A study led by a University of California researcher gives women an extra incentive to visit their dentist regularly. Data collected from nearly 7,000 participants suggests that women who receive regular dental care reduce their risk of heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular problems by at least one-third.
The fi ndings, published in the journal Health Economics, compared people who visited the dentist during the last two years with those who did not. Here’s yet another reason to switch completely from refi ned fl our products to whole grains.
In a new study by the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, at Tufts University, adults who ate three servings of whole grains a day while also eating less than one serving a day of commercially enriched fl our products had less of a type of fat tissue that is thought to play a key role in triggering diseases.
The fat is known as visceral adipose tissue, or VAT, which surrounds internal organs. The researchers examined 2,834 participants, ages 32 to 83, and VAT volume was approximately 10 percent lower in the healthy eating group.
However, lead study author Nicola McKeown, Ph.D., explains that, “Whole grain consumption did not appear to improve VAT volume if refi ned grain intake exceeded four or more servings per day.
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This result infers that it is important to make substitutions in the diet, rather than simply adding whole grain foods. For example, choosing to cook with brown rice instead of white, or making a sandwich with whole grain bread instead of white bread.”
