Mushrooms – The Next Wonder Food?
August 18, 2008
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Mushrooms are being suggested to be a food that you should be eating frequently. They contain a number of important minerals, vitamins, including vitamin D, and an antioxidant, and high in fiber, and they are low in calories.
An interesting study looked at substituting mushrooms for meat in a several dishes. The mushroom substituted dishes had less calories (less energy dense). The research showed that the study participants only ate slightly more food to compensate for there being less calories. After 4 days the participants when on the mushroom diet had consumed on average almost 1500 less calories, than when they were on the meat diet. This suggests that mushrooms as part of prepared dishes could help reduce the number of calories that are consumed.
The dishes prepared were lasagna (meat 1026 kcal, mushroom 451 kcal), savory napoleon, a dish with layers of puff pastry (meat 679 kcal, mushroom 359 kcal), sloppy joe (meat 822 kcal, mushroom 248 kcal) and chili (meat 604 kcal, mushroom 300 kcal).
Recently, a lot of research has shown that many people do not get enough vitamin D. There is a trend that number of people vitamin D deficient increases with age. See the recent post Low vitamin D increases the risk of death.
Commercial mushrooms are for the most part grown in the dark. The standard white button mushroom grown this way has about 15 IU of vitamin D. However, if mushrooms are given a brief exposureto UV light after harvesting, the level of vitamin D increases significantly and can even be close to 400 IU, which is the recommended intake for those 50 to 71 years. The exposure does darken the mushrooms, but this change in appearance is a small price for the improvement in the level of vitamin D. Some commercial growers are now working on ways to expose mushrooms to light before packing and shipping.
Mushrooms contain the antioxidant ergothioneine, the minerals copper, potassium and selenium and the B vitamins riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3) and pantothenic acid (B5), and are high in fiber. All in a great food to include frequently in your diet. If only there were a little cheaper.
photo credit: ampersandyslexia
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CoQ10, will now be added to many foods and drinks?
July 28, 2008
CoQ10 (coenzyme Q10, ubiquinone) is a compound in the body that is essential for life. It is found in mitochondria, which are the powerhouses of cells. Mitochondria convert the energy that is in the food we eat, into a form of energy that the body can use.
CoQ10 can function as an antioxidant and is included in some dietary supplements that are sold for their antioxidant properties.
Since our cells need CoQ10 our bodies make it. However, there are several studies that suggest that as we age that we make less CoQ10, and that we start to become deficient. CoQ10 supplementation has been investigated for efficacy in a number of diseases including cancer, Parkinson’s and high blood pressure (hypertension). There is some evidence that this compound might be helpful but the jury is still out.
The most common treatment for high cholesterol are statins (mevacor ( lovastation) Zocor (simavastatin), lipitor, pravachol, lescol, crestor). These drugs have a very slight risk of myopathy (muscle damage). Studies sugest that statins may lower the level of CoQ10 in the body and for some who may have lower levels of CoQ10 to start with, this may lead to myopathy. Some doctors now suggest taking CoQ10 supplementation.
CoQ10 is not soluble in water. If you open up a capsule of CoQ10 there is an orange oil. The CoQ10 is dissolved in the oil, and gives it an orange color.
The fact that CoQ10 is not water soluble has limited what it can added too. Now a chemist has found a way to make it disperse in water using nanotechnology, using detergent micelles that have a lipophilic (fat loving) center will take up CoQ10 into the center. These micelles are stable in water.
This is being touted as being a way to add CoQ10 or any other water insoluble compound to supplements. I do wonder though where the nanosphere will release the CoQ10 in the gut or whether it will pass on out.
More information can be found in a Science Daily release.
Addendum added later: I also wonder whether the CoQ10 in water and not taken with dietary fat will be efficiently absorbed. For instance more lycopene is absorbed from tomatoes when they are consumed with oil.
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Artichoke Leaf: The Next Wonder Food!
July 8, 2008
Expect to hear quite a bit about artichoke leaf and artichoke leaf extract, which is often abbreviated to ALE. I predict that supplements containing artichoke leaf will soon be popping up everywhere. A search of PubMed using artichoke brings up a number of studies on a wide range of potential benefits. The most recent is lowering cholesterol.
The globe artichoke (Cynara cardunculus) is a perennial thistle and is closely related to the cardoon. Other types of thistles have been suggested to have a range of health benefits. These include milk thistle for treatment of liver diseases and burdock, which is said to be a blood purifier.
Artichoke leaf extracts are widely available in Europe. They have been sold primarily as a treatment for indigestion, some urinary problems (hyperuricemia) and gout. Recently they have been shown to have positive effects on symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome.
Globe artichokes, of course, have antioxidants. I suspect that there is not a single plant that does not have some form of antioxidant. In particular artichokes have been suggested to protect the liver from oxidative stress. Artichoke leaf extract has also been shown to limit damage form oxidative stress in high intensity physical activity.
The most recent study looked at the effects of the leaf extract on moderately increased cholesterol levels. Those that consumed 1280 mg of artichoke leaf extract for 12 weeks saw a decrease in total cholesterol. I wonder how many artichokes I would have to eat to get the equivalent amount. Probably all the butter and mayo would counteract the good effect.
photo credit: Dylan Parker
[tags]artichoke leaf, artichoke leaf extract, ALE, globe artichoke, cholesterol, antioxidant[tags]
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Foods You Should Be Eating?
July 1, 2008
The NY Times today has a list of 11 foods that you should be eating, but likely are not. How many do you eat?
They are 1) beets, 2) cabbage, 3) chard, 4) cinnamon, 5) pomegranate juice, 6) dried plums (newish name for prunes), 7) pumpkin seeds, 
turmeric*, 9) sardine, 10) frozen blueberries and 11) canned pumpkin.
I didn’t do very well. I regularly eat cabbage, chard, pomegranate juice, frozen blueberries and canned pumpkin. I loathe beets, so maybe for me the list should be 10. I am not very keen on sardines but will eat them. Perhaps I can find some way to disguise them a bit.
I started to buy canned pumpkin for the dog. It is good for dogs to get a dollop a day, particularly when they are getting old and/or have a significant part of their diet as raw meat, offal etc. They benefit from beta carotene too. So I usually have a dish of canned pumpkin (don’t leave in the can) in the fridge and often add a human dollop or two, to stews etc.
Wasn’t too keen on chard until one day I tried removing the stems, chopping them into about 1 inch lengths and frying them for a good few minutes before adding the wet leaves. Shame it is not cheaper.
Pomegranate juice and vodka is pretty good.
Between them these foods have a whole range of benefits such as anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, antioxidants, lower cholesterol, improve diabetes, etc. See the article or more info.
So, I guess next time I go to the store, I might buy some prunes and pumpkin seeds and at home will cook with more cinnamon and turmeric. Will have to think about the sardines.
* I have no idea where the happy face came from and why it replaced number eight. Deleting and retyping the text surrounding it does not help, it pops back up again instead of 8). I usually type the posts in Word and then copy and paste. Probably some weird piece of code that came from Word.
Technorati Tags: beets, pomegranate, chard, canned pumpkin
Popularity: 45% [?]
National eat red week
February 7, 2008
This is first eat red week (Feb 4 -10). This is an offshoot of the wear red campaign. The wear red (on Feb 1) campaign was started several years ago by the American Heart Association (AHA), as part of Heart Health month. The idea is to draw attention to the fact that cardiovascular disease is the number one killer for women as well as men. Check out goredforwomen.org which is run by the AHA. I wear a “red dress” pin, the logo for red for women, on one of my favorite jackets.
Why should you be eating red? The idea is to try to get people to eat more red colored fruits and vegetables. The red color indicates high levels of antioxidants, which are good for you. Eating fruits and vegetables with high levels of antioxidants have been shown to have lots of health benefits. One of the fruits with the high levels of antioxidants is cherries. They are packed with antioxidants known as anthocyanins, which have been shown to lower both cholesterol and triglycerides. Though the fresh cherry season is short they are now available year round as juice, dried, frozen and canned. Tart cherries tend to have higher levels of anthocyanins but they are all good; juice and dried cherries have higher levels than frozen and canned. I love frozen cherries, and will eat them semi-thawed or put half a bag on my cereal in the morning. Check out choosecherries.com for some info and some delicious recipes.
Other good sources of anthocyanins include eggplant, red grapes, blackcurrants and most red and purple berries. Many fruits have the highest levels in the skin, so eat the skin.
So this week eat red to protect your heart and health.
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