According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, the flaxseed plant has been used since ancient times for its health benefits. In ancient Greece it was used as a laxative, while early Americans used the oil as a salve for cuts and burns. Today, flaxseed supplements are used … Read More
Bariatric surgery is an operation that shortens the digestive tract to prevent your body from absorbing all the calories you consume. Weight loss is the most obvious result—but bariatric surgery can do more than help people shed pounds. In fact, in many cases, bariatric surgery can reverse obesity-related medical conditions, … Read More
Dates are often used as alternative sweeteners because of their natural sweetness. It turns out that these sweet foods contain more than just carbohydrates and sugars: they are packed full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other health-promoting nutrients that can help you stay healthy. Learn about the health benefits of … Read More
As technology advances, the world continues to search for ways to make life just a little more convenient for the next generation. And over the past century, food has been at the center of this mission. From canned and frozen foods in the 1920s to frozen pizzas in the 1980s, … Read More
The myriad health benefits of vegetables and other plant foods and/or concerns about animal welfare and the environment lead some people to choose a vegetarian dietary pattern. Plant-based diets are becoming more mainstream, and the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans includes a vegetarian eating pattern as one of its three … Read More
The importance of fiber in the diet cannot be overemphasized. Dietary fiber—what we used to call “roughage” or “bulk”—can help prevent or alleviate chronic constipation, hemorrhoids, diverticulosis, IBS, and possibly colorectal cancer. There is some early evidence suggesting that a high-fiber diet may lessen or prevent food allergies, and dietary … Read More
We need to eat our vegetables, but information about how to prepare them can be conflicting. Cooking certain vegetables—winter squash, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes, for example—can release more nutrients. Others, however, are better for us if they're eaten raw. It's the latter group we'll discuss here: six top veggies to … Read More
People in Japan have a longer life expectancy and a significantly lower risk of several serious diseases compared to Americans, including cancer and heart disease.[1,2] Extensive research has looked at differences in the Japanese diet compared to the typical Western diet. Much of the interest has been on higher fish … Read More
For many types of cancer, having a family history of the disease places you at a greater risk of developing the cancer yourself. So, if you’re a man with a close relative who had prostate cancer, you might be bothered by a lingering question: Is prostate cancer hereditary? No one … Read More
Before widespread prostate cancer screening began in the late 1980s, many men newly diagnosed with the disease had advanced cancer that had spread beyond the prostate. Today, in the screening era, most men with the disease are diagnosed when their cancer is in an earlier, more curable stage. But, even … Read More
