Omega-3 products are popping up all over. Those essential fatty acids that may also be essential for heart health are now being packed into pastas, breads, and even tortilla chips.
A new pasta line--Barilla Plus, from the Barilla Group--combines omega-3-rich flaxseed with lentils, chick peas, and four types of grain to make a new, more healthful pasta product. The pasta has almost 50 percent more protein and 100 percent more fiber than regular pasta. It also contains 200 mg alpha-linoleic acid (ALA) omega-3 per serving.
Three U.S. companies--Wegmans Food Markets, Inc., of New York; The Baker, a New Jersey company; and Arnold Foods Company of Pennsylvania--are now producing 100 percent whole-wheat omega-3 breads containing MEG-3, an ingredient derived from fish oil. The breads contain about 40 mg EPA/DHA from fish oil per slice.
A new tortilla chip now available at health-food stores offers 500 mg of ALA omega-3 oil per ounce. The source of the omega-3 fatty acids is a little-known super-grain called Salba (see "Medical Mailbox," page 104). The Taste Waves brand of tortilla chips is also one of the first consumer products made from highly nutritious organic high-lysine corn.
The present adequate daily intake for omega-3 is 1,100 mg for women and 1,600 mg for men.
Fruit Notes
Kiwifruit Akin to Asprin
Want to reduce stroke and heart attack risk? Take two kiwi fruits and call us in the morning. Norwegian researchers have found eating two to three kiwifruit a day significantly lowers the risk of blood clotting and reduces plasma triglyceride levels by 15 percent. Eating kiwi fruit has a similar effect to taking aspirin daily, although researchers can't say which components in kiwifruit bring about the benefits. Other studies have shown kiwifruit may help protect against DNA damage that can trigger cancer.
Pomegranates vs. Heart Disease
Polyphenol-rich juice from pomegranates may help prevent atherosclerosis. In an American and Italian study, mice bred to have the artery-clogging disease had a 30 percent or greater reduction in their atherosclerosis when fed pomegranate juice. When treated with pomegranate juice, human heart endothelial cells like those in artery wails produced 50 percent more nitric oxide, a substance that causes blood vessels to relax. Fresh pomegranates are available from October to December, but concentrated pomegranate juice is now available in grocery stores all year round.
Apples and Antioxidants
Adam did the right thing by eating the apple, at least as far as his health was concerned.
Researchers have found the antioxidant activity of one apple is equivalent to about 1,500 mg of vitamin C. But all apples aren't equal in their antioxidant content. A study by Canadian scientists showed Red Delicious, Northern Spy and Ida Red apples have the highest levels of disease-fighting polyphenol activity among the apples they studied. Empire apples had the least antioxidant activity, about half as much as Red Delicious.
To get the most antioxidants, researchers note, be sure to eat the peel. Polyphenols are five times more prevalent in the skin than in the flesh of the fruit.
Tips from the Kitchen
To store fresh-cut basil, place in a glass with stems immersed in water. Change the water occasionally. The basil will keep for weeks. Do not refrigerate. Basil hates the cold.
To keep nuts from settling to the bottom of the pan in baking, heat them first in the oven and dust them with flour before adding them to the batter.
Add an apple to stored potatoes to keep them from budding.
Improve the freshness of orange juice by adding the juice of one lemon.
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