Environmental Nutrition

Most Adults Should Cap Sodium at 1,500 milligrams.

Subscribers Only Four years ago, Americans were told to cut back on their sodium intake to bring it below 2,300 milligrams(mg)/day, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The recommendation came with a little side note that a select group of people—those with hypertension, African-Americans, and middle-aged and older adults—should restrict their intake even further, to 1,500 mg/day.

View or print a copy of the entire August 2009 issue of Environmental Nutrition

Subscribers Only

Research Roundup: 08/09

Subscribers Only Antioxidant supplements did not slow cognitive damage in women with heart disease risk. A cognitive function substudy of The Women¡¯s Antioxidant and Cardiovascular Study , which included women aged 65 years or older with cardiovascular disease or at least three coronary risk factors, found that Vitamin E and beta carotene supplementation were not linked with slower rates of cognitive change. Vitamin C supplementation was associated with better performance at the last assessment, but not with cognitive change over time.

Cilantro Sizzles with Flavor and Health Benefits

Subscribers Only The green herb, cilantro (also known as coriander and Chinese parsley), has been cultivated in Egypt, India and China for thousands of years. Cilantro even got a mention in Sanskrit text and the Bible. You can thank the Spanish conquistadors for introducing it to Mexico and Peru, where it became an essential part of Latin cuisine. Cilantro went on to become a familiar flavoring in Asian, Caribbean, Middle Eastern and Indian foods.

Listen to the Latest Buzz on the Missing Bee Phenomenon

Subscribers Only The Case of the Missing Bees. It all started in the fall of 2006, when beekeepers around the world reported that honey bee colonies were mysteriously missing large numbers of bees. There were reported losses of 30 to 90 percent of hives during the 2006 winter. By February 2007, the mystery had a name and a definition: colony collapse disorder (CCD), a syndrome characterized by the disappearance of all adult honey bees in a hive while immature bees and honey remain.

Are Artificial Food Colors to Dye For? EN Sheds Light on A Colorful Topic

Subscribers Only In the mid-19th century, foods were colored with metals, which ended up making people sick. So the Food and Drug Act of 1906 came along and reduced from 80 to seven the number of synthetic food dyes allowed in processed foods. The fact is, synthetic food colors are unnecessary for food production, since their function is cosmetic. As highly processed foods become exposed to high temperature, light and moisture, they lose their color. Synthetic dyes can offset this color loss, as well as provide color to foods that otherwise have no color (think mint ice cream), make food more attractive (like sprinkles) and enhance the natural color of foods (as in the case of sprayed oranges).

Fresh from the Garden: EN’s Restaurant Entrée Salad Guide

Subscribers Only You’re eating healthier, feeling good and now a friend wants to meet you for lunch. No problem, you’ll just order a salad, right? Well, it may not be quite that easy. While a salad can be a great choice, ordering just any salad off the menu isn’t necessarily the best choice for your health or waistline. A simple garden salad can form a healthy blank canvas on which to create a nutritious meal. However, many restaurants go so overboard with their toppings and additions you end up with a dish that’s the nutritional equivalent of a deluxe fast food burger on top of a few lettuce leaves. A well-built entrée salad provides a variety of nutrients—fiber for digestive and heart health, protein to fill you up, and an assortment of vitamins and minerals. The key is making sure your greens are topped with the right ingredients.

Nutrition Science Flip Flops—Untangling the Confusion Behind the Science

Subscribers Only For years, experts said low-fat eating was the way to go. Then a big study came along and blew that theory out of the water. Results from the large, federally-funded Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) indicated that a low-fat diet did not significantly cut the risk of breast cancer, heart disease, colorectal cancer or stroke. Soon newspaper headlines read: study finds no major benefit of a low-fat diet. And people became confused. Thus began the era of nutrition science flip flops, a time that saw nutrition experts reversing their dietary recommendations as science led them in new directions.

Another Benefit from Fitness? Protection against Digestive Cancer Death

Subscribers Only Need yet another reason to ramp up your exercise routine? Aerobic exercise may help protect you from digestive cancer (including liver, pancreas, esophagus, and colon) death, the second leading cause of cancer-related death in U.S. men. Researchers from the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina studied the effects of cardiorespiratory fitness on digestive cancer death in the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study, reporting their findings in the April 2009 issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention.

Healthy Soil, Healthy Food—Digging into the Connections

Subscribers Only Healthy soil grows healthy food and healthy food nourishes healthy people. Sounds so simple, but how often do you connect the foods you eat back to the soil? "All food can be traced back to soil. Foods that support good health such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains rely on healthy soil to grow," explains Angie Tagtow, M.S., R.D., L.D., Food & Society Policy Fellow and owner of Environmental Nutrition Solutions in Elkhart, Iowa. "Just like people, plants need a variety of nutrients found in the soil so they can develop, grow and produce food with great taste and optimum nutrients. When soil is depleted of nutrients or treated with synthetic chemicals, a plant fails to thrive, thereby not developing a robust flavor or nutrient profile."

Smart, Healthy Eating on a Budget- It’s Within Your Reach

Subscribers Only Thanks to a gloomy economy, eating healthy is even more challenging. The high cost of growing, processing, shipping, distributing and marketing food shows up on your supermarket tab every week. And you’re not just imagining that your grocery store bill is creeping up. Overall food prices have increased five to six percent in supermarkets during the past year. Let’s face it; it’s not cheap to eat a healthy diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, seafood and low-fat dairy products. This is in the face of low-cost food temptations like dollar deals in fast food drive-thrus and giant bags of chips in club stores.

Does Soy Stimulate Breast Cancer? Get the Latest Facts

Subscribers Only The soy-breast cancer controversy is hot, but it’s nothing new—the relationship has been debated for almost 20 years. A workshop sponsored by the National Cancer Institute in 1990 concluded that soybeans contain cancer-preventive properties, and should be the subject of research. This sparked a global interest in the humble soybean, with over 9,000 papers published on the topic, 20 percent covering cancer investigation.