Corn Oil and Cancer: Reality Strikes Again

The benefits of corn oil keep rolling in. In a new study by Stephen Freedland's group at Duke, feeding mice a diet rich in butter and lard didn't promote the growth of transplanted human prostate cancer cells any more than a low-fat diet (1).

Why do we care? Because other studies, including one from the same investigators, show that corn oil and other industrial seed oils strongly promote prostate cancer cell growth and increase mortality in similar models (2, 3).

From the discussion section:

Current results combined with our prior results suggest that lowering the fat content of a primarily saturated fat diet offers little survival benefit in an intact or castrated LAPC-4 xenograft model. In contrast to the findings when omega-6 fats are used, these results raise the possibility that fat type may be as important as fat amount or perhaps even more important.

The authors seem somewhat surprised and pained by the result. Kudos for publishing it. However, there's nothing to be surprised about. There's a large body of evidence implicating excess omega-6 fat in a number of cancer models. Reducing omega-6 to below 4% of calories has a dramatic effect on cancer incidence and progression*. In fact, there have even been several experiments showing that butter and other animal fats promote cancer growth to a lesser degree than margarine and omega-6-rich seed oils. I discussed that here.

I do have one gripe with the study. They refer to the diet as "saturated fat based". That's inaccurate terminology. I see it constantly in the diet-health literature. If it were coconut oil, then maybe I could excuse it, because coconut fat is 93% saturated. But this diet was made of lard and butter, the combination of which is probably about half saturated. The term "animal fat" or "low-omega-6 fat" would have been more accurate. At least they listed the diet composition. Many studies don't even bother, leaving it to the reader to decide what they mean by "saturated fat".


* The average American eats 7-8% omega-6 by calories. This means it will be difficult to see a relationship between omega-6 intake and cancer (or heart disease, or most things) in observational studies in the US or other industrial nations, because we virtually all eat more than 4% of calories as omega-6. Until the 20th century, omega-6 intake was below 4%, and usually closer to 2%, in most traditional societies. That's where it remains in contemporary traditional societies unaffected by industrial food habits, such as Kitava. Our current omega-6 intake is outside the evolutionary norm.

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19.00 | 0 comments

Healthy Do it Yourself Finger Foods

They are great at parties and family get-togethers. They are a wonderful alternative to a filling meal at important functions of just about any type. For those who don’t know, I’m talking about finger foods. Easy to prepare and even easier to eat, make some healthy finger foods for yourself and see how versatile they can be.

Finger foods make great snacks on the go. Take cheese for instance. It provides calcium and protein which we need each day. At about ten in the morning, it’s not quite time for lunch, but it is a good time for cheese snack. Cut a slice off of a block and enjoy. Buying a block of cheese is more economical than a bag of cheese sticks if you plan on using it as a snack quite often. Saving money is just one more reason to turn to cheese as a healthy snack.

When it comes to finger foods, think about how you can recreate some of your own favorites at home. There are two benefits to making your own. One, you save money. Two, your foods are fresher. If you’ve eaten a lot of processed food, it might take a bit of getting used to when it comes to eating fresh fare. The taste is like no other. Even beans have a sweet taste when they are fresh. Fresh foods are not only better for you, but they taste better, are crunchier and taste clean.

Chicken is the most all around food you can find. You can bake, broil, roast, sauté, and fry (but because we are aiming for healthy, we won’t do that) it. It can be cubed, sliced, julienne, and diced. Cut it into strips and bread them to make chicken fries. These are great for those days when you should eat lunch but you don’t really feel like it. A few chicken strips and a piece of cheese will replenish your protein.

Crackers are also a perfect snack food. They are good on their own, but taste even better with some type of topping. For instance, a piece of cheese between two crackers with a little slice of ham is a handy and tasteful snack. You can also spread some cream cheese or peanut butter on your crackers. Kids may enjoy strawberry jam or grape jelly between two crackers. This is definitely a healthy alternative to cake or a piece of candy. Make up a few of your favorite cracker snacks the night before and chill them for the next morning.

If all else fails, go for some snacks that you can pick up in the store. Be careful though. Read food labels to check fat, cholesterol, and sodium content per serving. Some excellent choices are baked chips, granola bars, and roasted nuts. Low fat luncheon meats can be wrapped around cheese or fruit slices for a healthy little snack.

Don’t forget fresh fruits and veggies. For a vegetable treat, cut up some broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, carrots, or other favorites and serve with ranch dip. Mix it up by cutting up some fresh fruit such as apples, pears, strawberries, and watermelon and serving with a bit of cream cheese for dipping.

These are great finger foods to keep around for those days when you’re busy and don’t have time to prepare something. Keep fresh fruits in a bowl on the counter to grab as you’re going out the door or for the kids when they get home from school. Keep containers of vegetables and your favorite dip or dressing in the refrigerator to do the same.

Finger foods aren’t reserved just for parties. Choose quick and healthy finger foods and eat them anytime you get the urge for a snack.

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05.21 | 0 comments

Cookies You CAN Eat

Have you ever met a person who didn’t like cookies? I haven’t. But, I often feel guilty about the calories I’ve consumed while eating those scrumptious treats. We all know that cookies can be fattening. I try to eat just one but that works about as well as it does with the potato chips. So, this just means that we need to get creative with our cookie baking in order to make them healthier. Here are some ideas to make your next batch of cookies, ones you can get away with eating without feeling guilty.

First, let’s start with the ingredients. Avoid using prepared cookie dough in the store. It is loaded with preservatives even if the cookies are sugar free. Making homemade cookies gives us an advantage in this aspect because we don’t need to preserve our dough or the finished cookie. They will probably be eaten long before they pass their freshness date so only fresh ingredients should be used.

When making cookies, the basic dough is usually the same for most recipes. You need flour, eggs, and sugar. Cholesterol watchers can mix in egg substitute instead of regular eggs. Splenda is now formulated for use in baking even though it is a sugar substitute and can be used in our homemade healthy cookies. Be prepared though, the cookies may taste differently and require more or less baking time when using these substitutions so be sure to keep this in mind when using them.

Now, it’s time for some fun. You get to add the special ingredients to the cookies. You know, the yummy ingredients that make the cookies taste oh so good. For chocolate chip cookies, instead of using regular chocolate chips, add a few of the mini chocolate chips. You use less chocolate even though it looks like more. There will be just enough sweetness in every bite to keep you satisfied, but not enough to expand your hips and waist.

Fiber is a nutrient that helps us to stay regular. Certain fibers latch on to fats in the digestive system and flush them right out of the body. The more fiber you eat the more fat it can potentially flush out of your system. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

Fiber comes in many forms. Whole grains provide fiber so to add this healthy ingredient to your cookies, include some wheat germ, quinoa, oat bran, or whole oats to your cookie mixture. You can also add a bit of nutmeg or cinnamon to bring a somewhat spicy flavor to cookies.

Another tasty ingredient that goes well in cookies is dried fruit. Dried fruit not only gives you the goodness of fruit to your cookies, but it also can add color to them. We traditionally see raisins in cookies, but it’s time to shake things up. How about dried dates, apricot pieces, or cranberries? Give it your best shot. Experiment and see what inventive cookies you and your family members can come up with.

Remember, you don’t have to put all of these ingredients in one cookie. You can make several batches of tasty, healthy cookies, so try a new taste every day and see how many you can come up with.

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05.19 | 0 comments