"Tough economic times have Britons eating their hearts out and swallowing their tongues. Not literally, of course. But offal - or "variety meats," as the food category is euphemistically called in the U.K. - is experiencing a surge in popularity, with sales up 67% over the past five years."

Anything molded into a heart shape automatically becomes appropriate for a Valentine's Day dessert. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course! It actually makes it much easier to come up with an appropriately thematic treat to end the evening. Nicole, from Pinch My Salt, made up this batch of wickedly delicious looking Naughty Ice Cream Sandwiches, which not only incorporate heart shapes, but lots of rich flavors to get you in the right mindset for celebration. The filling is made of Irish Cream-spiked vanilla ice cream, frozen in a thin layer until firm enough to cut with a cookie cutter. The hearts are made of very thin brownies that have been enhanced with some Kahlua, instant espresso and dark chocolate baked in a jelly-roll pan, then cut with the same heart-shaped cookie cutter. The results are stunning and, aside from the repetition of the cutting, very easy to pull off. Make them in advance and store them in the freezer for a late-night snack, or a great summer treat when it is hot out!

Oats are a great source of soluble fiber, and as the specific fiber contained in whole oats, beta-glucan soluble fiber, has been shown to help control cholesterol, some oat products are allowed to claim that they reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. These products include oat bran, rolled oats or whole oat flour, and they also must meet the FDA's standard for "low fat" foods. The Quaker Oat company has requested - and temporarily received (pdf) - an exemption to the "low fat" standard for some of their other oat products, like instant oatmeal. The exemption allows qualifying products to make the claim that they coronary heart disease right on the packaging by allowing them to increase their oat content to acceptable levels, even if by doing so they surpass the federal maximum for low fat products. Not all oat products will be eligible, but Quaker's reduced sugar instant oatmeal products would qualify under the new plan.

Critics say that the "the Heart Foundation should feel 'duped'" for going along with McDonald's "marketing ploy." While it is true that McDonald's is paying to get the NHF's approval - fees that go towards testing the food, according to the NHF - the organization is still placing their reputation on the line and has no reason not to support the fast food company if their meals meet the NHF's standards. And if some regular McDonald's eaters switch to healthier fare, that's a positive change whether it came from a "marketing ploy" or not.

More salt and pepper:
Talk to taste
Silvery sleek
Ice cream cones
Sleek and magnetic
Pretty little pigs
Self-shaking shakers for the lazy
Peugeot's electric pepper mill
Weeble wobble
Cha Cha Cha
Teardrops
Loops

This conclusion was published in the European Heart Journal just this month. The study looked at the ability of women's arteries to relax and expand after drinking tea, either with or without milk. The otherwise healthy participants showed a significant improvement in their blood flow after drinking plain tea, while the tea with 10% skim milk showed no benefits. Similar experiments were conducted on rats with the same results.

Stores will also be frying up their light, yeast-raised doughnuts in heart shapes, coating them with white icing and red, white, and pink sprinkles. They're not quite up to the same level of cuteness as the Halloween doughnuts that Krispy Kreme featured back in October, but it's hard to say no to a doughnut with sprinkles

And on February 14th, stores will be making their regular glazed doughnuts in heart shapes, as well.

Chocolate is widely perceived to be the best cure for all kinds of mental and emotional ills, from depression to anger, and can certainly elevate a good mood to a great one. A new study shows that chocolate - dark chocolate and cocoa, specifically - might offer even greater health benefits. New evidence suggests that it can function in a way similar to aspirin and aid in the prevention of heart attacks.

The discovery was unintentional. Some participants in a study on aspirin at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine were disqualified from the official testing because they had eaten chocolate. The researchers decided to run the final tests on their blood samples anyway, and found that those who head eaten chocolate had blood platelets that "clotted more slowly than [the platelets of] those who had not." This effect is what can prevent blood clots from inducing a heart attack. The results of the study were presented this week at the American Heart Association's annual Scientific Sessions.

[via the food section]

Not all low-carbers like sticking to their diets because they sometimes feel that they are missing out on some of their favorite foods, but one of the most frequently heard warnings is not that anyone on the diet will never be able to eat bread again, but that the high-fat diet is bad for their hearts. It turns out that bit of conventional wisdom might not be true after all.

A new, long-term study, done by researchers at the Harvard Medical School, followed the records of women over the course of two decades. The women followed different types of diets, but were not actually on a "diet," and were actually slightly overweight on average. The study produced some interesting results. First, it found that low-carb/high-fat diets, such as the Atkins diet, do not raise the risk of heart disease. Second, it found that eating a lot of processed foods could possibly raise that risk. Third, and most interestingly, it revealed that low-carbers who got most of their protein and fat from vegetables, rather than from animal sources, reduced their risk of heart disease by an average 30% over the women who ate more animal fat.

Usually, we hear about how foods can help to prevent certain conditions and health problems, not about how they actually reverse them, but there is new evidence to support the claim that walnuts just might be able to do that. A study has demonstrated that some of the chemicals that naturally occur in walnuts can help to undo "some of the detrimental effects of a high-saturated-fat diet." The most important chemical seems to be arginine, which aids the body in producing nitric oxide, which in turn prevents the arteries from hardening as a result of the inflammation caused by a high saturated fat diet.

So, does this mean that you can eat all the supersized fast food meals, cheese and butter that you want to, as long as you chase them down with a handful of walnuts? Not yet, since scientists do not know how strong the protective effect of the nuts is. They recommend incorporating a few as a part of a low saturated-fat diet.

This is good news for anyone who likes pecans, since the nuts are often overlooked in favor of almonds and other nuts that are slightly lower in fat, although the majority of the fat in pecans is unsaturated.

If you want to get a few more pecans into your diet, try adding them to salads or eating a handful as a snack. For a slightly less healthy - but possibly more delicious - way to eat a few more pecans, try:

• Pecan Balls
• Butter Pecan Cookies
• Maple Pecan Tarts
• Mexican Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars
• Maple Pecan Oatmeal Cookies