Medpage Today, John Gever, August 25, 2011
Common rules of thumb exaggerate how much weight people will lose from a given dietary calorie reduction, leading to unrealistic expectations and disappointment, researchers said.
Whereas patients are often told that cutting 500 calories a day will let them lose a pound a week, a more realistic formula is that such a caloric reduction would lead to a 50-pound loss over three or more years, according to Kevin D. Hall, PhD, of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Bethesda, Md., …

August 23, 2011, ABC News, Mikaela Conley
Millions of Americans pop statins to keep their cholesterol levels down. But new research suggests that cholesterol-friendly foods, such as soy products and tree nuts, may also contribute to lowering LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol levels.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that people who ate a healthy diet filled with cholesterol-lowering foods experienced a 13 percent decrease in their LDL cholesterol levels. Those who followed a diet low in saturated fats experienced a 3 percent decrease.
“The main takeaway here …

August 23, 2011, Washington Post, Jennifer LaRue Huget
In an ideal world, no one would need dietary supplements. Our balanced diets would provide all the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients our bodies need.
Alas, the world of American eating is far from ideal. And that, some nutrition experts and supplement advocates argue, is why we need dietary supplements.
The latest federal data show that more than half of U.S. adults use dietary supplements, mostly multivitamins. But do we really need all those pills?
Depends on whom you ask. The latest version of the federal …

August 15, 2011, Carly Weeks, Globe and Mail
A new test that can predict which overweight and obese people face the greatest risk of death is much more accurate than relying on body mass index alone and should become the new standard of care, according to two large new studies.
The findings turn the prevailing notion that carrying extra weight automatically comes with heightened health risks on its head by suggesting not all overweight and obese people will benefit from a weight-loss regimen.
Instead, underlying health conditions, waist circumference and other factors should …

August 12, 2011, The Jakarta Post
As many nutrition-deficiency illnesses starts during pregnancy and childhood, WHO officers said women were the key to preventing future malnourished generations.
Francesco Branca, the director of nutrition for health and development at the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO), said on Tuesday that many different nutritional challenges such as low birth weight, stunted growth and micro-nutrient deficiencies among children began during pregnancy and neonatal periods.
“We cannot solve nutrition problems in one night. If you want to prepare for the next generation, you have to act through young …

August 9, 2011, Viet Nam News, Phuong Ngo
 A war against nutrition was re-raged by international health officials yesterday in Colombo, Srilanka amidst growing concern over the losing public interest on both underweight and overweight people– a double burden to most countries across the globe.
Nutritional risk factors are responsible for 3.9 million deaths globally in children under the age of 5 each year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) – the key host to the three-day Bi-regional Meeting on Scaling up Nutrition.
The meeting, gathered health experts and policy-makers from 19 …

August 9, 2011, Health Day
As parents prepare to send their children back to school, they need to remember that nutrition is an important factor in academic performance, an expert advises.
Studies have shown that children who eat healthy, balanced breakfasts and lunches are more alert throughout the school day and also earn higher marks than those who have an unhealthy diet, says Mary Pat Alfaro, clinical manager of the division of nutrition therapy at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, in a center news release.
A healthy breakfast includes a variety of foods …

Los Angeles Times, August 8, 2011, Jeanine Stein
Obese men who want to improve their sexual health might have another solution besides their erectile dysfunction drugs. A study finds that overweight men who lost just 5% of their weight over eight weeks saw improvements in erectile dysfunction, sexual desire and urinary tract symptoms.
The small study focused on 31 obese men with a body mass index of 30 or greater and who had Type 2 diabetes. Some were put on a low-calorie diet that included liquid meal replacements and others were assigned …

August 8, 2011,  WalesOnline, Madeleine Brindley
We know that too much salt isn’t good for us, but we’re still eating far more than we need. Health Editor Madeleine Brindley looks at our ongoing love affair with salt and what it’s doing to our health
EVERY time television chef Rick Stein adds a generous handful of salt, he tells the camera crew the salt police won’t like it.
While it’s debatable whether the salt police actually exist, there’s certainly been a high profile and ongoing campaign to gradually cut the amount of salt we …

August 3, 2011, Reuters/Tribune
Dieting to lose weight may not help older overweight adults live any longer, suggests a new study.
But dropping a few pounds on purpose also does not seem to cause any harm to the elderly — which had been a concern raised by previous studies, researchers wrote in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
“There is a general sense in geriatrics…that weight-loss is a bad thing,” said study author Stephen Kritchevsky, from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Improvements in diet and weight loss in the overweight …