healthbriefs
Raisins Yield Pressure Relief F
or individuals seeking a natural way to keep slightly elevated blood pressure in check, eating a handful of raisins each day might do the trick. New data presented at the American College of Cardiology 61st Annual Scientific Session suggest that among adults with hypertension or mild increases in blood pressure, routine consumption of raisins may lower read- ings, especially compared with eating other common snacks. The researchers noted that raisins are packed with potassium, which is known to lower blood pressure, and are also a good source of antioxidant dietary fiber, which may favorably alter the biochemistry of blood vessels, enabling them to be less stiff. The study helps validate some current nutrient recommendations, such as 60 raisins—about a handful, containing one gram of fiber and 212 milligrams of po- tassium—as being helpful in the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly one in three (28 percent) of American adults have prehypertension, defined as a systolic pressure from 120 to 139 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) or a diastolic pressure from 80 to 89 mm Hg.
Researchers cautioned that their study was small; larger trials are needed. “T
GIVING BEGETS HAPPINESS AT EVERY AGE
o give is better than to receive,” is a maxim that ap- pears to hold true even for the very young. A new study co-authored by three psychologists at Canada’s Uni- versity of British Columbia observes that giving makes tod- dlers happier. The study, published in PLOS One, an online journal of the Public Library of Science, found that toddlers
younger than 2 were happier when giving treats to others than when receiving them. They were also happier when they gave their own treats away, rather than an identi- cal treat that didn’t belong to them.
Citrus Fruits Lower Risk of Stroke P
opular winter citrus fruits like oranges and grapefruit come with an unexpected health benefit: eating them may lower the risk of ischemic strokes (clots), especially in women, per a study reported in Stroke, a journal of the American Heart Association.
The researchers analyzed 14 years of follow-up data from the National Institutes of Health Nurses’ Health Study, which included 69,622 women that re- ported their food intake every four years, including details on fruit and vegetable consumption. The study discovered that a high intake of fla- vanones, a subclass of flavonoids found in the greatest concentra- tions in oranges and grapefruit, was associated with a 19 percent lower risk of ischemic stroke.
In the study, the presence of flavanones came primarily from oranges and orange juice (82 percent) and grapefruit and grape- fruit juice (14 percent). However, the researchers recommended that consumers increase their citrus fruit intake, rather than juice consump- tion, to avoid the sugar in many commercial juices.
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