Everyone Loves a Chocolate Update..

I just wanted everyone to know that to get the most out of your dark chocolate or cocoa powder in terms of bioactive-blood-pressure-lowering power, avoid the Dutch Processed.  This process neutralizes the acetic acid from the cocoa powder with alkali (destroys most of the polyphenols) - but there is a method called conching that leaves out the alkali and lets the acetic acid evaporate naturally by heating and stirring.  To tell if the chocolate has been Dutch processed, just read the label - they may brag about it, but they are banking on you not knowing about it killing all those amazing polyphenols!

Here is a list, in order of "most polyphenols" from your chocolate:

1.  Cocoa powder (pure, no sugar or any other additives)

2.  unsweetened baking chocolate

3.  Semi-sweet chocolate baking chips

4.  Dark Chocolate (this could be higher on the list depending the %)

5.  Chocolate syrup

6. Milk chocolate (doesn't have much so I would just go straight for the dark)

After trying chocolate "nibs," which are basically the cocoa "meat" straight from the shell, I have much respect for anyone who can do this.  I believe you can purchase these at PCC and Whole Foods in Seattle - bulk section - so give it a try.  I dare you.  Even a 90% dark chocolate bar is difficult to eat more than a bit of...

Good luck!

P.S.  Cocoa powder is high in copper and potassium.  In fact, America's main source of dietary copper comes from chocolate.  Wow.

Have you ever consumed hydrolyzed vegetable protein?

Probably.

Hydrolyzed vegetable protein is just one of many additives that is placed in our common foods to help with taste, texture, and shelf-life.  When you read ingredients (the most important part of choosing foods in my opinion!) you may come across names you don't recognize.  My first reaction is: don't eat it.  But in reality, people are still going to consume it, even if it is "once in a while."  How do you know if these additives are safe or not?  Check out this great website called Center for Science in the Public Interest and click on Food Additives under Food Safety.  They not only have great updates on food policy but they have researched all of your most pressing quandaries and presented them in a clear and simple way.  If you have time, check out the website and browse a little bit.  They even have an "outbreak alert" if you're wondering the current status of the salmonella dilemma.  Here is the website.

See for your self if this hydrolyzed vegetable protein is okay for you to consume..

Chocolate: A piece a day keeps the doc away!

Now don't go out, buy a milk chocolate Hershey's bar and stop seeing your doctor.  However, do go out and buy a nice bar of dark chocolate (over 70% cacao) and break a piece off everyday.  Research has been done over recent years on the bioactive compounds found in dark chocolate - the bitter taste comes from flavanols, a potent substance that graces a few "superfoods" found in your cupboards.  The researchers are finding that the effects of flavanols on blood pressure and insulin sensitivity are significant - enough to warrant a reason for eating a piece every day.  For those interested, the flavanols increase nitric oxide availability, thereby improving vasorelaxation.

The good news is that it's not just for those with high blood pressure and/or diabetes or insulin resistance.  The research done by Grassi et. al (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, March 2005) looked at healthy individuals and found that it had preventative effects even with a short term administration of 1  small piece of chocolate per day for 6 weeks.  The lab findings were compared to a similar group that ate white chocolate.  The groups took a break from their chocolate and switched types (dark to white or visa versa) for another 6 weeks of chocolate ingestion.  After the subjects consumed the dark chocolate, their blood pressure dropped significantly as did their insulin resistance.  

This is just one example of food as medicine.  This quarter I have an entire class on bioactive compounds (such as the polyphenols described above) and will be reporting more on the subject.  But for now, I'm going to have my daily square of high quality dark chocolate!

P.S. If you live near a Trader Joe's, they have great dark chocolate for cheap!  Otherwise, go to your local health food store.   The research study used a brand called Ritter Sport - their dark chocolate they call Halbbitter.  

Vitamin D, Continued

Just a few more notes on this micronutrient that I want to share/clarify:

The tolerable upper limit (UL) of Vitamin D is set at 2,000IU's, not 10,000 IU's as I said before.  However, the Linus Pauling Institute reports that "research since 1997 suggests that the UL for adults is likely over conservative and that vitamin D toxicity is very unlikely in healthy people at intake levels lower than 10,000 IU's."

Furthermore, the Linus Pauling Institute recommends that adults consume 2,000 IU's per day, up from the current recommendation of 200 IU's set by the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine.

This is in light of current research and the findings that vitamin D play a role in every major organ system in the body.

What type of supplement should you use?  I can't recommend a specific brand or dosage, but I will disclose my current supplementation.   Vitamin D, as I said in my previous post, is most active as D3 so I take a simple 1,000 IU supplement consisting of this form, often 2 per day. Because Vitamin D is fat soluble, it is best to get a supplement that contains some oil.  Mine is made with sunflower oil.  Otherwise, make sure you take them with a fat-containing meal - they will be absorbed much better. There are many excellent brands out there but some that come to mind are:  Now, Carlson, Thorne, and Natural Factors.  Luckily, these are inexpensive and readily available. Check these out at your local supplement shop or health food store.  

Vitamin D - So hot right now

Have you heard the recent news about vitamin D? I hope to write a more complete follow-up article on it because it is now one of the most talked about vitamins out there. Why? Vitamin D was once known only for its role in bone formation and helping with calcium absorption. Well, in the last few years, researchers have found that there are hundreds of specific receptors everywhere in the body from the GI tract to the pancreas that are expressed solely for vitamin D. And thousands more Vitamin D specific genes are expressed in the body. What does this mean? Vitamin D probably has a much bigger role in everything from cancer to diabetes to autoimmune disease than we ever knew. Not much is known yet, but hopefully we will hear more once the research gets going.

The reason I'm writing on this is because vitamin D is a difficult vitamin to obtain, especially if you live in a climate like the Pacific Northwest. As many of you know, vitamin D can be synthesized in our body when exposed to UVB light (sunshine!). In a geographic location that receives little sunlight most of the year, people are simply not able to produce enough vitamin D. It is obtainable from food, but not easily. Fish and fortified foods (such as milk) are about the only reliable source; so in this case, it is difficult to achieve a great vitamin D status only from a whole foods diet. And of course everyone is wearing their sunscreen so as not to get skin cancer.... now where are we getting our vitamin D from?
That there is the question of the hour (or decade). There is supplementation available, so you might want to talk to your health care provider. If you decide to supplement with vitamin D, know that D3 is the active form for our bodies. Also, keep in mind that the upper limit (UL) is 10,000 IUs. The recommended intake for those from infancy until 50 is 200IU's (but now the American academy of pediatrics is recommending 400IU's for infants!) Increasing the AI (adequate intake) is in the process and something I personally believe in. There is a lot of research out there supporting an adequate supply of vitamin D and if the AI is changed, it will hopefully raise awareness about the importance of vitamin D and the difficulty in obtaining it. As many of you Seattle folk know, it has been reported that there is a high incidence of multiple sclerosis (MS) in the pacific northwest and now some are relating it to the overcast sky that is keeping us from synthesizing the necessary amount of vitamin D. So keep eating that fish and try to get outside when that sun is shinning!

Elimination Update - A Surprise

Just a quick update on my elimination diet (click here too see my original post): tomatoes: check. corn: check. refined sugars: Bad! (no surprise there) peppers: check. eggs: not good, at this point. I woke up last weekend with an egg challenge in mind and made some great sunny side up - nice and simple. Well, soon after I got a pretty bad stomach ache and later my wrist flared. Coincidence? Maybe. I did feel a reaction from eggs and I want to make sure its true - so I've decided to reintroduce them at the end to make sure (because who doesn't love a good scramble?). I've started potatoes this afternoon by boiling some small reds spuds and drizzling olive oil and salt on them. So far so good. Next up: citrus, dairy and one final change for the egg. But until then, I'm going to enjoy my potatoes.

I Can Eat Soy!

For the record, I challenged soy with a fantastic block of tofu for lunch (it was marinated - and utterly delicious), soy milk on my cereal, and a soy steamer later that night at the coffee shop.  Nothing happened!  Two down, many more to go.

Also, I just joined this thing called twitter. Have you heard of it? Its basically a place to express yourself in under 160 letters and let people see your "updates." Well that is, anyone who is interested in that type of thing. I'm thinking because I sometimes feel overwhelmed with writing a huge lengthy article, this might be something I can quickly do, more often, to keep you guys on your toes.  I've titled it "What's Braised" and its above my profile picture on the right of the page.