Heart protection Once again, my "wacky" and "out there" views on health and medicine have been validated by medical studies. I told you years ago that the poor hot dog has received a bad rap from the medical community due to its high nitrate content. But the truth is, nitrite- and nitrate-rich foods can actually have a beneficial effect on your heart. Now - finally - the medical community is starting to catch up with me. According to a recent study, a whopping 77 percent of mice that were fed extra nitrate during lab tests SURVIVED a heart attack, compared to the 58 percent heart-attack survival rate of the mice with a low-nitrate diet. The author of this study (published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) thought the increased survival rate of the nitrate-fed mice to be "a significant finding." The health police in this country will never tell you this, but nitrites are not the exclusive domain of hot dogs and over-sized deli sandwiches. They are naturally occurring and are found in fruits, vegetables, and in some meats. For a long time, nitrites were linked to forms of cancer, but now many clinicians are saying these claims were based on weak evidence. The science behind what makes nitrite such an effective protector of the heart is simple: Nitrite forms a substance called nitric oxide during a heart attack, which reopens closed or clogged arteries, reducing permanent damage to the heart muscle during the trauma of the cardiac arrest. This study is the first evidence showing that changes in dietary nitrite can have such a significant beneficial effect. It's too early to tell if an increase in nitrates can actually reduce the risk of heart attack, but it's something that's next on the list for researchers to determine. The early signs seem to be encouraging. If your mom always told you to eat your carrots (and if you actually listened to her), you may have been protecting more than just your eyesight. You could also have been protecting your brain against declines in memory, thinking and learning - the kind of precursors usually associated with the sad and debilitating Alzheimer's disease. Yes, carrots have long been associated with improved eyesight, but it turns out that beta carotene can also protect the mind. A new study has pointed to the effectiveness of beta- carotene supplements in warding off cognitive decline in healthy men. Of course, there's a catch: Men who benefited from protective effects of the beta carotene took the supplements for about 18 years. Men who took supplements for an average of a year saw no benefits. You've also got to start the supplement regimen before the onset of any cognitive decline in order for it to make a difference. But if you're healthy, the study shows that you can actually use beta-carotene to help improve your memory. This is just the kind of non-traditional preventative therapy that I like finding. Just as nitrates can protect your heart, it appears that beta carotene can be used in the same way to defend that other vital organ - the brain - from the kinds of damage caused by the ravages of age. And what a tasty way to do it. | 
