Processed Meats and Cancer: It’s Not Just Nitrates

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 34,000 cancer deaths per year worldwide are attributable to diets high in processed meats. While that number pales in comparison to the one million or so global cancer deaths related to smoking, it is significant enough to warrant a hard look at processed meats in our diets, especially because they are also associated with cardiovascular disease and other health conditions.

Health Benefits of Legumes

These versatile, underutilized plant foods bring health-promoting goodness to any meal.

Eat more plant foods…increase dietary fiber…choose natural foods over processed…get your nutrients from whole foods, not supplements. For an easy way to follow all of this sound dietary advice at the same time, simply up your intake of foods from the legume family. Legumes, which include beans, lentils, split peas, green peas, and peanuts, are thought to be one of the first cultivated crops and have been consumed by people around the world for over 10,000 years.

Healthy Fast Food Choices?

It may be easier than it once was to find quick-service choices that fit into a healthy dietary pattern.

Fast food restaurants are relatively inexpensive, consistent, quick, familiar, and, for the most part, challenging places to eat if one wants to follow a healthy diet.

Leptin Discovery

More than 20 years after the discovery of the so-called “obesity hormone” leptin, a team at Tufts may have at last found this important compound’s target in the brain. In the 1960s, researchers made a surprising discovery: There was a biological mechanism behind the ravenous appetites of obese mice. Labs around the world immediately set out to find out what was making these mice so hungry.

Body Weight and Heart Health

Weight alone does not necessarily predict cardiovascular health.

Excess body weight increases risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD), as well as type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, and many other illnesses. However, not everyone who is overweight or obese develops these illnesses; and simply having a “normal” body weight or body mass index (BMI)–a measure of body weight relative to height–is no guarantee of low risk.

The Impact of School Food Policies

Childhood obesity in the U.S. has more than tripled since the 1970s. According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 1 in 5 school-age children and young people (6 to 19 years) in the United States is classified as obese. What’s more, studies show that most children and adolescents don’t meet dietary recommendations, and metabolic problems like diabetes and high blood pressure are showing up earlier than ever before.

Cocoa Banana Ice Cream