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{{B}}Food and Health{{/B}} The food you eat does more than provide energy. It can have a dramatic effect on your body’s ability to fight off heart disease, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, and weak bones. With remarkable consistency, recent research has found that a diet high in plant-based foods—fruits, vegetables, dried peas and beans, grains, and starchy staples such as potatoes—is the body’s best weapon in {{U}}thwarting{{/U}} many health-related problems. These foods work against so many diseases that the same healthy ingredients you might use to protect your heart or ward off cancer will also benefit your intestinal tract and bones. Scientists have recently estimated that approximately 30 to 40 percent of all cancers could be avoided if people ate more fruits, vegetables, and plant-based foods and minimized high-fat, high-calorie edibles that have scant nutritional value. Up to 70 percent of cancers might be eliminated if people also stopped smoking, exercised regularly, and controlled their weight. In the past, researchers had linked fat consumption with the development of cancers, but they currently believe that eating fruits, vegetables, and grains may be more important in preventing the disease than not eating fat. “The evidence about a high-fat diet and cancer seemed a lot stronger several years ago than it does now,” says Melanie Polk, a registered dietitian and director of nutrition education at the American Institute for Cancer Research. The road to strong bones is paved with calcium-rich food. Leafy green vegetables and low-fat dairy products are excellent sources of calcium, the mineral that puts stiffness into your skeletal system and keeps your bones from turning rubbery and fragile. Your body uses calcium for more than keeping your bones strong. Calcium permits cells to divide, regulates muscle contraction and relaxation, and plays an important role in the movement of protein and nutrients inside cells. If you don’t absorb enough from what you eat to satisfy these requirements, your body will take it from your bones. Because your body doesn’t produce this essential mineral, you must continually replenish the supply. Even though the recommended daily amount is 1,200 mg, most adults don’t eat more than 500 mg. One reason may have been the perception that calcium-rich dairy products were also loaded with calories. “In the past, women, in particular, worried that dairy products were high in calories,” says Letha Y. Griffin, M. D., of Peachtree Orthopaedics in Atlanta. “But today you can get calcium without eating any high-fat or high-calorie foods by choosing skim milk or low-fat yogurt.” Also, low fat dairy products contain phosphorous and magnesium and are generally fortified with vitamin D, all of which help your body absorb and use calcium. If you find it difficult to include enough calcium in your diet, ask your doctor about supplements. They’re a potent way to get calcium as well as vitamin D and other minerals. But if you rely on pills instead of a calcium-rich diet, you won’t benefit from the other nutrients that food provides. Getting the recommended vitamin D may be easy, since your body makes the vitamin when your skin is exposed to the sun’s rays. |