Monday, June 23, 2014

Important Researchers/Scholars


Make Olive Oil As a Part of Your Cooking


(credit: news.softpedia.com)

           The right food choices are very important for a healthy life. As I have mentioned, foods, such as leafy-green vegetables, berries, whole grains, and garlics, are able to reduce the chance of developing breast cancer. The recent studies show that olive oil can also cut the risk of breast cancer. DeNoon (2008) states that the studies by Javier A. Menendez, PhD and his colleagues show that olive oil can reduce “20% to 30% of breast cancers that express the HER2 molecules”. 

Cooking with Mary M. Flynn, PhD
(credit: news.brown.edu)

            Mary M. Flynn, a research nutritionist who has been working at the Miriam Hospital since 1984, has been doing a research on how certain food affects health. She has come up with various meals consisting of healthy ingredients and appropriate portions. Flynn’s rule of her cooking is that “the meals are calorie controlled and contain extra virgin olive oil, at least 2 servings of healthy vegetables, 2-3 servings of starch which will be whole grains and/or legumes (beans), whenever possible” (Mary Meal, n.d.). Home-cook meals are healthier because foods from restaurants may not be processed properly thus, increasing higher risk of diseases. For example, the restaurants usually use recycling cooking oil to cook your deep-fried foods such as fried chicken and French fries. According to Chosen Foods (2013), when oils break down due to exposure to heat, it becomes oxidized oil; it is rancid and harmful to the health. The article Mary Meal (n.d.) states that “Extra virgin olive oil has been shown to decrease blood pressure, fasting insulin and glucose, decrease oxidation and decrease inflammation, all risk factors for heart disease and some cancers”.
Furthermore, Flynn has currently been granted to compare the diet recommended by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to a plant-based olive oil (PBOO) in women of age of 50 years old and older with invasive breast cancer for weight loss and improvement of biomarkers (Associate Professor of Medicine (Clinical), n.d.). A plant based olive oil diet that she developed has moderate fat content; it’s shown to be foods that are beneficial to the health according to literature research (Associate Professor of Medicine (Clinical), n.d.). Not only is Flynn a nutritionist, she is also a professor teaching courses in nutrition at Brown University; her courses cover the introduction of nutrition about the relationship of food and its impact on the treatment and the development of chronic diseases.

         Mary M. Flynn has shown us the impact of olive oil on health and demonstrates how olive oil can be used to prepare delicious healthy dishes. Watch How to grill the perfect pizza to see how Mary M. Flynn, PhD cooks a healthy pizza using olive oil and other healthy ingredients.

After watching this video, would you like to try making one as well?

References
Associate Professor of Medicine (Clinical). (n.d.). Brown University.

Mary Meal. (n.d.). The Miriam Hospital. Retrieved from http://www.miriamhospital.org/services/outpatient-nutrition-services/mary-meals.html

Why You Should Never Reuse Cooking Oil? (2013, July 15). Chosen Foods. Retrieved from http://chosen-foods.com/blogs/blog/9636509-why-you-should-never-reuse-cooking-oil

DeNoon, D., J. (2008, December 18). Olive Oil vs. Breast Cancer. Web MD Health News. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/breast-cancer/news/20081218/extra-virgin-olive-oil-evoo-vs-breast-cancer

8 comments:

  1. Vassana,

    After reading your post, I know that I made the right choice by using olive oil in my cooking regime! Dr. Flynn sounds like a very knowledgable researchers according to your post. However, I would love to see more of her background and her research methods. Anytime we deal with health-related research, it is important to differentiate between correlational research, experimental research, human research and animal research. I believe that a healthy diet can reduce the risk of breast cancers. I am just wondering about the credibility of the research in the field regarding foods that can contribute to healthier and longer lives. You know, there are always potential for scam in those.

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  3. Vassana,
    I was really fascinated by your topic because I did not think that eating certain types of food could actually reduce the risk of cancer. I think this is some amazing information for people to have on hand! After reading this blog post, I definitely think I am going to start to reconsider where I go out to eat and what I order! One thing that I did not know was that the oil that is used to fry things in restaurants is not only reused but when it is exposed to heat, it can be harmful to a person's health. I also want to look into new recipes after reading this as well!

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  4. Vassana,
    Again, your blog post makes me very proud to be Lebanese! We use olive oil like crazy in our dishes!! I wonder what the breast cancer risk is in Lebanon because just about all Mediterranean food includes all of the foods you talked about in your blogs. Dr. Flynn seems like an influential researcher and nutritionist. I would love to hear about the types of research she pursues that helps all of us learn about what foods are healthy for us versus the foods that are borderline toxic to our bodies. I have always known that restaurants do not serve us the absolute healthiest food and after reading your blog I have learned so much!

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  5. It was an interesting and knowledgeable post. Food definitely play a key role in our health status. I enjoyed reading your post, it definitely will make think twice before trying to eat from restaurants. We almost all the time cook food home and seldom go out to eat. Thanks for a great post. I jam adding few my opinions of benefits of food ingredients. Our cooking always starts from scratch and we use garlic, ginger,onions, and tomatoes as our ingredients for all food. Garlic besides being helpful in delaying with cancer is also very important in maintaining cholesterol levels. Ginger is very useful as it for nausea related to cancer treatment, stomach upset, and upper respiratory tract infections.Tomatoes are a great source of antioxidants and bone health. Diet that is high is mono-unsaturated fat like some nuts and seeds, vegetables, olive oil as you mentioned, and canola oil helps in reducing the risk of breast cancer.

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  6. I really liked your post for two reasons. I think that the cultural phenomenon that you mentioned is so important in your topic of breast cancer. As I understood it, the cultural phenomenon in question is the use of diet as a means to reduce the chances of getting breast cancer. Another reason why I liked this was not just because you achieved the purpose of the assignment, but because you give your readers actionable advice. The scientific data that you use to back up the information is motivating. A lot of people might not think that diet and exercise can have such an impact on health because we do not often see such statistics in our daily lives. However, you did a really good job of justifying your claim that eating right matters vis-a-vis breast cancer.

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  7. Hello,

    I really enjoyed your blog post! I am a junior at GMU and during the fall and spring semesters I typically eat at restaurants or around campus because I am too busy to cook. I thought it was a rumor that eating at various restaurants can make you fat. I liked how you brought this idea to light and exposed facts and evidence to prove your point. This post has inspired me to try new cooking recipes and I will now try to figure out a meal plan for myself so that I can reduce the amount of times I eat out and try to cook more in my home! Thanks!

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  8. Hi Vanessa,

    I loved your post! There are literally thousands of benefits for olive oil and I really liked how you went over a couple of them in your post. I have always agreed that home cooked meals are ten times healthier because there are a lot less preservatives and fresh when compared to the meals that you eat at fast food restaurants. This is one of the problems with the American culture - we want to do everything quickly and as efficiently as possible because we live in an age where technology can do things for us in seconds so waiting for a meal to cook isn't something that most people are use to. I'm thankful that I come from an Indian family - I eat home cooked meals every day so I know the benefits of eating from outside every day. Olive oil doesn't only have benefits for cooking - it also can cure illnesses, grow hair, etc!

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