Have you noticed lately when you browse a health magazine that there is some new exotic food being featured as the “New Super Food”?   We are constantly being inundated with new information and claims.  From all kinds of exotic berries to green teas, how do we know what foods have some good medicinal qualities?

I want to feature a fruit that I’ve recently been introduced too called Mangosteen. Mangosteen fruit has been used since the beginning of mankind in the eastern world and has only recently been discovered in the western world.  Introduction of Mangosteen fruit to the western world brought with it the title “Queen of Fruits”.

Mangosteen fruit, also known as Xango, originated in Southern Asia.  This location is where Mangosteen fruit is usually grown. It grows on Asian tropical evergreen trees where the climate is relatively warm, does not resist very cold temperatures and grows at a very slow pace. When these trees are about ten years old they begin to produce small purplish fruits which bear no relation to the Mango. In Asia, Mangosteen fruit is regarded as the “Queen of Fruits” due to its delicate taste and aroma.

The “Claim to Fame” for Mangosteen fruit comes from its plentiful source of xanthones.   These are phenolic compounds with potent antioxidant properties.  Many people don’t realize that most of the xanthones are found in the rind and outer shell, not in the fruit itself.  Slick marketing has promoted this exotic fruit for sale in the form of juices at outrages prices. On the internet I found Mangosteen juice for sale at $35.00 for a 750ml bottle. In a health food store I found 1 liter of Mangosteen juice for sale at $50.00. Are these prices justified?

Wikipedia advises that when Mangosteen was analyzed for nutrient content, antioxidant strength and potential impact for lowering risk against human diseases it was discovered that the overall nutrient content was absent of important content. 

I am very wary of any food items coming from China.  There was a recall on children’s toys because of lead contamination, milk products have been contaminated with melamine which is a known toxin that has poisoned thousands of children while chickens, being fed melamine, and their eggs are likewise contaminated.

A recent issue in The National Geographic magazine talks about the Yellow River in China being so polluted that the water is unusable. Thousands of villagers are dying of cancer and other terminal illnesses because they use the water from the Yellow River.  Equipped with this knowledge I must then pose some questions: 

– If Mangosteen fruit comes from China what are the soil conditions like where it is being grown? 

– What waterways are feeding these fruits and how badly are they polluted? 

– What toxins are we putting into our bodies when we buy these exotic products?

We tend to forget our own super-foods grown right here in our own backyards. Think of  blueberries, black cherries, concord grapes, blackberries and cranberries. All of these have been proven to have excellent antioxidant properties while they lower the risk against certain human diseases. We can get these delicious foods certified organic which means we know that no pesticides have been used,

While you can purchase our own homegrown foods, for your family, at a fraction of the price of Mangosteen juice you can also rest easier with the assurance of quality coming from our own certified organic farming.  My money and my families health stays with our own superfoods!

Cow’s milk seems to be one of mankind’s greatest dietary mistakes. The more we discover what it does to our bodies the less we have to be grateful for. For decades, cow’s milk has been promoted as the “perfect food” for humans and especially for children. Does this make sense?

The milk of every species of mammal is unique and specifically tailored to the requirements of that animal. Cow’s milk is designed, by nature, to encourage the development of a rumen in the calf’s digestive system. The rumen is much like a fermenting vat with a large population of bacteria that is required to breakdown large quantities of fiber in the cow’s diet. Cow’s milk contains several factors designed to encourage bacterial growth in the gut.

Humans, on the other hand, have an almost sterile small intestine. Human milk, specifically designed for humans, contains substances that inhibit intestinal bacterial growth.

We are exposed to milk in infancy and the long-term damage from consuming cow’s milk starts then. Exposure to milk, in fancy, contributes to intolerances, hypersensitivities and interference with absorption. The human infant is not able to digest cow’s milk and this causes damage to the bowel mucosa. Infants that consume cow’s milk have small but significant bleeding from their digestive tracts.  This bleeding contributes to iron deficiency and anemia.  Health problems such as childhood diabetes, obesity, bowel disease, colic and ear infections are all linked to the consumption of milk in infancy.

One out of every five babies suffers from colic. Pediatricians learned long ago that the consumption of cow’s milk was often the problem. We now know that breastfeeding mothers can also have a colicky baby if the mother consumes cow’s milk.

Cow’s milk is not only harmful to infants but it is also harmful to adults.  The proteins in the cow’s milk causes problems with digestion, intolerance, impaired absorption of other nutrients and autoimmune reactions. Many adults are lactose intolerant.  This is because once we are weaned off breast milk our body stops producing lactase, the enzyme that enables us to digest lactose.

Dairy products contribute a lot of cholesterol and fat to your diet. A high cholesterol and high fat diet is associated with heart disease and other health problems. Ovarian cancer is also linked to milk consumption. The sugar in milk called lactose is broken down to another sugar called galactose. This sugar affects a woman’s ovaries and increases her risk of developing ovarian cancer.

Humans are the only animals that drink another animal’s milk and to make matters worse we drink it into adulthood. Female mammals produce milk to feed and nourish their offspring. Once the infant is able to move onto solid foods and it is weaned off the mother’s milk it no longer drinks milk.

Much healthier choices for human consumption are the liquids extracted from various plants and manufactured into milk.  These may be from nuts, grains, seeds or fruits. Many of these milks have been around for thousands of years in different parts of the world.  Best known are soy, rice, almond and coconut milk.