Sunday, June 19, 2016

Promoting Heart, Brain, and Digestive Health - Dates Health Benefits -

A product of the date palm and cultivated since approximately 6000 B.C, the date fruit is one of the sweetest fruits around and also happens to come in many different varieties. Although dates can be eaten fresh, the fruit is very often dried, resembling raisins or plums. But whether fresh or dry, the health benefits of dates are still just as plentiful.

by Mike Barrett

Nutritional Content of Dates

If you’re looking for fiber, potassium, or copper, look no further than dates. While dates are rich in many vital nutrients and therefore offer many health benefits, the fruit is so small that you’ll need to consume a larger quantity to intake the necessary amount.
The following nutritional data outlines some of the key nutrients found in dates, and is based on a 100g serving of the fruit.

Fiber – 6.7 grams. 27% RDA.

Potassium – 696 milligrams. 20% RDA.

Copper – 0.4 milligrams. 18% RDA.

Manganese – 0.3 milligrams. 15% RDA.

Magnesium – 54 milligrams. 14% RDA.

Vitamin B6 – 0.2 milligrams. 12% RDA.

Note: Dates are high in sugar content – coming in at a whopping 66.5 grams per 100 gram serving of the fruit. It is recommended to lessen sugar consumption as much as possible, even when the sugar is being consumed from fruit.
Check out the USDA Nutrient Database for a full nutritional profile of dates.

The Known Health Benefits of Dates – What the Date Fruit Has to Offer

Dates aren’t exactly a nutritional powerhouse when compared to some other foods like kiwi or sesame seeds, but the fruit does still offer numerous health benefits along with great taste. Here are some health benefits of dates.

1. Promoting Digestive Health, Relieving Constipation – Fiber is essential for promoting colon health and making for regular bowel movements. The insoluble and soluble fiber found in dates help to clean out the gastrointestinal system, allowing the colon to work at greater levels of efficiency. Some other benefits relating to fiber and colon health are reduced risks of colitis, colon cancer, and hemorrhoids. (Dates could even be coupled with other home remedies for hemorrhoids.)

2. Boosting Heart Health – In addition to promoting colon health, fiber is also known to boost heart health.

3. Anti-Inflammatory – Dates are rich in magnesium – a mineral known for its anti-inflammatory benefits. One study found that “inflammatory indicators in the body such as CRP (C-reactive protein), TNF (tumor necrosis factor alpha), and IL6 (interleukin 6) were all reduced when magnesium intake was increased.” Further, inflammation in the arterial walls was also reduced with magnesium intake. Based on magnesium’s anti-inflammatory properties and the findings of this study, magnesium can effectively reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, and other inflammation-related health ailments.

4. Reduced Blood Pressure – Magnesium has been shown to help lower blood pressure – and again, dates are full of the mineral. Additionally, potassium is another mineral in dates that has several functions within the body, aiding with the proper workings of the heart and helping to reduce blood pressure.

5. Reduced Stroke Risk – After evaluating 7 studies published over a 14 year time period, researchers found stroke risk was reduced by 9% for every every 100 milligrams of magnesium a person consumes per day. The research can be found in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

6. A Healthy Pregnancy and Delivery – Further adding to the health benefits of dates, one study performed by researchers at the University of Science and Technology set out to discover how the date fruit impacted labor parameters and delivery outcomes. After studying 69 women for a year and 1 month, the researchers found that “the consumption of date fruit in the last 4 weeks before labour significantly reduced the need for induction and augmentation of labour, and produced a more favourable, but non-significant, delivery outcome. The results warrant a randomised controlled trial.”

7. Boosting Brain Health – Some studies, such as one found in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that sufficient vitamin B6 levels are associated with improved brain performance and better test scores.

A Summary of Dates Health Benefits: Dates are Great for:

Weight loss
Relieving constipation, supporting regular bowel movements
Promoting heart health, reducing heart disease risk
Diarrhea
Iron-deficiency anemia
Reducing blood pressure
Impotence
Promoting respiratory and digestive health
Pregnancy deliveries
Hemorrhoid prevention
Chronic conditions such as arthritis
Reducing colitis risk
Preventing colon cancer

Remember to share all of the health benefits of dates with your friends and family!
Additional Sources:
NutritionData.Self
Wikipedia

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Stevia might harm oral health, dentists suggest

German dentists say that the use of stevia instead of sugar does not render oral hygiene redundant. (DTI/Photo ConstanzeK/Shutterstock)

Apr 4, 2012 | News Europe

Stevia might harm oral health, dentists suggest

by Dental Tribune International

FRANKFURT, Germany: Dentists from a local dental association in Germany have warned against the assumption that stevia, a popular sugar substitute, is less harmful to teeth than granulated sugar. They said that stevia’s claim of tooth friendliness has not been proven sufficiently through systematic trials.

Stevia is manufactured by extracting steviol glycosides from the leaves of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni, a native South American shrub. It is up to 300 times sweeter than sucrose. Despite its high sweetening power, stevia is considered to be harmless to dental health. Thus, it has been advocated as an alternative to conventional synthetic sweeteners and granulated sugar and many producers have started using it in their foods instead, advertising the substance as a calorie-free and tooth-friendly sweetener.
However, the German dentists have now argued that the tooth-friendly properties of stevia have not been proven sufficiently by scientific studies. While usual sugar offers nourishment to caries bacteria, stevia is not a suitable source of nutrition. In this respect, stevia is better for one’s dental flora compared with granulated sugar or honey, they said. At the same time, the association’s dentists warned the public not to neglect oral hygiene. Were the caries-inhibiting properties of stevia to be confirmed scientifically, dental hygiene would still be indispensable.

In 2010, the European Food Safety Authority assessed the safety of stevia as a sweetener for use in foods. From the results of the toxicological test, the members of the panel concluded that stevia sweeteners with a steviol glycoside level of at least 95 per cent are not carcinogenic, genotoxic or associated with any reproductive or developmental toxicity. Stevia was thus classified as safe for use in foods. They recommended an acceptable daily intake of steviol glycosides of 4 mg per day. In December 2011, stevia was officially approved as a food additive in Europe by the European Commission.
Based on its review of information and data submitted by industry, the US Food and Drug Administration concluded that there is no basis for objecting to the use of certain refined stevia preparations in food. In 2009, they determined that Rebiana, a steviol glycoside, can be generally recognised as safe for use in foods and beverages.

According to the International Stevia Council, a global trade association representing the interests of companies involved in the production of stevia products, more than 2,000 stevia-sweetened products were introduced worldwide between 2004 and 2008. They stated that steviol glycosides are permitted for use in a number of countries, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Paraguay, Peru, Russia, Switzerland, Taiwan, Ukraine and Uruguay.
Global manufacturers such as Coca Cola and Pepsi have already launched stevia-sweetened alternatives to their sugar-based soft drinks on the American market. European producers have introduced such products too. For instance, Andechser, an ecological dairy supplier from Germany, has offered a bio-yoghurt with stevia since 2011.

Stevia worldwide

In this section you can find information about the usage of Stevia rebaudiana in selected countries. The country booklets were prepared with the kind support of students of the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg. They can be read in PDF format or as simple browser versions. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to read the PDF versions. You can download the newest version of this product for free by clicking here

Germany
Bureaucracy vs. science

written by S. Stolzenburg

Since the eighties, scientific projects exist in Germany which concentrate on the cultivation of stevia rebaudiana. They are financed by subsidies of the European Union. The University of Hohenheim is the centre of these research projects. The European Union assigned some scientists of this university to examine the potentials of the cultivation of stevia plants in Spain. Moreover, the confederation funded different research projects conducted by Dr. Udo Kienle of the faculty of agricultural sciences. Mister Kienle has engaged in stevia research since the beginning of the eighties when he learned about the plant by coincidence. More recently, he has tried to grow stevia plants on a small field in southern Germany and has discovered that they thrive and prosper very well under European climate conditions. To some extent, he has managed to grow plants with a higher level of sweetness as in comparable plants from Paraguay.¹

After his success in southern Germany, Kienle tried to replicate his experiments in southern Spain. He published the results of his examinations in a comparative study.² He came to the conclusion that the cultivation of stevia in Germany and Spain requires almost no need to cut back in comparison to the cultivation in Paraguay. In fact, there is the possibility, to some extent, to reach better crop results.

From 1998 to 2002, a team of researchers led by Professor Thomas Jungbluth (the dean of the faculty of agricultural sciences) and Doctor Kienle conducted another project in southern Spain. It was also funded by the European Union and it focussed on the acclimatisation of Stevia rebaudiana for southern European areas. According to off-the-record sources, the goal of the European Union was to create a cultivation alternative for its tobacco farmers to save some of the high subsidies they receive. The official results of the southern Spain study were shut away by the European Union.³ While he worked on the research project, Doctor Kienle refined the process of cultivation and subsequent treatment of the stevia plant so that it became marketable with regard to cultivation techniques and in procedural terms.⁴

Moreover, medical and biochemical researches on the stevia plant were conducted in Germany. For example, in the mid-nineties a physician named Johann Christian Huber tried to examine the influence of stevioside and acesulfame K on the human body. Acesulfame K is a synthetic sweetener which became legalized as the food additive E-50 in the European Union in 1990. One main focus of the study was an examination on the impact of stevia on the blood glucose level and the insulin level. The examination showed that there is no influence of stevioside, stevia extract or stevia tea on either of them.⁵

Although the European Union conducted many studies which formally proved the innocuousness of stevia, the German department of risk assessment (BfR) decided that Stevia rebaudiana has not been examined enough. In April 2003, the functionaries wrote "according to act No. 258/97 (EG) on novelty food and novelty food additives, we cannot approve the so far filed applications on legalisation of stevioside as a food additive or on marketing Stevia rebaudiana and components of that plant, since the existing data is not sufficient to judge the innocuousness on human health[...] Consequentially, neither the sweetener stevioside nor the plant or components of the plant are to be legalised as food or food additives in the European Union."⁶

With this decision, the department of risk assessment once again prohibited the distribution of stevia as a food component. After the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) defined an acceptable daily intake (ADI) of steviol glycosides in the amount of up to 2 milligrammes per kilogramme body weight⁷, scientists all over Europe became euphoric. Hope was raised that the European Union would follow the JECFA recommendation shortly.⁴ But the departments of the confederation still insisted that more studies were needed. The European Union approved the use of stevia and its components as a food additive for animal food in 2005.⁸

Furthermore, there was a stevia related lawsuit in Bavaria in 2004. There, a sales woman sued the state for the prohibition of stevia sale because she had already sold stevia tea before the Novelty Food Act came into effect. She argued that her past sales were a reason stevia could not be handled as a novelty food. The administration court of Bavaria decided in her favour because she proved that she had already sold significant amounts of stevia tea prior to 1997. The court explained that this meant that "her food is no novelty food", so stevia could not be affected by the Novelty Food Act.⁹ Later, the Free State of Bavaria appealed the decision.

Bibliography
1	Kienle, Udo [1988]: Interview, in: Stuttgarter Zeitung, 13rd April 1988
2	Kienle, Udo [1993]: "Einfluss von Bewässerung und Schnittfolge auf den Ertrag von Stevia rebaudiana in Südspanien", Göttingen, 1993
3	Schranz, Günther [2007]: "Die Stevia Story - oder wer bestimmt über das Grundrecht auf Gesundheit?!", Burgenland, 2007
4	Klebs, Florian [2004]: "Gesünder als jedes Süßungsmittel: Hohenheimer Süßstoff-Pflanze reif für die EU-Zulassung", Stuttgart, 2004
5	Huber, Johann Christian [1995]: "Der Einfluß der Süßstoffe Acesulfam-K und Steviosid auf die Sekretion gastrointestinaler Hormone beim Menschen", Ulm, 1995
6	Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung (BfR) [2003]: "Süße und aromatische Blätter von Stevia rebaudiana und dem Chinesischen Brombeerstrauch", Berlin, 2003
7	JECFA [2006]: "Safety evaluation of certain food additives", Geneva, 2006
8	EUSTAS [2006]: "Oft gestellte Fragen und deren Antworten", FAQ at the official EUSTAS homepage, Online source (accessed on 1st September 2009)
9	Bayerisches Verwaltungsgericht München [2004]: verdict, 13rd May 2004 (M 4 K 03.4528)

Increase Stevia consumption in Germany

While almost three in 10 (28%) users of sugar and sweeteners in Germany believe stevia is good for their health, new research from Mintel reveals more education is needed by stevia brands if usage is to increase. Indeed, latest research from Mintel finds there remains a core group of consumers who do not know if stevia is healthy (29%) or say it is neither good nor bad for their health (31%).

It seems stevia in Germany is benefiting from positive perceptions amongst some consumers in regards its naturalness and healthfulness. Indeed, when asked which sugar and sweeteners products are good for health, stevia (28%) fares well with German consumers, outperforming agave (27%), raw sugar (15%), brown sugar (15%), as well other high intensity sweeteners including saccharin (4%) and aspartame (2%). Only honey (68%) and maple syrup (33%) have better health perceptions, likely to be due to consumers’ high level of familiarity with these products.

Indeed, natural alternatives to sugar are gaining stronger interest in Germany, with nearly four in 10 (38%) Germans indicating an interest in seeing more naturally sweetened diet products, a figure which rises to as many as 42% of 16-24 year olds. But while almost three in 10 (28%) users of sugar and sweeteners perceive stevia as good for their health, over one in 10 (13%) perceive stevia as bad for their health.

Katya Witham, Senior Food and Drink German Analyst at Mintel, said:
“As obesity creeps up on the nation, stevia’s plant-based origin makes it an attractive sweetener for health conscious German consumers. But lack of familiarity with stevia indicates that more educational efforts are required from the German food and drink industry to drive usage, which is then set to present considerable future opportunities for the stevia market.”

Stevia goes beyond sugar and sweeteners

But while Mintel’s research highlights room for growth in consumer usage, Mintel’s Global New Products Database (GNPD) finds there has been a distinct growth in the use of stevia across food and drink categories in Germany. Indeed, less than five years ago 100% of product launches containing stevia fell into the sweeteners and sugar category, since then, new product development has reflected growing consumer interest in plant-based substitutes for sugar, with stevia catching on in many other product categories. Between July 2014 and June 2015, as many as 16% of hot beverage launches in Germany contained stevia and some 14% of juice drink launches also had stevia added, while the same was true of sugar and gum confectionery (14%). Meanwhile, as many as 11% of chocolate product launches also contained stevia.
“2014 saw major food and drink brands launching their first stevia-based products in Germany, bringing stevia to a more prominent position. While multinationals have taken the lead on stevia innovation in Germany, smaller players will likely follow suit in the near future. What is more, stevia’s popularity appears to be growing not only in pre-prepared food and drink products, but also as a tabletop sweetener. Major sweetener brands have now launched a variety of stevia-based sweetener products in Germany, while retailers have introduced their own brand versions of tabletop stevia sweeteners.” Katya continues.
Meanwhile, it seems many Germans are resorting to limiting their sugar intake as one of the first steps to losing weight. Among German consumers concerned about their weight, almost one-third (31%) have taken action to cut down on sugary foods and drinks, highlighting the growing need for products with reduced sugar.
But while consumers are keen to cut down their sugar intake, they are also suspicious about sweeteners and additives. Today, almost 60% of Germans admit that they are wary of the ingredients, such as sweeteners and other additives, that go into diet food products to make them low calorie.
Press review copies of the research and interviews with Senior Food and Drink Analyst Katya Witham, are available on request from the press office.