The resin from a tree in India, the guggul tree, contains a substance effective in controlling high cholesterol. The compound, guggulsterone, blocks the action of a cell receptor, FXR, which helps to regulate body cholesterol levels.
A $4.5 million study to be conducted at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston will examine the health benefits of soy isoflavone supplementation in reducing bone loss in postmenopausal women.
The food and nutritional industries tend to "deconstruct" foods. With the aid of science, healthy constituents are found and extracted and/or purified, and then promoted as supplements for food fortification.
The interest in foods with healthful properties has increased the need for food formulators to offer additional benefits in the foods and beverages they manufacture.
Health-conscious consumers—and manufacturers and marketers of nutritional products—are becoming more familiar with the health benefits of "good fat." A primer on nutritional fats and oils—from omega-3 fatty acids to chia seed oil—is provided.
Elderberries grow beyond the folklore into mainstream functional foods.
An old Austrian saying, "Tip your hat to the elder," expresses the respect with which Europeans have long regarded the elder tree (Sambucus nigra L. Caprifoliaceae) and its dark purple berries.
Research increasingly supports the medicinal benefits of food ingredients.
Even "empty calorie" food and beverages provide needed calories, if little else, to the human body. And, at the other extreme, more than a few plants have historical use not only as a food but for their medicinal benefits as well.
It's as old and delicious as sin...so what is so newsworthy about chocolate? Researchers at Davis have been making headlines lately and spurring special news segments on the newly found cardiovascular benefits of chocolate.