How Tomato Sauce Promotes Gut Health

In a study published in the Journal of Functional Foods, researchers from Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) in Spain evaluated how gut bacteria interacts with antioxidants in your gut, specifically with respect to cooked tomato sauce. The team chose to use pear tomatoes because they have a particularly high lycopene content and are rich in antioxidants.

Led by professor Ana Belén Heredia from UPV's department of food technology, the scientists conducted in vitro experiments to see how Lactobacillus reuteri (L. reuteri) would interact with antioxidants derived from tomato sauce and if the cooking process might influence that interaction. L. reuteri is one of the main bacterial species known to contribute to your gut health.

Heredia and her team noted a loss of antioxidants with respect to both raw and cooked (fried) tomato sauce as a result of the digestive process. Furthermore, it appeared the presence of L. reuteri prevented some of the antioxidants from being absorbed into the bloodstream. Notably, the group also observed the antioxidants from the tomato sauce — more so with the cooked sauce than its raw equivalent — enhanced the positive effects of L. reuteri.

Cooked sauce also had the effect of transforming the lycopene present in the tomato, which helped preserve its integrity through the digestive process, allowing more of this important antioxidant to be absorbed. Noted Heredia, "[W]e found serving meals rich in probiotics with fried tomato sauce boosts its probiotic effect, as well as causing a progressive isomerization of the lycopene of the tomato, from form cis to trans throughout digestion, which positively results in an increased final bioaccessibility of this carotenoid."

Article Source: Dr Mercola at Mercola.com 

How to Grow and Use Ginger

Making high-quality ginger tea starts with the plant itself. Make sure your garden has rich, loose soil with lots of shade. Next, choose an organic ginger root from a reputable grower, as this is what you will need to place into the ground. Ideally, it should be around 4 to 5 inches long with several fingers that have greenish tips.

Plant the root in early spring after the last frost has passed. Next, cut off the fingers and place them in a shallow trench no deeper than 1 inch. Once the roots are firmly placed in the ground, water them thoroughly, and leaves will emerge within a week or two. After you’ve reached this phase, continue watering, but sparingly. Overall, it may take 10 months for the plants to completely mature.

Harvesting the plants is easy, as you only need to lift them gently from the soil. If you want to replant a new batch, simply break off a part of a root that has foliage and then return it into the ground. Wash the remaining bunch thoroughly with running water, and then store them in a reusable plastic bag with the air vacuumed, and place into your refrigerator’s crisper.

How to Make Ginger Tea

Once you have your own ginger plant, you can now proceed to making fresh ginger tea. It’s quite easy to make, ensuring that it’ll be a regular fixture in your diet for years to come. To begin making your tea, you’ll only need around 2 inches of raw ginger, and 1 and a half or 2 cups of water. Afterward, follow this procedure.

Article Source: Dr Mercola at Mercola.com  

 

Health Benefits of Ginger Tea

One easy way of obtaining ginger’s advantages is making your own ginger root tea, and it is one of ginger’s most commonly prepared forms. In its simplest sense, ginger tea is made by boiling sliced ginger root in water.

Another method for making ginger tea is using powder or teabags bought online or from your local store. If this is your preferred method, make sure that the product you’re buying uses high-quality ingredients from a reputable company. But if you have the time and resources, I strongly suggest growing your own ginger roots because this approach is healthier and safer.

What is ginger tea good for, anyway? Throughout history, it has been prescribed by healers and herbalists to help their patients alleviate a variety of conditions. Drinking it regularly may help:

Relieve nausea: If you feel nauseous due to whatever reason, drinking ginger tea may help you feel better.	Promote stomach health: Drinking ginger tea may help boost stomach health by reducing the effects of chronic indigestion.
Manage inflammation: Ginger’s anti-inflammatory properties have been well-known throughout history. Taking it as tea may help you remedy muscle and joint pain after a strenuous workout.	Ease respiratory conditions: Ginger tea may help relieve inflammation related to the respiratory system, such as asthma, allowing you to breathe better.
Boost brain function: In a study conducted among healthy middle-aged women, researchers discovered that ginger may help improve attention and cognitive processing without causing any side effects.	Relieve menstrual discomfort: The muscle-relaxing properties of ginger may help provide relief for women suffering from menstrual cramps, as evidenced in one study.
Strengthen the immune system: The numerous antioxidants found in ginger tea may help boost your immune system, thereby helping reduce your risk of contracting infectious diseases.

Caffeine Content and Other Nutrition Facts of Ginger Tea

Ginger is a caffeine- and sugar-free plant that contains a mixture of vitamins and minerals working together to benefit your health. Furthermore, ginger contains gingerol, a unique compound that may help boost cardiovascular circulation.

Article Source: Dr Mercola at Mercola.com 

Ginger Tea: An Ancient Health Solution

Dr Mercola writes: Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is one the oldest cultivated plants currently in existence. Historians believe that ginger has been grown for more 5,000 years, ever since ancient Indians and Chinese discovered and used it as a tonic root to help treat a variety of ailments

Ginger is a caffeine- and sugar-free plant that contains a mixture of vitamins and minerals working together to benefit your health. Furthermore, when made into tea, ginger releases gingerol and protease, which are compounds that may help boost cardiovascular circulation

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is one the oldest cultivated plants currently in existence. Historians believe that ginger has been grown for more 5,000 years, ever since ancient Indians and Chinese discovered and used it as a tonic root to help treat a variety of ailments. The plant was introduced to the Western world when it was exported from India to the Roman Empire.

Back then, ginger was considered to be an incredibly luxurious spice and was difficult to procure. During the 13th and 14th century A.D., however, Arab traders planted ginger roots throughout their voyage in Africa, causing the plant to spread and prices to go down. Today, ginger can be purchased easily almost anywhere compared to hundreds of years ago, where the price for a single pound of it was equivalent to a single live sheep!

Article Source: Dr Mercola at Mercola.com  

Why Start or Continue Eating Eggs

Instead of focusing on the faulty science that made you worry unnecessarily about consuming too much cholesterol, there are numerous reasons to go ahead and enjoy them. They're loaded with vitamins and minerals; in fact, just one boiled egg imparts these very good-for-you nutrients, in terms of the Reference Daily Intake (RDI):

6 percent of the RDI in vitamin A	5 percent of the RDI in folate
7 percent of the RDI in vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid)	9 percent of the RDI in vitamin B12
15 percent of the RDI in protein	15 percent of the RDI in vitamin B2
9 percent of the RDI in phosphorus	22 percent of the RDI in selenium

In addition, eggs contain a healthy amount of calcium, zinc and vitamins D, K, E and B6, as well as healthy fats. Lutein and zeaxanthin are important antioxidants that build up in the retinas of your eyes. This effectively protects your vision by inhibiting the development of cataracts and macular degradation, two of the world's most common and serious eye ailments.

Along with the high amounts of vitamin A, your vision is further defended with every egg you eat. Fuller reiterated that other nutritional advantages come through "micronutrients like carotenoids (for eye health), arginine (for healthy blood vessels) and folate (for healthy pregnancies and heart health)," according to the University's news release.

 

Article Source: Dr Mercola at Mercola.com