consumption that one would have to consume in order for this to take effect is unlikely. A positive note to this finding is that with the addition of extra-virgin oil into your diet as long as you are consuming other “significant amount of [phytochemicals]” then all-in-all this would be an “excellent and safe platform for the design of new anti-breast cancer drugs.” It’s fascinating to learn the new discoveries that researchers find everyday especially when it shows that aspects of the Mediterranean Diet are involved.





Reference:

[1] Preidt, Robert. “Phenols in Quality Olive Oil Suppress Breast Cancer Gene.”
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Healthday/story?id=6485187&page=1

The Incredible, Edible…. Nut? Part 2

Junk food seems to be a problem that a lot of Americans are struggling with. According to the American Heart Association it has been stated that as of this date “50 million Americans have metabolic syndrome, a combination of health risks, such as high blood pressure and abdominal obesity.” These findings are a reason why it is very important for everyone to be more cautious about their health and their eating habits. Simple things such as replacing less healthy snacks such as chips or certain types of crackers with nuts can be very beneficial and favorable in seeing results and change in your diet. The key to solving this crisis would be to find a way in reversing the way people think and eat when it comes to food. By simply sticking to a healthy lifestyle instead of a so-called diet could be the answer. A lot of individuals freak out or feel discouraged when they hear the word ‘diet’ because it’s very hard to fall off the wagon and lose track of your life these days. The Mediterranean diet makes this easy, it’s more so a guideline than a frightening diet. Another great thing about nuts is that including the benefits it also helps individuals feel full “while also increasing the body’s ability to burn fat.” The anti-inflammatory

substances and antioxidants that are contained nuts help make them to be as beneficial as they are. The healthy fat that nuts contain also help to “lower blood triglycerides” and therefore enables us to “increase good cholesterol.” On the left I included a diagram that I found in the MSNBC article published by the Associated Press. The diagram basically shows results from a study that conducted on 1200 Spaniards located in the Mediterranean region that ranged from the ages of 55 to 80. The study followed the individuals and made sure they followed a specific diet for an entire year. To make the study helpful in understanding what they were trying to find, they made sure that all of the participants did not have prior history to heart disease, though some of the participants did have risk factors which included “Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and abdominal obesity.” The fact that the individuals were risk factors, made this study even more important; that way we could really get down to the basics and find out how beneficial nuts really are to individuals that are risk for these health problems. The three diets that were studied are shown in the diagram with the results showing the difference in their risk factors from when they started the study to when they concluded a year later:
“The low-fat group was given basic advice about reducing all fat in their diets. Another group ate a Mediterranean diet with extra nuts. The third group ate a Mediterranean diet and was told to make sure they ate more than four tablespoons of olive oil a day.”

For all of the individuals that were on the Mediterranean diet they were advised to use olive oil when cooking their food, increase their appetite for fruit, vegetables and fish and other guidelines that the Mediterranean diet follows. All those that were drinkers were advised to drink red wine instead of other alcohol choices. As seen in the diagram, after on year all three groups were able to see some sort of improvement. I hope studies such as these give you the courage to start focusing more on your health and to make others aware of their health as well. Just making a few changes can really go a long way, take a look below for more interesting facts about nuts:




Just a Reminder on some Interesting Facts about Nuts:

• Including nuts into your diet in moderation can actually slim you down
• Peanuts are in the same family as beans and peas therefore they are technically legumes
• Nuts can also be categorized under the same food group as ‘protein’ due to the classification of being a legume
• The fats found in nuts are not technically bad for you; Omega-3 fatty acids found in nuts provide “cardiovascular protection and lower ‘bad’ cholesterol.”
• Nuts are good sources of B vitamins






Reference:
[1] The Associated Press. “A nutty diet may cut heart disease risk.” Msnbc, 8 . 2008. .

[2] Collins, Rebecca. Ezine Articles, 2008

The Incredible, Edible…Nut? Part 1

Just a handful of nuts a day can go a long way these days. Challenge yourself this year and trade away those unhealthy snacks for nuts, or if you happen to be allergic to nuts then choose a healthier route such as fruits or yogurt. In previous blogs I have boasted about the straight healthiness of nuts but a recent article published on MSNBC set the record straight. As long as you follow the Mediterranean diet guidelines which are “rich in fruit, vegetables and fish” and eat a handful of nuts for an entire year, there is proof that you may be able to “help undo a collection of risk factors for heart disease.” Interestingly enough, researchers discovered through their studies that an addition of nuts into an individual’s diet worked better than “boosting the olive oil in a typical Mediterranean diet.”

I’m a huge fan of olive oil; when I’m cooking eggs, sautéing vegetables on the saucepan, or replacing butter or margarine, and then I’m using olive oil. I pretty much use olive oil on a regular basis. Regardless of nuts being proved to be more beneficial in this situation, both “regimens cut the heart risks knows as metabolic syndrome” in the majority of people than a “low-fat” diet would. My Aunt, located in the UK, always encouraged me to munch on nuts and since 2004 when I last saw her, I began to eat a variety of nuts on a more consistent basis and I did notice the benefits; I didn’t realize how beneficial they were until I started to do more research on them and after I started feeling more energetic and healthier.


The most surprising finding that these researchers discovered was that fact that there appeared to be “substantial metabolic benefits” with weight loss and calorie reduction. Results and Improvements that showed in individuals were told to eat about “three whole walnuts, seven or eight whole hazelnuts and seven or eight whole almonds” and these individuals noticed an improvement in their cholesterol, blood pressure and their appearance. These individuals did not particularly lose weight but they did find that there was a reduction in their belly fat. This is a pretty sweet deal, and this study does not even include any factor of exercising, just the finding of eating healthier. If you can commit to changing just minor eating habits you too can see these types of results, why not give yourself a challenge and try this today. Look out for our week long blogs about the benefits and continuing research on the healthiness of the incredible, edible ‘nut.’





Reference: [1] The Associated Press. “A nutty diet may cut heart disease risk.” Msnbc, 8 Dec. 2008. .

Wine Vs. Other Alcoholic Beverages

As we have discussed in previous blogs, wine consumption has been linked to “a reduced cardiovascular risk.” This study was done in a Mediterranean region, particular Spain, to show that when an individual drinks wine moderately compared to other alcoholic beverages there is a relation to having a lower morality rate in total. This finding also showed the difference in the way individuals that drink moderately eat compared to individuals that dank other alcoholic beverages. The main conclusion that came out of this study was that there is in fact a “better dietary pattern…found among nondrinkers than among drinkers.” Four specific questionnaires were conducted among participants with a trained dietitian present to see whether they preferred wine, beer, another kind of alcohol beverage or simply no alcohol at all. This study went into great detail on alcohol preference, for instance, one of the surveys specifically called a 137-item food frequency questionnaire listed wines such as “red, white, rose…and vintage wines” and liquors such as “anisette, whisky, vodka, gin and cognac.” Once individuals picked out their choices the participants were distributed into five drinking groups (nondrinkers, wine drinkers, beer drinkers, sprits drinkers, and no alcoholic beverage preference). After the alcohol preferences were sorted out it was time to figure out the participant’s dietary habits with relation to the Mediterranean Diet.

Using the Mediterranean dietary pattern the researchers constructed a system in order distribute points to the participants that consumed the proper food components such as vegetables, fruits, legumes, cereals, fish, and olive oil. Basically these scientists were trying to figure out, through the surveys that they conducted and also with the knowledge of the Mediterranean Diet, which members of these groups followed the Mediterranean Diet the best and what all of us, as food consumers, can learn from this? The scientists believed that the significance of this study was important in making individuals aware about their findings. All of the Mediterranean participants were at high cardiovascular risk and because they were all a high-risk group it was important for find out “if wine drinkers had a better dietary pattern that could explain the proposed health effects of wine.” Researchers believe that it is important to make aware of the health benefits of wine and to differentiate those benefits from other alcoholic beverages especially from those that are at “greater risk for developing cardiovascular disease.” Interestingly enough, other studies have shown that wine drinkers have healthier dietary habits which are also similar to the Mediterranean food pattern. These individuals also choose healthier paths in life and appear healthy in most aspects of their life such as having “a lower prevalence of smoking, a higher educational level, and healthier scores in psychological test assessing…self esteem, sensation seeking” and all of this is due to individuals that choose to drink wine instead of other alcoholic beverages.



Reference: [1] Carmona-Torre F de A, et al. “Relationship of alcoholic beverage consumption to food habits in a Mediterranean population.” Am J Health Promot. 2008 Sep-Oct; 23(1): 27-30.

What just a Little bit of ‘Mediterranean’ can do for you!

I want to challenge you to try something new starting tomorrow or even today if you have not eaten yet. Anything you decide to cook from now on, replace whatever vegetable oil that may be recommended and try cooking with olive oil. According to some research done on 26,000 Greeks, scientists were able to find that just by these individuals using more olive oil in their diet they were able to cut the risk of cancer by 9%. It’s quite fascinating to know that just by including more of this healthy oil into your diet can help you reduce your chances of developing certain cancers. Throughout their study, these scientists concluded that just by including “a couple of elements of the Mediterranean diet [this] could cut the risk of cancer by 12%.” It’s better to start off little than to not do anything at all. It really doesn’t take much effort just to replace your cooking oil. So let us get this straight; here are the basics when it comes to improving your health:

• Eating more unsaturated fats such as olive oil reduces your risk of cancer by 9%

And to further achieve the benefits that the Mediterranean Diet:

• Eating less red meat and more “peas, beans, and lentils, [can] cut the risk of cancer by 12%”

Another addition to your life you might want to consider is adding broccoli into your diet. Studies have shown that broccoli fights against heart disease and stops prostate cancer. The Mediterranean diet praises “higher amounts of fruits [and] vegetables…” and broccoli has appeared to be a very beneficial vegetable especially for men that are vulnerable to prostate cancer. Scientists were able to test the benefits of these vegetables by comparing the “effects of adding 400 grams of broccoli or peas a week” in diets of men that were at a greater risk of developing prostate cancer. Researchers found that the individuals that were tested by eating broccoli had a change in the “activity of genes” in their prostate. Broccoli is not the only vegetable that they believe they could find changes in; “their findings raised the possibility [that] other ‘cruciferous’ vegetables, such as cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, could help prevent or slow down the disease” if the patient were to have a particular “gene variant.” What I want all of you to take from this is that just by changing little things in your life can hugely impact you in advantageous ways.

Reference: [1]:

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7483164.stm>

Younger Generation goes Mediterranean

Western Crete, a small town in Greece, is considered to be the birthplace of the Mediterranean Diet, and is having a huge dilemma with the younger children in a place where individuals were brought up eating “fresh produce and fish” instead of from places such as “chocolate shops, pizza places, ice cream parlors…and fast-food joints.” Instead of eating healthy like the Greeks have in the past, they have succumbed to their fear of a more westernized civilization of junk food and poor eating habits. It is very critical for the younger generation to know the importance of having good eating habits while maintaining a healthy living style. Dr. Michalis Stagourakis noticed that in Kasteli, Greece there has been a huge transformation in the way the people in the Mediterranean region are eating; specifically “a changing diet [producing] an epidemic of obesity and related maladies.”

Sadly in Europe, nowadays the Mediterranean diet is hard to find in the places where it once originated from; instead it’s easier to find the healthier cooking at “restaurants of London and New York.” Of course you can always go to the supermarket to get the foods that you need to create a healthy Mediterranean dish, and there are even cheap frozen Mediterranean dinners for those that are fairly busy. Take a look at my previous blogs to get more information on foods on the go and previous recipes from Chef Maria Liberati. It is quite ironic how the Mediterranean diet that we know to be “associated with longer life spans and lower rates of heart disease and cancer” is being transitioned to a younger generation of about two-thirds of overweight children. Someone commented that it’s quite scary that individuals, from where this healthy diet originated from, used to live until they were around 100 and now “you see kids whose longevity is less than their parents.”

Out of concern, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations decided to focus on this growing problem and help educated people on what used to be the ever so popular Mediterranean Diet. Due to overall unhealthiness of the children in this area that they focused on in Greece, the Greek government decided to educate them. They were lectured on nutrition and taught lessons that included the food pyramid, specifically focusing on the Mediterranean diet. Interesting statistics to know is that in Greece “three-quarters of the adult population is overweight or obese” and in the United States “66 percent of adults older than 20 were overweight in 2004, and 31.9 percent of children 2 through 19 were overweight in 2006.” Greece and the United States differ in the way that they eat in general but surprisingly in Greece the growing number of children getting “fat” is quite shocking. Interestingly enough, the older generation is more shocked at younger generation due to the fact that “Greece had for so long been a poor nation where hunger was a recurrent problem” and another striking fact to note is that in the United States “obesity is more pronounced in adults than in children” while, like we have discussed previously, in the Mediterranean region weight problems is more prevalent in the younger generation. Obviously living in a village in Greece is quite different than growing up in a city like Los Angeles or New York. If we combine the methods from the Greeks and use that in our younger generation in the United States, we will be educating and perhaps preparing our children for a healthier future. Why not help prevent our children from having coronary heart disease when they are much older, or perhaps from having cancer. If we start with the younger generation it will be beneficial to us all in the long run.

Reference: [1] Rosenthal, Elisabeth. “Fast Food Hits Mediterranean; a Diet Succumbs.” The New York Times. 23 Sep. 2008.

Antioxidants and the Mediterranean Diet

Italian Researchers, Drs. Francesco Visioli and Claudio Galli, decided to take a look at the importance of antioxidants and the role it plays in the Mediterranean Diet. This research was conducted at the University of Milan in Italy. The researchers pointed out specifically that the traditional Mediterranean diets are a bit different from how diets are portrayed in Northern Europe and American diets. Something that particularly stands out is the fact that the traditional Mediterranean diets “include a significantly large amount of plant foods…[and] this notable difference between the two eating styles…has been associated with a lower risk of developing coronary heart disease and certain cancers.”

Something that may contribute to having coronary heart disease is having “high plasma cholesterol levels” which can be found in other popular diets in the US for example compared to the healthy eating style portrayed from the traditional Mediterranean Diet. These foods that are involved in the Mediterranean Diet have one of the best things your body could ask you for, and that would be; antioxidants. Antioxidants and its “excessive free radical production” have shown in a great number of studies that they have been linked to a reduction of the diseases that we have mentioned earlier. Through the research that these Italian scientists have conducted we are going to get into more depth about how the abundance of “fruits, vegetables, breads, nuts, seeds, wine and olive oil” have a great impact on individuals and their relation to “human disease.”

There are several different kinds of antioxidants; some of the antioxidants that these researchers focused on and its involvement with the Mediterranean diet are, “tocopherols, carotenoids, flavonoids, and polyphenols.” Again, unlike many other diets out there, the huge benefit of the Mediterranean diet is that it focuses much of its attention on fruits and vegetables and other many ingredients that are “rich in vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals” that represent a “major source of antioxidants.” Let’s take a closer look at the specific antioxidant vitamins and how they contribute to specific diseases:

(1) Tocopherols

This particular antioxidant can be found in “nuts, wheat germ, vegetable oils (i.e., seed oils), margarine, mayonnaise, butter, and eggs.” Epidemiologic studies have shown a correlation between the intake of tocopherol and its protection against coronary heart disease and certain cancers.

(2) Carotenoids

The great thing about carotenoids is its special relationship with Vitamin A. They are found in “heavily pigmented fruits and vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, red peppers, and pumpkins” which are very commonly used in meals prepared particularly inspired by the Mediterranean diet. Epidemiologic studies have shown that plasma levels of carotenoids are “positively correlated with a lower incidence of [coronary heart disease] and lung cancer.”

[3] Vitamin C

Citrus fruits are a great provider of Vitamin C. Popular fruits in this category consist of oranges, tangerines, grapefruits and lemons. Leafy vegetables are also a great source of this. A very important fact to know is that Vitamin C is actually the “principal antioxidant of human plasma.”

[4] Phytochemicals (nonvitamin antioxidants)

Polyphenols fall into the category of phytochemicals and are very abundant in the Mediterranean diet especially when it comes to “its high proportion of fruits and vegetables and to the consumption of red wine and olive oil.” Wine, when consumed moderately, have been known to have beneficial effects to an individual’s health especially from the protection from coronary heart disease. We have talked previously on how great olive oil is and how you should make olive oil your best friend.

Overall, these scientists believe in the benefits of antioxidants but they do suggest that your best bet is to follow a healthful diet, such as the Mediterranean Diet, and make sure to consume your body with an “abundance of…fruits, vegetables, [moderation of] wine, and olive oil” and you’re on a healthier path for tomorrow.







Reference: (1) Visioli, Francesco and Galli, Claudio. “The Role of Antioxidants in the Mediterranean Diet.” Lipids, Vol.36, Supplement (2001).