CA – JAN 15 – IN A CAPSULE
- Posted by CERC India
- Posted in monthly
IN A CAPSULE
You CAN train your brain to like healthy foods!
Scientists have long believed that once unhealthy food addiction circuits are established they may be hard or impossible to reverse. Now, new research from Tufts University has revealed that it may be possible to train the brain to prefer healthy low-calorie foods over unhealthy higher-calorie ones. In fact, they are working on a type of diet that can kick junk food addiction.
The diet is a variation of the ‘i Diet’ created by Susan Roberts a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. It provides approximately 25% energy from protein and fat and 50% from low-glycaemic index carbohydrates with 40g per day of dietary fibre. The study has been published online in the journal Nutrition & Diabetes.
Eating biscuits and cakes could damage your memory
Fats found in some biscuits, cakes and processed foods could have a harmful effect on memory, researchers have warned. Healthy people who ate large amounts of products containing trans fats had worse scores in a word memory test, say University of California, San Diego researchers, according to the Daily Mail. The link remained after taking account of age, education and depression.
Trans fats are used both in processed food and in restaurants to improve the texture, shelf life or flavour of foods. According to the study, trans fats are most strongly linked to worse memory in young and middle-aged men during their working and career building years. From a health standpoint, trans fat consumption has been linked to higher body weight, more aggression and heart disease.
Got a sore throat? Take paracetamol but NOT ibuprofen
When you have a sore throat, it’s natural to reach for all the painkillers you can get your hands on. But taking ibuprofen could actually impede recovery, a leading doctor warns, according to Daily Mail. The doctor says ibuprofen will dampen the body’s natural response to the virus causing the sore throat. He advises taking paracetamol instead.
A previous study also found that ibuprofen could prolong the symptoms of coughs, colds and sore throats as it dampens the immune system being an anti-inflammatory drug. Inflammation, such as a red throat, is the body’s way of fighting a virus. Paracetamol kills pain without affecting the body’s immune system. Taking it along with rest and plenty of fluids gives the body the opportunity to overcome the virus.
