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Nutrients are absorbed better when you enjoy your meals
WHEN THE LATEST edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans was released this year, it did not, as many other countries do in their own guidelines, include advice that specifically reminds people to take pleasure in the foods they choose.
Great Britain puts such a recommendation front and center as its first guideline: "Enjoy your food" Australia, Korea, and Thailand, too, counsel their citizens to "enjoy" their meals. Similarly, Vietnam advises serving meals that are "delicious," while Norway makes the equation that "food and joy = health"
Such encouragement to make your dining experiences pleasurable, it turns out, is more than just touchy-feely. Researchers from Sweden and Thailand found that out some years ago when they collaborated on a study that looked at how well iron was absorbed from a meal fed to women of two different cultures.
The meal was a simple Thai dish of rice and vegetables spiced with chili paste, fish sauce, and coconut cream. A group of Thai women, it turned out, absorbed significantly more iron from the food than a group of Swedish women, who considered the meal "very spicy," according to the investigators.
The scientists also found that...