Research Round-Up: Sugar-Sweetened Drinks & Mortality Risk; Organic Foods; Walnuts & Breast Cancer
Sugar-Sweetened Drinks Increase Mortality Risk
Drinking sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) is linked to greater risk of death, especially from cardiovascular disease, and to a lesser degree, from cancer, researchers say. Analyzing data from 80,647 women and 37,716 men who answered lifestyle and health questionnaires, researchers found that the more SSBs a person drank, the higher the risk of premature death. Compared to drinking SSBs less than once a month, drinking one to four in a month had a one percent increased risk, while drinking two or more per day had a 21 percent increased risk.
(Circulation, April 2019)
Organic Foods Improve Nutritional Quality
Higher consumption of organic foods is associated with nutritional and environmental benefits, researchers say. Dietary sustainability of over 29,000 participants was assessed based on dietary intake scores, and BMI, as well as environmental indicators like greenhouse gas emissions, diet monetary costs, and daily food exposure to 15 pesticides. The higher plant-food and lower animal food consumption of higher organic food consumption was linked to increased nutritional quality and lower BMI, as well as the environmental benefits of lower greenhouse gas emissions, energy demands, land occupation, and exposure to most pesticides. Total diet monetary cost increased.
(The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, April 2019)
Eating Walnuts Helps Fight Breast Cancer
Walnuts may help promote the death of cancer cells and block pathways that can lead to cancer cell growth in women with breast cancer, research shows. Women who had just had breast cancer biopsies were divided into two groups: one group ate two ounces of walnuts each day for two weeks, the other group did not. After a follow-up biopsy, women in the walnut group experienced significant changes and tumor gene expression that showed cancer cell death and prevention of cell growth.
(Nutrition Research, March 2019)
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