Healthy Eating

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new artificial sweetener, advantame. A derivative of another artificial sweetener, aspartame, advantame is a free-flowing, water soluble, white crystalline powder that is stable even at higher temperatures, and can be used as a tabletop sweetener as well as in cooking applications, according to the FDA.

Health-conscious takeout customers are going crazy for chia seeds, quinoa, almond milk and kale, according to the online ordering site GrubHub.

The proposed new Nutrition Facts labels are more helpful, more accurately reflect serving sizes and better alert consumers to less-healthy foods-at least in the 10-second span the average grocery shopper spends looking at labels.

Sitting down to a home-cooked meal with the whole family is increasingly a thing of the past, according to a report from the trend-watching Hartman Group.

Milk, long touted for helping children and young adults build strong bones, may also help keep the joints connecting those bones working right as you get older. A new study of more than 2,000 patients with knee osteoarthritis reports that greater milk consumption, primarily fat-free or low-fat milk, was associated with reduced progression of the condition. The apparent benefit was seen only in women, however.

Fresh peach season provides a fuzzy-skinned, sweet and juicy invitation to enjoy the nutritional goodness of these favorite fruits. Peaches are low in calories and glycemic index, a good source of vitamins, phytonutrients and fiber, and may even help fight cancer.

If you think only of your heartbeat when you hear the term pulse, you may need to broaden your vocabulary-although this less-familiar dietary meaning of pulse also relates to a healthy heart. Pulses (from the Latin puls meaning thick soup) are the edible seeds of plants in the legume family. They include beans, lentils, chickpeas and dried peas.

Q.Does drinking almond milk provide the same health benefits as consuming the actual nut?

Q. After many years of digestive problems, I decided to go gluten-free and have felt much better. Does this mean I need to go gluten-free for the rest of my life? Is there any diagnostic test other than if you feel better, stay gluten-free?

Q. I try to avoid foods with hydrogenated in the ingredients, knowing this refers to trans fats. But what about autolyzed (as in autolyzed yeast extract) or hydrolyzed (as in hydrolyzed vegetable protein)? Should these also be avoided?