Shoes, Ships, and Sealing Wax

Super foods

I am such a geek that I was excited about today's release of the new Dietary Guidelines. I was actually checking the site over and over all morning, hoping they'd be posted before the press conference...and if it weren't for our firewall, I'd have watched the press conference. That is pretty damn geeky.

And the thing is, I knew what the guidelines were going to say:

Consume a variety of nutrient-dense foods and beverages within and among the basic food groups while choosing foods that limit the intake of saturated and trans fats, cholesterol, added sugars, salt, and alcohol.

and

Engage in regular physical activity and reduce sedentary activities to promote health, psychological well-being, and a healthy body weight.

So I don't know why I was so excited. More interesting was the news that researchers have figured out that oleic acid is the component of olive oil that seems to protect against tumors. (You can read the entire journal article, in fact, to see how, if you understand things like "Oleic acid, the main monounsaturated fatty acid of olive oil, suppresses Her-2/neu (erbB-2) expression and synergistically enhances the growth inhibitory effects of trastuzumab (HerceptinTM) in breast cancer cells with Her-2/neu oncogene amplification." Which I don't. But I think it is very generous of the journals to allow free access to articles like this, which have very widespead public interest.)

Anyway, my basic understanding is that the oleic acid suppresses the activity of a gene that is associated with aggressive breast tumors. The fact that food is really just a collection of chemicals and that we are walking-around reactor vessels is, well, cool. (I said I was a geek!) And that chemical reaction thing leads me to think about so-called "super foods."

(Does anyone else remember a tv commercial with Homer Simpson explaining the "so-called sooooooper donut"?)

Anyway, over the last few months, I think every magazine I read has had an article on super foods, foods that are expected to have health benefits beyond their mere known nutrient composition.

And this is a really long set-up for a coming attraction...I'm going to look into this sooooooper food thing, because it will give me something to blog about (and maybe some dinners.)

And it's either that or more rat pictures.

Posted by Nic at January 12, 2005 07:30 PM