Healthy Eating

Theres no need to shun the sugars in whole fruits. In a study of 4,908 Australians, those with dietary patterns characterized by higher intakes of fruit were 12% less likely to be obese than those with lower fruit intakes. But, people who had a diet higher in sugary soft drinks and chocolate were about 9% more likely to be obese.

Dislike healthy foods like legumes (beans)? Maybe you just haven't eaten them enough. "A primary factor that determines whether people like a food or not is their previous exposure to the food - in other words, if it's a regular part of their diet," says Megan McCrory, PhD, a clinical associate professor of nutrition at Boston University and senior author of a new study on the topic in the journal Foods.

Think a claim like "low sodium" or "low fat" means a food is healthy? Not necessarily. Scientists looked at more than 80 million food and beverage purchases over a four-year period made by more than 40,000 US households.

Humans can produce choline, but the amount is usually not sufficient (depending on factors such as age and genetics), so dietary intake of some choline is necessary. In the US, the most common sources of choline are meat, poultry, fish, dairy products and eggs. Cruciferous vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds and whole grains also supply choline.

A chief consideration in safety of cutting boards is how easy they are to clean. Cutting boards made of a nonporous material, such as plastic or tempered glass, can be easily washed in the dishwasher. Those made of solid, hard wood with a tight grain (such as maple) might do OK in the dishwasher but over time that may encourage cracking and splitting.

Pine nuts are edible seeds of certain species of pine trees and are used in a variety of foods including Italian pesto sauce and pignoli cookies. Pine nuts (gymnosperms) are evolutionarily separated from flowering plants (angiosperms) to which all other nuts belong (peanut and tree nuts such as, walnut, hazelnut, cashew and pistachio).

One in three US adults has prediabetes. Delaying or preventing progression to type 2 diabetes through dietary and lifestyle changes could help keep money in your pocket (and protect your health), finds a study published in Population Health Management.

Canned fish products such as sardines and mackerel are good sources of omega-3 fat. Direct comparisons between canned and fresh fish are challenging because some of the difference in omega-3 content comes from variations in the fish, such as the exact species, what they eat, where theyre harvested and when, rather than canning per se. Regardless, an oily fish, including canned, is a much better source of omega-3 fat than a white fish like tilapia.

Eating five servings a day of fruits and vegetables is good, but 10 may be even better for your heart, according to a recent analysis of 95 observational studies.

Controlling type 2 diabetes requires spot-checking blood sugar, including after you eat. "The highest blood sugars of the day tend to be after meals," says Richard Siegel, MD, an endocrinologist and co-director of the Diabetes and Lipid Center at Tufts Medical Center. Blood sugar spikes - temporary high readings - after meals can be hard on heart health.