According to Reuters, researchers randomly offered more than 1,100 shoppers price discounts on healthy foods, tailored nutrition education, a combination of the two or nothing at all. The participants’ purchases were recorded with handheld barcode scanners for a period of six months.

The study found that the individuals who received a 12.5 percent discount on healthier food items bought about 1.7 more pounds of healthy food each week than those who didn’t receive the randomized discounts.

"The price reductions may have provided an additional incentive over and above health to buy healthier foods," the study’s lead researcher, Dr. Cliona Ni Mhurchu, told Reuters.

Although previous studies have shown that nutrition education is helpful in influencing healthier food purchases, Ni Mhurchu says that was not the case in this analysis.

Among the healthier foods purchased by the group that received the discounts were fruits and vegetables. Researchers say an average of six extra servings of these items were purchased when they were less expensive.

According to a new Mayo Clinic report, nuts contain nutrients proven to be helpful in boosting heart health and lowering cholesterol, including unsaturated fats, omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, 1-arginine and plant sterols.

These nutrients have also been shown to reduce LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, levels in the blood.

Experts say eating nuts may also reduce the risk of developing blood clots and improve the health of the lining of the arteries.

Although nuts are nutritious, they’re also high in calories so experts say to eat them in moderation. For example, an ounce of almonds contains 169 calories and 15 grams of fat. About a handful of any type of nut each day is enough to reap the health benefits without overdoing it.

Individuals who eat nuts as a part of a healthy diet are also encouraged to choose low-salt or salt-free varieties.

While nuts have long been believed to be an essential part of a heart-healthy diet, their efficacy in reducing the risk of heart disease has not yet been proven conclusively.

They say adding vegetable juice to the diet may help people reach the recommended 4 servings of vegetables per day.

Scientists followed a group of adults aged 40 to 65 for a period of 12 weeks for their findings. They found that when participants drank at least two cups of vegetable juice a day they met the daily recommendation. That’s compared to just 7 percent of subjects who didn’t drink a vegetable drink, like V8 juice.

In addition, participants with borderline high blood pressure were able to significantly reduce it by drinking one or two servings of vegetable juice a day.

Participants who drank the juice say they enjoyed it and felt like they were doing something good for themselves. Researchers say that makes drinking your veggies a solution that could work for people everywhere. "Enjoyment is so critical to developing eating habits you can stick with for the long-term. Health and nutrition professionals must help people find simple ways for people to get their vegetables or they simply won’t do it, and that means they won’t reap the benefits of a vegetable-rich diet. Vegetable juice is something that people enjoy, plus it’s convenient and portable, which makes it simple to drink every day," said the study’s co-author Dr Carl Keen.

A new study appearing in the Journal of Nutrition suggests that the dried fruit contains germ-fighters that suppress tooth disease, according to UPI.com.

Scientists involved with the study say raisins have antimicrobial phytochemicals capable of suppressing oral pathogens associated with cavities or periodontal diseases.

In addition to keeping your teeth strong, raisins contain nutrients and antioxidants associated with a host of health benefits.

According to raisins.net, the potassium in the fruit has been shown to be helpful in maintaining a healthy blood pressure as well.

One of the antioxidants in raisins is quercetin, which has been shown to protect against heart disease and cancer.

They’re also good for digestion with a special blend of fiber and tartaric acid. The combination of the two are said to be important for a healthy colon.

Raisins are packed full of natural sugars that satisfy snack cravings and provide instant energy.

To reach their conclusions, the team studied 193 healthy subjects between the ages of 45 and 102, testing them for their level of fruit and vegetable intake, antioxidant content in their blood streams and cognitive performance on several tests.

"With this work we show a multiple link between fruit and vegetable intake, antioxidant defenses and cognitive performance, in the absence of disease and independent of age," said Dr. M. Cristina Polidori, a contributor to the study.

She explained that fruits and vegetables are known to have a high degree of antioxidants that protect against the effects of free radicals, which damage cells and may lead to decreases in cognitive performance over time. The team is currently planning a larger cohort study that will include participants at various stages of the onset of Alzeimer’s disease.

The team recommends that anyone who does not eat enough fruits and vegetables immediately increase their intake to minimize the risk of cognitive impairment.

In a new position paper, the American Dietetic Association says that "vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index and lower overall cancer rates," adding that people benefit from "the diets [which] tend to be lower in saturated fat and cholesterol."

Chief among the benefits are increased levels of fiber, magnesium and various plant-based chemicals that have been linked in recent research to better health outcomes.

Vicki Piper, a dietitian at the University of Texas, says that grilling vegetables is one way to take advantage of the nutrients during the summer barbecue season.

"Try a new vegetable every week, one that you have not tried in many years,"” Piper said. "My family favorites are grilled onions, zucchini and asparagus."

To get more out of the change in diet, she says to leave vegetables unpeeled as many of the components are found in their skins.

In Building Bone Vitality, UNC Asheville health and wellness professor Dr. Amy Lanou and co-writer Michael Castleman say that the focus on dairy products could actually be more detrimental than focusing on increasing the amounts of fruit and vegetables one eats to reduce the acid balance in one’s daily eating habits.

They say that six to nine servings of the plants, similar to recommendations by whole food nutrition dietitians, along with frequent exercise, could counteract the effects of protein’s acidity.

The body takes calcium from the skeletal structure to offset the acid, they say, similar to the way one uses a calcium-based antacid to reduce stomach indigestion.

"Fruits and vegetables keep calcium in bone where it belongs," said Lanou. Castleman adds, "The good news is that you don’t have to join a gym or sweat buckets, but you do have to walk every day."

At a meeting of the Institute of Food Technologists, industry executives and researchers say that there is now a growing trend towards consumers wanting food that is less impactful on the environment, and benefits their health as well.

In a survey released during the event, "about 40 percent more [consumers] say they are more concerned about the environment than they were just a year ago,"” said Lynn Dornblaser, of Mintel International Group. “"Who would have thought we would be talking about carbon footprint?”"

And consumers are also concerned about the medicinal value of foods, a factor noted by one researcher into whole food nutrition.

Vitamins are part of a network of chemicals and nutrients in each food people eat, according to Dr Vic Shayne, and consumers may want to consider nutrition plans that focus on supplements that include the entire food in a condensed form, rather than focus on specific vitamins.

Dr Michelle Zimmer says that her study demonstrates the link between autistic children’s preference for certain kinds of food and a lack of nutrition after research at Cincinnati’s Children Hospital.

In related work, Zimmer and her team of scientists found that older autistic children were deficient in one omega-3 fatty acid, docosahexanoic, which researchers point to as a nutrient important for cognitive function and good mental health.

The study points to a link between the two, but the team is hesitant to say that supplementation would provide major benefits, although they add that it certainly couldn’t do any harm.

Although autism only affects one out of every 100 children, the importance of food variety is an important one for adults who may not feel that they have time to get a balanced diet.

By ignoring certain food groups, and not making up the diet with nutritional supplements, people who don’t have autism could develop cognitive issues and other avoidable disorders.