GI Health

If you listen to advocates of the raw food movement, everything is better for you when its not cooked. But theres a whole group of leafy-green vegetables traditionally served cooked-mustard, collard and turnip greens-that, except in the South, most Americans simply skip as they concentrate on fresh salad greens. Cooking helps tame the flavors of some greens, like mustard, that might deter some diners. Cooking can also make chard more palatable, when its leaves and stems are too mature for salads. And of course cooking opens up a whole different menu for spinach and kale.

Besides the Seahawks and Broncos, viewers of this years Super Bowl saw two other fierce competitors: Greek yogurt brands, slugging it out in commercials. That would have been unthinkable only a few years ago-in 2008, Greek yogurt accounted for only 4% of US yogurt sales. But today Greek yogurt makes up 44% of the multibillion-dollar US yogurt market and is responsible for almost all the growth in this part of the grocery aisle. More than half of US households bought Greek yogurt last year, according to retail research firm IRI.

If you believe the bestseller lists, the biggest bad in the supermarket aisles is not fat or sodium or sugar but wheat. Its not just the booming popularity of gluten-free products, which are important for the small percentage of people diagnosed with celiac disease but whose benefits for the general population are questionable. (For a full discussion of the pros and cons of gluten-free products, see our October 2013 Special Report.) Bestselling books have warned that wheat consumption is a key contributor to abdominal fat (wheat belly), as well as triggering diseases ranging from diabetes to autism, and that eating wheat is linked to Alzheimers, depression, headaches, epilepsy and ADHD.

Dating back millennia, fermented foods are among humanity's oldest attempts to preserve food. But today these foods are newly popular for their purported health benefits. Fermented foods, ranging from sauerkraut to yogurt, are increasingly being seen as a boon to the gut - and in turn to benefits not only for digestive health but possibly also for allergies and even weight loss.

If youve heard of the glycemic index (GI for short) but arent quite sure whether you need to pay attention to it-or exactly what it means-youre hardly alone. Scientists have been debating the merits of measuring the glycemic index since its introduction in 1981. The glycemic index uses a 100-point scale to measure how rapidly the carbohydrates in a food cause blood sugar to rise. Glycemic load (GL) adjusts this figure by taking into account serving sizes and the amount of carbohydrates per serving.

Long the object of jokes, prunes may now have the last laugh. New research demonstrates that prunes (dried plums) are more effective than psyllium fiber in combating constipation

A new study suggests that legumes could also lower cardiovascular risk by reducing blood pressure, along with improving glycemic control.