A Health Tip I Can Use

I was browsing through the February issue of my dad’s subscription to “Good Housekeeping.” Since my mom died three years ago, Daddy has been interested in good housekeeping, I guess. He also subscribes to “Cook’s Illustrated,” and says he enjoys trying new recipes.  

But back to the February 2010 issue. A one-page article caught my eye. It listed health tips for reducing risk of heart disease. At the top of the page was the statement, “Drinking three eight-ounce glasses of cranberry juice per day reduces risk of heart disease by 40%.”

I read the other items on the page. None of them came even close to that level of effectiveness. Not even regular exercise.

Since footnotes weren’t included in the article, and I wasn’t certain I could trust the editor of Good Housekeeping, I ran an Internet search that led me to a health study that was probably the source used by the GH staff writer.

The study showed that after participants drank three glasses of cranberry juice per day for a month, they experienced physical improvements that corresponded to a forty percent risk reduction for heart disease.

I continued my Internet research. The cranberry juice should be 27-30% actual cranberry juice, such as is common in the cranberry juice cocktail in the juice aisle at the grocery story. Or you can purchase 100% cranberry juice (usually around $6 a quart in my local grocery stores), and dilute two ounces of it with six ounces of water or apple juice.

For a whopping 40% risk reduction, I’m totally in. Drinking three cups of cranberry juice is so much easier than abstaining from chips and onion dip. And I’ve already listed my Bowflex on Ebay.

Used in this post:  American Chemical Society (2003, March 26). Study Provides New Evidence That Cranberry Juice May Help Fight Heart Disease. ScienceDaily.