Healthy Heart

The nations chile heads rejoiced recently over red-hot headlines linking consumption of spicy foods with lower mortality risk. In a Chinese study of 487,375 people, ages 30 to 79, those who reported consuming spicy foods almost daily were 14% less likely to die during 7.2 years of followup than those rarely eating chile-fueled foods. Major US media outlets gobbled up the study, published in BMJ, with headlines like USA Todays: Eating Spicy Food Might Help You Cheat Death a Little Longer.

A 2014 USDA report found that 31%-133 billion pounds-of the nations available food supply went uneaten, with two-thirds of food waste at the consumer level. If the holidays make you think that a big portion of that uneaten food is lurking among the containers of leftovers in your refrigerator, maybe its time to make some changes to benefit the planet and your grocery budget.

Your genes may help explain why you put more sugar in your coffee and on your cereal than other people do. A new study of 1,900 twins and their siblings reports that about 30% of variations in sweet taste perception can be attributed to genetics. People who perceive sweet taste less strongly may add more to satisfy their sweet tooth. Researchers tested four sweeteners, including two non-nutritive options, but found no difference between them, suggesting a single mechanism for sweetness perception regardless of calorie content. The findings were published in Twin Research and Human Genetics.

Chocolate lovers are turning their candy wrappers into celebratory confetti over recent headlines (The More Chocolate, the Better) linking chocolate consumption to lower risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. While previous studies have suggested the flavonoid compounds in dark chocolate might have heart benefits, the findings also associated milk-chocolate consumption with reduced risk.However, this result is not unexpected, says Jeffrey Blumberg, PhD, director of Tufts HNRCA Antioxidants Research Laboratory, because milk chocolate does contain flavonoids (about 75 milligrams per 100 grams)-more than found in a comparable amount of red wine or tea, though less than dark chocolate (170 milligrams per 100 grams). Flavonoids in milk versus dark chocolate vary markedly by brand, however; these values are averages.

Artificial trans fats, in the form of partially hydrogenated oils, once hailed as a healthy alternative to butter and shortening, will all but disappear from the US food supply by June 2018. Following up on a preliminary 2013 ruling, the US Food and Drug Administration announced this summer that artificial trans fats would no longer be considered generally recognized as safe (GRAS) The agency gave the food industry three years to reformulate products without artificial trans fats or to petition for specific, limited uses, such as in sprinkles atop ice cream.

A newly published followup to findings from a study of the so-called Mediterranean diet adds to the evidence that such an eating pattern, especially when it includes nuts and olive oil, may help protect the aging brain. Results from a subgroup of the Spanish PREDIMED study showed that those assigned to a Mediterranean diet held steady in cognition while a control group declined. While previous observational studies have linked a traditional Mediterranean-style dietary pattern to cognitive protection, this is the first such evidence from a large randomized clinical trial.

In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a plan that would require many chain restaurants to attach a menu saltshaker icon (pictured) to any dish exceeding 2,300 milligrams of sodium-the entire days limit in a single meal. New York would become the first US city to adopt such a rule. Examples of dishes that exceed the 2,300-milligram level include Applebees chicken-fried steak (3,240 milligrams), TGI Fridays Jack Daniels Ribs (3,220 milligrams) and KFCs Famous Bowl (2,350 milligrams). By setting the bar so high, however, some experts noted the cautionary icon would not be required for items that nonetheless contain more than half a days sodium, such as McDonalds bacon and cheese quarter-pounder (1,380 milligrams) or Olive Gardens Florentine Rollatini with Chicken (1,510 milligrams).

As consumer groups lobby for mandatory labeling of foods with genetically modified (GMO) ingredients, the US Department of Agriculture is rolling out its first certification and labeling program for GMO-free foods. The program is voluntary and companies have to pay the agency for the certification. Currently, companies can label their foods as GMO-free, but there is no official government labeling other than the USDAs organic certification; all organic products are GMO-free, but not all GMO-free foods are organic. Many companies have adopted a private label verified by the nonprofit Non-GMO Project. Under the USDA plan, the agency would work with companies to certify non-GMO claims as part of its Process Verification Program, much as it now does with such labeling as humanely raised.

If the headlines about a drug related to B vitamins helping to prevent skin cancer tempted you to toss your sunscreen and broad-brimmed hat, think again. The findings were exciting because the hope of preventing cancer with vitamins has largely proven elusive, and the researchers declared their results ready to put into clinical practice.But, in a cautionary note that didnt necessarily make the nightly news, those Australian scientists also said only people who get frequent non-melanoma skin cancers should adopt the preventive measures-and only after consulting with their doctors. Moreover, the vitamin B3 compound that was tested isnt the familiar niacin found in supplement aisles. Niacin can cause side effects including flushing and headaches. Rather, the study used nicotinamide, a compound related to niacin thats more commonly sold in the US as niacinamide.

Scientists may now better understand at least one way in which coffee could help to protect against cardiovascular disease. A large new Korean study reports that people drinking three to five cups of coffee daily were 41% less likely to show signs of coronary artery calcium than non-coffee drinkers. This calcification is an early indicator of the artery-clogging plaques (atherosclerosis) that cause coronary artery disease, which afflicts nearly 16 million Americans. (See box.)