Food and Cooking

Adding Wine Industry Grape By-Products to Muffins Makes Them Healthier — Maybe?

Muffins aren’t exactly on the list when you look up foods in the Mediterranean diet, but let’s face it, they are plentiful and they taste delicious.

Diet choices are for each individual (and their doctor) to decide, and

Photo by Veganbaking.net from USA (Vegan Apple Spice Muffins) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Photo by Veganbaking.net from USA (Vegan Apple Spice Muffins) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
though there are certainly recommended food and drink items associated with the Mediterranean diet, most (if not all) of us still enjoy a rare treat every once in a while. For some of us, that treat is a muffin!

One recent study decided to take a look into making muffins a little healthier, and examined the effect of using grape by-products as ingredient when making a “model” muffin.

Why grape by-products? Grape by-products are the “leftovers” after grapes have been pressed for winemaking, and are known to contain health-benefitting compounds (i.e.: antioxidants, etc). The researchers processed these by-products into a fine powdered form, and added them to a model muffin mixture.

The finished muffins were then measured for CML (Ne-(carboxymethyl)lysine) content, a compound formed during the baking process, which is a potential toxin in food that can lead to diabetes, heart problems, Alzheimer’s, and premature aging.

Important Findings:

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News

Wine, Mediterranean Diet, and Your Health News for 12/22/2014

Please click on the links below to read the full articles.

Wine

Alcohol

Christmas & Hanukkah

Photo by Shinsuke Ikegame (Flickr: Okanagan Wine Tour) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Photo by Shinsuke Ikegame (Flickr: Okanagan Wine Tour) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

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Diet Choices

Italian Consumers Split on Nutritional & Health Claims of Diets

You may have read a lot about the nutritional and health claims of the Mediterranean diet (and other diets for that matter) touted by researchers, bloggers, journalists, and many others. The big question becomes: is anyone even listening?

A new paper from a group of researchers in Italy aimed to address this question, specifically focusing on whether these nutritional and

Photo by juliegomoll (Grocery shopping at the HyperMart in Cairo) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Photo by juliegomoll (Grocery shopping at the HyperMart in Cairo) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
health claims are actually of interest to consumers, and if they are, which types of consumers are interested.

This was a relatively small pilot study, doing face-to-face interviews with 240 individuals who were in charge of the grocery shopping for their household in Milan, Italy.

Important Findings:

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News

Wine, Mediterranean Diet, and Your Health News for 12/19/2014

Please click on the links below to read the full articles.

WINE

Alcohol

Christmas & Hanukkah

Continue reading Wine, Mediterranean Diet, and Your Health News for 12/19/2014 →

Cardiovascular Health

Exercise and Eating a Mediterranean Diet Is Even Better than Exercise Alone for Cardiovascular Health

As we get older, our risk of cardiovascular problems increases, particularly in the form of endothelial function and microvascular

Photo by Anne Brown Rodgers [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Photo by Anne Brown Rodgers [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
strength and integrity. Part of the story is age, while another part might be related to diet, exercise, and other lifestyle choices.

One recent study out of the UK examined whether or not this decline in endothelial function and microvascular integrity could be reversed when combining exercise and the Mediterranean diet for a total of 8 weeks. This study followed up with participants after one year, to determine if this improvement in cardiac function remained, or if when transitioning back to their pre-study diets their risk for declining endothelial and microvascular health once again increased to their pre-study levels.

This study measured various outcomes related to endothelial function and microvascular integrity on 20 individuals aged 55 and older. In the original study, half the participants participated in a specific exercise regime, while the other half was put on a specific Mediterranean diet plan and did the same exercise regime as the first group, all for 8 weeks.

One year later, the same outcomes related to endothelial function and microvascular integrity were measured on these 20 individuals.

Photo by Bill Branson (Photographer) [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Photo by Bill Branson (Photographer) [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Important Findings:

Continue reading Exercise and Eating a Mediterranean Diet Is Even Better than Exercise Alone for Cardiovascular Health →

Association is not Causation