Both nutritious and delicious grapefruit has become more popular, and is no longer just an option for breakfast. Low in calories and high in vitamin C. and potassium, grapefruit contains bioflavonoids and other plant chemicals which can help protect against heart disease and cancer.

Most people purchase the white grapefruit (which strangely enough has a yellow skin). However pink or red grapefruits are a better purchase because they are high in beta-carotene and lycopene which is an antioxidant that can help reduce risks of cancer.

Half a grapefruit provides 70% of the adult recommended daily nutrient intake of vitamin C. Again higher levels of the vitamin C. can be found in the red and pink grapefruit varieties. Lately some fad diets have claimed that grapefruit possess a unique ability to burn fat. This is untrue. Grapefruit has no such ability. However a grapefruit is also high in pectin which is a soluble fibre that may help reduce blood cholesterol.

Phenolic acid can also be found in grapefruit and this is a substance which also stimulates the production of enzymes that may help to prevent cancer. It has also been noted that people who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory disorders who eat grapefruit on a daily basis experience a relief of their symptoms.

Challenges with grapefruit.

There are however drawbacks with grapefruit. Compounds in the grapefruit can enhance the effects of some drugs which may lead to some undesirable side effects, so grapefruit should not be eaten if you are prescribed certain medications. Always check with your doctor first.

Medications that cause concern are medications which lower blood pressure, and medications prescribed for elevated lipids, depression and anxiety.

Tags: grapefruit, cancer, heart disease, side effects



Add to Onlywire

Welcome! This site can be easily viewed with a PDA or a mobile phone. If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Technorati Tags: cancer, grapefruit, heart disease, side-effects

Asparagus is actually an edible member of the lily family. The ancient Greeks and Romans attributed Asparagus with medical qualities, but they are they were just a bit over enthusiastic in their beliefs.

Asparagus certainly is a good source of vitamin C. and folate and is a useful source of vitamin E. and potassium. The vegetable contains prebiotic fibre that helps friendly gut bacteria reproduce. Unfortunately a drawback of eating asparagus is that it contains purines. Purines do two things, one they stimulate over production of uric acid and this can lead to painful gout attacks, and two, the purines can make your urine smell strongly.

Asparagus should always be kept in the refrigerator because over 2 to 3 days it will otherwise lose half of its vitamin C. Asparagus is a vegetable that should always be purchased as fresh as possible.

Tags: asparagus, gout

Add to Onlywire

Technorati Tags: asparagus, gout

Why do some people get hangovers where others only get headaches?

Usually a hangover is a direct result of drinking too much. However it is not just as simple as that. Whether or not you get a hangover depends on two things. Firstly your biochemical individuality, and secondly type of drink you take.

Some drinks have a more immediate impact than others. For example spirits such as gin and whisky, have a more immediate impact than beers or wines.

Any alcoholic drink that is mixed with carbonated beverage is more quickly absorbed into the bloodstream than if the drink was not mixed. Of course once absorbed the alcohol reaches your brain within minutes.

The immediate effect is one of euphoria or stimulation, followed by a gradual slip into nervous system depression with more consumption leading to numbness, slurring of speech, sleep, and alcoholic poisoning and unconsciousness if a serious over consumption occurs.

The over consumption point is reached much quicker if you are already taking drugs. It is also easier to reach a point where you’re breathing is suppressed because of the interaction between the drug and the drink, and if this occurs when you are in trouble. You have now got yourself to the point where you’re breathing could stop or you could choke on your own vomit.

The severity of the after-effects of drinking alcohol is loosely termed a hangover. It is caused by the by-products of the fermentation process in the manufacture of the drink concerned. These by-products are known as ‘congeners’, and the more congeners there are in a drink, then the more severe the resultant hangover may be.

Here is a list in order from highest to lowest of the drinks with the greatest number of congeners.

* Brandy
* Red Wine
* Rum
* Whisky
* White Wine
* Gin
* Vodka

So you can see from this table that Gin and Vodka which are low in the ‘congeners scale’, but high in the immediate impact list, give the quickest buzz with the lowest after-effects (providing of course you don’t overdo it!)

Did you know?

An average single pub measure of spirits contains 1.5 units, and the average pub measure of a glass of wine is the same. A pint of ordinary beer contains two units, whereas a pint of strong beer is double that at four units.

The recommended daily intake for the average healthy woman is two to three units per day, and for the average healthy man three to four units per day.

Tags: alcohol, hangover, alcoholic drink, recommended daily intake

Add to Onlywire

Technorati Tags: alcohol, alcoholic drink, hangover, recommended daily intake