After years of being maligned in favor of vegetable oils, butter is getting a retrial.
A brand-new study from the British Medical Journal reports that replacing the saturated fats in butter with linoleic acid–rich fats such as corn, sunflower, and soybean oil not only failed to improve cardiac health markers, but also presented an increased mortality risk in some cases.
Although the American Heart Association stands by its stance that a diet low in saturated fats is heart healthy, swapping butter for linoleic acid–based oils has never been shown to reduce the risk of heart attacks or deaths. Scientists believe that the unsaturated nature of the vegetable oils makes them less stable and more prone to oxidation, which then promotes inflammation within the body.
Fatty Acids For Lean Muscles
A new study suggests that your level of omega-3 fatty acid intake prior to a workout can influence how your muscles respond to training and nutrition. A meta-analysis reported in the journal Marine Drugs examined the effects that omega-3s have on skeletal muscle. They concluded that omega-3 fatty acids of “marine origin” (meaning, fish oil or the popular red krill oil, which have higher levels of DHA and EPA than vegetable sources) can have such a beneficial impact on muscular adaptations that regular intake can potentially alter the trajectory of a number of human diseases, including aging. This information points to the benefits that fish-based omega-3s can exert on the size of muscle as well as the function (strength) and whole body metabolism (fat-burning). If you get most of your omega-3s from seeds or avocados, which contain more ALA than DHA and EPA, think about incorporating a fish-oil supplement into your regimen.
Spice It Up
Countless studies have shown that ginger has multiple health-promoting powers, but a recent one from the Tikrit Medical Journal sheds light on the aromatic root’s ability to boost testosterone levels in men. A group of 75 males were given ginger over the course of about three months. The ginger intervention raised the men's testosterone level by almost 18 percent and boosted levels of luteinizing hormone (which stimulates testosterone production) by more than 43 percent. The experiment did not use a control group, which makes this study less than perfect. However, since ginger is non-caloric, inexpensive, tasty, and a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, there is really no downside to adding it into your daily diet. Buy some whole root, and let’s make America grate again. IM