Edible masterpieces: when food also looks good! - video slide

Edible Masterpieces is a new fundraising initiative from the Art Fund encouraging art-lovers and keen bakers to help raise money for UK museums and galleries. The Edible Masterpieces site is now live at artfund.org/edible, jam-packed with recipes and downloadable extras.

Campaign co-ordinator, Katharine Richards, says, 'We're hoping to inspire people, through the medium of food, to raise money for our national museums and galleries. What could be more fun than recreating your favourite work of art out of simple ingredients you have in your fridge – which you can then eat!'

Unleash your imagination: you can decorate a cake to look like a contemporary artwork, bake a biscuit that resembles an Old Master painting or make a pie inspired by a landmark building. And if you’re not a dab hand in the kitchen, you can recreate a whole host of artworks with uncooked ingredients, such as vegetables, fruit or cheese.

Description

1 Mondrian-inspired battenberg (Photograph by Maja Smend, food styling by Kim Morphew, prop styling by Lydia Brun, recipe by Georgia Levy)

2 Jackson Pollock-inspired crispy cake – Autumn Rhythm (Photograph by Maja Smend, food styling by Kim Morphew, prop styling by Lydia Brun, recipe by Georgia Levy)

3 Sarah Lucas-inspired gingerbread woman (Photograph by Maja Smend, food styling by Kim Morphew, prop styling by Lydia Brun, recipe by Georgia Levy)

4 Damien Hirst-inspired skull cake (Photograph by Maja Smend, food styling by Kim Morphew, prop styling by Lydia Brun, recipe by Georgia Levy)

5 Wedgwood shortbread (Photograph by Maja Smend, food styling by Kim Morphew, prop styling by Lydia Brun, recipe by Georgia Levy)

6 Whiteread-Final (Food styling by Kim Morphew, prop styling by Lydia Brun, photography by Maja Smend)

7 Van Gogh-inspired Ploughman's (Photograph by Maja Smend, food styling by Kim Morphew, prop styling by Lydia Brun, recipe by Georgia Levy)

WEIGHT LOSS TRICK: spice up your drinks with chilli to burn fat and and boost your metabolism

Could spicing up your drinks/food help you lose weight? Recent studies showed that a key chemical contained in chillies could boost your body's ability to burn fat.

So how does it work? It's no secret that eating hot foods such as curries and Mexican chillies makes us feel warm. This is because capsaicin, the chemical that gives chillies and chilli-based spices such as cayenne and paprika their characteristic pungency, stimulates a natural process whereby some of the food we eat at each meal is converted immediately to heat. 

Called diet-induced thermogenesis, this process is good news for dieters because it means we burn up calories automatically rather than storing them.

Researchers have discovered that spicing up a fatty meal with chilli powder significantly increases levels of diet-induced thermogenesis; studies showed that chili-based food increases the number and activity of so-called "brown" fat cells, which burn energy, rather than store it as typical "white" fat cells do.

So if you're looking to put your excess dietary fat into the fire, here are four spicy drinks recipes: these drinks not only have less than 100 calories but also help boost your metabolism and burn fat!!!

Easy Mexican hot chocolate

Makes: 2 servings - Total time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons instant hot chocolate mix
• 1 tablespoon chocolate syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch chili powder
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup boiling water

Directions
In a large mug, mix the hot chocolate mix, chocolate syrup, cinnamon, and chili powder. Pour in the milk. Add the boiling water and stir.

Nutrition facts per serving: Calories 92 - Carbohydrates 18.3 g - Cholesterol 2 mg - Fat 1.3 g - Fiber 1.2 g - Protein 2.1 g - Sodium 85 mg

Spicy mocha

Makes: 10 servings - Prep time: 20 minutes - Total time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

• 12 cups water
• 2 cups coffee (coarsely ground dark roast)
• 1/2 cup coffee creamer (powdered)
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp chili pepper (ground red)
• 10 tbsps bourbon (optional)
• 10 tbsps whipped topping (optional)

Directions

Bring water to a boil in a large sauce pan. Add coffee grounds to pan. Remove from heat and allow to stand 15 minutes or until coffee grounds sink to bottom of the pot. Pour into another large saucepan through a fine mesh strainer. Combine creamer and next 4 ingredients (through pepper). Add to pan, stirring with a whisk. Optional: serve coffee mixture with bourbon and whipped topping.

Nutrition facts per serving: Calories 90 - Total Fat 3.5g - Saturated Fat 2g - Trans Fat 0g - Cholesterol 5mg - Sodium 25mg - Potassium 80mg - Total Carbohydrate 8g - Dietary Fiber 1g - Sugars 7g - Protein less than 1g - Vitamin A 2% DV - Vitamin C 0% DV - Calcium 4% DV - Iron 2% DV.

Thai iced tea

Makes: serving 20 - Prep time: 5 minutes - Total time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 gal water (distilled)
• 1 cinnamon sticks
• 1/2 tbsp black pepper
• 1/2 tbsp chili pepper
• 1/3 cup coffee (kona ground, optional)
• 3 cups teas (pantai norasingh thai, mix)

 Tea sugar syrup

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tbsp pancake syrup (butter)
• 1/4 tsp vanilla flavoring (vanillin powder artificial)
• 1 pinch sea salt
• 1-1/2 cups water (distilled)

Directions

TEA DIRECTIONS - Bring one gallon of water to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Stir in tea leaves, cinnamon, black pepper, chili pepper, and coffee. Stir for 2 to 5 minutes until most of the tea leaves start to sink. Cover. Remove mixture from heat and let steep 10 minutes.
Tip: if you want a clean crisp tea fill the pitcher up with ice before adding and straining the tea. If you want a dark bold flavor do not add the ice at this step!

Pour tea through a "cloth tea filter sock" or nylon sock into a pitcher, discarding tea leaves. Cool to room temp (if iced cool until ice is melted). Pour tea a second time through "cloth tea filter sock" or nylon sock into a empty gallon water bottle (make sure the lid can be place on tight). Cap and refrigerate.
TEA SUGAR SYRUP DIRECTIONS - Mix all ingredients a large pot. Cook at medium to high heat. Once the mixture boils remove from stove immediately. Let cool and refrigerate.
TO SERVE - Fill a glass with 7 oz crushed ice pour tea over ice up to 8 oz. Add 1/2 to 2 oz of sugar syrup. At "tableside" add 1 to 2 oz of half-and-half.
Traditional variation: substitute coconut milk or evaporated milk for half & half.

Nutrition facts per serving: Calories 60 - Fat 0 - Cholesterol 0mg - Sodium 20mg - Potassium 10mg - Total Carbohydrate 14g - Dietary Fiber 0g - Sugars 14g -0 Protein 0g - Calcium 2% DV.

Spicy tomato juice

Makes: serving 4 - Total time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 stalks of celery, leaves attached
• 1 cup chopped tomatoes
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 2 red chile peppers, for garnish (optional)

Directions

Place celery in a juice extractor; process, extracting about 1/2 cup juice. Transfer to bowl of a food processor or jar of a blender. Add chopped tomatoes, jalapeno, lemon juice, celery seed, black pepper, and salt. Process until fairly smooth, with some texture remaining. Garnish with chile peppers, and serve over ice, if desired. 

Nutrition facts per serving: Calories 40 - Total Fat 1.5g - Saturated Fat 0g - Trans Fat 0g - Cholesterol less than 5mg - Sodium 240mg - Potassium 200mg - Total Carbohydrate 5g - Dietary Fiber less than 1g - Sugars 2g - Protein 2g - Vitamin A 8% DV - Vitamin C 25% DV - Calcium 2% DV - Iron 4% DV.

Enjoy your drink and... your waistline!

Want to know more about the wonders of chilli? Read these:
BENEFITS OF CHILI PEPPERS FOR WEIGHT LOSS
COLD TEMPERATURES AND SPICY FOOD HELP BURN FAT 


Sources: http://allrecipes.com/, http://www.yummly.com/recipe/, http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Thai, http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Spicy-Tomato-Juice

Food packaging chemicals may be harmful to human health over long term

Synthetic chemicals used in the packaging, processing and storage of food might be harmful to human health over the long term, according to a new commentary in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. 

The authors claim that tiny amounts of synthetic chemicals leak into food. While these minute quantities in themselves do no harm, no one knows how safe we are from a lifetime's exposure to the chemicals, such as formaldehyde, through eating food previously wrapped or stored in plastics. In a commentary piece in the journal the scientists note that some of the chemicals that could cause concern are regulated but this does not prevent their being used widely in food packaging. They say that people who eat packaged or processed foods are likely to be chronically exposed to low levels of these substances throughout their lives.

Consumers exposed to known toxicants
The writers, who include Jane Muncke, from the Food Packaging Forum Foundation, in Zurich, say there is cause for concern on several grounds. Chemicals known to be toxic, such as formaldehyde, a cancer causing substance, are legally used in these materials. Formaldehyde is widely present, albeit at low levels, in plastic fizzy drinks bottles and melamine tableware. Other chemicals known to disrupt hormone production and used in food and drink packaging, include bisphenol A, tributyltin, triclosan, and phthalates. Altogether, more than 4000 chemicals are involved. Nevertheless, chemicals used in the food manufacturing process are seldom listed on packaging labels. One reason is that foods come into contact with chemicals at all stages of the supply chain, including during storage, processing and packaging. But information on the chemicals used along the way "is not shared" in the food industry, Muncke said. Even organic milk sold in glass bottles may have come into contact with chemicals leeching from the tubes connected to machine-operated pumps, she said.

Doubts on the adequacy of chemical regulatory procedures
"Whereas the science for some of these substances is being debated and policy-makers struggle to satisfy the needs of stakeholders, consumers remain exposed to these chemicals daily, mostly unknowingly," authors write. They warn that potential cellular changes caused by food contact materials, and in particular, those with the capacity to disrupt hormones, are not even being considered in routine toxicology analysis. They suggest this "casts serious doubts on the adequacy of chemical regulatory procedures".

Gaps in knowledge need to be filled
It will not be easy to monitor and assess the effects over decades of exposure to these chemicals, scientists say. There are no large groups of people who are not exposed to wrapped and processed and stored food. Studies have shown that we all have traces of these chemicals in our bodies. That means it is not possible to carry out a study comparing people who have been exposed to them with people who have not. But a population-based assessment is urgently needed as well as bio monitoring to establish any potential links between food-contact chemicals and chronic conditions such as cancer, obesity, diabetes, and neurological and inflammatory disorders, particularly given the known role of environmental pollutants, they argue. "Since most foods are packaged, and the entire population is likely to be exposed, it is of utmost importance that gaps in knowledge are reliably and rapidly filled," they say.

How high is the risk
Critics, however, insist that the dangers of toxic chemicals in food contact materials are overblown.
Formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, maybe be found in plastic drinking bottles – but it is naturally present in certain foods as well.
"To consume as much formaldehyde as is present in a 100-gram apple, you would need to drink at least 20 litres of mineral water that had been stored in PET [polyethylene terephthalate] bottles. Obviously the concern about formaldehyde from food packaging is significantly overrated, unless we are willing to place ‘potential cancer hazard’ stickers on fresh fruit and vegetables," said Dr. Ian Musgrave, senior lecturer in the medicine faculty at the University of Adelaide.
But according to Muncke and colleagues, toxic chemicals in the food supply chain are so pervasive that consumers can do little to avoid them.

Ironically, products made by large corporations such as Coca-Cola and Nestle may be a relatively safe bet. Unlike smaller companies with fewer resources, these corporations have set up in-house labs to test for chemicals in their packaging and food products, Muncke said.
"They’re doing a good job," said Muncke, who described the testing measures as a form of enlightened self-interest. "It only takes one consumer organization to go and test their products and blow up in the media that their products contain [a toxic substance]" to hurt a corporation’s bottom line, she pointed out. Unfortunately, smaller food companies do not have the financial resources to test their products for trace amounts of chemicals, she said.

We can change some habits
Food-borne chemicals are a policy issue, and until regulators step in to require broader testing of chemicals that come in contact with food, consumers will have difficulty limiting their exposure to toxic chemicals in foods, she said.
Nevertheless, Muncke said her research has influenced her own habits. She tries to buy mainly fresh organic foods to cook at home; avoids packaged foods and plastic cutlery, drinking bottles and food containers; and uses glass or stainless steel containers for storing food.

Sources: http://esciencenews.com/, http://www.sciencedaily.com, http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/, http://www.theguardian.com/, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

What makes you fat: too many calories, or the wrong carbohydrates?

Why do so many of us get so fat? the answer appears obvious. “The fundamental cause of obesity and overweight,” the World Health Organization says, “is an energy imbalance between calories consumed and calories expended.” Put simply, we either eat too much or are too sedentary, or both. By this logic, any excess of calories—whether from protein, carbohydrate or fat (the three main components, or “macronutrients,” in food)—will inevitably pack on the pounds. So the solution is also obvious: eat less, exercise more.
The reason to question this conventional thinking is equally self-evident. The eat less/move more prescription has been widely disseminated for 40 years, and yet the prevalence of obesity, or the accumulation of unhealthy amounts of body fat, has climbed to unprecedented levels. Today more than a third of Americans are considered obese—more than twice the proportion of 40 years ago. Worldwide, more than half a billion people are now obese. Besides getting fatter, we are also developing more metabolic disorders, such as type 2 diabetes, which is marked by hormonal abnormalities in the processing and storage of nutrients and is far more common in obese individuals than in lean ones.

The dissonance of an ever worsening problem despite a seemingly well-accepted solution suggests two possibilities. One, our understanding of why people get fat is correct, but those who are obese—for genetic, environmental or behavioral reasons—are unable or unwilling to heal themselves. Two, our understanding is wrong and hence so is the ubiquitous advice about how to make things better.
If the second option is true, then maybe what makes us fat is not an energy imbalance but something more akin to a hormonal defect, an idea embraced by European researchers prior to World War II. If so, the prime suspect or environmental trigger of this defect would be the quantity and quality of the carbohydrates we consume. Under this scenario, one fundamental error we have made in our thinking about obesity is to assume that the energy content of foods—whether avocado, steak, bread or soda—is what makes them fattening, not the effects that these foods, carbohydrates in particular, have on the hormones that regulate fat accumulation.

The research
To test this last hypothesis a new research program has been planned by Gary Taubes and The Nutrition Science Institute and described in the Scientific American special food issue. This study will entail having subjects consume 80% of their calories as fat, and 5% as carbohydrates, in an effort to determine if consuming calories as fat results in better insulin control and in weight loss.

The Hormone hypothesis

To understand what makes the hormone hypothesis of obesity so intriguing, it helps to grasp where the energy-balance hypothesis falls short. The idea that obesity is caused by consuming more calories than we expend supposedly stems from the first law of thermodynamics, which merely states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. As applied to biology, it means that energy consumed by an organism has to be either converted to a useful form (metabolized), excreted or stored. Thus, if we take in more calories than we expend or excrete, the excess has to be stored, which means that we get fatter and heavier. So far, so obvious. But this law tells us nothing about why we take in more calories than we expend, nor does it tell us why the excess gets stored as fat. And it is these “why” questions that need to be answered.

Specifically, why do fat cells accumulate fat molecules to excess? This is a biological question, not a physics one. Why are those fat molecules not metabolized instead to generate energy or heat? And why do fat cells take up excessive fat in some areas of the body but not others? Saying that they do so because excess calories are consumed is not a meaningful answer.

Answering these questions leads to consideration of the role that hormones—insulin, in particular—play in stimulating fat accumulation in different cells. Insulin is secreted in response to a type of carbohydrate called glucose. When the amount of glucose rises in the blood—as happens after eating a carbohydrate-rich meal—the pancreas secretes more insulin, which works to keep the blood glucose level from getting dangerously high. Insulin tells muscle, organ and even fat cells to take up the glucose and use it for fuel. It also tells fat cells to store fat—including fat from the meal—for later use. As long as insulin levels remain high, fat cells retain fat, and the other cells preferentially burn glucose (and not fat) for energy. The main dietary sources of glucose are starches, grains and sugars. (In the absence of carbohydrates, the liver will synthesize glucose from protein.) The more easily digestible the carbohydrates, the greater and quicker the rise in blood glucose. (Fiber and fat in foods slow the process.) Thus, a diet rich in refined grains and starches will prompt greater insulin secretion than a diet that is not. Sugars—such as sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup—may play a key role because they also contain significant amounts of a carbohydrate called fructose, which is metabolized mostly by liver cells.

The author's conclusion

The result, according to the hormone hypothesis, is an ever greater proportion of the day that insulin in the blood is elevated, causing fat to accumulate in fat cells rather than being used to fuel the body. As little as 10 or 20 calories stored as excess fat each day can lead over decades to obesity.

The hormone hypothesis suggests that the only way to prevent this downward spiral from happening, and to reverse it when it does, is to avoid the sugars and carbohydrates that work to raise insulin levels. Then the body will naturally tap its store of fat to burn for fuel. The switch from carbohydrate burning to fat burning, so the logic goes, might occur even if the total number of calories consumed remains unchanged. Cells burn the fat because hormones are effectively telling them to do so; the body's energy expenditure increases as a result. To lose excess body fat, according to this view, carbohydrates must be restricted and replaced, ideally with fat, which does not stimulate insulin secretion.  This alternative hypothesis of obesity implies that the ongoing worldwide epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes (which stems to great extent from insulin resistance) are largely driven by the grains and sugars in our diets. It also implies that the first step in solving these crises is to avoid sugars and limit consumption of starchy vegetables and grains, not worrying about how much we are eating and exercising.

A different point of view

The right nutrition question is “What should we eat to have the longest, healthiest life?” Instead, author Gary Taubes is asking “What should we eat to lose weight?” There are many ways to lose weight, and still be sick and die. Taubes’s study isn’t even designed to measure health or longevity. So when his study shows that one can lose weight with an low-carb diet, he will argue that obese people should go on a low-carb diet because obesity is correlated with many fatal diseases. However, a low-carb diet changes that correlation. There are plenty of thin people who die of heart disease.

According to John Tanner, -Ph.D. Director, NuSci, The Nutrition Science Foundation- Gary Tauber's study will most likely result in a confusing and misleading result because it is asking the wrong question. Instead, the right premises will lead to a clear answer. In his intense study of research results Tanner says he found a consistent pattern emerging: a whole-food plant-based diet low in fat and high in carbs results in the total elimination of heart disease and dramatic reduction and/or reversal of type 2 diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, cancer, and about 30 other diseases. And as a nice side effect, obese and overweight people lose weight, often in a dramatic fashion.

What's your priority? What is worth the price of a diet: your look or your health? Re-thinking your goals will help you stay committed to a healthy diet...


Sources: http://www.scientificamerican.com/, http://www.nusci.org/

RECENT STUDY FINDS LACK OF SLEEP CAUSES PEOPLE TO EAT HIGHER CALORIE FOOD

You know the advice not to go to the grocery store when you're hungry? According to a new study, perhaps you shouldn't go to the grocery store sleepy, either.
When you lose even just one night of sleep you end up binging on food, especially high calorie food, a new study suggests. Not only does a loss of sleep decrease your self-control and decision-making abilities, but it also seems to make you hungrier.

"We hypothesized that sleep deprivation’s impact on hunger and decision making would make for the 'perfect storm' with regard to shopping and food purchasing—leaving individuals hungrier and less capable of employing self-control and higher-level decision-making processes to avoid making impulsive, calorie-driven purchases," study researcher Colin Chapman, of Uppsala University, said in a press release.
In the tests, adults who spent an entire night with no sleep were given a selection of 40 food items the following morning. They bought food with 9% more calories compared to mornings when they had a night's sleep. Shopping while tired could have a knock-on effect for our overall wellbeing, the researchers warned, as individuals will often purchase several meals during one trip.
The study, published in the journal Obesity, examined 14 men who were of normal weight.
After one night of total sleep deprivation, they were given a fixed budget of around $50 to spend on a display of foods that included 20 high-calorie and 20 low-calorie options.

The experiment was also repeated after they had enjoyed a good night's rest. Before the task, participants received breakfast to minimise the effect of hunger on their purchases. Despite having a full stomach, sleep-deprived men purchased food with nine% higher calories and weighing 18% more than they did after one night of sleep.

"Our finding provides a strong rationale for suggesting that patients with concerns regarding caloric intake and weight gain maintain a healthy, normal sleep schedule," said Mr Chapman. The report concluded: "Our findings demonstrate that participants purchased significantly more calories and grams of food, within the same budget, following sleep deprivation. This is significant as the stocks that one purchases last beyond the acute sleep deprivation, and will influence food consumption choices long after the purchases are made."
They warned their findings could be relevant to shift workers who often lose out on sleep, such as taxi drivers and health workers.


The new study builds on a bunch of older research about sleep and obesity.

• One study, conducted by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, showed that sleep deprivation not only makes people want junk food more than healthy food, but it also altered brain activity by impairing the decision-making region of the brain and increasing activity in a reward-linked region.

• Researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder found that people tend to consume more calories from after-dinner snacks if they sleep fewer than five hours a night for a week. The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

• A similar study from University of Pennsylvania researchers showed that getting insufficient sleep at night (four to five hours) is linked with consuming more calories in the form of late-night snacks.

• Researchers from the German Universities Tubingen and Lubeck and Uppsala University in Sweden found that sleep deprivation is linked with feeling hungrier and having higher blood levels of ghrelin (also known as the hunger hormone). The researchers found that the amount of sleep a person gets is linked with feelings of hunger -- meaning, the more sleep-deprived a person was, the more hunger he or she felt. In addition, the findings suggested that when a person stayed awake for a whole night, it decreased the amount of energy use performed by the body while resting. People who had disrupted sleep the night before also had less physical activity the following day.

• Another study from Northwestern University showed that people who regularly stay up late are also more likely to eat unhealthier food, weigh more and eat more during the evening, compared with people who go to bed early. That study, which was published in the journal Obesity, showed specifically that people who regularly go to bed late and wake up late consume an added 248 calories a day than people who go to bed early and wake up early. 

 Have you concerns about your waistline? You better sleep them off!

Sources:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

The elixir of life: a mug of coffee

Tea drinkers may look down at coffee drinkers for what has long been considered an unhealthy habit, but that may soon end: more and more evidence is showing that not only is coffee not bad for you, it actually might be good for you.

Coffee is more than just dark-colored liquid with caffeine… coffee actually contains hundreds of different compounds, some of which have important health benefits. Several massive studies have now shown that the people who drink the most coffee live longer and have a reduced risk of diseases like Alzheimer’s and diabetes.

Coffee is rich in antioxidants
When hot water runs through the coffee grounds while brewing, the substances in the coffee beans mix with the water and become part of the drink. Some of these substances are well known, including caffeine, but there are hundreds of other compounds in there as well, many of which science has yet to identify. Many of these compounds are antioxidants that protect our bodies from oxidation, which involves free radicals that damage molecules in the body. Oxidation is believed to be one of the mechanisms behind ageing and common diseases like cancer and heart disease. The very good news is that coffee happens to be the biggest source of antioxidants in the Western diet, outranking both fruits and vegetables… combined.

Several massive studies show that coffee drinkers live longer
There are several studies showing that when people drink coffee, they have a lower risk of dying from a range of serious diseases. A groundbreaking study, the largest of its kind, was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2012. In this study, 402,260 individuals between 50 and 71 years of age were asked about their coffee consumption. The results were fairly remarkable… after following the people for 12-13 years, those who drank the most coffee were significantly less likely to have died.

As you can see from the graph, researchers found a small but significant inverse association between coffee drinking and mortality. In other words: the more coffee people drank, the likelier they were to still be alive when the study ended. When researchers looked at particular causes of death, they found that the coffee drinkers were less likely to die from infections, injuries and accidents, respiratory disease, diabetes, stroke and heart disease. The benefit does not appear to be attributable to the caffeine, because both decaf and regular coffee had the same effect.
 
Some caveats: those who drank 4-5 cups per day were better off than those who pushed it to 6+, and the finding was only true after the researchers controlled for bad habits like smoking. So, if you take a cigarette with your coffee, any protective effect disappears.

Other studies have lead to similar results
One study in the European Journal of Epidemiology found “quantitative evidence that coffee intake is inversely related to all cause and, probably, [cardiovascular disease] mortality.”
A 2013 analysis of almost a million people came to the same conclusion: “Our findings indicate that coffee consumption is associated with a reduced risk of total mortality.”

More research is underway, and a cause-effect relationship will be difficult to demonstrate. But based on the research we have so far, the time may not be distant when we celebrate coffee as a health food.

Mug-bottoms up!

Sources: http://authoritynutrition.com/, http://www.businessinsider.com.au/, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/, http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/

10 TRICKS TO STOP OVEREATING - infographic

It's so easy to overeat. Between the super-sized servings we receive at restaurants to the common habit of eating while distracted by the television, it can be hard to maintain good habits when it comes to portion control. But research into our eating behavior shows that there are actually a number of easy ways to curb mindless eating. Here you can find some useful tricks.

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