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Foods to favour

• Peanuts
• Pineapple
• Coconut
• Saw Palmettto
• Medium chain oils
• Red bush tea
• Diet and cancer risk

Foods to avoid

• Overcooked meat
• Tea and coffeee

Foods to favour

• Peanuts

I first found peanuts for benign prostatic hyperplasia (they do work for me) but the more I read on them the more astonishing they are! Although technically high in calories it seems that you have to eat them by the bucket-full to put on any weight! The calories are non-fattening.
• An article from the Peanut Institute entitled Phytosterols from Plant Sources, Like Peanuts, Shown to Slow Prostate Cancer Growth in Mice is worth reading.
• An increasing number of research result indicating that peanuts may have positive health benefits Anecdotal evidence, but of interest.
• Improved Diet Quality with Peanut Consumption
• Improved Diet Quality with Peanut Consumption
  The first link is to an abstract from The Journal of American College of Nutrition. It found that peanuts are non-fattening and have major health benefits. The study admits that the health benefits may, in part, be because people who include peanuts in their diet are generally eating other healthy foods. However - I think that is unlikely! The general consensus is that high calorie, high fat foods ate unhealthy. Peanuts are in that category, so I think it more likely peanuts are part of an otherwise bad diet. Looked at in that light the conclusions of the report are much stronger!

  The second link is a second study with very similar conclusions.

• Health Benefits Of Peanuts-Peanuts and Diabetes, Cholesterol, Triglycerides and Cancer
• Pineapple

Pineapple contains bromelin - an enzyme with interesting properties.
• Coconut

There are claims that eating virgin coconut oil can actually cause you to loose weight. Not sure I believe that, but certainly coconut oil is a special oil. The fact that peanuts are high in calories but do not seem to cause weight gain makes the claim about the weight-loss properties of coconut oil more credible.
• Ray Peat is an endocrinologist who has a lot to say on diet, cancer, fats, oils. What he claims seemed somewhat incredible to me at first, but he quotes lots of learned research to back up his claims.
• Saw Palmettto
Serenoa repens - the saw palmetto - is often recommended for BPH (Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia)
• Urological Sciences Research Foundation report speaks highly of it. Maybe I'll try it is peanuts start proving ineffective,
• Medium chain oils
Coconuut oil (and the ois of most other nuts) contains medium chain fatty acids: these are metabolised in the body into medium chain triglycerides. These are apparently beneficial, not only in terms of weight control but also for cholesterol control.
• Dietary fats, teas, dairy, and nuts: potential functional foods for weight control?
  Interesting, if rather technical, article from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition on 'Functional Foods'. The statements about peanuts, coconuts etc on weight control could indeed have a scientific foundation! A pdf is available from that page.
• Red bush tea
• African Rooibos Tea - Health Benefits a page from vegetarian-nutrition.info - it is free of tannins and caffeine, both contra-indicated to someone (the author!) with a hiatus hernia and Basrrett's oesophagus.
• A page from the BBC on Rooibos tea.

Food to avoid

• Overcooked meat
  
  Carcinogenic Compounds Known As HCAs Are Formed By High Temperature Cooking
  • Wikipedia's article on carcinogens includes a section on carcinogens in prepared food. There are several links on this page to other relevant wikipedia articles.
• Tea and Coffee
  Tea and coffee contain caffeine. As well as being a stimulant, this is thought by many to increase the body's acidity, though the scientific jury is still out on that!

  Tea also is high in tannins. These tend to precipitate out minerals such as calcium and iron, making them difficult for the body to absorb.

Diet and cancer risk

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