Vitamins, additives and nutrition BLOG

April is Women’s Nutrition Month, and most of the media coverage has focused on how women’s nutrition needs differ from men’s. Because of their smaller size, most adult women require fewer calories and less protein, for example. On the other hand, women need more iron (almost twice as much as men), at least until they stop menstruating.

But I found myself curious about what women do eat, as opposed to what they Read the rest of this entry »

Q. I have recently developed macular degeneration. What are the best foods I can eat to inhibit this condition?

A. Macular degeneration, which is the leading cause of blindness in the U.S., has several probable causes, including genetics, smoking, and exposure to UV radiation from the sun. But diet also appears to play a major role in your risk. In particular, people whose diets contain more lutein and other carotenoids have a reduced Read the rest of this entry »

“High intakes of red or processed meat may increase your risk of mortality.” So conclude the authors of a ten-year study involving half a million people, published in this week’s Archives of Internal Medicine.

The authors found that those who ate the most red meat were about 20% more likely to die of cancer than those who ate the least. The risk of cardiovascular disease was also elevated in those who ate more red meat. (Eating more Read the rest of this entry »

In a paper published in a Canadian medical journal last week, researchers argue that the benefits of taking fish oil are not well enough substantiated to justify its widespread use. The authors are concerned that the growing demand for fish oil will deplete fish populations.

Not well enough substantiated? That’s pretty hard to fathom. The evidence linking the consumption of oily fish or fish oil supplements with improved cardiovascular Read the rest of this entry »

Q. Most of my recipes give the ingredients in cups, teaspoons, and tablespoons, not grams or ounces. But when analyzing recipes on ND, I can’t always find the measurements I need. For example, I wanted to add 1/3 cup of dried egg whites to a recipe but my only options were grams or ounces. How do I convert these measurements ?

A. We have a conversion tool, which you’ll find on the right hand side Read the rest of this entry »

Q. Please comment on the relationship between potassium and sodium. How can I be sure that I’m not getting too much potassium as I continue to decrease the amount of sodium in my daily diet?

A. Decreasing the amount of sodium in your diet won’t necessarily affect the amount of potassium you’re getting but it will probably increase the ratio of potassium to sodium in your diet–and many believe that this is a good thing!

Read the rest of this entry »

Q. Taught by my grandmother, I practice the time-honored tradition of eating a lot of the spring greens that are starting to come out: dandelions, burdock, stinging nettles, pigweed, lamb’s quarters, plantain, shepherd’s purse, garlic mustard, chickweed, cleavers, and so on. What does modern nutrition have to say about this? Are these greens truly “blood cleansing” or “liver cleansing?”

A. In traditional Chinese Read the rest of this entry »

Where I live in the mid-Atlantic region, we’re still a couple of weeks away from the first fresh vegetables of Spring. The early peas, asparagus, and baby lettuces should be showing up at the farmer’s market around the beginning of April.

In the meantime, the farmer’s are bringing the last of their stored, winter vegetables; lots of turnips, winter carrots, potatoes, onions, and–this week–Jerusalem artichokes, Read the rest of this entry »

Q. I have heard that it is completely normal for a person’s weight to vary throughout the day, but by how much does it change? Is it a sign of weight gain if I weigh over three pounds more at the end of a day than at the beginning?

A. A weight fluctuation of three to five pounds over the course of a day is completely normal and doesn’t suggest that you’ve gained weight. Weight can be temporarily affected by things like the amount Read the rest of this entry »

Q. My husband and I have developed a taste for raw sweet potatoes. We peel and slice them like carrots. Is a raw sweet potato as nutritious as a cooked one? Can the body digest and accept the vitamins and minerals as in a cooked sweet potato? Thanks for your help.

A.Raw sweet potatoes contain a chemical called trypsin inhibitor, which inhibits the activity of an enzyme that your body needs to digest protein. The trypsin inhibitor Read the rest of this entry »