{"id":4080,"date":"2012-08-16T12:00:58","date_gmt":"2012-08-16T12:00:58","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2015-12-23T18:54:03","modified_gmt":"2015-12-23T18:54:03","slug":"super-spices-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foodmedcenter.org\/es_mx\/super-spices-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Spices"},"content":{"rendered":"

However, #spices<\/a> can offer more than just creative #cooking<\/a>. In fact, spices have a long history, going back to the discovery that salt, as well as the bark of certain plants, could be used as a preservative, which made it a valuable commodity.<\/p>\n

Spices also have a long medicinal history. “Many recent studies validate the historic habit of using spices for #health<\/a> benefits,” says Donna Tainter, a food technologist and author of “Spices and Seasonings, A Food Technology Handbook,” (Wiley-Interscience, N.Y., 2001). Although the amounts we consume in any given meal are tiny, they can add up to big health gains. In addition to the small amounts of vitamins, minerals and fiber they contain, their key health benefits lie in their pigments which may help stabilize damage to our cells from oxidation.<\/p>\n

However, according to Mary Ellen Camire, Ph.D., professor of food science and human nutrition at the University of Maine, “Their potency rapidly declines when the spices are ground. Freshly-cracked pepper even smells stronger than ground pepper that has been sitting on the shelf for a year or more. One can assume that the phytochemicals in pepper are lost during storage by oxidation as well as evaporation. Plus, there is a limit to how much spice can be palatable, and we do not yet know what would be considered an effective dose.”<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, one of the clearest benefits that spices provide is flavor that is lost when we use less butter, oil and other fattening extras, which directly helps with weight control.<\/p>\n

Which spices are the healthiest, tastiest and simplest to add to your foods? Here are a few that are particularly noteworthy.<\/p>\n

CINNAMON<\/strong>
\nBackground:<\/strong> One of the world’s most popular spices, cinnamon comes from a cinnamon tree’s dried brown bark, which is then rolled into a tube or ground. There are more than 100 varieties of this fragrant, somewhat sweet spice. According to Tainter, “Cinnamon not only tastes good, but also, according to recent studies, can help stabilize blood sugar and has strong antimicrobial properties.”<\/p>\n

Purported health perks:<\/strong><\/p>\n