What’s So Special About Cruciferous Vegetables?

This family of vegetables contains unique health-promoting compounds.

You may be surprised to learn that kale and broccoli are cousins. They are part of the Brassica family, also known as cruciferous vegetables because their flower petals form the shape of a cross (cruciferae is Latin for “cross-bearing”).

“Plant-Based” and Unhealthy?

Plant-based dietary patterns are often recommended, but not all “plant-based” foods are healthy.

Experts agree plants should make up a large part of a healthy dietary pattern. Humans eat plant roots (carrots and radishes), stems (asparagus and celery), leaves (leafy greens), seeds (including whole grains), flowers (broccoli, cauliflower, artichoke), and the seed-bearing “fruits” of plants (including fruits, vegetables, beans, and nuts).

Mythbusting: Hydration

Adequate fluid is essential to health, so make sure you know the facts.

Water is involved in many critical bodily functions, from maintaining blood pressure and transporting nutrients to lubricating joints, digesting foods, removing waste from the body, and regulating body temperature. “The human body loses fluids through sweating and urination, and, if sick, also potentially through vomiting, diarrhea, or blood loss,” says Roger A. Fielding, PhD, director of the Nutrition, Exercise Physiology, and Sarcopenia Laboratory and a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.

Why the Low-Fat Diet Failed

In the 1980s and 1990s, Americans were told that eating less fat would reduce risk for cardiovascular disease and obesity. Why didn’t it work? Essentially, reducing total fat led to intake of more refined carbohydrates and less healthy fats, and both of these changes had negative health impacts.

Flavanols from Food Likely Better than Supplements

A recent study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, determined that isolated flavanols did not have a beneficial impact on systolic blood pressure and other cardiometabolic markers.

Diet and Alzheimer’s

A healthy diet may help delay onset and slow progression.

Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 60 to 80 percent of the loss of memory and other cognitive abilities collectively known as dementia. There is no known food or diet that can prevent or cure Alzheimer’s dementia, but diet may help delay onset and slow progression.

Chia Pudding with Berries and Almonds