The front page of the November Tufts newsletter has two lead articles one is titled: Anti-Hypertension Diet Also Fights Kidney Stones; the other is Eat Like a Mediterranean to Protect Your Aging Brain. They sound like two fairly unrelated articles, right?  But let’s get to the bottom line of each.

Anti-Hypertension and Kidney Stones
Note of little importance is that I had a kidney stone attack in 1984; if you’ve ever had one you’re likely to be very interested in all the information that will help you to never go through the pain again. So, of course, I was very interested in the results and recommendations of the new study.

The researchers found that following the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet decreased the risk by 40% to 45% for developing kidney stones. It was a big study involving hundreds of thousands of participants for 14 to 18 years.

The diet score was decided based on how closely the participants adhered to the following factors:
High intake of fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes, low-fat dairy products and whole grains
Low intake of sodium, sweetened beverages, and red and processed meats.

This study showed that the risk of kidney stones was reduced even if the vegetables were high in oxalate (like almonds and spinach).

Mediterranean Diet and Protecting Your Aging Brain
The researchers found that those who most closely followed a Mediterranean-style diet were at 40% lower risk of Alzheimer’s over 5.4 years. They also found that the participants with the highest level of physical activity were at 33% lower risk of Alzheimer’s than the least active.

The diet was essentially the same as above (DASH), but they also looked for a higher intake of monounsaturated fats (such as olive oil) and less saturated fat.

We’ve already discussed the Mediterranean diet, so I won’t go on about it here, but it is truly interesting to me that a diet that helps diabetes, heart disease, some cancer prevention, arthritis, hypertension and kidney stones, is also great for your aging brain.

Today I took a picture of the cup at my desk. Why, you may ask?

I just noted that my herb tea has hibiscus in it; there is evidence that hibiscus may help manage blood pressure.  But the main goal today is: It tastes good, sweetened with a teaspoon of Delight and warms me during this day of falling temperatures. See also - what falling temperatures bring.

Have a great day and remember: Good Health Can Be Yummy!

Warming tea on a cold day.

The temperature is falling.