Have you been told that you should never eat chocolate, or butter, or shrimp or a dozen other foods you love that have been missing from your diet for quite awhile? The University of California-Berkeley Wellness Letter lists the latest news about foods that have had misconceptions for their use.

Since many seniors are on no-fat or low-salt diets, some of their findings could help you decide whether or not to include foods you may have been omitting. For instance, the newsletter says that eating nuts can help prevent heart disease. A good source of protein, vitamins and minerals, they have been eliminated from diets because of their fat content. Recent studies reveal that nuts have unsaturated fats, monounsaturated fats, vitamin E, fiber, folic acid and other B vitamins. The letter’s suggestion is to avoid large amounts and to add nuts to salads, cereals and rice dishes. If you’re on a low-salt diet, avoid nuts that are salted.

• Once it was thought that red wine was the only beneficial alcoholic beverage. The latest news reveals that moderate consumption of any alcoholic beverage, whether it is red or white wine, beer or spirits, can be heart-healthy. This means one drink a day for women and two for men. A drink is 12 ounces of beer, five of wine or 1.5 of 80-proof liquor. Grapes and grape juice are also thought to benefit health.
• Margarine and butter have been on the “no-no” list because of cholesterol, but some new margarines contain no trans fats. Canola oil margarine or diet margarines and two new margarines that reduce blood cholesterol, Benecol or Take Control, are suggested alternatives. The health letter does say, however, that small amounts of butter or margarine are all right if you follow a heart-healthy diet.
• Shrimp may have high cholesterol, but it’s low in saturated fat and contains heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Other shellfish, including crabs, scallops, mussels, clams and lobster, are actually lower in cholesterol than chicken or beef.

Most health-driven diets include five or more servings of fruit and vegetables. The new news is that dark vegetables are especially good. They also may protect against chronic diseases and have high antioxidant potential.