Everyday Foods May Yield Medicinal Benefits

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In the meantime, adding chives to everyday foods should still be considered a healthy move, he said.

Grape seed extract may have its own health benefits, another study showed. The study involved 24 men and women diagnosed with "metabolic syndrome," a condition characterized by cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure and obesity.

After four weeks, patients who had consumed either 150 milligrams or 300 milligrams of grape seed extract a day experienced a significant drop in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, while those taking a placebo underwent no change.

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"I think this is not going to be a standard treatment for high blood pressure, I want to make that clear," said researcher Dr. G. Tissa Kappagoda, of the department of internal medicine at the University of California at Davis. "But it may be a potential tool for people who are prehypertensive, as part of a lifestyle management routine that includes weight management and exercise. In that context, grape seed extract may prove useful."

The third study was led by Jennifer L. Causey, of Lipid Nutrition Co. Her work focused on Korean pine nuts and their potential effect on weight loss.

Causey explained that the nuts contain a high amount of an oil called pinolenic acid, which has been shown in laboratories to stimulate the release of two appetite-suppressing hormones, CCK and GLP1.

The study involved 18 overweight women. In the four-hour period following consumption of 3 grams of the pinolenic acid in gel capsule form, hormone levels were found to rise, and the women's appetites fell by approximately a third.

These fatty acids have been found to impact satiety, or the feeling of fullness, and may be beneficial as part of a weight-loss program that includes diet and exercise, Causey said. The results are exciting from a consumer perspective, since they show scientific evidence for a satiety effect, she said.

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