Fresh-Pressed Olive Oil Club

Olive Oil Hunter News #208

Avocado Tuna Salad Recipe, Spotlight on Canned Tuna, Safer Avocado Slicing, HDL Cholesterol and Brain Health, and Moderate Exercise and Appetite

Move over avocado toast—avocado tuna salad is the new must-have dish. My recipe incorporates olive oil and cannellini beans for even more toothsome goodness. In fact, it’s loaded with ingredients that help boost good HDL cholesterol, which has many health benefits. For one, HDL may protect the brain’s gray matter, according to new research done at UT Southwestern Medical Center. I’m also sharing a finding from Murdoch University in Australia that moderate-intensity exercise may help decrease appetite in people trying to lose weight.

Avocado Tuna Salad

  • Tuna avocado salad Avocado Tuna Salad

    This twist on tuna salad forgoes mayo for creamy, nutrient-dense avocado (the avocado should be ripe but still somewhat firm). This recipe is also great made with grilled tuna—the next time a fillet is on the dinner menu, consider making a little extra to enjoy this dish for lunch the next day.

    Ingredients

    • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
    • 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
    • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
    • 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt 
    • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
    • 1 Hass avocado, cut into chunks
    • One 5-ounce can chunk light tuna, drained and flaked, or the equivalent amount of grilled tuna 
    • 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
    • 3/4 cup canned cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
    • 2 tablespoons minced red onion
    • 4 cups mixed spring greens, arugula, and/or baby spinach

    Directions

    Step 1

    In a large bowl, whisk the olive oil and lime juice. Whisk in the parsley, salt, and pepper. Place half the avocado chunks in the bowl and mash them into the dressing. Gently fold in the rest of the chunks, the tuna, tomatoes, beans, and red onion. 

    Step 2

    Divide the greens between two bowls and top with equal amounts of the tuna and drizzles of olive oil.

    Yields 2 servings

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Update on Tuna

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Update on Tuna

Canned tuna

Because of its availability and low price, canned tuna is the most consumed fish in the US. But recent recalls (due to defects in the cans themselves) and concern over mercury levels in fish may have you wondering how safe it is to eat tuna and how often.

The type of tuna matters. When Consumer Reports (CR) analyzed popular brands, their scientists found that chunk light and skipjack tuna have roughly a third of the mercury found in albacore, with some even greater variations by brand. Bumble Bee, Chicken of the Sea, StarKist, and Safe Catch Wild Elite had the lowest amounts of mercury and were deemed safe to eat up to three times a week, compared with albacore that on average should be limited to once a week. 

Where the tuna was caught matters too. CR reported that “experts who study mercury contamination in fish have found that levels of it in different oceans appear to be linked to different practices and policies in the nations nearby. For instance, mercury contamination in tuna caught in the Pacific Ocean is on the rise, but levels are dropping in tuna from the Atlantic Ocean,” said Nicholas Fisher, PhD, a distinguished professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University in New York. ​​“In China and India, they burn a lot of coal for electricity, and when you burn coal, you release a lot of mercury into the air, which eventually rains down; so mercury levels have been increasing somewhat in the Pacific,” Dr. Fisher added. “Whereas in the Atlantic, we’ve shown that the levels have declined a little bit, primarily because of efforts made in North America … to sort of scrub the mercury from coal-fired plants in the US and Canada.” 

Quick Kitchen Nugget: Safer Avocado Slicing

Quick Kitchen Nugget

Safer Avocado Slicing

You’ve probably seen chefs on TV piercing an avocado pit with the tip of a knife and then twisting it out. As impressive as this maneuver might look, it’s extremely dangerous, for fingers and the palm of your hand. According to a study published in The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, there were an estimated 50,413 avocado-related knife injuries from 1998 to 2017 in the US. An analysis of data from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission found there are roughly 24 avocado-related hospital visits per day!

There’s even a name for this common injury: avocado hand. It happens when the knife slices through the fleshy part of the avocado and into your hand or fingers. This can lead to tendon, nerve, blood vessel, or muscle injury that could permanently affect the ability to use your hand. According to experts at University of Utah Health, here’s the right way to cut an avocado and remove the pit: 

  • Choose a ripe avocado and place it on a cutting board.
  • Use a butter knife and cut it in half lengthwise.
  • Twist the avocado to pull apart the halves.
  • Remove the pit by putting your index and middle finger between the pit and flesh and placing your thumb on the back to push and pop out the pit.
  • Remove the flesh from the skin with a spoon.
For Your Best Health: HDL Cholesterol and Brain Health 

For Your Best Health

HDL Cholesterol and Brain Health 

High-density lipoprotein (HDL), or good cholesterol, may play a vital role in conserving healthy brain matter in middle-aged adults, according to the first study to investigate a potential link between HDL function and brain volume. The research was done at UT Southwestern Medical Center and published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine. 

“Our study has identified a novel role of HDL cholesterol function in maintaining gray matter volume in the brain, which is important for cognitive function in middle-aged adults,” said the study’s first author, John Giacona, PhD, assistant professor of applied clinical research and internal medicine in the School of Health Professions at UT Southwestern.

The research involved 1,826 participants between the ages of 35 and 70 enrolled in the multiethnic, population-based Dallas Heart Study, a longitudinal study now in its 25th year. First, fasting lipoprotein concentrations were assessed using nuclear magnetic resonance. Participants were then tested for cognitive function, and their brain matter volume was measured using brain magnetic resonance imaging. Initial assessments took place between 2000 and 2002, and participants were reassessed between 2007 and 2009.

Professor of internal medicine in the division of cardiology Anand Rohatgi, MD, and his team at UTSW’s Clinical Heart and Vascular Center measured HDL function in this study. Their findings revealed that higher concentrations of small-particle HDL—but not larger particles or total HDL concentration—were linked with greater gray matter volume and higher cognitive capacity.

Foods rich with omega-3 fatty acids

“Previous research has shown conflicting evidence regarding the concentration of HDL cholesterol in development of dementia or brain atrophy,” said senior author Wanpen Vongpatanasin, MD, professor of internal medicine and director of the hypertension section in the division of cardiology at UTSW. “However, the concentration of HDL cholesterol may not reflect their function.”

HDL decreases the amount of low-density lipoprotein LDL, or bad cholesterol, in blood vessels by transporting the excess to the liver, where it gets broken down. “In addition, HDL particles exist in many sizes, which may be linked to their function,” Dr. Vongpatanasin said. “We now need to understand exactly how the small HDL particle, which can cross the blood-brain barrier, may have a beneficial role in maintaining brain health.” 

This finding led the researchers to note that HDL cholesterol function or levels of small HDL particles may be used as markers for a population at risk of developing cognitive decline, though additional studies would be required to confirm the connection. 

According to the UMass Chan Medical School Center for Applied Nutrition, to increase your HDL you should increase the amount of physical activity you do, lose weight if needed, quit smoking if you smoke, and aim to increase omega-3 fatty acids in your diet with foods like fatty fish (such as light tuna, salmon, trout, and sardines), freshly ground flaxseed, walnuts, and dark, leafy greens. 

Fitness Flash: Moderate Exercise and Appetite

Fitness Flash

Moderate Exercise and Appetite

A recent study from researchers at the Murdoch University Health Futures Institute in Australia found that moderate-intensity exercise can significantly influence appetite-related hormones and perceptions in obese men. It provides new insights into how exercise can aid appetite control and weight management.

According to one of the study authors, Timothy Fairchild, PhD, associate professor at Murdoch’s School of Allied Health, the study confirms their previous work showing the benefits of incorporating regular exercise into daily routines for individuals looking to manage their weight and improve their overall health.

“People understand that exercise helps burn energy. A lot of people assume that exercise also increases hunger and energy intake afterwards,” said Dr. Fairchild. “We have previously shown, using high-intensity exercise, that this is not the case. This latest study shows that even moderate-intensity exercise can have immediate and beneficial effects on appetite control in males with obesity.”

The study not only assessed food intake and appetite but also measured changes in hormones, which help regulate appetite. “Despite a strong focus on weight loss drugs in society at present, this study shows that lifestyle factors still have a strong and relevant role in helping people to live their healthiest life,” Dr. Fairchild added. “In fact, the hormones which have been shown to increase after exercise are the same hormones which the most successful weight loss drugs are mimicking. The added benefit of exercise is that you also receive the physical and mental health benefits of exercise.”

Get More Recipes In Your Inbox!

Olive Oil Hunter #207

Olive Oil and Lemon Pancakes Recipe, Spotlight on Lemons, Heating Your Griddle, The Downside of Perfumed Products, and Your Brain on Exercise

If you love fluffy flapjacks, you’ll be over the moon about these olive oil and lemon pancakes, packed with flavors as well as nutrients. Boxed mixes can’t hold a candle to them! Speaking of candles, you’ll want to read about discoveries from researchers at Purdue who found that scented products, including wax melts that are flame-free, are creating indoor toxins that can harm respiratory health. I’m also sharing a study on a brainy benefit from exercise.

Olive Oil & Lemon Pancakes

  • Olive oil and lemon pancakes with fresh berries Olive Oil and Lemon Pancakes

    Pancakes from scratch take breakfast (or brunch) to a whole new level. These are so tasty that you don’t need any syrup to enhance their flavor. If you want a nutritious garnish, top each serving with mixed berries. 

    Ingredients

    • 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour  
    • 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
    • 3 tablespoons sugar or equivalent 
    • 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder  
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
    • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
    • 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
    • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
    • 4 large or extra-large eggs   
    • 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided use
    • 1-1/3 cups milk or non-dairy alternative 
    • 1 cup ricotta cheese
    • 2 teaspoons vanilla  
    • Zest of one large lemon 
    • 4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

    Directions

    Step 1

    Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. 

    Step 2

    In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until frothy, then add 3 tablespoons olive oil, the milk, ricotta, vanilla, and lemon zest. Whisk well, then fold in the lemon juice.

    Step 3

    Using a large spatula, scrape the liquid mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients and blend thoroughly, being sure to incorporate all the flour into the batter.

    Step 4

    Heat a griddle over medium heat. When ready, brush the griddle with the final tablespoon of olive oil. Use an ice cream scoop to make as many 4-inch pancakes as will fit without crowding. Cook for about 3 minutes, until the edges start to firm, then flip the pancakes and continue cooking for another 3 minutes. Repeat until you’ve used up all the batter. 

    Yields 20 pancakes

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Keeping Lemons Fresh Longer

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Keeping Lemons Fresh Longer

Fresh lemons

A squeeze of lemon adds freshness to so many dishes that I always have a few on hand. And to make sure they stay fresh until I use them, I don’t keep them in a bowl on the counter, but rather in the fridge. This can extend their shelf life from about one week to three or four weeks. 

When you get home from the store, rinse the lemons under cold water and dry them thoroughly. Then place them in an airtight container in a crisper drawer.

Because citrus fruits more easily release their juices at room temperature, take lemons out of the fridge about an hour before using.

Quick Kitchen Nugget: Heating Your Griddle

Quick Kitchen Nugget

Heating Your Griddle

Members of the Fresh-Pressed Olive Oil Club know that I’m a stickler when it comes to heating a pan before adding olive oil. This is especially true for a stovetop pancake griddle because this cookware needs a long preheat to create uniform temperature and avoid hot spots that can burn your pancakes.

Place your griddle on the stovetop over medium heat and give it 5 to 10 minutes to heat up. Test it with a drop of water—the water should sizzle and evaporate quickly. Then pour a tablespoon of olive oil on the griddle and use a silicone brush to spread it across the surface. 

If you’re unsure whether the pan is hot enough, test with a small spoonful of batter. The bottom should brown evenly within a minute or two. If browning happens too quickly and you see dark spots when you flip it, lower the heat a notch before proceeding. If the tester doesn’t brown nicely, turn the heat up a notch. 

For Your Best Health: The Downside of Perfumed Products

For Your Best Health

The Downside of Perfumed Products

Do you find the scent of a pine forest or a rose bush so pleasant that you use products with the fragrance indoors? Problem is, simulating natural aromas with chemicals, like those found in air fresheners, wax melts, floor cleaners, and room deodorants, rapidly fills your inside environment with nanoscale particles, invisible to the naked eye and small enough to penetrate deep into your respiratory system and spread to other organs, according to research done at Purdue University. These nanoparticles form when fragrances interact with ozone, which enters buildings through ventilation systems, triggering chemical transformations that create new airborne pollutants.

“A forest is a pristine environment, but if you’re using cleaning and aromatherapy products full of chemically manufactured scents to re-create a forest in your home, you’re actually creating a tremendous amount of indoor air pollution that you shouldn’t be breathing in,” said Nusrat Jung, DSc, an assistant professor in Purdue’s Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering.

Dr. Jung and her colleague Brandon Boor, PhD, Purdue’s Dr. Margery E. Hoffman Associate Professor in civil engineering, have been the first to study nanoscale airborne particle formation indoors and compare it to outdoor atmospheric processes. “To understand how airborne particles form indoors, you need to measure the smallest nanoparticles—down to a single nanometer. At this scale, we can observe the earliest stages of new particle formation, where fragrances react with ozone to form tiny molecular clusters. These clusters then rapidly evolve, growing and transforming in the air around us,” said Dr. Boor.

Fresh air, mountain vista with forrests

In a “tiny house lab,” a dedicated residential lab space for indoor air quality research, Drs. Jung and Boor are using the latest industry-developed air quality instruments to track how household products emit volatile chemicals that evaporate easily and generate the tiniest airborne nanoparticles. Called the Purdue zero Energy Design Guidance for Engineers (zEDGE) lab, the tiny house has all the features of a typical home but is equipped with sensors for closely monitoring the impact of everyday activities on a home’s air quality. Dr. Jung led the design of the lab, which was built in 2020 as the first of its kind. With this unprecedented level of detail and accuracy, Drs. Jung and Boor have made discoveries suggesting that many everyday household products used indoors may not be as safe as previously assumed.

Even though it’s yet to be determined how breathing in volatile chemicals from these products impacts your health, newly formed nanoparticles are particularly concerning because they can reach very high concentrations, potentially posing risks to respiratory health. Both professors believe these findings highlight the need for further research into indoor nanoparticle formation triggered by heavily scented chemical products. “Our research shows that fragranced products are not just passive sources of pleasant scents—they actively alter indoor air chemistry, leading to the formation of nanoparticles at concentrations that could have significant health implications,” Dr. Jung said. “These processes should be considered in the design and operation of buildings and their HVAC systems to reduce our exposures.”

The two researchers also specifically found that scented wax melts, typically advertised as nontoxic because they are flame-free, actually pollute indoor air at least as much as candles. Wax melts and other scented products release terpenes, the chemical compounds responsible for their scents. Since wax melts contain a higher concentration of fragrance oils than many candles do, they emit more terpenes into indoor air. These terpenes then rapidly react with ozone, triggering significant nanoparticle formation. In fact, the nanoparticle pollution from wax melts rivals that of candles, despite the absence of combustion. They also found that essential oil diffusers, disinfectants, air fresheners, and other scented sprays generate a significant number of nanoscale particles.

Drs. Jung and Boor use the tiny house lab to study how a range of other everyday household activities, such as hair care routines, could impact a home’s air quality. Dr. Jung and her students have found that several chemicals, particularly cyclic volatile methyl siloxanes, ubiquitous in hair care products, linger in the air in surprising amounts during and after use. In a single hair care session at home, a person can inhale a cumulative mass of 1 to 17 milligrams of these chemicals.

Toxicologists will need to build upon these studies to find out exactly how harmful it could be to inhale complex mixtures of volatile chemicals and nanoscale particles indoors. As their research continues, Drs. Jung and Boor also hope their findings will improve how indoor air quality is monitored, controlled, and regulated. “Indoor air quality is often overlooked in the design and management of the buildings we live and work in, yet it has a direct impact on our health every day,” Dr. Boor said. “With data from the tiny house lab, we aim to bridge that gap, transforming fundamental research into real-world solutions for healthier indoor environments for everyone.”

Fitness Flash: Your Brain on Exercise

Fitness Flash

Your Brain on Exercise

A study led by scientists at Rutgers University-New Brunswick has shown that specialized cells involved in how the body responds to insulin are activated in the brain after exercise, suggesting that physical activity may directly improve brain function. The research, published in Aging Cell, a journal focused on the biology of aging, indicates that therapies targeting this insulin action may be developed to offset or even prevent dementia progression.

“We believe this work is important because it suggests exercise may work to improve cognition and memory by improving the abilities of insulin to act on the brain,” said Steven Malin, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health in the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences and lead author of the study.

Conducted in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging, the researchers focused on the role of neuronal extracellular vesicles, specialized cells released by the brain. Extracellular vesicles, once dismissed by researchers as “cell dust,” have in the past 15 years grown exponentially in recognition as important players in the microscopic world of the human body, facilitating transport of key molecules such as proteins between cells. For this study, the scientists targeted vesicles produced in the brain that ferry several proteins involved in insulin sensitivity, one of which is called Akt.

Insulin sensitivity is a measure of how well the body responds to insulin, a hormone that controls blood sugar levels. People with high insulin sensitivity can use blood glucose more effectively in the body, such as in the muscles, which reduces blood sugar. People with type 2 diabetes, with its key symptom of low insulin sensitivity or insulin resistance, have brain cells that are less responsive to insulin. This can have negative impacts on cognition.

Researchers were able to study the vesicles by isolating them in the blood of participants in an experimental study. The trial, conducted over two weeks, included a group of 21 volunteers who had an average age of 60 and had prediabetes. Over the course of the study, they engaged in 12 individual, supervised, 60-minute exercise sessions of moderate to high intensity. The participants ingested a glucose drink before and after training, and researchers collected blood samples from them at the start and end of exercise training. The blood samples showed that the number of neuronal vesicles carrying the proteins involved in insulin sensitivity increased after each training, with Akt being most notable.

“We showed for the first time that exercise impacts insulin signaling from neuronal extracellular vesicles in relation to clinical improvements in blood sugar,” Dr. Malin said. “And we use these neuronal extracellular vesicles as an indicator of brain insulin sensitivity.” Exercise, therefore, is potentially able to improve the brain’s capacity to respond to insulin for neuronal function, he said.

Insulin is a hormone increasingly recognized to regulate cognition, the mental process of acquiring knowledge through thought, experience, and the senses. Prediabetes is a serious health condition that occurs when blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes. Those with prediabetes run the risk of having insufficient levels of insulin in their bodies, particularly the brain, which increases the chances of developing diseases of dementia such as Alzheimer’s, Dr. Malin said.

Insulin also plays a crucial role in memory formation, recall, processing speed, and the functioning of synapses, structures that allow brain cells to communicate with one another. “If insulin is insufficient in the brain, that means not only will brain cells become potentially dysfunctional, but also they may fail to interact with each other properly,” Dr. Malin said. “It’s like playing the game telephone…At some point the message gets lost when the brain becomes insulin resistant.”

Exercise has long been believed to improve cognition, but the mechanisms involved have been unclear. Past studies have uncovered evidence that high blood sugar contributes to a decrease in the brain’s ability to recall information and learn new information. Dr. Malin said that insulin, which is produced by the pancreas and travels to the brain to perform its functions, plays a central role in promoting brain blood flow and neuronal functioning for cognition. “Our work suggests that therapies that target brain insulin action may be able to ward off dementia,” he added.

Future plans are to conduct a long-term exercise training study that assesses brain insulin sensitivity improvements in relation to cognition in older adults.

Get More Recipes In Your Inbox!

Olive Oil Hunter #205

Hot Honey Sweet Potatoes Recipe, Spotlight on Sweet Potatoes, Is Morning Joe the Healthiest and More Motivation to Get Moving

Already nostalgic for the winter holidays? Rekindle memories of those special meals with this sweet potato dish—simple to make and tastes like a true indulgence. If you like a cup after a meal, you’ll be intrigued by the latest study on the brew—not how much to drink is safe to drink but when to drink it. And if the cold weather threatens to turn you into a couch potato (the only truly unhealthy kind of spud), asking yourself two questions can help you get back on track.

Hot Honey Sweet Potatoes

  • roasted sweet potatoes and pecans Hot Honey Sweet Potatoes

    The “hot honey” trend is as popular as ever, and it’s definitely not limited to wings. This recipe revs up the flavor of nutrient-dense sweet potatoes. It’s perfect if you’re looking for a meatless Monday dish any day of the week—just add a salad to get in your greens.

    Ingredients

    • 2 large sweet potatoes (see Healthy Ingredient Spotlight in weekly newsletter)
    • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided use, plus more for drizzling
    • 4 ounces pecans
    • 3 tablespoons honey
    • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
    • 3 ounces mascarpone cheese

    Directions

    Step 1

    Heat your oven to 425°F. Scrub then thoroughly dry the sweet potatoes and pierce them in about a half-dozen places with the tip of a sharp paring knife. Place them on a rimmed sheet pan lined with parchment paper and rub with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Roast until tender, about an hour; the tip of a knife should easily slide through to the centers. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. 

    Step 2

    Meanwhile, heat a small frying pan. When hot, add the pecans and dry roast them, shaking the pan often for about 2 minutes or until the nuts become fragrant. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the honey, and cayenne, and toss well. Remove from the heat.

    Step 3

    Peel the potatoes and cut them into even rounds, about 1/2-inch thick. Place them on a serving platter and top with the pecan mixture. Place a small dollop of mascarpone over each slice and drizzle with olive oil.

    Yields 4 servings

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Sweet potatoes or yams?

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Sweet Potatoes or Yams?

No matter what they’re called in supermarkets, the orange tubers you see are sweet potatoes. True yams, cultivated mostly in Africa, Asia, South America, and the Caribbean, are quite different and pretty hard to find in the US unless you’re shopping at specialty markets with produce from those regions. With a very thick skin and primarily white flesh, yams have a less pronounced flavor than sweet potatoes, though that will differ by origin.

If you want to branch out from run-of-the-mill sweet potatoes, you might want to try white and purple sweet potatoes, although they don’t have as much beta-carotene as traditional orange varieties like Jewel, Garnet, and Beauregard, each with subtle differences in taste.

Purple potatoes
Quick Kitchen Nugget: For Even Roasting

Quick Kitchen Nugget

For Even Roasting

Thinner sweet potatoes will take less time to roast than large round ones, but the most important consideration when buying them is that they’re all roughly the same size for a given meal. This way, they’ll all cook in the same amount of time and you won’t risk burning smaller ones while waiting for the others to finish. 

For Your Best Health: Is Morning Joe the Healthiest?

For Your Best Health

Is Morning Joe the Healthiest?

Hot cup of coffee

There’s no shortage of research on the benefits of coffee, with most studies trying to find the right number of daily cups to help lower the risk for chronic conditions like heart disease, dementia, and diabetes and lead to better overall health. A recent study from researchers at Tulane, Harvard, and The George Washington University looked at whether when you drink coffee makes a difference. They found that, for health benefits, drinking coffee only in the morning might be the best option.

This observational study included 40,725 adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2018 who had provided dietary data and 1,463 adults from the Women’s and Men’s Lifestyle Validation Study who had completed a 7-day dietary record. After more than 9 years of follow-up that looked at all-cause mortality as well as deaths specifically from heart disease and cancer, the researchers concluded that people who drank one or two cups of coffee limited to the morning hours—within the time frame of 4 am to noon—had a 16% lower risk of premature death from any cause and a 31% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. People who drank coffee all day did not have a reduction in risk.

Fitness Flash: More Motivation to Get Moving

Fitness Flash

More Motivation to Get Moving

University of Iowa researchers are recommending that people be surveyed about their physical activity levels at health visits, after their new study underscored the link between physical activity and chronic disease. The researchers, led by Lucas Carr, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Health and Human Physiology, examined responses from more than 7,000 patients at University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center who noted their level of physical activity in a questionnaire called The Exercise Vital Sign Survey. It asked just two questions: On average, how many days per week do you engage in moderate to vigorous exercise (like a brisk walk), and on average, how many minutes do you engage in exercise at this level?

“This two-question survey typically takes fewer than 30 seconds for a patient to complete, so it doesn’t interfere with their visit. But it can tell us a whole lot about that patient’s overall health,” Dr. Carr said.

From patients’ answers to the questionnaire, the researchers found that those who reported the highest level of physical activity—meaning they exercised moderately to vigorously at least 150 minutes per week—were at statistically significant lower risk of having 19 chronic conditions, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory disease, and diabetes. The findings further suggested patients who are least active—meaning they reported little to no exercise in a given week—are at increased risk of developing a chronic disease.

While the link between physical activity and reduced risk of chronic disease is not a new finding, the researchers say the study underscores the value of surveying patients about their physical activity levels.

“We believe this finding is a result of those patients who take the time to come in for annual wellness exams [being those who] also are taking more time to engage in healthy behaviors, such as being physically active,” Dr. Carr said.

Get More Recipes In Your Inbox!

Olive Oil Hunter News #202

Chicken Scallopini with Olives Recipe, Spotlight on Balsamic Vinegar, Making Chicken Scallopini, The Future of Personalized Disease Prevention Plans and Exercise for Better Sleep

Looking to elevate midweek dinners? This chicken recipe is made with thin slices of cutlets, often called scallopini, which cook up quickly, and it’s finished with a sauce that comes together in just a few more minutes. I’m also sharing a fascinating look at the future of personalized health—how advances in technology may one day pinpoint your unique health risks and help you prevent them. One thing you can do right now is to learn how to get better sleep using exercise as an aid.

Chicken Scallopini with Olives

  • chicken scallopini with olives Chicken Scallopini with Olives

    Grated hard cheese, like Parmigiano-Reggiano, makes a great addition to panko for breading chicken. Olives and diced tomatoes combine for a zesty sauce. Choose whatever olives you like best. For a milder taste, I love Castelvetrano olives; for a stronger taste, go for Kalamata. 

    Ingredients

    • 3 tablespoons whole wheat flour 
    • 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
    • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
    • 2 large eggs, well beaten
    • 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
    • 1/2 cup panko or fine fresh breadcrumbs
    • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
    • 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut scallopini-style (see Healthy Ingredient in our weekly newsletter)
    • 4 ounces mushrooms, sliced
    • One 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
    • 1 cup pitted olives
    • 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
    • 1 tablespoon capers with their brine
    • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar of Modena, such as Condimento Barili Exclusivi, plus more for drizzling

    Directions

    Step 1

    Set out three glass pie plates or wide bowls. In one, add and mix the flour, salt, and pepper; in another, place the beaten eggs; and in the third, add and mix the grated cheese and breadcrumbs. 

    Step 2

    Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. When hot, add the olive oil and, working quickly, dip a chicken piece in the flour, then the egg, and then in cheese-breadcrumbs, and add to the pan. Repeat with as many pieces as will fit without crowding; if necessary, cook in two batches. Sauté until the undersides are brown and crispy, about 5 minutes, then flip and continue to sauté until cooked through, about another 3 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer reads 165°F. Add the mushrooms to the pan and sauté lightly.

    Step 3

    If you cooked the chicken in batches, return them all to the pan. Add the tomatoes with all their juice, the olives, basil, capers, and brine and bring to a low boil. Cook for 5 minutes, using a spatula to scrape up any fond on the bottom of the pan. Drizzle on the vinegar and serve. Pass more vinegar and olive oil for drizzling.

    Yields 4 servings

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Balsamic Vinegar

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Balsamic Vinegar

A true balsamic vinegar crafted according to time-honored techniques in Modena, Italy, is the perfect balance of acidity, sweetness from grape must (the juice of freshly pressed grapes—skins, seeds, and stems), and woodiness from aging in special barrels. As a finishing touch, it imparts richness and complexity to savory dishes. And unlike commercial sauces and salad dressings, it has no added sugar—just natural sweetness from the grapes. 

Because you don’t want to cook it, balsamic is typically added as a last step or a garnish of sorts—it’s perfect drizzled over filet mignon or a fine risotto. It’s also a wonderful way to sauce mature or fresh cheeses, charcuterie, steamed vegetables, and savory tarts. I especially love it over strawberries, ice cream (especially vanilla olive oil ice cream), and flourless chocolate cake. 

Quick Kitchen Nugget: Making Chicken Scallopini

Quick Kitchen Nugget

Making Chicken Scallopini

Pounding chicken for scallopini

Slicing chicken into scallops is not as complicated as it sounds. The most important tool is a sharp, non-serrated knife, and the most important part of the technique is placing the palm of one hand straight out on the top of the breast as it lies flat on your cutting board—point your fingers toward the ceiling and away from your knife. With an average-sized breast, make one horizontal cut in the length of the breast to separate it in two. For a very large breast, you might be able to fillet it into 3 pieces—the top slice will most likely have less surface area than the others, and that’s fine. 

To make the pieces even thinner (the ideal thickness for fast cooking is about 1/4 inch), you can pound them between two pieces of parchment paper with a kitchen mallet or one end of a rolling pin. Start gently to avoid pounding a hole in the scallopini, and go across each piece in a uniform pattern for even thickness. 

For Your Best Health: The Future of Personalized Disease Prevention Plans

For Your Best Health

The Future of Personalized Disease Prevention Plans

Most of us know about general guidelines for healthy living, such as eating nutritious foods and getting daily exercise. But what if you could combine these lifestyle habits with a personalized plan that takes into account your unique risks for developing specific diseases in order to help catch and treat them early or prevent them altogether? According to Victor Ortega, MD, PhD, associate director for the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine in Arizona, science is drawing closer to making personal health forecasts possible.

That’s because of new and sophisticated technologies that capture data spanning entire genomes, Dr. Ortega said. The complex scores are compiled from a combination of data from thousands to hundreds of thousands of a person’s DNA sequence variants. This type of large genome-wide data has the potential to predict disease risks, including heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers.

Each person has millions of genetic variants, each having a small effect. But together, these variants can increase the risk of getting a condition. A polygenic risk score estimates the overall risk someone has of getting a disease by adding up the small effects of variants throughout an individual’s entire genome. 

“Imagine knowing your genetic predisposition for having a heart attack in your 50s or if you’re in the top 5% of the population for the risk of cancer or diabetes based on data from your whole genome. With this knowledge, you could make informed lifestyle choices and receive enhanced screenings to mitigate that risk,” Dr. Ortega said.

As a pulmonologist and genomic scientist, Dr. Ortega is leading a charge to breathe new life into precision medicine advancements. His mission is rooted in a deep commitment to health equities and inspired by his grandmother. “My grandmother died of asthma, and that should not have happened. She was Puerto Rican like me, and Puerto Ricans have the highest severity and frequency of asthma of any ethnic group in the world,” Dr. Ortega said. “They also represent less than 1% of people in genetic studies. So, I’ve made it a life mission to develop cures and diagnostics for people like my grandma and for all people.” 

Some people who don’t have a high risk score for a certain disease can still be at risk of getting the disease or might already have it. Other people with high risk scores may never get the disease. People with the same genetic risk can have different outcomes, depending on other factors such as lifestyle determining one’s lifelong environmental exposures, also called the exposome. Dr. Ortega said that getting to the point where all people know their polygenic risk scores will require a solid foundation of “omics” research and datasets, cutting-edge technologies, and further discoveries of gene-disease links, all of which are within his team’s expertise and capabilities. Omics is an emerging multidisciplinary field of biological sciences that encompasses genomics, proteomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, and more.

“It’s going to take considerable work and planning, but it really is the way of the future,” he said. In the shorter term, Dr. Ortega plans to transition more omics discoveries from research laboratories to the clinic. Omics data can help identify the molecular culprits driving a person’s disease, as well as biomarkers that can lead to the development of targeted treatments and diagnostics.

Recent omics discoveries at the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine have enabled scientists to predict antidepressant responses in people with depression and discover a potential therapeutic strategy for bone marrow cancer. Scientists have also used omics to pinpoint genetic variations that potentially increase the risk for severe COVID-19, uncover potential clues for preventing and treating gliomas, and unravel the genetic mystery of a rare neurodevelopmental disorder.

Dr. Ortega is leading the development of a polygenic risk score framework for Mayo Clinic, beginning with interstitial lung disease. This condition, marked by the progressive scarring of lung tissue, is influenced by both rare gene variants and a collection of more common variants, all of which are captured together in polygenic risk scores.

Drawing from his years of extensive clinical experience in treating patients with severe respiratory illnesses, Dr. Ortega is also working to expand genomic testing to a broader set of diseases. He highlights the center’s collaborative Program for Rare and Undiagnosed Diseases as an effective model that he hopes to amplify. The program proactively engages healthcare teams across Mayo’s clinical practice to conduct targeted genomic testing for patients with a suspected rare genetic disease. Expanding this strategy to more diseases will help build collaborations across Mayo and educate more clinicians on genomics. It may also ensure that the most effective genomic sequencing tests are given to patients, ultimately improving patient care and outcomes.

Fitness Flash: Exercise for Better Sleep

Fitness Flash

Exercise for Better Sleep

“Engaging in winter sports and recreational activities is an excellent way to support cardiovascular health and overall well-being,” said Alexander P. Sah, MD, FAAOS, orthopedic surgeon and spokesperson for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), the world’s largest medical association of musculoskeletal specialists. “However, cold weather brings unique risks that shouldn’t be ignored. Each year, healthcare facilities across the country see an uptick in bone and joint injuries tied to winter activities, many of which are preventable with the right preparation and safety measures.”

Meditate before bed for restful sleep

When you’re heading outdoors to enjoy your favorite cold-weather activities as well as when snuggling up in front of a roaring fire, consider these safety tips from Dr. Sah and fellow bone and joint health experts at AAOS to keep winter conditions from making routine activities hazardous:

Protect your back when shoveling snow. Lifting injuries can happen quickly and are very painful. Bend at the knees to use the large leg and glute muscles instead of your back when picking up heavy items. Don’t twist or rotate while lifting, especially when shoveling. Bend your knees and pivot your whole body, not just your torso. 

Tread lightly and move confidently. If you live in a wintry climate, icy surfaces can lurk anywhere. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that approximately 1 million Americans are injured annually because of falling on ice and snow. Wear shoes with good traction to prevent slipping and falling, or buy slip-on shoe gear that adds traction when walking on ice. 

Ski smart. Anterior cruciate ligament tears in the knee joint are common among skiers and snowboarders. Many injuries occur from falling backward or twisting the knee. Research has shown that keeping arms forward and hips over the knees can reduce the risk of injury. Adjust your bindings to meet your ability. 

Don’t get burned. Practice caution with all types of open flames, such as candles and fireplaces, as well as when using your kitchen stove, and keep children and pets far away from them. Know what to do in case of a burn: Treat minor burns with cool running water, a sterile bandage, and an over-the-counter pain reliever. Serious burns require immediate medical attention.

Get More Recipes In Your Inbox!