GI Health

The glycemic index, a value that aims to quantify how fast blood sugar rises after eating a given food, can vary by an average of 20% within an individual and 25% among individuals. That's the surprising finding of a new study by scientists from the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts.

Q. Should I avoid eating spinach because it has oxalate found in kidney stones? I already have some kidney stones.

Scientists who succeeded in sequencing the genome of carrots have identified the gene, dubbed DCAR_032551, responsible for carotenoids, which make carrots and other produce orange and provide humans with vitamin A.

Keeping your kitchen uncluttered and calm might help prevent you from munching empty calories. A recent Cornell University experiment, published in Environment and Behavior, compared the snacking habits of 100 young women.

If you're the "canary in the coal mine" who's always the first to get sick from that undercooked burger or picnic potato salad, blame your genes.

When the supermarket fish counter fails you, dont hesitate to head for the canned-fish aisle. Canned sardines and salmon are generally sustainable choices; canned tuna, while controversial, typically includes sustainable pole-caught albacore or skipjack varieties.

Every five years, your Uncle Sam rounds up the latest scientific evidence about nutrition and serves up advice about what to eat and drink for better health. The resulting Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) - whose eighth edition was released in January - provides basic guidance to the American public about healthy eating patterns and shapes nutrition education programs.

Q. If you sit in front of a window with sunlight coming through, will your body produce vitamin D or do you have to be outdoors with direct sunlight?

There's good news at your local grocery store. "You should walk into a supermarket with a very positive attitude," says Alice H. Lichtenstein, DSc, director of Tufts' HNRCA Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory and executive editor of the Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter. "The availability of healthy and affordable foods has greatly expanded in recent years. There are a lot of options now throughout the store that are really good choices."

Globally, foodborne illness strikes almost 1 in 10 people each year, according to a new report from the World Health Organization. The report looked at 31 different causes of foodborne disease, such as salmonella, E. coli and campylobacter as well as foodborne cholera and typhoid.