Food extras that boost your health

New research shows that certain spices, herbs, and spreads not only boost flavour but can also help curb appetite, ease digestion, and even promote better memory.

Here are some you should always have on hand:

Ketchup

Lowers risk of cardiovascular disease

Daily dose: 3 to 4 tablespoons

Lycopene—a powerful antioxidant in ketchup—may slow the process that leads to atherosclerosis. While all ketchup contains some lycopene, a study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that organic versions contain up to 60 percent more per gramme than conventional brands.

The researchers also found that organic ketchup had the highest levels of vitamins A, C, and E.

Honey

Fights aging

Daily dose: 2 to 4 tablespoons

Dark honey contains the most antioxidants, say researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, who analysed 19 varieties. Antioxidants protect cells from the damaging effects of free radicals and may reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, cognitive decline, and macular degeneration.

Rosemary

Eliminates food-borne carcinogens

Daily dose: 1 to 2 tablespoons

Rosemary minimises or eliminates carcinogens formed when cooking some foods, say scientists at Kansas State University, who found that seasoning beef with rosemary before grilling can reduce cancer-causing substances called heterocyclic amines by 30 percent to 100 percent. Danish scientists got similar results when adding rosemary to dough. Acrylamide, a potentially carcinogenic compound, forms in carb-rich foods when heated above 250F.

"By incorporating 1 tablespoon of dried rosemary for each pound of flour, we reduced acrylamide by more than 50 percent," says Leif Skibsted, Ph.D., a professor of food chemistry at the University of Copenhagen. He believes that the antioxidants in rosemary "scavenge" the harmful compounds.

Olive Oil

Boosts long-term memory

Daily dose: A few tablespoons

Olive oil is a top source of oleic acid, an omega-9 fatty acid that is converted during digestion to oleoylethanolamide (OEA), a hormone that helps keep brain cells healthy. In a new study from the University of California, Irvine, rodents fed OEA were better able to remember how to perform two tasks than those that didn't eat it. Researchers hypothesise that OEA signals the part of the brain responsible for turning short-term memories into long-term ones.

"OEA seems to be part of the glue that makes memories stick," says Daniele Piomelli, Ph.D., a professor of pharmacology and biological chemistry at the university.

Cinnamon

Stabilises blood sugar levels

Daily dose: 1 teaspoon

People who added cinnamon—one-half to a heaping teaspoon—to a sweet dish experienced a slower rise in blood sugar than those who didn't consume any, found a series of studies in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The spice enhances insulin sensitivity, so it allows you to use more of the glucose in your blood, keeping blood sugar levels stable, says Joanna Hlebowicz, Ph.D., the studies' lead researcher and a fellow in cardiology at Lund University in Sweden.

Adding cinnamon to a carb-heavy or starchy dish may also help stabilise blood sugar after you eat, she adds. Keeping levels stable minimises sugar highs and lows, and for those with diabetes, it could mean needing less insulin.

Pepper Sauce

Curbs appetite

Daily dose: A few dashes

Eating just one meal that contains capsaicin—the compound that gives peppers their heat—not only reduces levels of hunger-causing ghrelin but also raises GLP-1, an appetite-suppressing hormone, says new research in the European Journal of Nutrition.

Other scientists found that people who drank capsaicin-spiced tomato juice before each meal over two days ingested 16 percent fewer calories than those who drank it plain.

Black Pepper

Guards against cancer

Daily dose: To taste

Piperine, a compound in black pepper, may help interrupt the self-renewing process of cancer-initiating stem cells, according to new research from the University of Michigan.

"By limiting the number of stem cells, you're limiting the number of cells with the potential to form tumors," says lead study author Madhuri Kakarala, M.D., PhD, a clinical lecturer in internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School.