Eating loads of fruit and vegetables - 10 portions a day - may give us longer lives, say researchers. The study, by Imperial College London, calculated such eating habits could prevent 7.8 million premature deaths each year. The team also identified specific fruit and veg that reduced the risk of cancer and heart disease. The analysis showed even small amounts had a health boon, but more is even better.

Key Takeaways:

• Eating 10 portions of fruit and vegetables a day could significantly reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, cancer and early death
• In recent years, campaigns in countries across the world including the UK, Germany, and Japan have been launched in a bid to encourage people to meet this target.
• The research concluded that eating 10 portions per day was associated with a 24% reduced risk of heart disease

"Fruit and vegetables have been shown to reduce cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and to boost the health of our blood vessels and immune system."

Reference:

//www.cnn.com/2017/02/23/homepage2/ten-portions-fruit-vegetables-study/index.html

Are you trying to lose weight? It seems like there is a ton of tips out there and a lot of it is going the route of contradicting each other. No matter where you look, there's something that's supposed to help you lose weight compared to something else (nevermind what helps weight gain!). "How does a high-protein diet aid weight loss? Study sheds light" gives proof that a high-protein diet is actually better than all those other tips...

Key Takeaways:

• In a new pilot study, researchers from Imperial College London in the United Kingdom reveal how phenylalanine - an amino acid produced by the digestion of protein - boosts levels of a hormone that tells us when we are full, leading to reduced food intake.
• The researchers found that mice and rats given phenylalanine showed increased levels of the hormone GLP-1, which suppresses appetite, but reduced levels of the hormone ghrelin, which increases hunger.
• On applying phenylalanine to gut cells in a petri dish, the team found that the amino acid targets a receptor called the calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR), and it is this receptor that increases GLP-1 levels and lowers levels of ghrelin.

"Lead author Mariana Norton will present the findings at this week's Society for Endocrinology annual meeting in the U.K."

Reference:

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=//www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/313949.php&ct=ga&cd=CAIyGmZjNGVlYTM1NDU3YmZmOGU6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AFQjCNHc8i8iDQ9Fhc0LYOLdDU5fRfzGqw