Foods for Thought

Laura Mellon, MSAOM, Dipl. OM (NCCAOM)®, L.Ac. Flourish Acupuncture & Integrative Healthcare, PLLC

As a modern culture, I think we still tend to think of food in the broader sense – protein, carbohydrate, fats, and sugar. If we zoom in and look at it from the perspective of vitamins, minerals and compounds (or molecules) then we can begin to choose food more effectively to help the body become stronger and maintain itself for a better quality of life.

Just to see if this tickles your brain, let’s look at a few….

1. Anthocyanins reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels. That sounds like something good!

What the heck is an anthocyanin?? These are blue-and purple colored compounds found in

fruits and vegetables like blueberries, raspberries, eggplants, and others. Journals of

Biochemistry, Cardiology, and Neurology have indicated that anthocyanins also exert

antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and/or neuro-protective effects and may reduce a person’s risk

of developing cardiovascular disease, cancer, and type 2 Diabetes (Winter A. et al., 2017).

2. Lycopene reduces cholesterol and improves blood pressure. We all know people who can

improve in one or both of those areas. Where do I find this you ask? This is the red pigment

that gives tomatoes and watermelon (as well as other red and pink fruits and vegetables) their

typical color. Also of interest, a review of 26 studies with 563,000 participants found both

lycopene supplementation and circulating concentrations (circulating in the blood) exhibited a

preventive effect on prostate cancer (Chen P. et al., 2015).

3. Walnuts - 0ne food with many benefits! They provide a fabulous array of bioactive nutrients and phytochemicals. Some of my favorite benefits include:

• Neuroprotection! Keeping the brain healthy (by activating specialized immune cells of the central nervous system to protect against infections, chronic inflammation-associated brain aging, injury and neurodegeneration), maintaining vasodilation of thebrain arteries, and help maintain neuroplasticity.

• Urolithins! Never heard of them right? These are compounds with strong antioxidant,anti-inflammatory, anticancer and prebiotic effects.

• These nuts are rich in γ-tocopherol – it’s a form of vitamin E that has anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties in addition to being a potent antioxidant.

• Phytosterols (a group of naturally occurring compounds found in plant cell membranes) are involved in the cholesterol lowering effect of walnuts (Ros E. et al., 2018) .

Eating foods that help the body repair itself is such a great way to maintain your health! Learning about different chemistry in foods can help guide you in your choices.

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References

1. Chen P., Zhang W., Wang X., Zhao K., Negi D.S., Zhuo L., Qi M., Wang X., Zhang X. Lycopene and Risk of Prostate Cancer: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Medicine. 2015;94:e1260. doi: 10.1097/MD.1260.

2. Ros E., Izquierdo-Pulido M., Sala-Vila A. Beneficial effects of walnut consumption on human health: Role of micronutrients. Curr. Opin. Clin. Nutr. Metab. Care. 2018;21:498–504. doi: 10.1097/MCO.0508.

3. Aimee N. Winter, Matthew C. Brenner, Noelle Punessen, Michael Snodgrass, Caleb Byars, Yingyot Arora, Daniel A. Linseman, "Comparison of the Neuroprotective and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of the Anthocyanin Metabolites, Protocatechuic Acid and 4-Hydroxybenzoic Acid", Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, vol. 2017, Article

ID 6297080, 13 pages, 2017.