Pass the Margarine

            You may be spreading disease with your dinner knife.  In a recent study, German scientists discovered that eating margarine may raise the risk of asthma; even in previously healthy adults.  When the researchers examined the dietary intakes of more than 500 people, they found that men who ate, on average, 4 grams of margarine a day were 2.5 times more likely to develop the disease than those who consumes less. “The connection appears to be a type of Tran’s fat that’s specific to margarine,” says study author Gabriele Nagel, Ph.D.  Try a whipped butter product such as Land O’Lakes Whipped Butter; it has 50 percent fewer calories than the stick version and doesn’t contain the asthma-inducing Trans fat you’ll find in regular margarine.  Or try a butter and margarine alternative such as Benecol, which contains 0 grams of Tran’s fat.  It’s infused with plant sterols, which have been shown to help lower total and LDL (bad) cholesterol.

Root Out A Killer

            Sometimes a farmer can do what Big Pharma can’t.  Case in point: Produce helps prevent pancreatic cancer, according to new research from the University of California at San Francisco.  When scientists tracked the diets of more than 2,000 people over a 10 year period, they found that eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables cuts your chance of developing this especially deadly form of cancer by 50 percent.  “The foods most strongly associated with risk reduction are onions and garlic, beans, carrots, dark leafy vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, and oranges,” says study author Elizabeth A. Holly, Ph.D., M.P.H.  So eat up: People who ate five servings of vegetables a day had the lowest risk.

Cure In A Can

            Another reason to love beer; Researchers in Italy recently determined that xanthohumol, an antioxidant found in abundance in hops, can inhibit the growth of cancer cells, slowing tumor development.  So far, the results have been shown only in test tubes, but human studies are planned.