While I endeavour to eat a healthy diet, the hedonist in me occasionally surfaces and urges me to eat something I know is somewhat suspect from a nutritional standpoint. From time to time, for instance, I like to indulge in some fish and chips. As it happens, my local chippy does offer salmon and trout, which although deep-fried, at least contains health-giving omega- 3 fats. Unfortunately, there really is no similar nutritional justification for the chips that accompany the fish: potato is a relatively unnutritious vegetable, and one that releases its sugar rapidly into the bloodstream. The biochemical changes that result will tend to stimulate fat production and may also stall its burning within the body. There's no getting away from the fact that eating piles of chips will pile on the pounds.
Recently, I was interested to read of research which suggests that the weight-gaining effects of chips might be tempered by the addition of vinegar. Being acidic, vinegar has the ability to impair the alkaliactivated digestive enzymes involved in the digestion of starch, thereby helping to slow release of sugar from food into the bloodstream. Studies in animals also indicate that the acid in vinegar can help the uptake of sugar from the bloodstream into the body's cells. In combination, these effects would be expected to help reduce the blood sugar level rise that comes after eating.
This theory was put to the test in a study published last year in thejournal Diabetes Care. The addition of vinegar to a meal was, indeed, found to reduce the overall rise in blood sugar levels (also known as the glycaemic index, or GI) associated with it. This may have significant benefits for the body as a reduction in GI will reduce the tendency for the body to make fat after a meal, and will also help to preserve the body's ability to burn fat as a fuel.
Vinegar's ability to lower the GI of the foods it is eaten with may have other boons for those seeking to attain or maintain a healthy weight. Several studies show that lower GI meals tend to sate theappetite more than higher GI ones. Vinegar may therefore help to protect against weight gain by putting a brake on the amount of food that is eaten.
Foods which may benefit from a vinegary addition include wheatbased breads, rice and pasta. Dipping bread into olive oil and balsamic vinegar makes sense, as does accompanying rice and pasta with a salad dressed with oil and vinegar. The addition of vinegar is also a useful trick for those who eat the odd fish-and-chip supper but are keen to keep excess weight at bay. OM john.briffa@observer.co.uk
Dear John
Can you recommend a natural alternative to HRT for controlling menopausal symptoms, such as hot flushes?
PD
The rapid decline in female hormones, especially oestrogen, that comes with the menopause can trigger a range of symptoms, which include hot flushes and night sweats. While hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can help to relieve such symptoms, concerns about its safety have led many women to consider alternatives.
One of the more effective remedies in this respect is a herb - black cohosh. A study published recently in the medical journal Obstetrics and Gynaecology found that compared with a placebo, 40mg of black cohosh given to women each day for 12 weeks led to a reduction in menopausal symptoms. The amount of therapeutic benefit derived from black cohosh was similar to that generally obtained from taking HRT.
If you are having menopausal symptoms, I suggest you start at a dose of 40mg per day, and move up to 80mg per day if you have not experienced an improvement in your condition within three months.
If you have any issues you would like Dr Briffa to address in his column, please email him on john.briffa@observer. co.uk. Please note that Dr Briffa cannot enter into any correspondence. You can also visit www.drbriffa.com. Before following any recommendations in this column, you should consult your own medical adviser about any medical problems or special health conditions
Nutrition news
Previous studies have indicated that turmeric has actions in the body which would be expected to protect it from cancer. For instance, one component of turmeric, known as curcumin, has been found to help induce death in cancer cells - a process known as apoptosis. Another of turmeric's components, turmerin, helps to quench damaging, destructive molecules called free radicals, which have been implicated in the processes that cause cancer in the body. In a recent American study, researchers assessed the effects of turmeric on malignant melanoma cells in the laboratory. Part of this research involved the measurement of levels of a substance called nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappa B), which is known to be overactive in several types of cancerous tumours, including malignant melanoma. The addition of turmeric to the malignant melanoma cells was found to lower NF-kappa B levels, and was also associated with an inhibition of melanoma cell growth. This study adds further weight to the notion that turmeric has cancer-protective effects, and suggests that the incorporation of turmeric in the diet may help to protect against malignant melanoma.
