6 Simple Health Tips for Buying Chocolate
Shopping for "good" chocolate is kind of like searching for a viable online date. Approach the market without a plan and it's easy to get duped by glossy packaging and false claims. Know what you're looking for, though, and you can find yourself a sweetie with substance -- guaranteed to reduce your stress levels, ignite your sex life, and make your heart sing from the first blissful encounter. In fact, findings from a new long-term study in Heart journal involving 25,000 volunteers suggest that eating up to 3.5 ounces of high-quality chocolate per day can significantly reduce risks of heart disease and stroke. Sort through...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - February 14, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Scientists reveal plans for SUPER-CHOCOLATE
Researchers in Germany have focused on a key ingredient known a lecithin, which is used to keep fat in the chocolate stable so that it doesn't separate from the cocoa solids and dairy. (Source: the Mail online | Health)
Source: the Mail online | Health - August 26, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Chocolate physics: How modeling could improve 'mouthfeel'
Lecithin plays a vital role in the production of chocolate and many other foods. It's never been clear how this ingredient works on a molecular level, and confectioners have relied on observational methods -- essentially trial and error -- to perfect their recipes. Now, scientists have shown how the field of molecular dynamics could be a valuable tool in understanding chocolate conching -- the part of the chocolate-making process where aromatic sensation, texture and 'mouthfeel' are developed. (Source: ScienceDaily Headlines)
Source: ScienceDaily Headlines - August 26, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
A Superior Kind of Food
Within the last month, the KIND snack company, received a warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). At issue was the "healthy" claim appearing on labels of some of the company's popular snack bars.
Per the FDA, "healthy" is a nutritional-content claim that any product containing more than 1 gm of saturated fat per serving (like KIND bars) cannot meet.
Nutrition experts rightly pointed out how ridiculous this criterion is, particularly because the saturated fat in KIND bars comes largely from the nuts the bars contain (i.e., from whole-food ingredients with decided health benefits irrespective o...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - May 29, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Peanut Allergy More Common in Children With AsthmaPeanut Allergy More Common in Children With Asthma
Some inhalers use soy-based lecithin, which is contraindicated for people with peanut allergy, warn investigators, who found that almost one-quarter of patients with asthma are also allergic to nuts. Medscape Medical News (Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines)
Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines - May 26, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Pulmonary Medicine News Source Type: news
Soy: It's good for eating, baking -- and cleaning up crude oil spills
If you've studied ingredient labels on food packaging, you've probably noticed that soy lecithin is in a lot of products, ranging from buttery spreads to chocolate cake. Scientists have now found a potential new role for this all-purpose substance: dispersing crude oil spills. Their study could lead to a less toxic way to clean up these environmental messes. (Source: ScienceDaily Headlines)
Source: ScienceDaily Headlines - April 22, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
2 Simple Maps That Reveal How American Agriculture Actually Works
Driving through the farmlands of Iowa looking for fresh food to eat is a lot like sailing through the ocean looking for fresh water to drink. In the ocean, you're surrounded by water that you can't drink; in Iowa, you're surrounded by food you can't eat. Even though Iowa generates the second-highest amount of revenue of any state off its crops -- $17 billion in 2012 -- the overwhelming majority of that comes from field corn, which is destined mostly for animal feed and ethanol, not dinner plates.
I came upon this startling fact while trying to answer a seemingly simple question: What crop generates the most money in each...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - January 16, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
What Exactly IS White Chocolate?
It doesn't look like chocolate or smell like chocolate, and it sure as hell doesn't taste like chocolate. That's because it's not chocolate at all. So really, it's no wonder white chocolate is a controversial impostor; people either love it or they hate it, and there's nothing in between.
White chocolate doesn't qualify as genuine chocolate because it doesn't contain chocolate solids (a.k.a. cocoa powder). White chocolate is typically made from a blend of cocoa butter, milk solids, sugar, milk fat and lecithin -- a fatty emulsifier that holds it all together.
If you're on team White Chocolate, you can make it at ho...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - October 28, 2014 Category: Science Source Type: news
Nutrition 101: Choline
(HealthCastle.com) Choline is an essential nutrient. The majority of the body's choline is found in specialized fat molecules known as phospholipids, the most common of which is called phosphatidylcholine or lecithin.
Recommended Intakes
The Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) for choline are shown below:
read more (Source: HealthCastle.com Nutrition Tips - written by Registered Dietitians)
Source: HealthCastle.com Nutrition Tips - written by Registered Dietitians - October 4, 2013 Category: Nutrition Source Type: news
Eggs, Also, May Raise Heart Risk Via Gut Bacteria
Yet another study, by the same US research team, links raised risk of heart attack and stroke to the action of gut bacteria on certain compounds contained in digested food. This time the link is to a compound found in eggs: lecithin. Earlier this month, researchers reported in Nature Medicine how they found L-carnitine, a compound found in red meat and added to energy drinks, can increase heart risk because gut bacteria digest it to produce trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), a metabolite already suspected of helping to clog up arteries... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - April 25, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cardiovascular / Cardiology Source Type: news
Intestinal Flora May Promote Atherosclerosis (CME/CE)
(MedPage Today) -- The gut microbiota appears to play a role in atherosclerosis through a complex metabolic pathway that involves dietary lecithin, a two-part experiment and observational study determined. (Source: MedPage Today Cardiovascular)
Source: MedPage Today Cardiovascular - April 24, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: news
Eggs, Too, May Provoke Bacteria to Raise Heart Risk
Investigators who found that eating meat can increase heart disease risk because of the actions of intestinal bacteria now say the same thing happens with lecithin, abundant in egg yolks. (Source: NYT Health)
Source: NYT Health - April 24, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: By GINA KOLATA Tags: Heart Eggs Medicine and Health Source Type: news
7th Heaven Bakeries Issues Allergy Alert on Undeclared Egg, Soy And Milk in Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
7th Heaven Bakeries, Oklahoma City, is recalling OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES, because they may contain undeclared dry eggs, soy lecithin, and whey solids. People who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to eggs, soy and milk run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume these products. (Source: Food and Drug Administration)
Source: Food and Drug Administration - April 24, 2013 Category: Food Science Source Type: news
