Healthy eating for diabetes Archive

In the journals

Bleeding gums are a sign of gingivitis, an early stage of periodontal disease, but they may also signal low vitamin C in your diet, suggests a study published online Feb. 1, 2021, by Nutrition Reviews. Researchers examined 15 published studies involving 1,140 healthy people as well as data on 8,210 people from the CDC's Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. They found that low vitamin C levels in the bloodstream were associated with an increased risk for gum bleeding with gentle probing. The researchers also observed that increasing vitamin C intake may help resolve the problem.

Increased bleeding in general is one of the symptoms of scurvy, a disease caused by severe vitamin C deficiency. Scurvy, which often affected 18th-century sailors without access to fruits and vegetables, is rare today. Still, this new study sheds light on a potential cause of gum bleeding related to vitamin C levels that are only slightly low — not enough to cause scurvy.

In the journals

Can you be "fat and fit" — that is, overweight but still healthy because of regular exercise? There is no simple answer. But one study says that activity does not entirely reverse the effects weight has on heart health. The findings were published online Jan. 26, 2021, by the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

The study involved more than 527,000 adults, almost 70% of whom were men. People were placed into three groups based on their body mass index (BMI): normal, overweight, and obese. They also were grouped by activity level: regularly active (the minimum requirement from the World Health Organization, or WHO); insufficiently active (less than the WHO minimum, but some moderate to vigorous physical activity every week), and no exercise.

The Chinese gooseberry — more commonly known as kiwifruit or simply kiwi — is a brown, fuzzy, egg-sized fruit with bright green flesh. You can sometimes find gold kiwis, which have yellow flesh, or kiwi berries, which are the size of a grape and have smooth, green skin. Sweet yet slightly tart, kiwi's flavor has been described as a cross between a strawberry and a banana with a hint of citrus.

One kiwi provides nearly all (about 80%) of an adult's daily vitamin C requirement. It's also a good source of fiber, potassium, and vitamin K.