For Smarter Nutrition (10)

What’s Really Best for Your Bones? A Lesson in Calcium from the Harvard School of Public Health
Is milk your only option for making sure that you get enough calcium in your diet? Not so, according to two schools of thought. The pro-milk side believes that three glasses of milk a day will prevent osteoporosis, which leads to more than 1.5 million fractures and 300,000 broken hips. The other side believes that consuming a lot of milk and dairy products will have little effect on the rate. This article doesn’t take any particular side, but explains what is currently known about the use of calcium in the body. It covers what calcium is, where calcium comes from and what osteoporosis is.

The Food and Nutrition Center: Smart Eating Choices
This is the website of the Food and Nutrition Center, brought to you by the United States Department of Agriculture. You’ll find spotlight articles on healthy eating habits for teens, kids, infants, toddlers and adults. Information about how to keep a healthy lifestyle is include including nutritional data about hundreds of foods all available with the click of your mouse. Topics range from A to Z, and users can look at dietary guidelines and calorie content in their favorite foods.

Are You Calcium Deficient?
Many people believe that milk and other dairy products are your best and richest source of calcium. Northwestern University agrees, saying that, Calcium is a primary structural constituent of the skeleton, but it is also widely distributed in soft tissue where it is involved in neuromuscular, enzymatic, hormonal, and other metabolic activity. This article explains calcium deficiency, and says that people who are deficient in calcium are associated with increased risks of pre-eclampsia, hypertension and colon cancer.

Dietary Nutrition: What You Should Know
This is the homepage of the American Dietetic Association, which provides information on optimal nutrition, health and well-being. It includes sections on advocacy and profession, professional development, and offers a tip of the day, and a monthly feature. Visitors can find a nutrition professional, and also head to the food and nutritional information site, which features information about nutrition on various foods. Nutrition fact sheets and a nutritional reading list, as well as a food pyramid guide, are also offered.

Nutrition Facts and Calorie Counter: A Healthy Combo
Here’s a neat place online where you can analyze any food, compare foods and find out the nutritional content in food. You can also estimate your daily nutritional needs, track your daily food consumption, improve your recipes and even generate custom nutritional fact labels. There is also a free newsletter, and a side bar with the nutritional information from various national chain restaurants, such as Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Burger King.