New Dr. Gregor Newsletter -- Article

Hello veggie-curious readers! ;)

The latest email newsletter from VeganMD Dr. Gregor has been posted:

http://www.drgreger.org/june2005.html

Topics include:

A. Making the Healthiest Food on Earth Even Healthier
B. Treating Springtime Allergies with Spirulina?
C. Figs Fight Fatigue
D. Heart Attacks, Side-Effects, or a Healthy Diet
E. Plant-Based Diets Beneficial in Pregnancy
F. Soy and Cancer: A Meta-Analysis
G. Dairy Diet Myth
H. ATTACK OF THE SUPERBUGS
-Chicken Out of Urinary Tract Infections
-Campylobacter Joins the Resistance
-The Hard-Boiled Truth: Salmonella and Eggs
-Don't Wash Your Meat
-Bacteria or Cancer

I really enjoy Dr. Gregor, besides being rather brilliant, he's also kinda witty. Quirky little comments in there to break up the seriousness, nice touch. =)

In the first item (A), he discuses how nutrients in foods interact, and that an avocado in a salad can actually increase anti-oxidant absorption because they are lipophilic (literally 'fat loving'). I wonder if this works for olive oil? I don't really want to add an avocado to every salad...but i always use cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil.. Adding certain herbs seems a really good idea too.

Anti-oxidants are useful to athletes because they can help with inflammation (ie, well-worked muscles), and increase recovery (wee - back on the road faster!)

Next up, a warning for blue-green algae/spirulina... Neurotoxins are found in most varieties, it has been recently discovered. Some will be safe, but it's important to figure out which ones first.

C is a neat article about the benefits of dried fruit. (I also read recently that raisins can actually inhibit dental decay, due to antioxidants i believe..) I never knew sesame seeds were so high in fibre tho!

I tend to buy white pasta (bad, i know, but i certainly can't afford w/w pasta six times a week....) but i religiously sprinkly sesame seeds (as well as nutritional yeast and some olive oil) on every plate, hopefully this added fibre makes up for the crappyness of the pasta.

D is another example of how a vegan diet is more effective (and safer!) for people with heart disease in reducing cholesterol levels.

E tells us veggies are high in magnesium. =)

F is more vindication for soy, and a nice jab at the bonehead that is Joseph Mercola.

G is about the rather conclusive dairy study, showing that basically the more dairy kids drank, the bigger they became. (This wasn't following a dozen kids...try 12,000 over several years.) Very good info, read it if you're considering giving up dairy. You don't need those hormones!!

H covers illnesses connected with 'superbugs', and we've got the lovely quote:

"Taking over a thousand food samples from multiple retail markets, they were not surprised to find evidence of fecal contamination in 69% of the pork and beef and 92% of the poultry samples as evidenced by E. coli contamination."

Yum. UTI's are linked to E. coli contamination, and many women might benefit from cutting poop-covered meat from their diets.

Read the article for the rest, lots more interesting info. All references are listed in the article as well, for the more studious or skeptical readers.

Enjoy!