Health Care Blog

Nutritionist Naini Setalvad and Consultant Dietician Sunita Dube whip-up a list of 100% vegetarian foods that will keep your heart fit and fab. Berries Berries like strawberries and cranberries are rich in antioxidants. “Antioxidants reduce the risk of heart disease,” says Consultant Dietician Sunita Dube. Antioxidants also help in reducing stress and thus prevents high blood pressure. Other sources of antioxidants are tomatoes, red bell peppers, prunes and green tea. “Fruits with high water content, like watermelon are also recommended as they contain lycopene (a powerful antioxidant),” says Naini. Nuts Nuts like walnuts, almonds and pistachios are a good source of protein, fibre and are cholesterol-free. “They provide your body with the ‘good’ fat or monounsaturated fat that increase HDL or the good cholesterol which keeps your heart healthy,” says Sunita. Seeds “Include a good amount of seeds (up to 2 table spoons) like flax seeds ( alsi ), sunflow...

Kidney stones, crystals that develop in the kidneys or the tubes that carry urine from the kidney to the bladder, affect 10 percent of the U.S. population, and men run a four times greater risk than women of developing them. The chance of forming kidney stones rises steeply after the age of 40. Oxalate, a key chemical in the formation of kidney stones, comes in high concentrations in iced tea. “For many people, iced tea is potentially one of the worst things they can drink,” John Milner, an instructor in the department of urology at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, said in a news release. “For people who have a tendency to form kidney stones, it’s definitely one of the worst things you can drink.” The failure to stay hydrated is a common cause of kidney stones. Summertime heat and humidity, which causes excessively sweating and dehydration, combined with an marked increase in iced tea consumption in the United States, raises the risk of kidney stones during this t...

That news comes from Norway, where people often eat fatty fish such as salmon, lean fish such as cod, and processed fish such as fish “fingers.” In a Norwegian study, about 2,030 people in their early 70s reported their fish consumption and took various mental skills tests. People who reported eating on average at least a third of an ounce of fish per day 10 grams outscored those who skimped on fish, regardless of factors including age, education, and heart health. Most participants ate fish, and the more fish they ate, the better their test scores were up to a point. Test scores leveled off for people who ate more than about 2.5 to 2.8 daily ounces of fish.To put that in perspective, 3 ounces of fish is about the size of a checkbook, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Norwegian researchers who included Eha Nurk, MD, of Norway’s University of Oslo didn’t follow the elders over time, so they can’t prove that fish boosted test scores. But a new Dutch study con...

Three new studies shed more light on how diet affects your odds of developing type 2 diabetes. Each study covers a different aspect of diet. Together, the studies show that diabetes risk may rise if you drink too many sodas and sweetened fruit drinks, fall if you eat more fruits and vegetables, and may not be affected by how much fat you eat. But there’s another key theme that runs through the studies: There’s no getting around calories. Blow your calorie budget and you’ll gain weight, which makes type 2 diabetes more likely. “Until we have more information, we have to assume that calories trump everything else, and that our No. 1 goal for the reduction of new cases of type 2 diabetes should be to reduce the intake of high-energy, low-benefit foods,” especially in young people at high risk of diabetes, write Mark Feinglos, MD, CM, and Susan Totten, RD, from Duke University Medical Center. Sugary sodas and fruit drinks may be linked to increased risk of type 2 diabetes in African-Amer...