Healthy Eating

Eating fried potatoes (such as French fries, potato chips and hash browns) two or more times a week was associated with twice the risk of dying prematurely, compared to eating fried spuds no more than once a month, showed a new observational study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

A new observational study in the Journal of Hepatology suggests regularly drinking coffee or herbal tea may help protect against liver fibrosis (hardening due to scar tissue). That's assessed by measuring liver stiffness with a scan.

Improving your eating pattern and sticking to these changes for the long haul may have a big impact on reducing your risk of dying prematurely. Those were the findings of a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Newer subscribers to Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter may not know that this award-winning newsletter got its start with Stanley N. Gershoff, PhD, (1924-2017) at the helm. He developed the newsletter (originally called Tufts University Diet & Nutrition Letter) in 1983 and edited it until 2000. There's much more we have to thank him for in the field of nutrition though.

People get headaches for many different reasons. Sometimes they may be triggered by what we eat or drink. Going too long without eating also may trigger headaches.

What foods have you thrown out recently? Maybe some slimy salad greens, moldy bread or a bit of leftover spaghetti? If you can't think of any food you've tossed lately, you're doing better than most of us. Each year, the average family of four throws out over 1,000 pounds of food at a cost of $1,500.

Of any cancer, inflammation has one of the clearest links with colorectal cancer. That includes cancers of the colon (large intestine) and rectum (tail end of the colon). So, it's worth considering whether reducing inflammation through healthful eating could decrease colorectal cancer risk.

For years we've heard that drinking wine and other alcoholic beverages in moderation may be good for our heart. The majority of alcohol's cardiovascular benefits have been attributed to its association with higher levels of HDL (good) cholesterol, which helps protect artery health. But how does alcohol affect your HDL over the long term, and does it matter what kind of alcoholic beverage it is?

During the day, the hormones and overall metabolic processes in our bodies are better prepared to handle the food we consume than if we eat later in the evening when our so-called 'body clock' is preparing for rest. Although this body clock may vary slightly from person to person, the suggestion of avoiding eating after 8 p.m. is, broadly speaking, a good way to ensure that eating happens before our metabolism begins to wind down for the night.

For older adults struggling with obesity, its a bit of a catch-22 that weight loss may speed up age-related loss of muscle and bone mass (lean tissue). That could worsen physical ability and contribute to frailty. The solution? "Exercise is important to help preserve muscle and bone mass during weight loss and to further improve physical function," says Dennis T. Villareal, MD, at Baylor College of Medicine and lead author of a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine.