Nutrition Archive

Eating a varied diet of colorful plant foods may have benefits that go beyond the power of vitamins and minerals.

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Whenever you bite into a juicy red apple or crunch a mouthful of dark, leafy greens, you consume more than just vitamins, minerals, and fiber. You also get a power-packed bite of plant substances called phytochemicals. They're not known to be essential for health, like vitamins and minerals, but they may go a long way toward keeping us healthy.

"We're still just learning about them. The science is ongoing. But they may help fight cancer and heart disease," says Debbie Krivitsky, director of clinical nutrition at the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Center at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.

Are dairy foods healthy, or is it best to reduce or even avoid them in your diet? Here is what the science says.

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Dairy is one of the most controversial food groups. Is it healthy — or a health risk? It really depends on what you need.

"Dairy isn't necessary in the diet for optimal health, but for many people, it is the easiest way to get the calcium, vitamin D, and protein they need to keep their heart, muscles, and bones healthy and functioning properly," says Vasanti Malik, nutrition research scientist with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

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In the journals

Adults who sleep only six hours per night may have a higher chance of being dehydrated, compared with those who sleep longer, according to recent research published online Nov. 5, 2018, by the journal Sleep. The findings suggest that some of the symptoms of inadequate sleep, such as fatigue, fuzzy thinking, and headache in the morning, may be due to dehydration.

Researchers looked at the risk of dehydration in approximately 20,000 U.S. and Chinese adults. In both populations, people who reported sleeping six or fewer hours had up to a 59% higher risk of dehydration compared with those who slept seven to eight hours on a regular basis. The researchers speculated that the finding may reflect the nightly rhythm of a hormone called vasopressin. During sleep, the pituitary gland in the brain uses vasopressin to signal the kidneys to retain fluid in the body rather than excreting it through urine.

In the journals

Eating extra protein may protect older adults from becoming disabled and help them maintain independent lives, according to a study published online Nov. 1, 2018, by the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for protein is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. In the study, scientists recruited 722 85-year-olds and examined their medical data, including information like physical activity, what they ate each day, their body weight, and overall health status. Disability was measured from self-reported questionnaires in which the people described how much difficulty they had performing 17 activities of daily living, such as getting in and out of bed, dressing, bathing, doing household chores, and going up and down stairs.

A healthy diet should go heavy on vegetables and skip alcohol, sugary drinks, and processed foods.

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Most of the time when someone gets cancer, it's because of bad genes or bad luck. But as many as four in 10 cancers may be preventable. And diet likely plays an important role in reducing (or increasing) your risk.

It's no surprise that vegetables and fruits are thought to reduce cancer risk, according to Teresa Fung, adjunct professor in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and faculty editor of Healthy Eating, a Special Health Report from Harvard Health Publishing (available at www.health.harvard.edu/special-health-reports). It probably also won't shock you to learn that bacon, fast food, and sugary drinks fall into the opposite category. But how can you know for sure which foods to eat and which to avoid?

Healthy-sounding claims on food packaging can be misleading. Here's how to find impostors.

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The New Year may have you thinking about a healthier diet, but you may need to do some detective work to find the healthiest foods in your grocery store. Food manufacturers often use terms that make products sound healthier than they are.

"Finding the healthiest foods takes time and effort, and we want things that are quick and easy. We need to take a couple of steps back and look beyond the flashy labels to see what actually is — and isn't — in the foods," says registered dietitian Kathy McManus, director of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital.