A whole grain includes the endosperm, germ, and bran, whereas refined grain contains only the endosperm. Whole grains have plenty of vitamins, fiber, and other vital nutrients. The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend eating more whole grains than refined-grain products whenever possible. [1] Some of whole grains include whole wheat, oatmeal, whole Barley, brown rice, buckwheat, bulgur (cracked wheat), millets, popcorn and whole-wheat bread, pasta or crackers.

The goal should be to get all the nutrients as naturally as possible. Eating fruits and vegetables is beneficial. Whole grains are more nutritious than refined grains and contain bran and germ, which are rich sources of fiber, vitamins, minerals, and healthy fat.

Fiber is a carbohydrate that the body cannot digest, and in itself, it doesn’t have nutritional value. But it is essential for the body.

Water-soluble fiber could help lower blood glucose levels. Insoluble fibers help food move through the gut keeping digestive system clean and prevents constipation. A diet low in fiber has been linked to an increased risk of diabetes, and a higher fiber diet is associated with a lower risk of heart disease and breast cancer [5-8]. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends consuming about 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories per day. In the daily life, one should have ~24-35 grams of fiber per day.

Whole grains, legumes, nuts, beans, and various other whole fruits and vegetables are rich fiber sources. Foods that are especially rich in fibers are pears, strawberries, avocado, apples, raspberries, bananas, carrots, beets, broccoli, artichoke, brussels sprouts, kale, tomatoes, spinach, lentils, kidney beans, split peas, chickpeas, quinoa, oats, popcorn, almonds, and chia seeds.

Vitamins and minerals are micronutrients needed by the body in small amounts for normal functioning, growth, healing, and metabolism.

There are mainly two types of vitamins –fat-soluble and water-soluble. Vitamin A, D, E, K are fat-soluble and are stored in body fat and liver for future use. They help support vision, immune system and blood clotting, and provide antioxidants against inflammation. Water-soluble vitamins B and C are excreted through urine and need be replenished regularly.

Minerals are inorganic substances found in soil and water and are absorbed by plants and eventually consumed by animals. Calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, and phosphorus are common minerals required by the body. Besides, trace minerals such as iron, manganese, copper, zinc, and selenium are also needed in a small amount. A wide range of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fishes, and animal products are good sources of vitamins and minerals.

In daily life, eating a balanced diet is the key to provide a variety of vitamins and minerals and dietary factors that are not found in a vitamin or mineral supplement.

• Potassium plays a vital role in the normal physiology, and any imbalance (high or low) could lead to detrimental effects on our health.
• The average daily requirement is approximately 3.4 g for men and 2.6 g for women.
• Avocados, bananas, potatoes, spinach, mushrooms, lima beans, peas, tomatoes, oranges, melons, prunes, apricots, raisins, dates, tuna, and molasses are some excellent sources of potassium.

Sugar in our diet can naturally occur, such as in fruits (sucrose and fructose) and milk (lactose). On the other hand, refined sugars are often added to food while preparation or processing, such as cookies, cakes, candies, soft drinks, ice cream, sweetened yogurt, pies, waffles, etc. In general, one should avoid food high in sugar.

The benefit of dairy products is somewhat controversial as not all dairy products are the same. The nutrition contents will vary greatly depending on where is come from and how the dairy was processed.

Humans by nature drink mother’s milk as infant as a major nutrition source but they don’t require to consume dairy as adults. Therefore, it is unnatural to eat dairy products in adult. But in certain cultures, dairy products are regularly consumed for many years, so counter argument is that it is natural to consume.

What are the nutrient content?

A single cup (237 ml) of 2% milk contains (9):

• Calcium: 286 mg — 22% of the RDI
• Riboflavin (vitamin B2): 26% of the RDI
• Vitamin B12: 18% of the RDI
• Potassium: 8% of the RDI
• Phosphorus: 22% of the RDI

Moreover, it also includes d vitamin A, vitamins B1 and B6, selenium, zinc, magnesium, 4.82 grams of fat, 8 grams of protein, and 12 grams of carbs.

Nutrient composition is vastly different among various dairy products. Cow's milk raised on pasture has more omega-3 fatty acids, while 500% more conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) includes cows' milk raised on grass [10,11].

Heart disease and Dairy products It is well known that milk increases the risk of heart disease due to the higher saturated fat content. Although there is mixed evidence of heart disease risk with dairy products, the review of 10 studies showed that milk was linked to a small reduction of stroke and cardiac events [12].

However, dairy products obtained from cows with mostly grass-fed are associated with reductions in heart disease and stroke risk [13]. With no clear evidence of milk consumption, public health guidance or guidelines suggest eating a minimal amount of dairy products.

Effect on Bones Dairy products have a rich source of calcium which is the main mineral of the bones and other nutrients necessary for bone health. Shreds of evidence suggest that dairy products improve bone density, reduced osteoporosis, and lower the risk of fractures in old adults [14,15].

Furthermore, full-fat dairy is linked to a reduced risk of obesity and diabetes [16].

Conclusion Whether Dairy products are healthy or not is a matter of debate and remains unclear. If you enjoy dairy products, there is no substantial evidence to avoid them. Be mindful to avoid any added sugar to dairy products.

An antioxidant is a buzzword that you may have heard multiple times via media, newspaper, or friends. However, most people didn’t know what that means.

Antioxidants play a significant role in blocking free radical production and oxidative stress. The main antioxidants are vitamins A, C, E, and the mineral selenium. Your body produces free radicals as the inevitable byproduct of the metabolic process of energy production. However, free radicals can come from various sources such as radiation, drugs, pesticides, cigarette smoke, and other pollutants [1]. When free radicals are accumulated more than your body can handle, a condition called oxidative stress emerges.

The mechanical aspect of free radicals in the body is intricate and complex. Though free radicals are the byproduct of cell metabolism, they are also used to fight infection in your body and are cleared by antioxidants. However, the balance between free radicals and antioxidants should be maintained at a certain level.

Excess free radicals may lead to oxidative stress that may damage DNA structures, cells, and proteins. Hence, free radicals are known to be associated with various problems: including cancer, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other chronic diseases. Moreover, free radicals are related to the human aging process, probably due to cellular DNA damage over time [2].

Our body is well equipped with various defense mechanisms to counter free radicals. Antioxidants, obtained from different foods, are an important one to fight extra free radicals.

Other factors that promote free radicals formation and oxidative stress include alcohol, smoking, increased intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids, intense and prolonged exercise, antioxident deficiency, air pollution, infections and toxins.

How do we know that we have extra free radicals?

Direct measurement of free radicals is not used in daily clinical practice, although there are some available tests for research purposes. We need to be cautious to use free radical tests due to lack of validity or accuracy.

Antioxidants are found in diverse foods, plant, and animal products. There are approximately more than 3,100 foods, beverages, spices, herbs, and supplements being used worldwide containing antioxidants [3]. The well-known antioxidants are vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, and the minerals selenium and manganese.

Top antioxidant-rich foods include avocado, artichokes, apricots, berries, beans, broccoli, carrots, capsicum, coffee, dark chocolate, green tea, garlic, grapes and grapefruit, kale, kiwi, mango, nuts, oranges, onion, poultry, parsley, pumpkin, red wine, red cabbage, strawberries, spinach, seafood, and tea.

Common Misconceptions of Antioxidants

Free radicals are unstable molecules that require to combine with electrons.

Once free radicals steal electrons, it could alter the cell’s structure and function that loses electrons.

• The term “Antioxidant” is confusing and misleading as it is simply an electron donor.
• Generally, it is thought that all antioxidants are interchangeable. But they aren’t. Their biochemical behaviors are unique and different; hence, no single substance can replace the other.

Benefits of Antioxidants

Antioxidants gained public attention in the 1990s after researchers started to understand free radicals' role in the early development of atherosclerosis.

However, further research studies showed the mixed result. A systemic review and analysis including 68 randomized trials with 232 606 participants (385 publications) revealed that treatment with beta carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E might increase mortality while the potential roles of vitamin C and selenium on mortality remain unclear [4]. Another study called Physicians' Health Study II used beta carotene and other vitamin supplements for cognitive performance and reported potential cognitive benefits with long-term supplementation (18 years follow-up) [5].

Based on current scientific evidence, there is no firm evidence of taking vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, or other single antioxidants to provide substantial protection against heart disease, cancer, or other chronic conditions.

Your gut is one of the complex eco-systems comprising 300-500 bacterial species [3]. The gut microbiota consists of bacteria, viruses, fungi, archaea, and helminths.

Several essential functions are performed by gut microbiome;

Manufacture vitamins, Vit K and B group vitamins including biotin, cobalamin, folates, nicotinic acid, pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, riboflavin, and thiamine [4]. Transform fibers into short-chain fats (i.e., butyrate, propionate, and acetate) that stimulate immune systems and improve your gut wall [5].

The extent and colonization of gut flora are heavily influenced by diet type and pattern. Hence, an unbalanced dietary habit could lead to various other diseases, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, heart disease, colorectal cancer, Alzheimer’s, and depression [6].

In the twenty-first century, probiotics have gained public interest in promoting human intestinal health, and the addition of prebiotics to probiotics, as synbiotics, has also been recommended.

Probiotics are used as an adjuvant treatment of various intestinal diseases, but the research showed the mixed result.

• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
• Helicobacter pylori infections
• Antibiotic-associated diarrhea
• Crohn’s disease
• Ulcerative colitis
• Vaginal infections
• Urinary tract infections

While probiotic use in IBS showed promising results, additional research study still requires verifying the result. The researcher suggested that multi-strain probiotic use for more than eight weeks may provide symptomatic improvement in IBS [7].

One of the promising areas of probiotic therapy is in the treatment of antibiotics-related diarrhea. The researcher reported that the use of probiotics could reduce the risk of antibiotic-associated diarrhea by 51%, with no apparent increase in the risk of side effects [8].

Side Effects of Probiotics

You may experience gas and mild abdominal discomfort, especially in the first few days. However, the symptoms will improve in a short period.

With significant technological advances such as DNA, RNA sequencing, gnotobiotics, metabolomic, and culturomics, the field of microbiome research has changed in recent years. Researchers reported identifying more than 2000 unknown gut bacteria with new technology [9]. While multiple studies are done to assess the benefits of probiotics in many clinical conditions, the discoveries negate each other [10].

The major challenges of probiotic research are the presence of a large and diverse set of organisms that differ among different countries and individuals.

Many headlines and stories state that red wine consumption seems to be associated with a lower risk of several diseases, including heart disease. The difference between white and red wine is the wine color due to different grape components are used during fermentation.

The red grapes are crushed to make red wine, and all skin, seeds, and stems are used for fermentation. After grapes are crushed, skin, seeds, and stems need to be removed before fermentation to make white wine.

Therefore, grape’s skins transfer their color to the wine, resulting in red color. With the use of whole grape, red wine is particularly rich with many plant compounds, including tannins and resveratrol.

Red wine contains many antioxidants, including resveratrol, catechin, epicatechin, and proanthocyanidins [1]. Polyphenols are categorized into two groups: flavonoids and nonflavonoids. In red wine, flavonoids comprise roughly 85% of the phenol content, whereas it comprises >20% of white wine phenol content.

As grapes have been known for its excellent nutritional and medicinal values, it has at least 500 different types of antioxidants found in various parts of this fruit [2]. Resveratrol and proanthocyanidins are the two crucial antioxidants that attenuate cardiovascular disease and act as a cancer prevention agent [2].

• Help to maintain healthy heart [3,4]
• Improve and even lower blood pressure with the use of 2-3 glasses of dealcoholized red wine per day [5]
• Reduce stroke risk with regular wine intake (1-3 glasses of red wine per day, 3-4 days of the week) [6]
• Resveratrol may seem to promote longevity [3]
• Reduced risk of cancer[7,8]
• Decreased the risk of dementia, depression [9,10]
• Reduced the risk of diabetes and improve insulin sensitivity [11,12]

Smoking also is a major risk factor for peripheral artery disease (P.A.D.). P.A.D. is a condition in which plaque builds up in the arteries outside of the heart. People who have P.A.D. are at increased risk for heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. P.A.D. usually affects the arteries that carry blood to your legs. Blocked blood flow in the leg arteries can cause cramping, pain, weakness, and numbness in your hips, thighs, and calf muscles. If severe enough, blocked blood flow can cause gangrene (tissue death). In very serious cases, this can lead to leg amputation.

Any amount of smoking, even light smoking or occasional smoking damages the heart and blood vessels. If you have PAD, your heart disease and heart attack risk are higher than those who don’t have PAD. For some people, such as women who use birth control pills and diabetes, smoking poses an even more significant threat to the heart and blood vessels.

Secondhand smoking is not benign and can do a lot of harm to your body. Secondhand smoking is the inhalation of smoke from a person who is smoking or the burning end of a cigarette, cigar, or pipe. Secondhand smoke contains many of the same harmful chemicals and could result in many detrimental effects on the heart, leading to a higher risk of heart attack and death.

Moreover, secondhand smoke raises children and teens’ risk of future ischemic heart disease because it:

• Lowers HDL cholesterol (sometimes called “good” cholesterol)
• Raises blood pressure
• Damages heart tissues

Secondhand smoke risks are incredibly high for premature babies with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and children with asthma.

Researchers know less about how cigar and pipe smoke affects the heart and blood vessels than they do about cigarette smoke. However, the smoke from cigars and pipes contains the same harmful chemicals as the smoke from cigarettes. Hence, research studies have shown that people who smoke cigars are at increased risk for heart disease.

1. Nicotine – The nicotine content of e-cigarettes and liquids varies and usually ranges from none (nicotine-free) up to 36 mg/mL.
2. Propylene glycol/glycerol – Propylene glycol or glycerol are used to control the moisture content of most e-cigarettes, while some products may only use ethylene glycol.
3. Flavorings – E-cigarettes may have added characterizing flavors. More than 7000 flavors are available on the market, such as candy, fruit, soda, and alcohol flavors. These make it especially attractive to young adults.
4. Other compounds – Metals such as tin, lead, nickel, chromium, manganese, and arsenic have been found in e-cigarette liquids and vapor

JUUL is another form of e-cigarette with a slim design shaped like a USB drive and available in the USA in 2015. As it is primarily a smokeless device, JUUL is very popular among young individuals.

JUUL refill contains as much nicotine as 20 cigarettes and usually lasts up to 200 puffs.

JUUL has higher nicotine content, but it contains benzoic acid instead of a free base, resulting in increased nicotine delivery.

Which one is better?

Any tobacco product is not safe. As we know, smoking has multiple health-related problems, but vaping is not without dangers.

Vaping is a form of aerosol inhalation/exhalation that mainly contains various toxic chemicals, which could be associated with heart disease, lung disease, and cancer.

Manufactured e-cigarettes may contain several potentially toxic chemical substances. In 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported over two thousand suspected cases of severe lung illnesses related to vaping [1]. Refilled e-cigarette cartridges obtained via informal or illicit sources are contaminated with vitamin E acetate, which is associated with these cases.

There are also shreds of evidence of burns from electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) due to device malfunction either while stored (e.g., in a pocket) or during use, resulting in burns thigh, groin, face, and/or hand [2].

The limited available clinical trial evidence suggests that e-cigarettes may be effective as smoking cessation aids. Still, more trials are needed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation [3].

E-cigarettes may be more attractive to users than other smoking cessation medications because they resemble conventional cigarettes and permit the user to continue the hand-to-mouth ritual of smoking.

Some evidence suggests e-cigarettes reduce conventional cigarette cravings and nicotine withdrawal symptoms [4] .

THC-rich product extracted from the Marijuana can be used via smoking, called dabbing. The extract products are available in various forms;

• hash oil—a gooey liquid
• wax or budder—a soft solid with a texture like lip balm
• shatter—a hard, amber-colored solid

Based on the way you use it and the amount you consume; the effect of Marijuana will appear within minutes to hours. Marijuana will activate parts of your brain, resulting in sensation and mood changes, causing various short and long-term effects.

Short term:

• altered senses and sense of time
• changes in mood
• problem with thinking, problem-solving, and memory
• problems with body movement
• hallucinations and delusions (when taken in high doses)
• psychosis

Long term effects:

Some evidence suggested that Marijuana could affect brain development, especially at a young age, resulting in impairment of memory, thinking capacity, and learning functions. 

One study done by Duke University researchers reported that individuals who started using Marijuana in their teenager had lost an average of 8 IQ points at the ages of 13-38. Moreover, quitting Marijuana may not abe to reverse the damages [1].

Other effects:

• Elevated heart rate
• Breathing problems: cough, shortness of breath
• Nausea and vomiting

Long-term use of Marijuana may have been linked to other mental illnesses such as temporary paranoia, hallucinations, depression, and anxiety. 

• Eating with food
• Drink as a tea
• Smoking in a pipe
• Smoking as a cigarette
• Marijuana extract used via smoking, called dabbing
• Vaping via an electronic device