Nutrition Archive

News briefs

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What's the secret to living longer? A Harvard study published online April 30, 2018, by Circulation suggests that it may come down to five healthy habits: eating a healthy diet, exercising daily, keeping a healthy body weight, drinking alcohol only in moderation, and not smoking. Researchers combed through information from two large studies that tracked more than 123,000 men and women for about three decades. Scientists estimated that life expectancy for study participants (at age 50) was 79 for women and 75 for men, if they didn't maintain healthy habits. But if they adopted all five habits, life expectancy at age 50 jumped to 93 for women and 87 for men. And following even one healthy habit was associated with a lower risk for dying young. The study is only observational and doesn't prove that healthy habits extend your life. But the findings build on similar research. "It's never too late to make positive lifestyle changes. Even for those who are 70 or older, following a healthy lifestyle such as eating a healthy diet and being physically active can add more years to life," says Dr. Frank Hu, senior author of the study and chair of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Learn the most common sources of sodium in your diet and some easy substitutions you can make.

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If you think steering clear of potato chips, pretzels, and other savory snacks is the best way to trim salt from your diet, think again. Yes, those foods are salty — but they only rank no. 7 on the top 10 sources of sodium (a major component of salt) in the average American's diet.

The category of bread and rolls tops the list, which is based both on sodium content and how often people eat the foods. Bread is not especially salty, but we eat a lot of it, as well as similar foods such as hamburger and hot dog buns, bagels, and English muffins.

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Vine-ripened, locally grown tomatoes are abundant in farmers' markets in August. Scientifically speaking, these vivid red (and sometimes yellow, brown, purple, or green) orbs are fruits. But the USDA, which issues the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, includes tomatoes in the red-orange vegetable group. Aim for about five to six cups per week of the foods in this group, which also includes carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes.

When good fresh tomatoes aren't available, canned tomatoes are a good substitute, especially in soups, stews, and pasta sauces. Eating tomatoes and tomato products may help lower cholesterol and improve blood vessel function, according to a 2017 article in Atherosclerosis.

Research we're watching

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The same diet that doctors recommend for dodging heart disease also may help preserve brain tissue, a new study finds.

Researchers scrutinized diet surveys from more than 4,200 people with an average age of 66 and ranked the quality of their diets on a scale of 0 to 14. A score of 14 was healthiest and included lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, dairy, and fish, but limited sugar. The volunteers provided data on other factors that might affect brain size, such as blood pressure, physical activity, and smoking. They also underwent brain scans to measure their brain size.

Eating five servings of fruits and vegetables can go a long way to protecting against heart disease and cancer.

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We've been told the importance of eating fruits and vegetables ever since childhood, and yet we still tend to ignore this nutritional advice. In fact, a CDC survey found that only 18% of adults eat the recommended five daily servings of fruits and vegetables.

"The main reason older men have trouble reaching this amount is lack of awareness," says Vasanti Malik, a research scientist in the Department of Nutrition of Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "They are not always engaged in their nutrition or aware of the impact fruits and vegetables can have on their health."

On call

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Q. I take fish oil supplements for heart health, but now I hear they aren't helpful. What's the truth?

A. Fish intake remains an important part of a healthy diet, but the enthusiasm for fish oil supplements has been dampened by several recent studies that showed no benefit for a variety of conditions.

In the journals

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Two recent studies have found that eggs do not raise the risk of heart disease, and in fact may even protect against it.

The first study, published online May 7, 2018, by The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, looked at how egg consumption affected 128 people with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes; both conditions put people at a higher risk of heart disease and stroke. For three months, half of the participants ate 12 eggs a week, while the other half ate two eggs or fewer per week. Everyone also followed the same weight-loss diet that avoided saturated fats like butter and included healthier monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats like avocado and olive oils.

How old you are when you go through menopause could be influenced by the foods you eat.

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Could the foods you eat help determine when you start menopause? They might, says a new study published online April 30 by the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Researchers found that women who ate more fish and beans and other legumes started menopause at a later age, while women who ate a diet heavy on refined pasta and rice went through the change earlier.

Why do the results matter?

How old a woman is when she goes through menopause may have implications for her health. Past research has linked certain health risks to menopause that occurs either very early (before age 40) or late (age 55 or older). Going through menopause at an earlier age has been associated with lower bone density and a higher risk for osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, depression, and — in some instances — premature death.

Research we're watching

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Eating an egg a day may help protect against cardiovascular disease, according to a study published online May 21 by the journal Heart. Researchers found that people who ate an egg every day had an 18% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and a 28% lower risk of experiencing a deadly hemorrhagic stroke, compared with people who didn't eat eggs.

The study included more than 400,000 adults ages 30 to 79. Participants were from 10 survey sites in China. Researchers looked at how often study subjects reported eating eggs and then tracked their health for nearly nine years using registries and other methods.