Broccoli is well-known for its health benefits. It’s rich in Vitamin C - just one stalk of broccoli can deliver over 200% of your daily requirement of Vitamin C. Like other dark green and orange veggies, broccoli contains beta-carotene (Vitamin A). Both Vitamin C and Vitamin A are known anti-oxidants which prevent the damage done by free radicals making them cancer-preventative. Add to that the fact that broccoli is high in fiber and you have what seems to be the perfect cancer-fighting vegetable.

Unless you boil it.

Researchers at the University of Warwick say that boiling vegetables such as broccoli can damage their anti-cancer properties, reducing their health benefits.

My mother always told me that if you boil your vegetables, you leave the best part in the water you boiled them in. Turns out, she was right.

Some of the cancer fighting substances in vegetables like broccoli, green cabbage, cauliflower and Bussel sprouts, called glucosinolates, are lost in preparation if the method of cooking is boiling. Cooking fresh vegetables by stir-frying, steaming or microwaving did not have any effect on the glucosinolate levels. Boiling caused a loss of up to 77% of the glucosinolates in broccoli.

The researchers recommend adding these veggies to your diet, but say you will gain the most benefit if you choose to steam, stir-fry or microwave them rather than boiling.

Research Says Boiling Broccoli Ruins Its Anti Cancer Properties

Eggs are getting a second look from nutritionists. Due to concerns about dietary cholesterol, eggs have been on the restricted list for many patients. But new studies have singled out eggs as weight-loss enhancers and state that there is no increased risk of heart disease from the consumption of eggs.

Researchers found that women who ate eggs for breakfast, five days a week or more, lost significantly more weight, up to 65% more, on a 1000 calorie a day diet than those who ate a bagel containing the same number of calories as the eggs. Other studies that recommend increasing choline consumption are cited because eggs are an excellent source of choline. Choline is essential for normal cell and brain function.

Eggs promote weight loss and help close nutrient consumption gap

Researchers from the University of Granada’s Institute of Biotechnology say a study proves that melatonin, a substance naturally found in some foods, reduces oxidative stress on cells and slows the aging process.

Now, I am all for slowing the aging process - the slower the better. The good news is that melatonin can be found in foods easily incorporated into your diet, foods like onions, cherries and bananas, and in cereals like corn, oats and rice, and in red wine.

The researchers found that the first sign of aging, oxidative stress and illness from it, began at 5 months of age in the mice used in the study. That age relates to age 30 in humans! Imagine that you are old at 30; I thought we dispensed with idea from the sixties. In fact, didn’t I see a magazine article once touting that 50 is the new 30? Regardless, age 30 is when it all starts to go downhill apparently, but eating foods rich in melatonin staves off the processes of aging.

I have been keeping a short list of foods that researchers now say carry health benefits and the menu looks a lot more appealing than those boxes of fruit-flavored cardboard in the health food aisle.

How about dark chocolate, strawberry daquiris and red wine? Fresh blackberries on oatmeal? It looks like the food we always knew was good for us, really is. I think I can do this eating healthy thing.

Berries have been shown to contain compounds called polyphenals and anthocyanins which are known for their antioxidant activity and for being cancer preventative.

Studying ways to keep strawberries fresh during storage let to an interesting discovery by researchers from the US and Thailand - treating the fruit with alcohol increased not only its shelf life and helped it resist decay, it increased its antioxidant qualities, making it healthier to eat. The same effects were noted in blackberries.

So the next time you serve up a strawberry daiquiri, you may actually be serving a health drink.