Butter or Margarine – Do You Really Know Which is Healthier?
With over 30 years of health writing behind me, I have never wavered in my allegiance to butter. Certainly on taste grounds, but also in terms of health because a little butter for me is far preferable to a lot of other substances. We need a certain amount of fat in our diet to help our body absorb fat soluble vitamins and butter helps with this as well as increasing the absorption of many other nutrients from our food.
Is margarine better than butter is a question that I am frequently asked, and I know there are a lot of other butter lovers out there, so let me help you decide if you are really having the healthiest option.
The main reason that most people abandon butter is because of its high levels of saturated fat and certainly margarine is lower in saturated fat, but not by a massive amount. Further, it carries its own hazards mainly because its high levels of trans fats pack a double whammy for heart disease by raising levels of LDL (bad cholesterol) and lowering levels of HDL (good cholesterol). A recent Harvard Medical Study found that over eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% compared to the same amount of butter.
Despite extensive advertising, again according to Harvard Medical School, there never was any good evidence that using margarine instead of butter cut the chances of having a heart attack or developing heart disease. So the switch to margarine became a move to a product that offered just as much danger but without the benefit of tasting good. The good news is, if you have already switched and happy with the taste, that some of the newer margarines are low in saturated fat, high in unsaturated fat, and free of trans fats so they are fine as long as you don’t use too much as they are still rich in calories.
If you want to have a healthy heart, then avoid margarine and use butter sparingly. Personally, I have adopted the French habit of not using butter at all on bread if I am adding something to it like cheese or honey, and reserving it for essentials like baked potatoes and crumpets where the taste makes a real difference.
There are however a couple of healthy options that you might want to add to your diet to supplement butter and these are olive oil and other vegetable oil–based spreads, which contain beneficial mono- and polyunsaturated fats. Again, our continental neighbours — this time in Italy — have a good habit of dipping their bread in olive oil rather than buttering it and that has definite healthy heart benefits.
As I am tirelessly fond of saying, ‘a little of what you fancy does you good’ so if butter falls into that category you can eat it with a clear conscience — just don’t overdo it.
Bee venom found to be medically useful – could this save them from extinction?
There has been much concern recently about the plight of the poor bumble bee as their numbers have declined so drastically the feared impact on the environment and our plant life is said to be truly serious.
However, there does not appear to have been any real concerted action to do something about it but now a new development which shows how bee venom could be effective in treating certain conditions — and therefore somebody could make some money out of it — might possibly just be the saving of them.
A collaboration between the University of Bristol and the University of Liege in Belgium believes that a toxin extracted from honey bee venom could potentially be used in the treatment of muscular dystrophy, depression and dementia.
Apamin, a natural peptide toxin found in bee venom, is known for its ability to block a type of ion channel that enables a high-speed and selective flow of potassium ions out of nerves. What the researchers have discovered is that the blocking of these channels in the brain causes nerves to become hyperexcitable and that this produces improved learning that has implications for the treatment of dementia and depression. In addition, injection of apamin improves the symptoms experienced by sufferers of myotonic muscular dystrophy (MD).
Professor Neil Marrion, from the University of Bristol’s Physiology & Pharmacology department, said: “Drug design depends on knowing the target. Our findings have provided a new approach to designing a therapeutic agent that could help with the treatment of a number of conditions.”
If you want to get ahead of the research, then can I suggest you start your own regime by using an organic high factor honey such as Manuka 15 or 30 and treat yourself to a spoonful of so every day as it has many health benefits — unless of course you are a diabetic in which case you might just have to hold on and wait for the bees to produce enough venom!
On a different note… A family business who is doing something to help bees thrive is EssexBees.co.uk. They sell honey and other bee products. But they are offering you the chance to have your own hives in the garden for nothing! And you get to keep some of the honey – They just keep most of it as your payment to them. If you’re interested and live in South East Essex check them out.
For More info on Honey Bees – visit Essex Bees
The fragrant way to a good night’s sleep
I am not a fan of sleeping pills, except in extreme need and for short term use as their side effects can outweigh the benefits.
There are many natural ways to help sleep from herbal concoctions to specially designed light systems, but now there is an entirely fragrant way that apparently can soothe, relieve anxiety and promote sleep with the same mechanism of action and strength as the commonly prescribed barbiturates.
Just what is this miracle worker? It is the aroma of jasmine from Gardenia jasminoides and has been researched by Düsseldorf University where they have discovered that the two fragrances Vertacetal-coeur (VC) and the chemical variation (PI24513) have the same molecular structure as barbiturates.
Who said you can’t make money out of nature? Well it appears that these researchers will as they have been granted a patent for their discovery, as they reported in the current online issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Sedatives, sleeping pills and relaxants are the most frequently prescribed psychotropic drugs and strange as it may seem the difference between calming and hypnotic effect depends solely on the dosage, not on the drug itself. Benzodiazepines, which are now among the world’s most widely prescribed drugs, are given to help relax the body so that it can drift naturally of sleep. Unfortunately, they are not only potentially addictive, but can also cause serious side effects including depression, dizziness, hypotension, muscle weakness and impaired coordination.
The researchers carried out a large screening study in which they tested hundreds of fragrances but it was just the two mentioned that proved to be effective. Of course this is something that serious aromatherapy student have known for many years but it is good to see science catching up and acknowledging that fragrances have a definite, measurable effect on the body. We absorb fragrance throughout skin and through the air breathed in, and the scent molecules go from the lungs into the blood and then transmitted from there to the brain.
The researchers concluded that their results can also be seen as evidence of a scientific basis for aromatherapy, so all you fans of aromatherapy massage have been vindicated — as if you needed it. So rather than the traditional lavender or camomile that you may have been using to ease yourself into sleep you could now try adding the rather more exotic fragrance of jasmine.
How Brassicas Can Help IBS
Inflammatory Bowel Disease is becoming more common with an increasing number of people visiting their doctor for help with the various symptoms that can produce.
There are a number of self-help measures that can help alleviate some of the distressing effects of IBS, particularly learning to manage stress. Keeping an eye on the diet is also important in order to avoid things that can cause a flare up but now it seems that every day vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli could play an important role in alleviating signs of ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel condition.
This new research is the work of a South Dakota State University scientist, associate professor Moul Dey of their Department of Health and Nutritional Sciences, and she has shown that an extract made from a food plant in the Brassica family was effective and the research will continue to test for its potential use against colon cancer. This disease is highly preventable, yet colon cancer has one of the highest death rates among all cancers due to typical late diagnosis.
There is an established link between ulcerative colitis and colon cancer and people who have this condition are at significantly higher risk to have colon cancer. Dey and her team will carry out research over the next two and a half years and she is certainly interested in plant medicine as so far she has screened nearly 3,000 plant extracts for potential anti-inflammatory activity so far.
A plant-derived compound called Phenethylisothiocyanate is what has been shown to have potential anti-inflammatory activities and is found in the Brassica family which includes cabbage, cauliflower, watercress and broccoli. Even more reason for your five a day to include at least a couple of these valuable ‘green’s’.
High blood pressure? Eat more beetroot – or chocolate – or garlic!
Before you succumb to medication for high blood pressure there are a number of things you can try to bring it down naturally. The two best-known, and most frequently recommended are to lose weight and take more exercise. Now we can add a third element and that is the humble beetroot, which according to research from Queen Mary University of London can indeed lower your blood pressure.
It seems that the reason it can do this is down to the nitrate content of beetroot juice, according to the study, published online in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension. Their study found that blood pressure was lowered within 24 hours in people who took nitrate tablets, and people who drank beetroot juice.
Cardiovascular disease (including stroke and heart attacks) now ranks as the world’s biggest killer and those seeking a natural approach to lowering blood pressure just need to get out their juicer. The nitrate found in beetroot juice is beneficial because it increases the levels of the gas nitric oxide in the circulation.
Whether the volunteers in the study were given inorganic nitrate capsules or beetroot juice when their blood pressure responses were compared they were found to be equally effective in lowering blood pressure. This clearly demonstrates that it is the nitrate content of beetroot juice that underlies its potential to reduce blood pressure.
If you’re not a particular fan of beetroot, then take heart from because the study found that only a small amount of juice is needed — just 250ml — to have this effect, and that the higher the blood pressure at the start of the study the greater the decrease caused by the nitrate.
In fact if you prefer you might want to pay attention to some new research which shows that just a small amount of chocolate a day can help in reducing high blood pressure in individuals suffering from hypertension. Naturally, it has to be a good quality dark chocolate containing 70% cocoa as that is rich in flavanols, which open up your blood vessels to help the blood flow more freely and so causing the pressure to drop.
Dr. Karin Ried from the University of Adelaide, Australia carried out the study and is also the one that in 2008 conducted a study which found that garlic extract has a significant beneficial effect for high blood pressure sufferers. In Brighton, where I live, there is a chocolate shop which has all kinds of wonderful combination, chilli chocolate being just one of them, but I don’t think I’ve seen a garlic one yet. Perhaps I could suggest a beetroot and garlic combo so you could get all those blood pressure lowering ingredients in one delicious bar!
How olive oil protects against breast cancer
One of the main reasons for the benefits ascribed to the Mediterranean diet is the key ingredient of olive oil. As well is helping protect against heart disease, and add flavour to food, it now seems that it also plays a key role in protecting against breast cancer.
It is no surprise in that the majority of research into the benefits of olive oil have come from those countries that produce it, and this is no exception. Researchers at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in Spain have spent over twenty years working to determine the effects fats have on breast cancer, and in particular the effects of virgin olive oil. Now they have discovered a key mechanism by which virgin olive oil, in contrast to other vegetable oils, protects the body. They have managed to decode a complete cascade of signals within breast tumour cells activated by virgin olive oil, and came to the conclusion that the benefits includes a decrease in the activity of the oncogene p21Ras – which spurs uncontrolled cell proliferation and stimulates the growth of tumours. Other benefits include changes in protein signalling pathways, stimulation of tumour cell death and prevention of DNA damage
Any research into this area is important, as breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in Western countries. The link between a diet rich in fats and the incidence of cancer has already been established, but some types of fats can play a protective role against the development of these tumours.
In addition, olive oil suppresses the activity of some proteins, such as the AKT, essential for the survival of cells since they prevent apoptosis, the cell’s “suicide” programme. Between proliferation and apoptosis in tumour cells, these effects tip the balance towards cell death, thereby slowing the growth of tumours.
If you want to increase your protection against breast cancer, then your diet needs to include virgin olive oil – used cold, not in cooking – as this is associated with low incidences of specific types of cancer, including breast cancer. It also has a protective role against coronary diseases and other health problems.
Help with the small print on medicine bottles
Reluctant though we often are to admit it, there is no doubt that as we get older — and no matter what the strength of our glasses — the very small print that is used on medicine bottles can be a real struggle to read. If this is you, then help is at hand with a wonderful new device that is actually a portable magnifier specifically designed for reading text on the smallest of surfaces.
It has been developed and designed by The Daylight Vision Company to be used not only at home but also when you are travelling as it weighs just 39 grams. This ingenious magnifier comes equipped with bright “Daylight in the palm of your hand” LED’s to illuminate even the most challenging small print. Being small, it folds easily so you can slip it into your pocket or handbag and comes with batteries included which last for hours.
So if you are looking to make sure you safely take the correct dose, at the correct time, then this could be a great boon. It will certainly reduce eye strain and at a recommended price of only£14.99 is a small investment that could prove worth its weight in gold.
You can’t find it locally, then either visit the website to order online at www.daylightcompany.com or call 020 8964 1200.
Natural Help for Memory Loss
We all forget where we put things, or the name of someone familiar can’t be recalled, and losing one’s memory is a major fear as we get older. Fortunately, there are a number of things can do to keep your memory sharp and active. There are plenty of ideas here from new supplements to tried and tested memory boosters so try them out and see what works for you.
There are supplements that can help to boost your brain power and Ginkgo biloba tincture has been proven in research to help in the treatment of Alzheimer’s and dementia. In one study, of those taking the leaf extract, 27 percent maintained cognitive functioning and memory, while 86 percent of the placebo group lost functioning BUT if you are taking a daily aspirin (though this is now no longer recommended) to avoid a stroke or heart attack then please be aware that the blood-thinning effects of aspirin are increased by ginkgo.
Something else that can prove useful is a remarkable brain cell nutrient called phosphatidylserine. This is a phospholipid found in all cells of the human body with higher concentrations in the brain cell membrane and its importance as a nutrient for the brain has been clinically proven. It forms a major constituent of brain and nerve cells and is essential for neuronal signalling and is a natural component of our diet in varying levels. As we get older, changes in the composition of these cells in the part of the brain called the hippocampus, lead to a reduction in the amount of information we can store and consequent memory loss. Clinical studies over a period of 20 years have shown that regular supplementation with phosphatidylserine restores and maintains adequate nerve cell function in a variety of ways which leads to improvements in long term memory and long term recognition.
If this sounds like something of interest to you, then I have been taking a supplement called memory lane which contains phosphatidylserine and, although I am still assessing the benefits, I think it does seem to be helping. Benefits that are associated with phosphatidylserine are enhanced memory, concentration and learning and in this particular formulation the phosphatidylserine is derived from soy (non GMO), so is guaranteed BSE free. The safety of PS supplementation is well documented and there have been no reports of adverse interaction with other medications.
If you are looking for some additional ways to help your memory than I can certainly recommend daily meditation is again it has been proven to help. Even five minutes a day will make a difference.
If you are not already a fan of any form of puzzle — crosswords, jigsaws, Suduko or anything else – then make a start now. Mental workouts and stimulus of vital aspects of keeping your brain active and encouraging memory. Go back to the old childhood game of memorising a number of objects on a tray or pick a favourite poem and learn it by heart until you can recite it without prompting. Doesn’t matter what you do, just do something every day that tickles your brain into action.
If you are suffering from high blood pressure then do your very best to lower it through diet and exercise as again it has been proven that lowering your blood pressure will improve your memory.
Why the FDA is concerned about Triclosan – and you should be too
The US’s Food and Drug Agency is reevaluating the safety of a popular chemical additive called triclosan, based on recent studies that seem to indicate it causes endocrine disruption in the body and leads to the emergence of drug-resistant “super” bacteria. According to reports, the FDA has allegedly been working for over 38 years to establish rules for the use of triclosan but has not completed the assignment. Throughout this time the agency has continued to approve its usage, including a 1997 decision to allow its use in Colgate Total toothpaste, but is now reevaluating that decision.
You may not know the name, but you will certainly have come across Triclosan as it is commonly found in liquid antibacterial hand soaps and sanitizers, dishwashing detergents, shaving gels, toothpastes, clothing and even children’s toys. It was originally designed as a surgical scrub for people in the medical field, but is now used in pesticides and a variety of different consumer products to ward off pathogens.
This may be more than you need to know, but its use is so common in that, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), traces of triclosan can be found in the urine of about 75 percent of the population.
Triclosan is used because it is believed to be a powerful antibacterial and antifungal agent, however other than as a treatment for gingivitis in toothpaste, there is no evidence that it provides any benefits in other consumer product applications. A 2005 advisory panel to the FDA agreed, noting that there is no evidence that antibacterial soaps with triclosan work any better than plain soap and water.
I am not suggesting you panic, but if you are using antibacterial hand gels on a daily basis then a simple precaution would be to go back to the good old-fashioned bar of soap as a sensible precaution.
When Recycling Could Be A Health Hazard
We are being encouraged by the supermarkets to bring our own carrier bags – or be charged for them. This is a sound idea as we are all aware of the dangers that plastic bags cause by not being broken down when disposed of but, like much in life, it is not as straightforward as it seems. Years ago, when holidaying in Madeira, I was intrigued to see a washing line pegged out neatly with lots of carrier bags on it. I smiled to myself, thinking this was carrying diligent housework too far, but it seems they had the right idea.
New research from the University of Arizona shows that more than half of 84 reusable bags collected from shoppers in Tucson, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area were contaminated with potentially harmful bacteria, including E.coli, a bug found in fecal matter. Now before you throw your hands up in horror as if these bags have been used for storing dirty nappies, it seems that the major contamination occurs when liquid from raw meat or other food leaks onto the bag. The concern is that the fabric can then contaminate other food if you don’t wash the bag before its next use.
So do you give up recycling your bags? No, not according to Charles Gerba, a University of Arizona professor who says that the research was not intended to discourage people from using the bags but to make you aware of a possible problem. So follow a fine example and wash them through after each use and whatever you do please do not keep them stored in the boot of your car, as that is a hot breeding ground for germs in the summer.
