Vitamins, minerals & supplements Archive

These foods are grown without fertilizers, pesticides, and other synthetic additives. But are they better for you?

Walk through any grocery store today, and you'll likely see more shelf space devoted to organics—foods that are grown without most synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and animal products that are free of antibiotics and hormones. Demand for organic food is up, with sales reaching $35.9 billion in 2014. "I think people believe these foods are better for them, but we really don't know that they are," says registered dietitian Kathy McManus, director of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Ask the doctor

Q: I've read a lot lately about nuts and how they prevent heart disease. How much should I eat, and are some nuts healthier than others?

A: Nuts contain high amounts of polyunsaturated fat and are a staple in the popular Mediterranean diet. Commonly studied nuts include walnuts and almonds, which have been shown in short-term studies to lower cholesterol. In the PREDIMED trial, a Mediterranean diet supplemented with 30 grams of nuts daily reduced the risk of heart disease. Thirty grams of nuts is equal to about 20 almonds or 10 walnuts. In other studies that showed health benefits from nuts, the frequency of consumption was recorded, not the amount. Daily consumption appeared to be best.

Obtain the moderate amount of protein you need from a variety of nutritious foods—not just meat.

To meet your daily protein needs, combine small to medium portions of meat, dairy, and nuts with protein-rich whole grains, legumes, and vegetables.

Protein is essential to good health. You need it to make the bricks and mortar of the body, including muscle, bone, and blood. But how much protein does the average man need in order to stay healthy?

Skipping breakfast can reduce the overall number of healthy fruits and whole grains that you eat, according to a study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. To study the impact of breakfast skipping, researchers drew on data collected from 2005 to 2010 in a national survey. Here are the key findings:

Breakfast skippers were apparently hungrier at lunch, since they tended to eat a half-hour earlier than usual and ate more calories—about 200 extra for men.

Q. My doctor used to check my liver function once a year after I started taking a statin drug to lower my cholesterol, but he doesn't anymore. Why not?

A. Your doctor appears to be following the latest recommendations from the American Heart Association and the FDA. When statin medications were first approved, doctors did periodic blood tests to check for liver injury. Three decades later, it is clear that serious liver injury from statins is a rare side effect and that routine blood testing does not help identify people at risk for statin-related liver problems. Therefore, routine monitoring is not a good use of money and time.

They're full of the nutrients you need for a healthy heart.

That familiar refrain "Eat your vegetables!" still hasn't sunk in. Only about one in 10 adults in the United States eats the amount recommended by the current federal dietary guidelines. And we're not doing much better when it comes to fruit, according to a recent report from the CDC (see "How much should you be eating?" below).

But if you are healthy, deciding if these commonly prescribed drugs are right for you is a personal choice.

NSAID users: Take the lowest effective dose for the shortest possible time.

If you have heart disease, national guidelines recommend that you take a low-dose (81-mg) aspirin every day. It's an inexpensive and effective way to lower your risk of a heart attack or stroke. According to a report in the July 17 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, about seven in 10 adults with heart disease follow this advice.

The study relied on telephone surveys done by the CDC about health behaviors. It included data from more than 17,900 adults from 20 states and the District of Columbia.

Most men can get the water they need from their usual diet and by drinking when they are thirsty.

Especially in hot weather, we are urged to drink adequate fluids and be on guard for dehydration. That may be why you see people toting bottled water everywhere, propelled by the myth that you need to drink eight glasses of water a day to be healthy.