In this new study, published in Nature Microbiology, Professor Anders Rosengren and colleagues have instead looked at prediabetes. This condition is a precursor to type 2 diabetes, with slowly rising blood sugar levels due to impaired insulin production.
The study encompassed 89 people with elevated fasting blood sugar, an indicator of prediabetes. Other criteria included the participants being overweight or obese and 35-75 years old.
The participants were randomly assigned sulforaphane or a placebo for twelve weeks. Neither the participants nor the researchers knew who was assigned which. A total of 74 participants completed all stages of the study.
The results show that participants taking the sulforaphane compound had a higher average reduction in fasting blood sugar than those taking the placebo. The difference between the two groups in the study was considerable.
University of Gothenburg. “Reduced prediabetes in people who ate broccoli compound.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/02/250214003212.htm (accessed February 21, 2025).
Eat More Broccoli. Sauteed in extra virgin olive oil and garlic. Lots of garlic.
‘Dessert Stomach’ Is Real And It Lives in Your Brain – Newsweek
Understanding why we always have room for dessert could lead to new treatments for obesity, researchers have revealed.
— Read on www.newsweek.com/dessert-stomach-real-brain-neurons-mice-2030775
Researchers Find Brain Cells That Tell You To Stop Eating (in mice)
“These neurons are unlike any other neuron involved in regulating satiation,” says Alexander Nectow, a physician-scientist at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, who led the research with Srikanta Chowdhury, an associate research scientist in the Nectow lab. “Other neurons in the brain are usually restricted to sensing food put into our mouth, or how food fills the gut, or the nutrition obtained from food. The neurons we found are special in that they seem to integrate all these different pieces of information and more.”
“Essentially these neurons can smell food, see food, feel food in the mouth and in the gut, and interpret all the gut hormones that are released in response to eating,” Nectow says. “And ultimately, they leverage all of this information to decide when enough is enough.”Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “Researchers discover the brain cells that tell you to stop eating.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/02/250205131107.htm (accessed February 8, 2025).
I need more of these brain cells.
Eat Less Processed Red Meat
Yikes
To examine the risk of dementia, researchers included a group of 133,771 people with an average age of 49 who did not have dementia at the start of the study. They were followed up to 43 years. Of this group, 11,173 people developed dementia. Participants completed a food diary every two to four years, listing what they ate and how often. Researchers defined processed red meat as bacon, hot dogs, sausages, salami, bologna and other processed meat products. They defined unprocessed red meat as beef, pork, lamb and hamburger. A serving of red meat is three ounces, about the size of a deck of cards. Researchers calculated how much red meat participants ate on average per day. For processed red meat, they divided participants into three groups. The low group ate an average of fewer than 0.10 servings per day; the medium group ate between 0.10 and 0.24 servings per day; and the high group, 0.25 or more servings per day. After adjusting for factors such as age, sex and other risk factors for cognitive decline, researchers found that participants in the high group had a 13% higher risk of developing dementia compared to those in the low group. Is Eating More Red Meat Bad for Your Brain? – https://www.aan.com/PressRoom/Home/PressRelease/1082
This large study is a collaboration funded by the National Institutes of Health to NYU Langone Health and includes authors from Johns Hopkins University and other U.S. institutions. The new study relies on information gathered from the ongoing Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Neurocognitive Study (ARIC-NCS), which since 1987 has closely tracked the vascular health and cognitive function of nearly 16,000 participants as they age. ARIC-NCS is also, the researchers say, the longest-followed cohort of African Americans for researching cognition and heart health. Published in the journal Nature Medicine online January 13, the study concludes that from 1987 until 2020, there were 3,252 study participants who were documented as having developed dementia. This translates to an overall lifetime risk for dementia among middle-aged Americans of 42 percent, which is an average of the 35 percent risk in men and the 48 percent risk in women. The excess risk in women was largely due to their lower death rates. United States Dementia Cases Estimated to Double by 2060 – https://nyulangone.org/news/united-states-dementia-cases-estimated-double-2060
More Cheese Please
Relative risks (RR) for colorectal cancer were calculated for intakes of all 97 dietary factors, with significant associations found for 17 of them. Calcium intake showed the strongest protective effect, with each additional 300 mg per day – equivalent to a large glass of milk – associated with a 17% reduced RR. Six dairy-related factors associated with calcium – dairy milk, yogurt, riboflavin, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium intakes – also demonstrated inverse associations with colorectal cancer risk. Dr Sheena Meredith. Dietary Calcium Cuts Colorectal Cancer Risk by 17% – Medscape – 08 January 2025. https://www.medscape.co.uk/viewarticle/dietary-calcium-cuts-colorectal-cancer-risk-17-2025a10000e0?
Citation and links to the original study – Papier, K., Bradbury, K.E., Balkwill, A. et al. Diet-wide analyses for risk of colorectal cancer: prospective study of 12,251 incident cases among 542,778 women in the UK. Nat Commun 16, 375 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55219-5 – https://rdcu.be/d6G1Q
The Best Replacements for Meat and Milk (no, it’s not plant milks, veggie burgers or tofu)
Beans and peas are the best meat and milk replacement from nutritional, health, environmental, and cost perspectives.
Our findings suggest that suitable alternatives to meat and milk exist and are available and affordable without necessarily requiring new technologies or product development. This contrasts with discussions in high-income countries on the needs to develop novel replacement foods, especially those that would completely mimic meat and dairy (18). Our nutritional, health, environmental, and cost analyses suggest that if one is prepared to consider foods for their properties instead of whether they are completely mimicking meat or dairy—and surveys suggest that consumers are (49)—then unprocessed legumes are, for the most part, superior to processed alternatives. This is also relevant for low and middle-income countries where legumes are readily available, but discussions on processed meat and milk alternatives are at an earlier stage, despite diets rapidly becoming similarly imbalanced as in high-income countries (1, 50). M. Springmann, A multicriteria analysis of meat and milk alternatives from nutritional, health, environmental, and cost perspectives, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 121 (50) e2319010121, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2319010121 (2024).
Keep it simple.
Eat More Fiber
www.instagram.com/p/DA9atmIzx8D/
Nice short synopsis of the Simian Diet trial from Dr. Belardo.
Prioritize Protein, Polyphenols, Healthy Fats, Calcium and Vitamin D
Research suggests that those who consume more protein tend to live longer and stay stronger and healthier later in life than those who consume less. But where you get your protein matters. Plant-based sources like legumes, nuts and whole grains seem to be especially beneficial, whereas protein from red and processed meat has been linked with shorter lives, Dr. Lars Fadnes, a professor of global public health at the University of Bergen in Norway, wrote in an email. How to Eat for a Long and Healthy Life – https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/02/well/eat/foods-longevity-aging.html
Nice article. The last time I checked the link the NYT article was freely available and not sitting behind their paywall.
One key point was not covered in the article. Pizza! Tomato sauce for polyphenols and cheese for healthy fats and calcium. You already know what not to put on your pie to improve the health benefits.
Blueberries Make You Smarter?
Half a cup of blueberries a day improved the average participant’s language skills, improved their short-term memory, and enhanced their decision-making, planning, and organizational skills. Scientists Just Discovered That Eating Blueberries Will Make You Smarter and ‘Significantly’ Improve Your Memory — https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/scientists-just-discovered-that-eating-blueberries-will-make-you-smarter-significantly-improve-your-memory.html
So I suppose not eating blueberries for most of my life was the main driver behind my impaired language skills, memory and decision making.
I wonder if the effects are dose dependent?
Sorry Hon, I ate all the blueberries. Again.
Seed Oils – Updated 08.24.24
If you consume social media, you may have heard: Seed oils are terrible for your health–even toxic! Cooking oils derived from seeds cause everything from heart disease to inflammation to fatigue to bad skin–according to a certain subset of Internet influencers. Yet contrary to the posts demonizing the common ingredients, a bevy of scientific research disagrees…
And broadly, the best path to a healthy diet is probably what you’d expect. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables, with whole grains and lots of fiber, is best, say Calder and Johnson. “It’s what your mother told you,” Johnson adds. Moving more and eating slightly less overall, are probably also good ideas for most Americans, notes Harris. “It’s not sexy, but that’s the way it is.” What science actually says about seed oils — https://www.popsci.com/health/are-seed-oils-bad-for-you/
Update
The American Heart Association supports the inclusion of omega-6 fatty acids as part of a healthy diet. There’s no reason to avoid seed oils and plenty of reasons to eat them — https://www.heart.org/en/news/2024/08/20/theres-no-reason-to-avoid-seed-oils-and-plenty-of-reasons-to-eat-them
You’re welcome.
garyskitchen.net 