General Nutrition

Many people are pressed for time (and sometimes energy) when it comes to putting dinner on the table. But, sometimes we make it harder than it needs to be. You'll be ready to whip up a quick meal any day of the week if you stock your kitchen with minimally-prepped, nutritious ingredients (think: frozen vegetables, precooked brown rice and frozen fish fillets) and simple ideas for quick-fix dishes.

I heard that drinking coffee can cause calcium loss from the body. Is that true?

Q. I recently lost my sense of taste. I can taste spices somewhat. Can you tell me if and how I can get back my sense of taste?

Q. I've been drinking soy milk daily for years. Since it contains phytoestrogens, I wonder if it puts me at higher risk of developing breast cancer?

The FDA has announced that it is extending the date by which manufacturers must implement changes to the Nutrition Facts label. The original deadline was July 2018 (or July 2019 for small companies).

Eating fried potatoes (such as French fries, potato chips and hash browns) two or more times a week was associated with twice the risk of dying prematurely, compared to eating fried spuds no more than once a month, showed a new observational study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

A new observational study in the Journal of Hepatology suggests regularly drinking coffee or herbal tea may help protect against liver fibrosis (hardening due to scar tissue). That's assessed by measuring liver stiffness with a scan.

Improving your eating pattern and sticking to these changes for the long haul may have a big impact on reducing your risk of dying prematurely. Those were the findings of a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Why are more than two-thirds of adults and about one-third of kids in the US overweight or obese? Two key factors in weight control are our eating habits and physical activity levels. But, complex interactions between our genetics and environmental factors may play a role, too.

Newer subscribers to Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter may not know that this award-winning newsletter got its start with Stanley N. Gershoff, PhD, (1924-2017) at the helm. He developed the newsletter (originally called Tufts University Diet & Nutrition Letter) in 1983 and edited it until 2000. There's much more we have to thank him for in the field of nutrition though.