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A new scientific review has made claims that organic foods are higher in nutrients and lower in pesticides compared with those grown in the now conventional method of intensive farming.
The review encompassed 343 previous peer-reviewed studies, assessing crop composition and foods, and the authors concluded that organic crops had higher levels of certain health-giving compounds known as antioxidants, including polyphenols, flavanols and anthocyanins.

"Many of these compounds have previously been linked to a reduced risk of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and neurodegenerative diseases and certain cancers," the authors wrote.
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Dessert is evolving from the traditional to the unexpected: Now it’s often a good way to get your vegetables.

Today’s pastry chefs are going beyond carrot cake, zucchini bread, and sweet potato pie when it comes to making desserts with vegetables.

Corn, tomatoes, cucumber, squash, eggplant, celery, beets, carrots, and mushrooms are all showing up in desserts such as tomato sorbet, corn crème brulée, and chocolate-beet baked goods. Some vegetables cook in similar ways to fruits. For example, eggplant can be a substitute in many recipes for apple or pear.
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A big salad is a healthy meal, right? WRONG if you use the wrong kind of salad dressing! And surprise: a fat-free dressing is NOT the way to go.

In a human trial, researchers fed subjects salads topped off with saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat-based dressings. They found that monounsaturated fat-rich dressings required the least amount of fat to get the best vitamin absorption, while saturated fat and polyunsaturated fat dressings required higher amounts of fat to get the same benefit.

Olive oil is about 75% monounsaturated fat, while Canola oil and nut oil are both about 58% monounsaturated. Nuts and avocados are high in monosaturated fat.
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Scientists once told us that you can’t change your family, the genes they pass on, or the effect of these genes. Now an international team of scientists is attacking that belief. They discovered that the gene that is the strongest marker for heart disease can actually be modified by generous amounts of fruit and raw vegetables. Researcher Jamie Engert says, "We know that some genetic variants increase the risk of heart disease, but it was a surprise to find that a healthy diet could significantly weaken its effect.”
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