This is very interesting health information ...... Coincidental ?
Believe it or not
MUSHROOM – EAR
Slice a mushroom in
half and it resembles the shape of the human ear.
And guess what? Adding it to your cooking could actually improve your hearing.
That’s because mushrooms are one of the few foods in our diet that contain
vitamin D.
This particular vitamin is important for healthy bones, even the tiny ones in
the ear that transmit sound to the brain.
BANANA (SMILE) –
DEPRESSION
Cheer yourself up and put a smile on your face by eating a banana.
The popular fruit contains a protein called tryptophan.
Once it has been digested, tryptophan then gets converted in a chemical
neurotransmitter called serotonin.
This is one of the most important mood-regulating chemicals in the brain and
most anti-depressant drugs work by adjusting levels of serotonin production.
Higher levels are associated with better moods.
BROCCOLI – CANCER
Close-up, the tiny green
tips on a broccoli head look like hundreds of cancer cells.
Now scientists know this disease-busting veg can play a crucial role in
preventing the disease.
Last year, a team of researchers at the US National Cancer Institute found just
a weekly serving of broccoli was enough to reduce the risk of prostate cancer
by 45 per cent.
In Britain,
prostate cancer kills one man every hour.
GINGER – STOMACH
Root ginger, commonly sold in supermarkets, often looks just like the
stomach.
So it’s interesting that one of its biggest benefits is aiding digestion.
The Chinese have been using it for over 2,000 years to calm the stomach and
cure nausea, while it is also a popular remedy for motion sickness.
But the benefits could go much further.
Tests on mice at the University
of Minnesota found
injecting the chemical that gives ginger its flavour slowed down the growth
rate of bowel tumours.
CHEESE – BONES
A nice ‘holey’ cheese, like Emmenthal, is not just
good for your bones, it even resembles their internal structure.
And like most cheeses, it is a rich source of calcium, a vital ingredient for
strong bones and reducing the risk of osteoporosis later in life.
Together with another mineral called phosphate, it provides the main strength
in bones but also helps to ‘power’ muscles.
Getting enough calcium in the diet during childhood is crucial for strong
bones.
A study at Columbia University in New
York showed teens who
increased calcium intake from 800mg a day to 1200mg – equal to an extra two
slices of cheddar - boosted their bone density by six per cent.
GRAPES – LUNGS
OUR lungs are made up of branches of ever-smaller airways that finish up with
tiny bunches of tissue called alveoli.
These structures, which resemble bunches of grapes, allow oxygen to pass from the
lungs to the blood stream.
One reason that very premature babies struggle to survive is that these alveoli
do not begin to form until week 23 or 24 of pregnancy.
A diet high in fresh fruit, such as grapes, has been shown to reduce the risk
of lung cancer and emphysema.
Grape seeds also contain a chemical called proanthocyanidin, which appears to
reduce the severity of asthma triggered by allergy.
TOMATO – HEART
A TOMATO is red and usually has four chambers, just
like our heart.
Tomatoes are also a great source of lycopene, a plant chemical that reduces the
risk of heart disease and several cancers.
The Women’s Health Study — an American research programme which tracks the
health of 40,000 women — found women with the highest blood levels of lycopene
had 30 percent less heart disease than women who h ad very little lycopene.
Lab experiments have also shown that lycopene helps counter the effect of
unhealthy LDL cholesterol.
One Can ad ian study, published in the journal
Experimental Biology and Medicine, said there was “convincing evidence’ that
lycopene prevented coronary heart disease.
WALNUT – BRAIN
THE gnarled folds of a walnut mimic the appearance of a human brain - and
provide a clue to the benefits.
Walnuts are the only nuts which contain significant amounts of omega-3 fatty
acids.
They may also help head off dementia. An American study found that walnut
extract broke down the protein-based plaques associated with Alzheimer’s
disease.
Researchers at Tufts University in Boston
found walnuts reversed some signs of brain ageing in rats.
Eat Well and Have a Good
Health