I depend on my Consumer Reports to give me advice on which refrigerator or clock radio to buy, but did you know CR also produces an On Health newsletter? It's written in the same plain talk the magazine is known for, and for me, at least, it offers some clarity on issues that can be very confusing to consumers.
The latest issue offers advice on whether men should get prostate-cancer screening and women should have mammograms. You'd think, intuitively, the answer to both would be yes, but that's not always the case. See what I mean?
There's a great deal of overlap between health, diet and our favorite pasttime, as any tomato-growing gardener out there knows. But this month's CR health newsletter offers yet another reason to grow or buy organic tomatoes. It quotes a 10-year study that found that organic tomatoes contain between 79 and 97 percent more of two important flavonoids than conventionally grown tomatoes.
Flavonoids - what a Star Trekky name that is! - are natural antioxidants that our bodies need to stay healthy. They basically protect the membranes of cells and help prevent hardening of the arteries. And there are lots of 'em: more than 20,000 that we know of and probably many more. They're in almost every fruit and vegetable, with especially high levels in apples and onions. Green tea, too.
And tomatoes.
So why do organically grown tomatoes have so many more of these beneficial antioxidants than tomatoes grown the usual way? According to Consumer Reports, experts believe the difference is due to the overfertilization of all those conventionally grown plants.
Makes you look at the stuff in our supermarkets with an even more critical eye.
