The (Nutrition) Facts of the Matter

The theme of National Nutrition Month® is “Nutrition: It’s a Matter of Fact”. As I mentioned previously, one of the key messages is:

The best nutrition advice is based on science. Before adopting any changes to your diet, be sure the information is based in scientific fact.

So what does this mean? Basically, do your research before accepting what you hear in the media regarding nutrition and health. Just because it’s important for us to get vitamins and minerals in our diet, does this mean we should eat as many “supplemented foods” as possible? No.

For example, calcium is good for us, it’s good for our bones, and we have a minimum value that we need to eat each day to strive for optimal health. But does this mean that the more calcium we eat, the better, and so we should each as much calcium as we can to be our healthiest? No, with many nutrients and with many foods, there is an upper limit to what is best for our bodies. As the old saying goes, “everything in moderation“. That goes for calcium too!

Which brings me back to my point: the nutrition information that a registered dietitian will tell you or the information on MyPyramid.Gov and any government-based health agency posts, is based on science. And yes, as science changes, so will our nutrition knowledge and key messages.

When you hear something in the news about a food being good for you, take a step back and think about a few things:

• What is the claim? For example, calcium is good for you.
• Who did the research? Was the study funded by a certain food company, or was it funded by the government, which has no ties with any one food company or brand and must remain unbiased?
• Who were the study participants/subjects? For example, if the study was done on post-menopausal women, then the results and the information the study is claiminig to promote may not apply to men, children, and pre-menopausal women.
• How many people were involved in the study? Was it a large study or was it only conducted on 5 people?

When possible, go to the direct source of information: the research study or the authors of the study. Many times, the claims in the media will tell you where they got their information (often I see magazines tell you the journal article’s source). See if you can find that article, or the abstract to the article and the authors. Feel free to write to the author directly. I’m sure they won’t mind that you’re interested in their study results (unless they’re not completely honest in their “findings”).

Before you believe everything that you hear about nutrition in the workplace or at your next family gathering, take a few minutes to do your research on the topic and analyze it to make sure that it really is based on science and is grounded in research. Good luck!

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