Breakthroughs
Nutrition
shutterstock/The Licensing Project; Jarren VinkFast-food takeaway:
deadly chemicals
■As if you needed another reason to avoid drive-
thru windows: A new study out of America of
almost 9,000 subjects found that fast-food eaters
had phthalate (“THAL-ate”) levels up to 40% higher
than non-fast-food eaters. Phthalates, harmful
industrial chemicals used in food packaging, are
linked to birth defects, asthma, obesity, and brain-
development problems in babies, as well as, from
now on, fast-food fiends.
It’sarealdrag.
Fructose can
alter genes
(and not for
the better).THE PRODIGAL
STICK: BUTTER
IS FINALLY
COMING HOME,
FULLY FORGIVEN.■To easily step up your butter game —
especially when using it for cooking — make
clarified butter (aka “ghee”), a clear, pure
butter thought to be healthier (one study found
it lowers LDL cholesterol); it keeps longer and
has a higher smoke point, so you can sear
foods without setting off smoke alarms.
Just melt a cut-up stick of grass-fed,
unsalted butter in a pan; it’ll bubble (that’s the
water boiling out of it) and the milk fat solids
will foam. Simmer till the bubbling almost
stops, then set a coffee filter in a strainer and
pour the liquid through into a jar.Melt yourself a better butter
Going high-fat? Eat grapes, too
■As you transition from vegetable oils and low-
fat dairy to butter and other whole-fat dairy
products (see story, far right), consider this, too:
Adding grapes to a high-butter-fat diet (that is, a
diet with 33–44% of its calories from fat) boosts
the amount of polyphenols you get—agood
thing, since polyphenols cut overall body fat and
increase good gut bacteria, according to two new
US studies from the University of North Carolina at
Greensboro. Aim for a cup of red grapes a day.
FRUCTOSE
F’S YOU UP
■Fructose, the
sugar found in
high-fructose corn
syrup (the bane
of soft drinks and
processed foods)
as well as natural
foods like fruit and
honey, can alter
brain genes and up
the risk of diseases
such as diabetes,
heart disease
and Alzheimer’s,
California Uni
reports. But relax:
The study also found
DHA, an omega-3
fatty acid in foods
like fatty fish and
eggs, can repair
the damage.Butter
beats
veg oil,
low-fat
dairy
Yet another nail in
vegetable oils’ coffin: A
recent study in theBMJ
confirmed that not only
is vegetable oil not healthier to eat
than butter, it may be worse.
Researchers focused on the
cholesterol levels of more than
9,500 seniors and found that those
who used oils high in linoleic acid —
like corn, soybean and sunflower oil
—diedatanearlieragethanthose
whostuckwithbutter.Theyalso
found that switching from butter to
vegie oil did nothing to reduce heart
disease or overall mortality.
Toaddevenmore,uh,fattothe
fire, a newly released 15-year
study on 3,000-plus adults who
ate higher levels of full-fat dairy
products came to the happy
conclusion that full-fat dairy is
even healthier than low-fat dairy,
as subjects ended up with a 46%
lower risk of developing diabetes,
the journalCirculation reports.Y
28 MEN’S FITNESS AUGUST 2016