- Author: Janet Byron
Diet and lifestyle choices are major factors contributing to the risk of cardiovascular disease, which is responsible for more deaths in the United States than any other cause.
One dietary component that has received considerable attention for its potential heart-protective effects is soybeans, which contain lean vegetable protein, dietary fiber and antioxidants called isoflavones.
In a recent issue of the University of California’s California Agriculture journal, scientists reviewed research concerning the relationship between soy and heart disease. Several potential mechanisms have been identified for...
- Author: Iqbal Pittalwala
You pick up a bottle of pomegranate juice because you’ve learned that, although it costs more than most juices, it is replete with antioxidants that bring health benefits. But wait: Is the juice you’ve purchased really pomegranate juice? Or is the product label you have carefully read promising more than it delivers?
UC Riverside chemistry professor Cynthia Larive is determined to find out. She is playing detective by applying chemical tests to juice products sold as pomegranate juice or pomegranate juice blends in order to authenticate their contents.
“We are measuring levels of unique compounds in pomegranate juice...
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Remember when George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st president of the United States, declared he didn’t like broccoli and declined to eat it?
“I do not like broccoli,” said Bush, who served as President from 1989 to 1993. “And I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli.”
Well, all the broccoli-haters out there need to come up with some different anti-broccoli strategies.
Mom was right all along. Broccoli, Brussels sprouts and other cruciferous vegetables in the Brassica family (such as kale, cabbage and collard greens) are good for you.
Especially broccoli and Brussels sprouts, which have...