Eat Sourdough for Better Blood Pressure, Soak Pumpkin Seeds—Plus 3 More Nutrition Tips

Got leftover pumpkin seeds from carving Halloween jack-o’-lanterns? Feeling inspired to bake as the weather cools? Wondering if a supplement could help you sleep better after the time change? This week’s health roundup covers all that and more.

1. Eating sourdough might lower blood pressure 🍞

If your pandemic sourdough hobby stuck around, it might actually be healthy for you.

Sourdough bread contains peptides from the fermentation process that can help relax your blood vessels. Research suggests it may modestly lower blood pressure, but you’d need to eat it regularly for months to see a difference.

2. Use magnesium wisely to improve your sleep 😴

If you’re not deficient in magnesium, you actually don’t need a supplement.

But if you are low in magnesium, it takes time to replenish your magnesium levels. Taking a supplement might help you sleep better and feel better overall after a few weeks, once your magnesium levels return to a normal range.

3. Soaking pumpkin seeds might help with digestion 🎃

Pumpkin seeds are a fall favorite, especially if you’ve been carving pumpkins and have plenty left over.

Some social media influencers say you should soak the seeds in salt water before roasting to reduce phytic acid, an antinutrient that can interfere with vitamin and mineral absorption. But, researchers found that soaking different nuts in saltwater for 12 hours didn’t reduce their phytic acid. Soaking mainly makes the seeds softer and easier to digest.

4. Cooking with olive oil is fine 🫒

There’s online chatter about how cooking with extra-virgin olive oil is harmful due to its low smoke point, but it’s not true.

Research shows that extra virgin olive oil is much more stable than refined oils and forms fewer polar compounds when heated. And the smoke point for olive oil isn’t even that low. Unless you’re deep-frying or roasting, it’s perfectly fine to use olive oil for typical stovetop cooking.

5. E. coli might be a culprit for UTIs 🦠

You’ve probably heard of E. coli in meat causing food poisoning, but new research suggests it may also play a significant role in urinary tract infections (UTIs).

That doesn’t mean UTIs are a type of food poisoning. Instead, the bacteria can move from stool to the urethra and travel up the urinary tract when you’re wiping. To reduce UTI risk, wipe front to back, urinate after penetrative sex, and opt for showers instead of baths.