By Sarah A LoBisco, ND

I’ve written many blogs on the power of food and its effect on health.

This internal drive to work from a wellness perspective and my passion for the power of integrative and nutritional medicine is not just a theory to me. It originates from a direct experience of healing my own herniated disc during naturopathic medical school. Studying functional medicine the past three years has cemented this inner knowing of mine. It has provided even more biochemical evidence (aka nutrigenomics) on how quality food truly ignites this innate healing ability of the body.

This week, I’m providing some more studies as evidence that what we put in our mouth affects our whole body.

Vegetarian Diet Can Decrease Heart Disease in One Study

This study specifically compared a vegetarian diet to meat eaters. The study had more favorable heart outcomes in vegetarians.

This does not prove that meat is necessarily a cause of heart disease, as the type of meat and how it is raised is critical to health. It would be interesting to run another comparison study with those who consumed organic (which has less antibiotics, hormones, and inflammatory (omega 6) fats) to others who ate conventional meat products.

The article states:

A study that followed 44,500 people for 11 years found that vegetarians were less likely to be hospitalized or to die from heart problems. They also had a lower weight-to-height ratio and were less likely to be diabetic.

Source: NY Daily News.Com. Health: Vegetarian diet can cut the risk of heart disease by 32%, study finds. January 30, 2013.  http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/meat-day-doctor-study-article-1.1251511#ixzz2Ja5VJpMi

The Fat Effect of Vegetarian Favor

This following study may provide a clue into the quality of meat equaling better outcomes in the study above with vegetarians. It evaluated the replacement of saturated fats with polyunsaturated ones. This study found that the contributor to heart disease in the studied population was due to the inflammation profile of the fats in the participants diets.

All-cause mortality (primary outcome), cardiovascular mortality, and mortality from coronary heart disease (secondary outcomes) was compared in this single blinded parallel group, randomized control trial conducted in 1966-73. The participants were 458 men aged 30-59 years with a recent heart trauma and who were based in an Australian coronary care clinic. (A meta-analysis was also used for missing data).

The Intervention group had a diet with a replacement of dietary saturated fats (from animal fats, common margarines, and shortenings) with omega 6 linoleic acid (from safflower oil and safflower oil polyunsaturated margarine).

The conclusions of the study are reported below:

Advice to substitute polyunsaturated fats for saturated fats is a key component of worldwide dietary guidelines for coronary heart disease risk reduction. However, clinical benefits of the most abundant polyunsaturated fatty acid, omega 6 linoleic acid, have not been established. In this cohort, substituting dietary linoleic acid in place of saturated fats increased the rates of death from all causes, coronary heart disease, and cardiovascular disease. An updated meta-analysis of linoleic acid intervention trials showed no evidence of cardiovascular benefit. These findings could have important implications for worldwide dietary advice to substitute omega 6 linoleic acid, or polyunsaturated fats in general, for saturated fats.

Sources:

Ramsden, C, et al. Use of dietary linoleic acid for secondary prevention of coronary heart disease and death: evaluation of recovered data from the Sydney Diet Heart Study and updated meta-analysis. BMJ 2013; 346. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.e8707 (Published 5 February 2013). http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.e8707

Mercola, J. Omega-6 Fats in Processed and Deep Fried Foods Can Massively Increase Your Heart Disease Risk. Mercola.com. February 21, 2013. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/02/21/omega-6-dangers.aspx?e_cid=20130221_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20130221

Diet and Asthma

Our American diet is affecting our youth.

The impact of a supplemental program of fruit and vegetable concentrate, fish oil, and probiotics (FVFP) was studied in 192 asthmatic children aged 10-12 years. This 16-week school-based-double-blind placebo-controlled randomized trial reported favorable effects:

FVFP supplements reduced medication use and improved pulmonary function in asthmatic children. The present study supports an adjuvant intervention with a combination of fruit, vegetable, fish and probiotic foods.

Source: Lee, S-C et et al. Reduced medication use and improved pulmonary function with supplements containing vegetable and fruit concentrate, fish oil and probiotics in asthmatic school children: a randomised controlled trial (abstract). British Journal of Nutrition / FirstView Article, pp 1-11. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0007114512004692 (About DOI), Published online: 05 December 2012

Diet and Beauty

Here’s good news for those who eat less sugar, besides the health benefits!

A recent study found a connection between sugar and diary to pesky pimples:

For decades, the connection between diet and acne has been dismissed as an old wives’ tale. But now researchers are revisiting the subject — and a new review of studies finds evidence that what you eat may have a bearing on the severity of your acne after all.

About 17 million Americans, and 80 to 90 percent of adolescents, experience acne, according to the paper, which appears in the March issue of the Journal of Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Miller, T. Does eating junk food make your skin break out? Diet may help control acne after all, say researchers. NY Daily News. February 20, 2013. http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/sugar-dairy-lead-acne-study-article-1.1269142#ixzz2LZsG8Ktf

Antioxidants and Optimism

Another benefit of diet besides physical health, clear skin…

A better mood…

Middle-aged adults who are more optimistic about their future tend to have higher serum antioxidant levels than their less optimistic peers, new research suggests.

Investigators at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, found that for every standard deviation increase in optimism, there was an increase in carotenoid concentrations of 3% to 13% in age-adjusted models.

Source: Brooks, M. Optimism Linked to Higher Antioxidant Levels. Medscape. Jan 15, 2013. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/777675?src=wnl_edit_medn_wir&spon=34

Read about how a mom’s diet affects baby at my Saratoga.com blog

Bonus for EFT fans:

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