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  • Fighting Inflammation with Flaxseeds  | NutritionFacts.org

    Fighting Inflammation with Flaxseeds  | NutritionFacts.org

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    Elevated levels of pro-inflammatory, aging-associated oxylipins can be normalized by eating ground flaxseed. 

    I previously explored the “Potent Antihypertensive Effect of Dietary Flaxseed in Hypertensive Patients” study in my video Flaxseeds for Hypertension. That was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial where researchers disguised ground flaxseed in baked goods versus flax-free placebo muffins and saw an extraordinary drop in high blood pressure. As you can imagine, the flaxseed industry was overjoyed, praising the “impressive” findings, as was I. After all, high blood pressure is “the single largest risk factor” for death in the world. Yes, we give people medications, lots and lots of medications, but most people don’t take them. Nine out of ten people take less than 80 percent of their prescribed blood pressure pills. 
     
    It’s not difficult to understand why. “Patients are asked to follow an inconvenient and potentially costly regimen, which will likely have a detrimental effect on health-related quality of life, to treat a mostly asymptomatic condition that commonly does not cause problems for many years.” So, they may feel worse instead of better, due to the side effects. Then, some think the answer is to give them even more drugs to counteract the effects of the first drugs, like giving men Viagra to counteract the erectile dysfunction caused by their blood pressure pills. 
     
    How about using a dietary strategy instead, especially if it can be just as effective? And, indeed, the drop in blood pressure the researchers saw in the flaxseed study “was greater than the average decrease observed with the standard dose of anti-hypertensive medications.” Flaxseeds are cheaper, too, compared to even single medications, and most patients are on multiple drugs. Plus, flaxseeds have good side effects beyond their anti-hypertensive actions. Taking tablespoons of flaxseed a day is a lot of fiber for people living off of cheeseburgers and milkshakes their whole lives, and your gut bacteria may need a little time to adjust to the new bounty. So, those who start with low-fiber diets may want to take it a little slow with the flaxseeds at first. 
     
    Not all studies have shown significant blood pressure–lowering effects, though. There have been more than a dozen trials by now, involving more than a thousand subjects. And, yes, when you put them all together, overall, there were “significant reductions in both SBP and DBP”—systolic blood pressure (the upper number) and diastolic blood pressure (the lower number)—“following supplementation with various flaxseed products.” But none was as dramatic as what the researchers had found in that six-month trial. The longer trials tended to show better results, and some of the trials just used flaxseed oil or some kind of flaxseed extract. We think this is because the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. “Each of the components of interest within flaxseed, ALA, lignans, fiber, and peptides”—the omega-3s, the cancer-fighting lignans, all the soluble fiber, and the plant proteins, for instance—“all contribute towards BP reduction.” Okay, but how? Why? What is the mechanism? 
     
    Some common blood-pressure medications like Norvasc or Procardia work in part by reducing the ability of the heart to contract or by slowing down the heart. So, might it be that’s how flaxseeds work, too? But, no. In my video Benefits of Flaxseeds for Inflammation, I profile the “Dietary Flaxseed Reduces Central Aortic Blood Pressure Without Cardiac Involvement but Through Changes in Plasma Oxylipins” study. What are oxylipins? 
     
    “Oxylipins are a group of fatty acid metabolites” involved in inflammation and, as a result, have been implicated in many pro-inflammatory conditions, including aging and cardiovascular disease. “The best-characterized oxylipins about cardiovascular disease are derived from the w-6 fatty acid arachidonic acid,” a long-chain omega-6 fatty acid. These are found preformed in animal products, particularly chicken and eggs, and can be made inside the body from junky oils rich in omega-6, such as cottonseed oil, as noted below and at 3:49 in my video. But, as this study is titled, “Elevated levels of pro-inflammatory oxylipins in older subjects are normalized by flaxseed consumption.” 

    That’s how we think flaxseed consumption reduces blood pressure in patients with hypertension: by inhibiting the enzyme that makes these pro-inflammatory oxylipins. I’ll spare you from acronym overload, but eating flaxseeds inhibits the activity of the enzyme that makes these pro-inflammatory oxylipins, called leukotoxin diols, which in turn may lower blood pressure. “Identifying the biological mechanism adds confidence to the antihypertensive actions of dietary flaxseed,” but that’s not all oxylipins do. Oxylipins may also play a role in the aging process. However, we may be able to “beneficially disrupt these biological changes associated with inflammation and aging” with a nutritional intervention like flaxseed. Older adults around age 50 have higher levels of this arachidonic acid–derived oxylipin compared to younger adults around age 20, as you can see in the graph below and at 4:56 in my video. “These elevated concentrations of pro-inflammatory oxylipins in the older age group…may…explain the higher levels of inflammation in older versus younger individuals.” As we get older, we’re more likely to be stricken with inflammatory conditions like arthritis. So, this “elevation of pro-inflammatory oxylipins…may predispose individuals to chronic disease conditions.”

    What if you took those older adults and gave them muffins, like the ones with ground flaxseed? That’s just what a group of researchers did. Four weeks later, the subjects’ levels dropped down to like 20-year-olds’ levels, as seen in the graph below and at 5:32 in my video, “demonstrating that a potential therapeutic strategy to correct the deleterious pro-inflammatory oxylipin profile is via a dietary supplementation with flaxseed.”

    What about flax and cancer? See the related posts below. 

    I also have a video on diabetes: Flaxseeds vs. Diabetes. 

    If you’re interested in weight loss, see Benefits of Flaxseed Meal for Weight Loss. 

    What about the cyanide content of flax? I answered that in Friday Favorites: How Well Does Cooking Destroy the Cyanide in Flaxseeds and Should We Be Concerned About It?.

    What else can help fight inflammation? Check out in related posts below.

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    Michael Greger M.D. FACLM

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  • ‘Gut Health’ Has a Fatal Flaw

    ‘Gut Health’ Has a Fatal Flaw

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    In my childhood home, an often-repeated phrase was “All disease begins in the gut.” My dad, a health nut, used this mantra to justify his insistence that our family eat rice-heavy meals, at the exact same time every day, to promote regularity and thus overall health. I would roll my eyes, dubious that his enthusiasm for this practice was anything more than fussiness.

    Now, to my chagrin, his obsession has become mainstream. Social-media testimonials claim that improving your “gut health” not only helps with stomach issues such as bloating and pain but also leads to benefits beyond the gastrointestinal system (easing problems including, but not limited to, itching, puffy face, slow-growing hair, low energy, acne, weight gain, and anxiety). You can now find a staggering range of products claiming to support digestive health: Joining traditionally gut-friendly fermented foods such as yogurt and sauerkraut are “probiotic” or “prebiotic” teas, cookies, gummies, supplements, powders, and even sodas.

    The reality is less straightforward. Maintaining the health of the gastrointestinal tract, like the health of any body part, is always a good idea. But expecting certain foods and products to overhaul gut health is unrealistic, as is believing that they will guarantee greater overall well-being. Those claims are “a little bit premature,” Karen Corbin, an investigator at the Translational Research Institute of Metabolism and Diabetes, told me. Obsessing over it just isn’t worth the trouble, and can even do more harm than good. “Gut health” cookies, after all, are still cookies.

    In my dad’s defense, your gut does matter for your health. A massive microbial civilization lives mostly along the large intestine, helping the body get the most out of food. Broadly, a healthy gut is one where the different segments of this population—numerous species of bacteria, fungi, and viruses—live in harmony. An unhealthy one implies a disturbance of the peace: One group may grow too powerful, or an invading microbe may throw things off-balance, leading to problems including gastroenteritis and a compromised immune system.

    Diet in particular has a profound impact on the gut—and how it subsequently makes you feel. “Food can have effects on the microbiome, which can then secondarily affect the host,” Purna Kashyap, a gastroenterologist at the Mayo Clinic, told me. The effects of food on a person and their microbes, he added, are generally congruent; fast food, for example, is “bad for both of us.” Neglect to feed your microbiome and the balance of microbes could tip into disarray, resulting in an imbalanced gut and corresponding bloating, stomach pain, and problems with bowel movements.

    Fermented foods such as yogurt and kimchi, long considered good for digestive health, are known as “probiotics” because they contain live bacteria that take up residence in your gut. Other foods are considered “prebiotic” because they feed the microbes already in your gut—mostly fiber, because it isn’t digested in the stomach. Getting more fiber improves regularity and supports a more normal GI system, Corbin said.

    But the fundamental problem with the gut-health obsession is that “there’s no clear definition of a healthy gut microbiome,” Corbin said. The makeup and balance of people’s microbiomes vary based on numerous factors, including genes, diet, environment, and even pets. This means that a treatment that works to rebalance one gut might not work for another. It also means that a product promoting a healthy gut doesn’t mean anything concrete. The idea that achieving gut health, however it’s defined, can solve stomach-related issues is misguided; many diseases can cause abdominal distress.

    Less certain is how much gut health is responsible for benefits beyond the gastrointestinal tract. No doubt the microbiome is connected to other parts of the body; recent research has suggested that it has a role in weight gain, depression, and even cancer, supporting the idea that having a healthy gut could lead to other benefits. But the mechanisms underpinning them are largely unknown. Which microbes are involved? What are they doing? There are “a lot of tall claims based on animal studies that the microbiome influences diabetes or obesity or whatever,” and the translatability of those studies to humans is “really unlikely,” Daniel Freedberg, a gastroenterologist at Columbia University, told me. Until scientists can show definitively that microbe X leads to outcome Y, Corbin said, any relationships between the gut and overall health are “just correlations.”

    None of this is to say that paying more attention to your digestive health is a bad idea. Especially for people diagnosed with gastrointestinal problems like IBS or Crohn’s disease, it can be essential. For everyone else, pursuing a healthy gut with food and supplements can be a nonspecific process with poorly defined goals. The food industry has capitalized on interest in probiotics and prebiotics—as well as lesser-known postbiotics and synbiotics—making products such as “insanely probiotic” yogurt, probiotic-fortified chocolate and spaghetti, and prebiotic sodas. Particularly with probiotics, the specifics are lacking. Which bacteria, and how many of them, actually make it past the stomach into the colon isn’t well understood. “A lot of probiotics are unlikely to contain viable bacteria, and probably very few of them are really making it through to the colon,” Freedberg said.

    Prebiotics are generally more important, although the source matters. Prebiotic fiber is “one of the most important things that determines what bacteria are there,” Freedberg told me, but getting small amounts from fiber-fortified products isn’t going to make a huge difference. The soda brands Poppi and Olipop largely contain inulin, a type of fiber that’s common in food manufacturing for its slightly sweet taste, Freedberg explained, though it probably doesn’t contain a lot, otherwise it would become “sludgy.” Olipop contains about nine grams of fiber per can, roughly the same amount as one cup of cooked lima beans.

    Of course, any product that is inherently unhealthy won’t magically become good for you the moment fiber or live bacteria are added to it. With desserts and salty snacks, no amount of fiber “is going to overcome the issue” that they are full of sugar or salt, Corbin said. Concerns about medium aside, though, gut-health products elicited a shrug from her: Buying foods containing additional prebiotic fiber is a “reasonable approach,” so long as they’re healthy to begin with. If probiotics make a patient feel “fantastic,” Freedberg said, “I’m not going to rock the boat.” Prebiotic and probiotic products may help to a degree, but don’t expect them to overhaul an unhealthy gut one soda at a time. All of the experts I spoke with said that people concerned about their gut health should eat a lot of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, and cut out junk that won’t feed their microbiome. In other words, a basic healthy diet is more than enough to achieve good gut health.

    My dad’s gut-health mantra was apparently borrowed from Hippocrates, suggesting that people have been obsessing over the digestive system for thousands of years with the belief that it is the key to overall health. The draw of this idea is its simplicity: Proposing that the body’s many ills can be collapsed into a single mega-ailment makes treatment seem refreshingly uncomplicated compared with the medical interventions needed to address individual problems. That the proposed treatments are easy and self-administrable—sipping fibrous soda, popping bacteria-packed pills—adds to the appeal.

    But perhaps what is most compelling about the idea is that there is some truth to it. Lately, research on the microbiome has seen some promising advances. A large study published in 2022 showed significantly elevated levels of certain bacteria in people with depressive symptoms. Another study, co-authored by Corbin in 2023, was one of the first to show, in a human clinical trial, that a high-fiber diet shifts the microbiome in a way that could promote weight loss. This moment is especially confusing because we are finally beginning to understand the gut’s connections to the rest of the body, and how eating certain foods can soothe it. Much more is known about the gut than in the days of Hippocrates, but still far less than the gut influencers on social media would have you believe.

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    Yasmin Tayag

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  • Struggle With Gut Issues? This Supplement Can Offer Regularity

    Struggle With Gut Issues? This Supplement Can Offer Regularity

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    There are so many factors that go into digestion and regularity, from the food we eat, to stress levels, and more. One often overlooked aspect of digestion is fiber intake—and newsflash— the average daily intake of fiber is so low in the States that the USDA considers it a public health concern.

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  • A Low Sugar, High Fiber Dark Chocolate Raspberry Pudding

    A Low Sugar, High Fiber Dark Chocolate Raspberry Pudding

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    There’s no dairy in this luscious chocolate pudding. Whipped avocado creates the thick, rich, and super creamy texture. The sweetness comes naturally from fruit jam—with or without seeds. The classic combination of raspberry and chocolate is a delight. (Hint: If you’re passionate about dark chocolate, add another tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder to the recipe.) And the use of sea salt makes this a true taste winner. Ideally make this the day before you want to enjoy it to allow flavors to marry. A mouthwatering vegan dessert creation! 

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  • The Safety of Keto Diets  | NutritionFacts.org

    The Safety of Keto Diets  | NutritionFacts.org

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    What are the effects of ketogenic diets on nutrient sufficiency, gut flora, and heart disease risk? 

    Given the decades of experience using ketogenic diets to treat certain cases of pediatric epilepsy, a body of safety data has accumulated. Nutrient deficiencies would seem to be the obvious issue. Inadequate intake of 17 micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals has been documented in those on strict ketogenic diets, as you can see in the graph below and at 0:14 in my video Are Keto Diets Safe?. 

    Dieting is a particularly important time to make sure you’re meeting all of your essential nutrient requirements, since you may be taking in less food. Ketogenic diets tend to be so nutritionally vacuous that one assessment estimated that you’d have to eat more than 37,000 calories a day to get a sufficient daily intake of all essential vitamins and minerals, as you can see in the graph below and at 0:39 in my video. 


    That is one of the advantages of more plant-based approaches. As the editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association put it, “What could be more nutrient-dense than a vegetarian diet?” Choosing a healthy diet may be easier than eating more than 37,000 daily calories, which is like putting 50 sticks of butter in your morning coffee. 
     
    We aren’t just talking about not reaching your daily allowances either. Children have gotten scurvy on ketogenic diets, and some have even died from selenium deficiency, which can cause sudden cardiac death. The vitamin and mineral deficiencies can be solved with supplements, but what about the paucity of prebiotics, the dozens of types of fiber, and resistant starches found concentrated in whole grains and beans that you’d miss out on? 
     
    Not surprisingly, constipation is very common on keto diets. As I’ve reviewed before, starving our microbial self of prebiotics can have a whole array of negative consequences. Ketogenic diets have been shown to “reduce the species richness and diversity of intestinal microbiota,” our gut flora. Microbiome changes can be detected within 24 hours of switching to a high-fat, low-fiber diet. A lack of fiber starves our good gut bacteria. We used to think that dietary fat itself was nearly all absorbed in the small intestine, but based on studies using radioactive tracers, we now know that about 7 percent of the saturated fat in a fat-rich meal can make it down to the colon. This may result in “detrimental changes” in our gut microbiome, as well as weight gain, increased leaky gut, and pro-inflammatory changes. For example, there may be a drop in beneficial Bifidobacteria and a decrease in overall short-chain fatty acid production, both of which would be expected to increase the risk of gastrointestinal disorders. 
     
    Striking at the heart of the matter, what might all of that saturated fat be doing to our heart? If you look at low-carbohydrate diets and all-cause mortality, those who eat lower-carb diets suffer “a significantly higher risk of all-cause mortality,” meaning they live, on average, significantly shorter lives. However, from a heart-disease perspective, it matters if it’s animal fat or plant fat. Based on the famous Harvard cohorts, eating more of an animal-based, low-carb diet was associated with higher death rates from cardiovascular disease and a 50 percent higher risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke, but no such association was found for lower-carb diets based on plant sources.  
     
    And it wasn’t just Harvard. Other researchers have also found that “low-carbohydrate dietary patterns favoring animal-derived protein and fat sources, from sources such as lamb, beef, pork, and chicken, were associated with higher mortality, whereas those that favored plant-derived protein and fat intake, from sources such as vegetables, nuts, peanut butter, and whole-grain bread, were associated with lower mortality…” 
     
    Cholesterol production in the body is directly correlated to body weight, as you can see in the graph below and at 3:50 in my video. 

    Every pound of weight loss by nearly any means is associated with about a one-point drop in cholesterol levels in the blood. But if we put people on very-low-carb ketogenic diets, the beneficial effect on LDL bad cholesterol is blunted or even completely neutralized. Counterbalancing changes in LDL or HDL (what we used to think of as good cholesterol) are not considered sufficient to offset this risk. You don’t have to wait until cholesterol builds up in your arteries to have adverse effects either; within three hours of eating a meal high in saturated fat, you can see a significant impairment of artery function. Even with a dozen pounds of weight loss, artery function worsens on a ketogenic diet instead of getting better, which appears to be the case with low-carb diets in general.  

    For more on keto diets, check out my video series here. 

    And, to learn more about your microbiome, see the related videos below.

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    Michael Greger M.D. FACLM

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  • Protein Powder For Weight Loss: Why It Works & Pro Tips

    Protein Powder For Weight Loss: Why It Works & Pro Tips

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    If weight loss is your goal, squeezing extra protein into your diet might be beneficial. That’s because a higher protein diet can increase feelings of fullness, which can help prevent overeating, according to Rachel Adamkowski, MPH, RD, a sports dietitian and Assistant Director of Football Nutrition for the University of Florida.

    Research also suggests that protein could alter levels of certain hormones in the body that control hunger and appetite, which may translate to decreased food intake.

    Stacy Sims, MSC, PhD, an exercise physiologist who specializes in nutrition science for women, tells mindbodygreen that increasing your intake of protein could also improve your body composition by reducing fat mass while preserving lean body mass. “With higher protein intake, even if [your] calorie intake is too low, the circulating amino acids stimulate the brain to keep and build lean mass,” she explains, noting that this can lead to the breakdown of fat.

    Plus, Sims says that protein can also boost your energy expenditure, or the number of calories that you burn each day at rest, which is partly because protein requires more energy to digest than carbs or fat. “Protein intake [also] prevents a decrease in fat-free mass, which helps maintain resting energy expenditure despite weight loss,” notes Sims.

    Of course, loading your plate with plenty of protein isn’t a sure-fire solution for weight loss. This is because there are lots of other factors at play, including how much you’re eating and moving, and what the rest of your diet looks like.

    At the very minimum, individuals should be getting 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight (g/kg/bw), which is the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for protein. However, this is likely far short of what active individuals will need. Many experts now recommend getting roughly 1.2 to 2.0 g/kg/bw. This comes out to upwards of 100 grams of protein a day for most people.

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    Rachael Ajmera, MS, RD

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  • These Breakfast Cookies Feature Fiber, Protein, Fruit & Even A Vegetable

    These Breakfast Cookies Feature Fiber, Protein, Fruit & Even A Vegetable

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    We can’t think of a better way to kick-start a day than with a cookie, and a nutritious one at that.

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    Jillian Harris & Tori Wesszer

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  • This Simple Yogurt Bowl Recipe Packs A Shocking 13 Grams Of Fiber

    This Simple Yogurt Bowl Recipe Packs A Shocking 13 Grams Of Fiber

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    organic fiber potency+ delivers six grams of fiber derived from organic guar beans, a trio of mushrooms, and green kiwifruit. 

    These prebiotic fibers2 feed your gut microbes, and studies support the role of guar bean fiber in satiety3 and blood sugar control4.*

    This formula also really stood out to me because all the ingredients are derived from real plants (and not all fiber supplements are). 

    And it is actually flavorless—fitting into any flavor yogurt bowl takes on. 

    While organic fiber potency+ completely disperses in a liquid, it also seamlessly mixes with yogurt. And sometimes I’ll even sprinkle the scoop of powder on top for some textural variety.

    It’s recommended that women get around 25 grams of fiber a day and men 38 grams, but most folks are only eating around 16 grams5 a day.

    Adding some high-fiber fruits (like raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries) & seeds (chia, hemp, flaxseed) to your bowl is a great kickstart to meet (and even exceed) that goal.

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    Molly Knudsen, M.S., RDN

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  • What’s Better For Your Gut: Fiber Or Fermented Foods?

    What’s Better For Your Gut: Fiber Or Fermented Foods?

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    First things first: Let’s define these food groups. Fiber is a type of complex carbohydrate found exclusively in plants that isn’t broken down in the digestive tract and, therefore, helps with satiety, digestion, blood sugar balance, healthy bowel movements, and microbial balance (i.e., good versus bad gut bugs). Fiber-rich staples include buckwheat, barley, kale, broccoli, lentils, and more—you can find a full list here, as well as our favorite fiber supplements.

    Fermented foods, on the other hand, are created through fermentation (duh), in which components of foods, like the natural sugars, are broken down by yeast and bacteria and result in food chock-full of probiotics (aka, the good bugs). Some examples include kombucha, kimchi, sauerkraut, miso, and yogurt, plus others. 

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    Jamie Schneider

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  • Strawberries Support Cognition & Heart Health, New Research Shows

    Strawberries Support Cognition & Heart Health, New Research Shows

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    There are two things to consider when applying these results. First, the study was funded by the California Strawberry Commission. While research funded by trade groups should be approached with some skepticism, it’s not necessarily unreliable. And the findings of this study are in line with existing research on the benefits of strawberries3.

    Secondly, it’s worth noting that participants ate freeze-dried strawberry powder rather than whole strawberries. This was likely so that the study could be reasonably double-blind. (If half the participants were given whole strawberries and the other half were given a powder, it would be pretty clear to the placebo group that they were given a placebo.) But while freeze-dried berries are more concentrated than whole fruits, they have a similar nutritional composition, according to USDA data4.

    The powder participants ate was equivalent to about 16 large or 24 medium strawberries, about two servings1, says Maggie Moon, R.D., a brain health nutrition expert and author of The MIND Diet. Moon adds that the findings could be extrapolated to eating whole strawberries because “it’s likely that it’s the polyphenols in strawberries that promote memory and cognition brain health benefits, and the levels aren’t that different in fresh versus freeze-dried berries.”

    In support of the findings, Moon adds that the vitamin C content in whole berries can support immunity and help the body absorb iron from plant sources. The fiber found in berries promotes satiety and fights cholesterol, while the folate in strawberries supports neurotransmitter production.

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    Emily Kelleher

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  • Earnings have beaten Wall Street estimates by more than usual in 2nd quarter, but 3rd quarter isn’t looking great

    Earnings have beaten Wall Street estimates by more than usual in 2nd quarter, but 3rd quarter isn’t looking great

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    Online retail giant Amazon.com Inc.’s
    AMZN,
    +8.27%
    second-quarter results and third-quarter forecast sales last week were a bet that more consumers would start buying more things, but Wall Street’s expectations for the third quarter overall have only grown dimmer.

    With most of the 500 companies that make up the S&P 500 Index
    SPX
    already through the second-quarter earnings reporting season, slightly more than normal have reported per-share profit that beat Wall Street’s estimates, according to FactSet.

    For the third quarter though, analysts now expect a mere 0.2% increase in per-share profit growth overall, according to a FactSet report on Friday, or slightly lower than the 0.4% growth that was expected for the third quarter on June 30,

    And with some two months still left in the third quarter, and with that forecast likely to come down as the period progresses, Wall Street’s profit expectations are getting ever closer to turning negative.

    Wall Street analysts overall still expect a bigger rebound for the fourth quarter, the FactSet report said. And they expect 2023 overall to eke out a per-share profit gain of 0.8%.

    Worries of a U.S. recession emerging at some point during the back half of this year have started to fade at least a little after many economists fixated on the possibility earlier this year when the Federal Reserve was raising interest rates to combat a jump in inflation in 2022 . Some analysts now say savings fatigue could prompt more shoppers to splurge this year, after relentlessly tightening their budgets due to rising prices.

    Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell last month said policymakers at the central bank had also shucked off their worries of a downturn.

    See: Fed no longer foresees a U.S. recession — and other things we learned from Powell’s press conference

    “The staff now has a noticeable slowdown in growth starting later this year in the forecast. But given the resilience of the economy recently, they are no longer forecasting a recession,” he said last month.

    Not everyone is convinced that a downturn has vanished from the horizon though. Sheraz Mian, director of research at Zacks, told MarketWatch last month that more bearish analysts had kept pushing out their recession forecasts, after being defied by the actual, and more positive, economic data. Some economists continue to push out those forecasts.

    “We still expect a recession, but now we are looking for it to begin in Q1 2024 rather than Q3 2023,” Thomas Simons, U.S. economist at Jefferies, said in a research note on Friday.

    He said that interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve were only just starting to affect customer behavior. Households were trying to rebuild their savings, after spending through whatever they had built up during the pandemic. Student-loan payments were returning, he said, and corporate margins were thinning.

    “Corporate profit margins are narrowing, and businesses will look to cut costs through layoffs,” he said.

    This week in earnings

    Among S&P 500 index companies, 34 report results during the week ahead, including one from the Dow Jones Industrial Average, according to FactSet.

    Results from Walt Disney Co.
    DIS,
    +0.95%
    will likely gobble up more media attention, but earnings from Paramount Global Inc
    PARA,
    +3.58%
    — which oversees CBS, Showtime, Comedy Central and other channels — will offer more detail about how studios are positioning themselves with Hollywood actors on strike. Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.
    LGF.A,
    -2.44%
    also reports.

    Results from Tyson Foods Inc.
    TSN,
    +0.34%
    will give investors and customers a brief look at the state of the grocery aisle where higher food prices over the past year have strained spending on other things. Beyond Meat Inc.
    BYND,
    -1.38%    ,
    which also reports during the week, will be hoping new product launches of plant-based meat-like alternatives can overtake analyst skepticism, amid competition with fake meat and real meat alike.

    Elsewhere, ride-hailing platform Lyft Inc.
    LYFT,
    -5.73%    ,
    online dating service Bumble Inc.
    BMBL,
    -3.86%
    and video-game maker Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.
    TTWO,
    -2.45%
    also report during the week. And Canadian pot producer Canopy Growth Corp.
    CGC,
    -3.47%
    will get another chance to pick up the pieces, after over-expanding and now trying to hold onto its cash.

    The call to put on your calendar

    Disney drama: One way or another, people on both coasts are mad at Disney
    DIS,
    +0.95%
    Chief Executive Bob Iger right now, as his company prepares to report quarterly results on Wednesday. Shares of Disney are down slightly this year. The company is currently fighting with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is trying to stamp out Disney World’s self-governing privileges after the company criticized the state’s restrictions on classroom discussion of gender identity. When Iger accused striking actors and writers in Hollywood of not being “realistic,” the actors and writers shot back, noting his hefty executive compensation plan.

    While the friction in Florida hasn’t hurt Disney’s parks attendance, the Hollywood shutdown has threatened Disney’s massive film and TV show operations, as Disney+ subscribers fall and investors more aggressively seek profits from studios’ streaming operations. Elsewhere, Rich Greenfield, an analyst at LightShed Partners, said “Pixar and Disney Animation have not had a breakout hit that impacted children’s play patterns and both Marvel and Lucasfilm feel increasingly tired from overuse.”

    The sense is growing that more time is needed for Iger to fix Disney’s problems. On Wednesday, analysts may get a deeper sense of how much more, with the chance of more drama between Disney and its home state and the writers and actors the company depends on.

    The number to watch

    UPS and the Teamsters deal: United Parcel Service Inc. reports quarterly results on Tuesday, as rank-and-file Teamsters vote on a tentative labor agreement struck with the package deliverer in an effort to avert a strike. The deal, if approved, would raise worker pay and give the economy and businesses a breather, after threats of strikes or work stoppages at the nation’s ports and railways were averted over the past year.

    Local Teamsters unions have voted overwhelmingly to at least endorse the agreement, between UPS
    UPS,
    -0.31%
    and the Teamsters union, which represents 340,000 UPS workers, but not everyone was happy with the deal. Some part-timers felt the Teamsters could have used their leverage to wrest more from UPS, following a profit windfall at the company. And investors have held out for more detail from UPS executives themselves on what the deal might mean for the bottom line and for shipping prices.

    Analysts will be dissecting the impact of the agreement as shipping demand lags, trucking company Yellow Corp.
    YELL,
    -0.83%
    reportedly shuts down and FedEx Corp.
    FDX,
    -0.20%
    tries to slash costs.

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  • Research Finds Guar Bean Fiber Can Positively Impact Gut Health

    Research Finds Guar Bean Fiber Can Positively Impact Gut Health

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    And based on the findings, the researchers conclude that guar bean fiber could be beneficial for gut health. Namely, they write, “Continuous consumption [of guar bean fiber] induces a selective adaptation of metabolic functions that may [offer health benefits].”

    More specifically, participants showed significant improvements in digestive wellbeing and mood by days 17 and 18 of the study, plus an increase in the bacterias Agathobaculum butyriciproducens and Lachnospira pectinoschiza.

    “These data are highly relevant, considering the wide use of guar gum in food production, its metabolic benefits related to its modulatory effect on intestinal absorption, and its potential application for the treatment of functional digestive symptoms,” the study authors conclude.

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    Sarah Regan

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  • Looking For A Fiber Supplement? Reviewers Are Loving This One

    Looking For A Fiber Supplement? Reviewers Are Loving This One

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    The thing is, though, a lot of supplement options available include an insufficient dose of fiber, plus a long list of “other” ingredients. That’s why mindbodygreen created our organic fiber potency+ formula.

    This USDA-certified organic blend delivers a high-potency dose of plant-powered functional fibers from organic legumes (guar beans from India), fungi (reishi, maitake, and oyster mushrooms harvested in the U.S.), and fruit (green kiwi from New Zealand) in every scoop.*

    It also includes a resilient, targeted Bacillus subtilis probiotic strain, to provide prebiotic, probiotic, and postbiotic actions—delivering comprehensive gut health support.*

    But don’t just take our word for it! Here’s what reviewers are saying about organic fiber potency+ and their newfound regularity.*

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    Sarah Regan

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  • My Healthy Meals Weren’t Keeping Me Full All Day — Here’s Why

    My Healthy Meals Weren’t Keeping Me Full All Day — Here’s Why

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    Fiber is a complex carb that comes from fruits, veggies, whole grains, and legumes—all foods I eat plenty of. In fact, many of these 25 high-fiber foods show up in my weekly (if not daily) rotation. And yet, I still wasn’t hitting the recommended daily intake.

    I wanted to see if getting closer to 25 grams per day would help me feel satiated. And like it was meant to be, we released our very own fiber product: organic fiber potency+. 

    This powder fiber supplement blends so easily into whatever I’m drinking. A hot beverage works great; but sometimes, for efficiency’s sake, I just toss it in my protein shaker and knock it back with eight ounces of water. It doesn’t taste like anything and mixes amazingly well. When I start my day with fiber supplementation, I stick to three meals a day and the incessant snack monster in my head takes the day off. 

    The organic guar fiber, green kiwifruit, and mushroom trio (reishi, shitake, oyster) help get me to my goal of 25 grams per day while also providing added gut benefits (like supporting digestion3, promoting gut microbiome diversity and abundance4, and reducing bloat5) and helping me maintain healthy blood sugar and cholesterol levels6.* 

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    Hannah Margaret Allen

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  • Meta launches Threads, its app to rival Twitter, a day early

    Meta launches Threads, its app to rival Twitter, a day early

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    Meta Platforms Inc. launched Threads, its rival to Twitter, a day early Wednesday.

    “Let’s do this. Welcome to Threads,” Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg posted on the new app.

    The text-based app, a spinoff of Meta’s META Instagram, had been set to launch Thursday morning, but instead went live for users in the U.S. and more than 100 other…

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  • Meta’s Twitter-rival Threads: How to sign up, what it costs and what we know so far

    Meta’s Twitter-rival Threads: How to sign up, what it costs and what we know so far

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    Meta’s Twitter-rival Threads launches tomorrow: What we know so far

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  • ‘Greedflation’ is replacing inflation as companies raise prices for bigger profits, report finds

    ‘Greedflation’ is replacing inflation as companies raise prices for bigger profits, report finds

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    That’s the practice by many S&P 500 food and consumer companies of raising prices to protect what a new report calls their “cushioned corporate profits,” and it has enabled them to boost margins through the current inflationary period.

    Companies including Kimberly-Clark Corp.
    KMB,
    -0.45%    ,
    PepsiCo Inc.
    PEP,
    -0.18%    ,
    General Mills Inc.
    GIS,
    -0.88%
    and Tyson Foods Inc.
    TSN,
    -0.36%
    have on recent earnings calls touted their ability to raise prices, earning tidy profits and rewarding their shareholders as they go, according to the report from Accountable.US, a liberal-leaning consumer-advocacy group.

    And they have signaled their intention to continue to take “price actions” even as the Federal Reserve has hiked interest rates an unprecedented 10 times in an effort to tame inflation.

    “Higher interest rates haven’t stopped S&P companies, especially in the big food industry, from raising consumer prices despite reporting billions in extra net earnings and over a trillion dollars in new giveaways to wealthy investors,” said Liz Zelnick, director of economic security and corporate power at Accountable.US.

    “Corporate greed is a stubborn thing and requires serious action from Congress. The Fed has not seen an adequate return on its investment in a policy that has already created fissures in the economy that could lead to recession. It’s just not worth it,” she said. 

    Now read: Skip, pause or hike? A guide to what is expected from the Fed on Wednesday.

    Accountable.US is not alone in calling out price hikes on essentials including food. Walmart Inc.
    WMT,
    +0.73%
    is also unhappy with packaged-food companies that have steadily raised prices in dry grocery and consumable goods, according to a recent report from research company CFRA.

    “Given Walmart’s enormous bargaining power over its suppliers, we expect the retail giant to push back on further price increases from its packaged-food suppliers,” he said. That is expected to hurt margins, especially if volume growth does not recover.

    For more, see: Inflation in goods from cereal to soup has given a boost to consumer food stocks. Can Walmart help bring prices, both food and stock, down?

    May inflation data released Tuesday found that food prices were up 0.2% from April, after remaining flat for the previous two months. Food prices are up 6.7% over the last year. The food-at-home index is up 5.8% over the last year, while the index for cereals and bakery products is up 10.7%.

    Food prices started to rise about two years ago, when supply-chain issues and higher fuel and commodity prices led companies to pass some of those costs on to customers.

    But companies appear determined to raise prices even more, despite a decline in shipping and gas costs. Gasoline was down 5.6% in May from April and fuel oil fell 7.7%, according to consumer-price-index figures.

    Also read: U.S. inflation slows again, CPI shows, and might keep Fed on sidelines

    Kimberly-Clark executives told analysts on its recent earnings call that the company is able to “rapidly implement broad pricing actions” and acknowledged that “pricing has continued to be a big driver behind our top-line growth.”

    The company’s first-quarter earnings topped expectations and it raised guidance for the full year. That’s after it raised prices by 10% for a second straight quarter, driving margins wider by 340 basis points.

    Shareholders were rewarded to the tune of $425 million during the quarter, the Accountable.US report notes.

    See also: Colgate-Palmolive’s stock pops after earnings beat as company raises prices by double-digit percentage

    PepsiCo Chief Executive Ramon Laguarta told analysts on that company’s recent earnings call that most of its price increases are behind it.

    However, he said, “obviously, there are some markets, highly inflationary markets around the world, where we might have to take additional pricing. If you think about Argentina, Turkey, Egypt — those kinds of markets where the currencies are suffering. But the majority of our pricing is already done,” he said, according to a FactSet transcript.

    PepsiCo’s 2022 earnings rose 16.9% to nearly $9 billion, and it spent more than $7.6 billion on stock buybacks and dividends, with the former up 1,313% from 2021.

    General Mills, meanwhile, bragged about “getting smart about how we look at pricing” on its recent call. The parent of brands including Cheerios, Nature Valley, Blue Buffalo pet products and Pillsbury raised its fiscal 2023 guidance in February.

    And Tyson executives touted the “significant pricing power of our portfolio with a year-over-year increase of 7.6%.” Tyson’s latest quarter included a surprise loss, as it was hit by weak demand for meat, along with plant closures and job cuts.

    For more, see: Tyson Foods stock slides after meat producer swings to surprise loss

    But Tyson had net income of over $3.2 billion in 2022, up from $3 billion in 2021, and it rewarded shareholders with $1.35 billion in buybacks and dividends.

    For Accountable.US, it’s more compelling evidence that the Fed’s rate-hike strategy “has failed to root out one of the main drivers of inflation and should give the [Federal Open Market Committee] pause before lifting rates again this week to the detriment of jobs and the economy.”

    The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR exchange-traded fund
    XLP,
    +0.36%
    has fallen 1.6% to date in 2023, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF
    XRT,
    +1.89%
    has gained 4.6%. The S&P 500
    SPX,
    +0.62%
    has gained 13% in the same period.

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  • 6 Beet Juice Benefits & Why Athletes Love It So Much

    6 Beet Juice Benefits & Why Athletes Love It So Much

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    “To prevent foodborne illness, store beet juice in a clean, airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days,” Wiemann suggests adding juice from a lemon or lime to help preserve the juice a little longer. 

    For those who don’t have as much time, or the necessary tools, to prepare beetroot juice at home several times per week, Schimmelpfenning suggests trying beetroot powder, which is shelf-stable and great for on-the-go nutrition.

    If buying juice from a store, look for 100% pure organic beet juice that is freshly pressed, not made from concentrate, and doesn’t contain any other ingredients (except a small amount of lemon juice for preservation). 

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    Melissa Boufounos, CHN

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  • For Blood Sugar Balance, Afternoon Exercise Reigns Supreme

    For Blood Sugar Balance, Afternoon Exercise Reigns Supreme

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    Over 90% of the diabetes cases in the United States are Type 2 diabetes, which is the type of diabetes linked to lifestyle factors like the standard American diet, a sedentary lifestyle, and obesity and metabolic syndrome.

    It’s possible to prevent and sometimes even manage Type 2 diabetes through lifestyle factors like diet and exercise, and many clinicians already recommend these interventions. In fact, study participants in the afternoon exercise group also had the highest chance of being able to transition off their diabetes medications.

    As one of the co-authors of the study, Jingyi Qian, Ph.D., explained in a news release: “We’ve known that physical activity is beneficial, but what our study adds is a new understanding that timing of activity may be important too.” So while it takes a lot of willpower to roll out of bed and straight into the gym, a fitness class, or onto the Peleton, afternoon exercisers now have something to tout. 

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    Gretchen Lidicker, M.S.

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  • Reasons To Eat A Savory Breakfast & 4 Recipes To Start With

    Reasons To Eat A Savory Breakfast & 4 Recipes To Start With

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    Starting with a savory meal can also help you easily hit one or two of your daily recommended servings of vegetables right away, leaving the rest of the day more open for flexibility. While the USDA recommends 2-3 cups of vegetables per day, the CDC4 reports that only 1 in 10 adults meet the federal fruit or vegetable recommendations.

    It can also help you get the recommended amount of fiber—something a whopping 95% of American adults and children5 are not doing. This critical complex carb supports gut health6, comfortable digestion, and more, so it’s worth picking breakfast foods that have plenty of it and supplementing with a high-quality fiber powder where needed.

    If you tend to reach for sweeter breakfasts out of convenience, know that savory starters can be easy to whip up too. Get a headstart on your week by meal-prepping a big batch of congee or cleaning up some extra veggies for shakshuka. You can also reimagine your dinner leftovers into breakfast scrambles, wraps, or savory oatmeal toppings, Sauceda notes. “Savory breakfasts can be a good way to cut down on food waste,” she says.

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    Caroline Dweck

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