Food & Nutrition: Culinary Techniques, Diets & Metabolic Health

Nutritional health is achieved through the therapeutic use of whole foods, safe culinary preparation, and understanding the metabolic impacts of specific dietary frameworks and ingredients.

Chocolate Shavings Background

Foods With Phenylethylamine

Chemically similar to amphetamine, phenylethylamine is a mild alkaloid stimulant produced naturally in your body as a byproduct of the amino acid phenylalanine. A handful of foods made from cocoa beans contain phenylethylamine, or PEA.

Read more →
Red jujube

Benefits of Dried Jujube

Cultivated for more than 4,000 years, the dried fruit of the jujube tree, known scientifically as Ziziphus jujuba, is a pectoral fruit similar to dates and figs. In China, where jujube originated, practitioners of traditional medicine have long prized the jujube for its medicinal properties.

Read more →
Red apples

Foods That Promote HGH

Secreted by the pituitary gland at the base of your brain, human growth hormone, or HGH, fuels growth during your childhood years and helps to maintain optimal function of tissues and organs throughout your life.

Read more →
hands

L-Histidine Benefits

L-histidine is a conditionally essential amino acid, so-called because adults generally produce adequate amounts of the substance but children quite often do not and must fill their needs through diet. Both plant and animal proteins are good sources of this amino acid, which is a building block of protein in your body.

Read more →
Person pouring beer

Benefits and Side Effects of Brewer's Yeast

Derived from a fungus known as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, brewer’s yeast is a key ingredient in the production of beer and ale. It's also taken as a nutritional supplement due to its rich supply of protein, B-complex vitamins and minerals, most notably chromium and selenium.

Read more →
Fresh citrus fruits in the wooden box

The Benefits of Magnesium Citrate Supplements

Magnesium citrate is a compound of magnesium carbonate and citric acid that is marketed as a supplement to treat magnesium deficiency. Your body requires the mineral to function efficiently.

Read more →
salad leaves with mizuna, lettuce, pakchoi, tatsoi, kale, spinach, mustard

Highly Thermogenic Foods

The foods you eat trigger the metabolic process and require an expenditure of energy to digest, absorb and transport the food’s nutrients to your body’s cells. This overall process of stimulation is known as the thermic effect of food, or TEF.

Read more →

Methionine Deficiency Symptoms

Methionine is a sulfur-based amino acid essential to optimal human health and function. The body cannot produce methionine and must get this vital substance through dietary means.

Read more →
Stevia leaves with stevia powder and sugar cubes

Negative Effects of Artificial Sweeteners

Found in a dizzying array of processed foods and beverages, artificial sweeteners simulate the sweet taste of sugar without all the calories found in table sugar and other calorie-laden sweeteners, such as high-fructose corn syrup.

Read more →
Pieces of dark chocolate

What Are the Health Benefits of Magnesium Carbonate?

Magnesium carbonate is a white, powdery compound that occurs naturally as dolomite and magnesite and is widely marketed as a health supplement. Its active ingredient is magnesium, a mineral that your body requires to function efficiently.

Read more →
Medicinal neem leaves with extract

Neem Juice Benefits

Neem juice, extracted from the fruit and leaves of the neem plant, known scientifically as Azadirachta indica, has played a significant role in traditional Indian medicine for millennia.

Read more →

Side Effects of Oil of Oregano

Herbalists prize oil of oregano, extracted from the leaves of Origanum vulgare, for its medicinal properties, including the ability to inhibit the growth of bacteria, fungi and viruses. It differs from the oregano most often used as a culinary spice, which comes from a related plant called Origanum majoricum.

Read more →
High angle view of various types of sushi rolls

Natural Sources of Methionine

Methionine is an essential amino acid, which means that your body must have it to function normally but cannot synthesize it on its own. Methionine is a sulfur-containing amino acid, closely related to cysteine, and both are building blocks of protein, as are most amino acids.

Read more →
The eye

The Health Benefits of Melanin

Melanin is the natural substance that gives color or pigment to the skin, hair and iris of the eye. Cells called melanocytes, located just below the outer surface of the skin, produce melanin, which is in higher levels in people with darker skin.

Read more →

Health Effects of Gold Coffee Filters

Made of gold-plated mesh, gold coffee filters are semipermanent filtration devices used in brewing coffee. Often included as standard with premium coffeemakers, gold filters do away with the hassle and untidiness of dealing with paper filters.

Read more →
Salmon Oil and Evening Primrose Softgel Capsule

Do Certain Foods Raise Alkaline Phosphatase Levels?

Alkaline phosphatase, or ALP, is a protein found in all body tissues. The bones, liver and bile ducts usually contain higher concentrations of ALP than other body tissues. Normal ALP levels range from a low of 44 international units per liter to a high of 147 International Units per Liter, according to MedlinePlus.

Read more →

The Effects of GABA on Children

GABA, or gamma aminobutyric acid, is a naturally occurring amino acid that helps to facilitate normal operation of the central nervous system, the control center for a host of normal everyday functions. Doctors commonly prescribe GABA supplementation for patients who exhibit symptoms of deficiency.

Read more →

What Are the Benefits of Spanish Olives?

Spanish olives--more properly called Spanish-style olives--are olives that are picked young, briefly cured in lye and then fermented in a brine solution for up to 12 months before being bottled in a diluted brine.

Read more →
Senior woman in butchers shop

High Uric Acid Foods List

The body creates uric acid during the processing of chemical compounds called purines, which occur naturally in the body and are found in a wide array of foods as well. Although most uric acid dissolves in the blood and is excreted as urine, excessive levels of uric acid can cause health problems, most notably gout.

Read more →