Healthy Heart

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.

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.

To decrease risk of hypertension, we're commonly advised to limit sodium (salt). Increasing dietary intake of potassium is just as important.

Each carrot type will have varied health effects because of these colored compounds. A healthy dietary pattern contains a variety of fruits and vegetables, which carrots of multiple colors can be a part of.

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.

Once eaten by an animal, lectins bind to the sugar portions of the animal's intestinal wall where they interfere with digestion and nutrient uptake. That is why lectins are sometimes called antinutrients. However, after edible seeds are prepared by methods using heat [especially moist heat], they contain very little lectin. Yet, they provide concentrated packets of protein, fat, carbohydrate and fiber, all of which are nutritionally beneficial.

Getting more physically fit may help reduce risk of dying prematurely. Researchers at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, followed 10,854 men and women (average age, 54) who had completed two doctor-ordered exercise stress tests at least 12 months apart.

You may be unduly swayed to buy packaged snacks when they carry claims about added vitamins, suggests a new study. A total of 5,076 randomly-selected US adults assessed snack food packages online. When a snack had a claim that it was a good source of a vitamin, the people were significantly less likely to check the Nutrition Facts label and were more likely to choose the snack than when the same product lacked the claim.

Eating healthy and saving money may be easier if you don your apron. In a cross-sectional survey of 437 Seattle households, cooking at home more often was associated with a higher-quality dietary pattern, based on criteria in the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

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.