Healthy eating

As the grandfather, it is important that I stay on top of research that could be important to my grandkids growing up to be healthy, happy and productive young adults. One area of research that I have examined is nutrition.

A team of researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health found that dairy-based desserts – mostly ice cream – were associated with a 2.5 times greater risk reduction for insulin-resistance syndrome than milk or cheese. Ice cream consumers also showed roughly 12% lower likelihood of cardiovascular disease compared to non-consumers.

Ice cream is not the only sweet food that has a correlation with health gains.

A Harvard Alumni Health Study found that men who reported eating candy lived, on average, about one year longer than men who reported never eating candy.

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that candy consumers did not have higher rates of obesity, metabolic syndrome, or cardiovascular risk factors. In addition, they had slightly lower average BMI and waist circumference than non-consumers.

Multiple studies on chocolate consumption noted that low-to-moderate chocolate consumption is associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk, lower cardiovascular mortality and slightly lower overall mortality.

The bottom line of these studies. Candy and ice cream consumption is good for you or at least not really bad for you.

In fact, I expect that we will see ice cream in the vitamin/nutrition section of pharmacies and an expanded section for candy. This may crowd out the space available for greeting cards and hair products but that is a small price to pay to ensure that kids grow up to be big, strong and healthy.

When the grandkids visit us at Cape Cod, I will give them menus of their breakfast options (photos of some of the options are included in this post) and ask them to pick the health food option they would like for their meal.

I will tell them all these options will help them grow to have a sturdy heart and a healthy weight. Plus, they will live longer.

There might be some concern by their parents about this menu. But I will give them the scientific articles and that should ease their minds.