Nutrition Wonderland

Over the next couple months, I will be rolling out a new version of Nutrition Wonderland.  This update is substantial and will significantly effect this site – for the better I hope.  I have taken into account everyone’s suggestions on how to improve what I started here and think I have come up with an [...]

Americans eat two to three times the recommended amount of salt every day. Part of the problem may lie not in our foods, but in our genes.

It turns out birds aren't bird brains when it comes to what they eat. A number of species of birds have been shown to choose foods that contain higher levels of healthy things like protein and antioxidants and lower levels of not-so-healthy things like heavy metals and pesticides. Since they're such finicky eaters, scientists figured to let them choose between conventionally and organically grown food, and see which they deemed better for them. The vote was unanimous: birds prefer non-organic.

Insulin is one of the most important hormones in the human body, and yet most people don't really understand why our bodies make it or how what we eat affects the levels of insulin we produce. More so than any other hormone, our diet is key in regulating insulin levels, and thus a number of biological processes. As you'll soon see, everyone should think about how what they eat impacts their body's insulin release to be at their happiest and healthiest.

New research out of the Oregon Health and Science University may explain the discrepancy between the theory and reality of dieting. They found that, at least in some of our closest relatives, cutting calories isn't enough to lose weight because the body compensates for the reduced intake by lowering activity levels. Image credit: iamchenelle, flickr

Why is it so hard for us to eat a healthy diet? It would appear to be the easiest solution in the world. Just choose wisely at the grocery store and - Poof! - you can feel better, lose weight, and look fantastic. Of course, we all know that eating healthy is never as easy as it sounds. So what is in the way of making good food choices?

A recent paper in The Journal of Physiology titled, "A practical model of low-volume high-intensity interval training induces mitochondrial biogenesis in human skeletal muscle: potential mechanisms." has caused quite a stir. It centers around a recent fashion in workouts called High-Intensity Interval Training, or HIT. HIT is a method of exercise which involves working as hard as you can for brief intervals followed by brief rest intervals. The idea is that by doing higher intensity workouts for shorter time intervals, you can work out "less" but get the same, or even more, benefit - but is that true?

Few public health issues in American history have riled people quite like fluoride. Its story is replete with famous figures in American history, dramatic tales from the Manhattan Project, corporate cover-ups, redacted research, shattered careers of those that spoke against it's use and the tragedy at Donora in 1948. The tide that binds all these accounts together is a fascinating book called, “The Fluoride Deception” by Christopher Bryson. His work paints a picture with enough intrigue to be nominated for an Oscar but remains deftly aware of itself long enough to stay away from hyperbole – most of the time at least.

Most of us already know that we should be eating fiber - according to the Institute of Medicine, adults should be eating 20-35 grams of it per day. But why? What's so important about fiber anyway? What does it do for us physiologically? And does it matter what kind of fiber we eat? (Image Credit: Sami Taipale, flickr)

It would be great if we could just stop eating meat all together. But there's one problem - we need complete dietary protein, and about 60 grams a day of it. This is what I call the Protein Problem: the problem is that we need a lot of protein, nutritionally speaking, but producing it is an ecological nightmare. If you've read my post about why protein is so nutritionally important, you know that meat is simply the best source of complete dietary protein. But is becoming vegetarian and eating tofu the solution to our protein problem? Unfortunately, it's not that simple.

The public's biggest concern when it comes to GMOs is their safety. There are a lot of misconceptions about genetic engineering. When pressed on science of GMOs, I have often heard people fear that the genetically modified material in the foods they are eating will somehow mutate their DNA too. While logically it sounds like that makes a bit of sense, scientifically its nonsense. So how do we test for and ensure that GMOs are safe? Allow me to introduce you to the complex world of genetic technology regulation. Image credit: kevin dolley on flickr.

As a part of her African agriculture series, Rachel Zedeck of the Medea Group wants to shift your perceptions of a food crisis away from the image of the starving child (above) to that of new opportunities crucial in changing the way we respond to childhood malnutrition.

Nutrition Wonderland fans - great news for those of you on the go and want to read our information. We have recently launched a completely new mobile site, optimized for touch-enabled devices like the iPhone, Palm Pre, Motorola Droid and Google Nexus One.

Why are crops and animals being modified? What GMOs are currently on the market? What new GMOs are being created? Good questions... (thanks to klar!! on flickr for that cool art.)

If you ever wondered about who owns your favorite organic brands, look no further. Our comprehensive list covers most of the brands you will find in the grocery store as you shop - and our list is up to date. (Thanks goes to Nicholas_T over at Flickr for that killer preview photo)