English researchers, as part of a large study looking at the effects of diet on health, have found moderate amounts of olive oil make a big difference in preventing the debilitating digestive disorder ulcerative colitis. Looking at detailed food records kept by 25,000...
Sweet news from chocolate researchers: A component of dark chocolate can help protect brain cells when oxygen is cut off by a stroke. In the 2010 study, researchers gave epicatechin, found naturally in dark chocolate, to lab animals before and after inducing a stroke....
Once upon a time in science class we learned that heat is a product of energy. Think of a light bulb that’s been on for a while, or the expense of warming your house through cold winters. Now scientists from UCLA are turning that relationship to your advantage: Hot...
Want to lower your cholesterol? It’s not about the fat. Turns out sugar — added to processed foods and sweetened drinks — is a big culprit. New research in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association studied 6,100 people to see how sugar intake...
If you’re a label reader, you may have taken comfort in the word “natural” that sometimes appears next to “flavoring.” It's time to think twice. Some of what falls into that category is hydrolized vegetable protein, which also sounds innocuous but from some...
Finnish researchers have uncovered grandpa’s secret: Turns out that rye bread is nature’s great answer to constipation. Writing in the Journal of Nutrition, the scientists found that rye is not only more effective than laxative medications, it also makes the gut...
You've always heard that fish is brain food. Now, a growing body of research is supporting that contention. One study published in the February 2010 edition of the Archives of General Psychiatry found that fish-oil supplements high in omega-3 fatty acids warded off...
New Year’s day was as one of those perfect Pacific Northwest winter days — 45 degrees, misty and soft. The kind of day that smells and feels like earth. My garden is pretty much hibernating. A long spell of deep cold knocked back the last of my greens. There’s a...
A spring planting guide while you’re planning what to plant Gardeners have a big advantage during deep darkness of a northwest winter: We get to pore over garden books and catalogs that offer shards of sunlight and whiffs of spring. Dreaming about striped tomatoes,...
My favorite seed catalog came in today’s mail. What's new for 2010: organic Floriani red flint corn, green meat radish, Bolivian rainbow pepper, purple pac choy, ruby streaks mustard. This is why I started gardening – I was awed by the incredible diversity of life I...