No surprise. Your Mom was right. You need to eat your veggies. Another study showing that eating vegetables has a tremendous benefit to health was just released. This one a large epidemiological study looking at the incidence of benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH). Interestingly, vegetable consumption was inversely associated with BPH whereas fruit intake was not. However, consumption of fruit rich in ß-carotene , lutein , or vitamin C was inversely related to BPH.

Surprsingly a high vitamin C supplementation increased the risk of BPH, whereas eating foods high in vitamin C did not. Why might that be? Read the rest of this entry

Here it is....another reason to turn off the TV, at least for the kids. In a recent AJCN article it was shown that kids watching TV had a much higher intake of calories than those in a controlled group. The experimental results show that there is a relation between television watching and eating behavior. Television watching disrupts habituation, which leads to an increase in energy intake. In addition, because the types of food that children choose to eat while watching television tend to be of high energy density, television watching has the potential to profoundly affect total energy intake.

Is it a surprise? To see the full research article click here: Television watching increases energy intake in children

George Mandler
Licensed Acupuncturist & Nutritionist Dietitian
Acupuncture, Chinese Medicine, & Nutrition
Boston, Jamaica Plain, Brookline, Massachusetts

Well another study showing that vitamin D supplementation may save your ass. Literally. It concluded that 1-2 grams of Vitamin D can reduce the incidence of colorectal cancer by over 50%! This is up to five times the RDA for Vitamin D. No doubt plasma vitamin D levels will soon be part of a standard blood screen as it is an inexpensive test. I uploaded the entire research article in pdf here: Colorectal cancer and vitamin D

It is recommended that folks should supplement with vitamin D from Nov - April in the Northeast. There are many supplements available through Emerson Ecologics as well as your local health food store. Make sure you take the active form Vitamin D3, cholecalciferol!

George Mandler
Licensed Acupuncturist & Nutritionist Dietitian
Acupuncture, Chinese Medicine, & Nutrition
Boston, Jamaica Plain, Brookline, Massachusetts

In 2004 I wrote an unpublished meta-analysis paper investigating the potential protective mechanism of soy phytoestrogens and breast cancer. The conclusion was that "...the consumption of properly prepared fermented soy foods (miso, natto, tempeh) during adolescence appears to provide a chemoprotective effect later in life. Read the rest of this entry