March is the National Nutrition Month, a nutrition education and information campaign created by the American Dietetic Association.

During National Nutrition Month®, the American Dietetic Association urges consumers to look beyond the myths of nutrition, focus on the facts and remember the theme for the month, Nutrition: It’s a Matter of Fact.

“It may seem difficult to figure out the most healthful eating plan, and there are many nutrition myths that people follow as the truth,” says registered dietitian and ADA spokesperson Kerry Neville. “It’s important to focus on information that is based on scientific research.”

While we are no nutritionists/dietitians, we here at the b5media Science and Health Channel support this campaign by bringing you nutrition-related entries from different angles. If you find something intriguing and think you might be able to adapt it into your lifestyle, do consult your health practitioner.

Now for the entries:

Gloria at Cancer Commentary highlights five recent studies on how nutrition and eating right can reduce cancer risks.

Marijke at Help My Hurt focuses on some food-related chronic illness/chronic pain and what triggers them.

Angela at Breastfeeding 123 has dietary pointers breastfeeding women should take into consideration.

Liberty at HealthBolt offers tips into making your favorite comfort foods such as mac-and-cheese, chocolate cookies and pizza healthier.

Gabrielle at Fertility Notes highlights previous entries discussing foods believed to enhance fertility.

Kristina at Autism Vox looks into gluten-free casein-free diet for autistic kids, and the types of foods that has worked for her son.

Grace at Kids Health Notes emphasizes the importance of breakfast sin growing children, and offers breakfast-preparation tips and ideas.

Laura at CFS Squared introduces us to a new fruit hybrid, grapple, which has the texture of an apple, but smells and tastes like a grape.

Alicia at Mental Health Notes enumerates superfoods documented to help boost brain health.

Mary Emma, at Alzheimer’s Notes, writes about collecting Alzheimer’s family member’s recipes, that bring comfort and memories, as well as nutrition.

And from Eating Fabulous, well, I encourage you to go through my entire blog, which focuses on functional foods and nutraceuticals, the so-called superfoods!

Image: American Dietetic Association

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b5media Science and Health Channel Supports the National Nutrition Month

The results: Compared to standard therapy of feeding milk-based porridge, higher recovery rates were obtained using RUTF.

Of the 2,131 severely malnourished children treated with the RUTF at home, 89 percent recovered. Of the 806 moderately malnourished children treated with the RUTF, 85 percent recovered.

Read more from the Washington University in St. Louis or from the Project Peanut Butter.

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Peanut Butter Against Malnutrition

“A 10-year follow-up study of young men showed that those who had larger cardiovascular responses to stress in the lab, were more likely to contract hypertension later in life,” says Dr. Sheila G. West, associate professor of biobehavioral health. “Elevated reactions to stressors are partly genetic, but can be changed by diet and exercise. Lifestyle changes can make the biological reactions to stress smaller.”

Isn’t it amazing how a few ounces of pistachios, done regularly and over a long period, can have so much influence?

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Pistachios May Help Calm Acute Stress Reaction

• For Fabulous SKIN, eat foods rich in Beta Carotene, Vitamin C, E and Omega 3 fats.
• For Healthy HAIR eat foods high in Iron rich protein and B- vitamins.
• For a Dynamite SMILE — healthy gums, sweet breath and strong teeth, get adequate calcium and vitamin D, drink plenty of water, chew sugarless gum, and drink green or black tea.
• For a Lean, bloat-free STOMACH, drink lots of flat water, make PROTEIN the star of each meal

Read the full article and see how you can use nutrition for a better-looking you.

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Eat Your Way to a Beautiful You!

How do these food items work to help you fight disease? Go ahead and read up! You might also want to get hold of The Complete Guide to Nutritional Health: More Than 600 Foods and Recipes for Overcoming Illness and Boosting Your Immunity for further reading.

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The Immunity Diet

Times like these, I take comfort from a hot bath, a warm bed, a good book and a piece of chocolate.

The debate is still on as to whether chocolate really helps ease depression, or actually make it worse, particularly in people who are not merely sad, but diagnosed of clinical depression. To be honest, at this point, I really don’t care. A piece of chocolate makes me feel good, end of story. Maybe it’s psychological, psychosomatic, something brought about by something that happened during my childhood… whatever. Let’s just say that currently, it’s my comfort food.

What do YOU eat when you feel down?

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Needing Comfort Foods

This time, researchers at the Harvard Medical School and the National Institute on Aging report that resveratrol may help improve the health and possibly increase the lifespan by offsetting the effects of a high-calorie diet.

“The “healthspan” benefits we saw in the obese mice treated with resveratrol, such as increased insulin sensitivity, decreased glucose levels, healthier heart and liver tissues, are positive clinical indicators and may mean we can stave off in humans age-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, but only time and more research will tell.”

That’s a quote from Prof. David Sinclair, a co-author of the paper published in the Nov 1 issue of Nature, and a co-founder of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, a company currently conducting phase 1b trial in humans with diabetes using an enhanced, proprietary formulation of resveratrol.

But don’t go stocking up on resveratrol supplements yet. The authors emphasize, that the safety and effectiveness of resveratrol for human use to address aging and age- or obesity-related conditions still requires extensive research. In fact, some contraindications are already known, including evidence from earlier animal studies that have shown high doses of resveratrol to affect blood platelets, which could increase the risk of bleeding when taken with anticoagulant, anti-platelet or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

For further reading (or listening), have a look at these online references:

• National Institute of Aging, Press Release
• Harvard Medical School, Office of Public Affairs
• Substance in Red Wine Extends Life of Mice, New York Times
• Resveratrol improves health and survival of mice on a high-calorie diet, Nature (abstract available, subs req’d for full text)
• Resveratrol and the life of mice (mp3), Nature podcast

[Photo: Image of three 15 month old mice: (left) standard diet; (center) high calorie diet; (right) high calorie diet + resveratrol. Credit: Doug Hansen]

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Resveratrol May Extend Lifespan, Treat Ageing and Obesity-Related Disorders

A minimum of four cups of tea a day will contribute to your daily fluid intake, the antioxidants tea contains can be beneficial for heart health, and the small amount of caffeine tea contains can help increase concentration, according to the latest research – all news that should have commuters heading straight for the kettle when they arrive in the office.

Aside from promoting heart health, tea has also been demonstrated to help cope with stress, cut death risks (due to chronic disease), and reduce the risks of developing gall stones and contracting gall bladder cancer.

That tea is a healthy drink is not a surprise. That Londoners need convincing is what makes me confused. Isn’t tea the ultimate panacea for the Brits? “Boyfriend left you for another? Another man? Here, have a cup of tea. It’ll do you good…”

Anyway, should you feel like reading scientific bases for tea’s health benefits, see the UK Tea Council’s Tea4Health, which compiles the latest research on tea and health.

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Four Cups of Tea a Day For Your Health

So how do you know which fish types to avoid, which ones are good for you, and how many servings can you safely eat of a certain type of fish or seafood?

OceansAlive has a list of the best and worst seafood choices. You can even download a pocket guide (pdf file) you can take with you when you go shopping. If you have any other questions on the safety of eating fish or taking fish supplements, you might find the answers here.

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Which Fish is Safe to Eat?

In what they claim to be the “single most comprehensive analysis to date of fish and health”, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) reviewed the evidences of major health effects of omega-3 fatty acids, major health risks of mercury, and major health risks of PCBs and dioxins in both adults and infants/young children.

The conclusion:

“…the benefits of eating one to two servings of fish a week (primarily reduced risk of death due to coronary heart disease risks and overall mortality) greatly outweigh the risks among adults and, except for a few species of fish, women of child-bearing age.”

Optimal consumption is placed at about 3 ounces of farmed salmon or 6 ounces of mackerel.

Read the detailed feature report from HSPH, or see the manuscript published in the Journal of the American medical Association.

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Health Benefits of Fish Consumption Outweigh Risks