Health News
Dugout treat helps protect against metabolic syndrome
 Although much of my sports attention is zeroed in on the NBA finals at the moment, I still try to keep up with what's going on in baseball. It's been a somewhat strange year in MLB, but there are some things that are refreshingly unchanged. You can still expect to see sports fans (young and old) smiling through nine full innings of play, there are still plenty of great diving catches being made and old school hustling around the bases going on, and players and coaches are still littering dugouts with the shells of discarded sunflower seeds.
Good thing, too, since sunflower seeds are far more than just something to chomp on during tense moments in a game. Researchers from Northwestern University in Illinois found that these magnesium-rich seeds can help regulate blood sugar, thus reducing the risk of metabolic syndrome by as much as 31 percent.
Pumpkin seeds -- a sometimes alternative for sunflower seeds in some dugouts -- plus offer similar protection against metabolic syndrome, as do flax and sesame seeds. Chewing tobacco, as you might expect, offers nothing in that regard, and instead offers the increased risk of mouth cancer. Stick to the seeds, kids.
Original post by Chris Sparling
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