The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating

Nutritionist and author Jonny Bowden has created several lists of healthful foods people should be eating but aren’t. But some of his favorites, like purslane, guava and goji berries, aren’t always available at regular grocery stores. I asked Dr. Bowden, author of “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth,” to update his list with some favorite foods that are easy to find but don’t always find their way into our shopping carts. Here’s his advice.

1. Beets: Think of beets as red spinach, Dr. Bowden said, because they are a rich source of folate as well as natural red pigments that may be cancer fighters.
   How to eat: Fresh, raw and grated to make a salad. Heating decreases the antioxidant power.
2. Cabbage: Loaded with nutrients like sulforaphane, a chemical said to boost cancer-fighting enzymes.
   How to eat: Asian-style slaw or as a crunchy topping on burgers and sandwiches.
3. Swiss chard: A leafy green vegetable packed with carotenoids that protect aging eyes.
   How to eat it: Chop and saute in olive oil.
4. Cinnamon: May help control blood sugar and cholesterol.
   How to eat it: Sprinkle on coffee or oatmeal.
5. Pomegranate juice: Appears to lower blood pressure and loaded with antioxidants.
   How to eat: Just drink it.
6. Dried plums: Okay, so they are really prunes, but they are packed with antioxidants.
   How to eat: Wrapped in prosciutto and baked.
7. Pumpkin seeds: The most nutritious part of the pumpkin and packed with magnesium; high levels of the mineral are associated with lower risk for early death.
   How to eat: Roasted as a snack, or sprinkled on salad.
8. Sardines: Dr. Bowden calls them “health food in a can.'’ They are high in omega-3’s, contain virtually no mercury and are loaded with calcium. They also contain iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese as well as a full complement of B vitamins.
   How to eat: Choose sardines packed in olive or sardine oil. Eat plain, mixed with salad, on toast, or mashed with dijon mustard and onions as a spread.
9. Turmeric: The “superstar of spices,'’ it may have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.
   How to eat: Mix with scrambled eggs or in any vegetable dish.
10. Frozen blueberries: Even though freezing can degrade some of the nutrients in fruits and vegetables, frozen blueberries are available year-round and don’t spoil; associated with better memory in animal studies.
    How to eat: Blended with yogurt or chocolate soy milk and sprinkled with crushed almonds.
11. Canned pumpkin: A low-calorie vegetablesthat is high in fiber and immune-stimulating vitamin A; fills you up on very few calories.
    How to eat: Mix with a little butter, cinnamon and nutmeg.

You can find more details and recipes on the Men’s Health Web site, which published the original version of the list last year.

In my own house, I only have two of these items — pumpkin seeds, which I often roast and put on salads, and frozen blueberries, which I mix with milk, yogurt and other fruits for morning smoothies. How about you? Have any of these foods found their way into your shopping cart?

Cholesterol Screening Is Urged for Young

The nation’s pediatricians are recommending wider cholesterol screening for children and more aggressive use of cholesterol-lowering drugs starting as early as the age of 8 in hopes of preventing adult heart problems.

The push to aggressively screen and medicate for high cholesterol in children is certain to create controversy amid a continuing debate about the use of prescription drugs in children as well as the best approaches to ward off heart disease in adults.

But proponents say there is growing evidence that the first signs of heart disease show up in childhood, and with 30 percent of the nation’s children overweight or obese, many doctors fear that a rash of early heart attacks and diabetes is on the horizon as these children grow up.

Previously, the academy had said cholesterol drugs should be considered in children older than 10 if they fail to lose weight after a 6- to 12-month effort. The academy estimated that under the current guidelines, 30 percent to 60 percent of children with high cholesterol were being missed. And for some children, cholesterol-lowering drugs, called statins, may be their best hope of lowering their risk of early heart attack , proponents said.

“We are in an epidemic,” said Dr. Jatinder Bhatia, a member of the academy’s nutrition committee who is a professor and chief of neonatology at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. “The risk of giving statins at a lower age is less than the benefit you’re going to get out of it.”

Dr. Bhatia said that although there was not “a whole lot” of data on pediatric use of cholesterol-lowering drugs, recent research showed that the drugs were generally safe for children.

Surprisingly, the paper published in the medical journal Pediatrics that explains the new guidelines notes that among adolescents, average total cholesterol levels as well as LDL and HDL cholesterol have remained stable, while triglyceride levels have dropped, based on data collected from 1988 to 2000.

It is not clear how many children would be affected by the new guidelines. The recommendations call for cholesterol screening of children and adolescents, starting as early as the age of 2 and no later than the age of 10, if they come from families with a history of high cholesterol or heart attacks before 55 for men and 65 for women.

Screening is also recommended for children when family history is unknown, or if they have other risk factors, like being at or above the 85th percentile for weight, or have diabetes.

If the child’s cholesterol level is normal, retesting is suggested in three to five years. Although lifestyle changes are still recommended as the first course of action, drug treatment should be considered for children 8 years and older who have bad cholesterol of 190 milligrams per deciliter and who also have a family history of early heart disease or two additional risk factors, the new recommendations say.

The guidelines give no guidance on how long a child should stay on drug treatment.

But they do say the first goal should be to lower bad cholesterol levels to less than 160 milligrams or possibly as low as 110 milligrams in children with a strong family history of heart disease or other risk factors like obesity.

Because statins have been around since only the mid-1980s, there is no evidence to show whether giving statins to a child will lower the risk for heart attack in middle age.

The academy also now recommends giving children low-fat milk after 12 months if a doctor is concerned about future weight problems. Although children need fat for brain development, the group says that because children often consume so much fat, low-fat milk is now appropriate.

By TARA PARKER-POPE

Published: July 7, 2008

Breast-Feeding Tied to Intelligence

In a large randomized trial of human lactation, researchers have found evidence that prolonged breast-feeding is associated with improved scores on some intelligence tests in childhood.

The results, published in the May issue of The Archives of General Psychiatry, appear to confirm those of previous observational studies.

Researchers in Belarus trained 8,457 mother-infant pairs with an extensive breast-feeding educational program, while a control group of 7,856 received standard care. At three months, 73 percent of the trained mothers, but only 60 percent of the controls, were still exclusively breast-feeding. By six months, exclusive breast-feeding had declined substantially in both groups, to 7.9 percent for the education group and 0.6 percent for the controls.

At 6 ½ years, the breast-fed group scored significantly higher on tests of vocabulary, word matching and verbal I.Q., although the differences in several other tests of intelligence were not significant. Teacher ratings of the children were consistently higher for those who were breast-fed.

It is unclear whether the differences were caused by a constituent of breast milk or by the associated physical and social interactions between mother and child. But the lead author, Dr. Michael S. Kramer, a professor of pediatrics at McGill Universtiyin Montreal, said the results could not be explained by characteristics of the mother or the way she related to her baby. “It’s the breast-feeding that’s doing it,” he said.

click here

Rough Transition to a New Asthma Inhaler

Millions of people with asthma and other lung diseases will have to switch inhalers by the end of the year. And for many, the transition will not be smooth.

The change — mandated by the federal government in 2005, to go into effect next Jan. 1 — is to comply with the 1987 treaty to protect the earth’s ozone layer. It bans most uses of chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, which are used as propellants in many inhalers.

CFC-free inhalers have been available for more than a decade. But four million to five million users have yet to switch, according to the consumer advocacy group Allergy and Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics.

For one thing, the old inhalers cost much less — an average of $13.50, or one-third the price of a CFC-free inhaler, which uses propellants called HFAs, for hydrofluoroalkanes. (CFC inhalers are generic; HFA inhalers are brand-name.) People with asthma use an average of three or four inhalers a year, but some patients use one a month.

Moreover, the new and old inhalers differ in feel, force and taste, and how they are primed and cleaned. Advocates for people with asthma say doctors and patients have not been educated about the changes.

“What the government failed to do is to mandate anyone to tell patients and physicians this transition was happening,” said Nancy Sander, president of the asthma group. “There is no education, no monitoring of patients, no financial assistance to patients who have to pay higher prices for the new drugs.”

As a result, she and others say, there have been unnecessary fears about the newer inhalers, preventable trips to the emergency room and even some hoarding of CFC inhalers.

Callers to a hot line run by Ms. Sander’s group have complained that when they were switched to the new inhalers, the differences between the two types were never explained. Many thought that their device was broken or that their symptoms were not being relieved by the new inhalers.

The Food and Drug Administration says that since January 2007 it has received 415 complaints about HFA inhalers’ costing too much or not working properly. After a public meeting last month in which doctors and patients said most people were unaware of the transition, the agency has been stepping up educational efforts, with several public service announcements expected by the end of this month, said Deborah Henderson, an official at the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

Both types of inhalers use albuterol, a short-acting medication that can prevent an asthma attack when used preventively — before exercising, for example — or at the first sign of breathing trouble.

But the cost difference has meant huge gains for drug companies. As people switched to HFA inhalers in 2006 and 2007, sales of all albuterol inhalers jumped from about $500 million to $1.1 billion, according to I.M.S. Health, a health care information company. Of the 40.5 million prescriptions written for albuterol inhalers last year, it said, about half were CFC and half were HFA inhalers.

And even though there are important differences between the four brands of HFA inhalers, some insurers cover only one of the four. Advocates say the higher cost may keep patients from buying inhalers or force them to cut back on other medications or switch to a less effective over-the-counter inhaler that uses epinephrine.

Several members of Congress are asking the Bush administration to require insurers, including the Medicare and Medicaid programs, to cover the new inhalers equally. Representative Steve Kagen, a Wisconsin Democrat who is also an allergy and asthma physician, said it was important “to make sure there’s as little co-pay as possible.”

The four HFA inhalers are Ventolin by GlaxoSmithKline, ProAir by Ivax, Proventil by Schering-Plough and Xopenex by Sepracor. (Xopenex uses a different chemical, levalbuterol.) All companies have give-away programs for those in need and are providing free samples that doctors give to their patients. There is also financial assistance available through the Partnership for Prescription Assistance (1-888-477-2669).

Studies show that HFA inhalers are as effective as CFC inhalers and have the same rate of side effects. But if they are not used properly, patients will not get adequate doses. There are three critical differences.

HFA inhalers must be pumped four times to prime them — a number that was not so critical with the more forgiving CFC inhalers, said Dr. Leslie Hendeles, professor of pharmacy and pediatrics at the University of Florida. And each brand of the newer inhaler requires a different frequency of priming.

HFA inhalers have a weaker spray. “It’s very soft so people think it’s not working,” Dr. Stoloff said. Where CFC inhalers deliver a powerful force that feels as if the airway is being pushed open, the newer ones provide a warm, soft mist that also has a distinct taste.

They also require a slower inhale. “You have to take a nice slow, deep breath and hold it,” Ms. Sander said. If people worry that it’s not working, they may not take the second puff, may fail to wait the necessary 30 seconds between puffs or may take too many puffs. ,And their anxiety may rise, further constricting their airways.

HFA inhalers need to be washed with warm water and air dried once a week. The medication is stickier and will clog the hole, reducing the amount of medication the spray delivers.

There are also important differences among the brands, though some doctors simply write Albuterol HFA on the prescription, leaving the pharmacist to choose the brand. Only one, Ventalin, has a dose counter, which helps users keep track of how much medication is left. ProAir appears to be on many insurance companies’ lists of approved medications, but it has the softest spray, Dr. Stoloff said.

Tips on How to Quit

Below, some tips to help you quit smoking are listed. First and foremost, set a quit date and quit COMPLETELY on that day. To prepare for that day:

• Identify the times you are most likely to smoke. For example, do you tend to smoke when feeling stressed? When you are out at night with friends? While you are drinking coffee? When you are bored? While you are driving?
• Keep a diary to help you determine such risky times. Record each time you have a cigarette, including time of day and what you are doing.
• Make a plan about what you will do instead of smoking at those times that you are most likely to smoke. For example, drink tea instead of coffee -- tea may not trigger the desire for a cigarette. Or, take a walk when feeling stressed. Remove ashtrays and cigarettes from the car. Place pretzels or hard candies there instead. Pretend-smoke with a straw.
• Let all of your friends, family, and co-workers know of your plan to stop smoking and your quit date. Just being aware that they know can be a helpful reminder and motivator.
• Prior to your quit date, start reducing your cigarette use, including decreasing the number and strength of the cigarettes. However, DON'T do this simply to make your diary "look good!" Get rid of all of your cigarettes just prior to the quit date and clean out anything that smells like smoke, such as clothes and furniture.

Other tips that can help you quit and stay quit include:

• Enroll in a smoking cessation program (hospitals, health departments, community centers, and work sites frequently offer programs).
• Ask your health care provider for advice, including whether prescription medications (such as bupropion -- Zyban or Wellbutrin) are safe and appropriate for you.
• Find out about nicotine patches, gum, and sprays.
• Try hypnosis -- it works for some people.
• Avoid smoke-filled settings and situations in which you are more likely to smoke.
• Exercise to relieve urges to smoke.

The American Cancer Society is an excellent resource for smokers who are trying to quit, and the Great American Smokeout can serve as a useful catalyst for some smokers.

Running Outdoors Burns More Calories.. Really???

Pavement or treadmill? Most avid runners have a strong preference for one or the other, but how do the two differ in producing results?

According to several studies, the answer is not so simple. Researchers have found in general that while outdoor running tends to promote a more intense exercise, running on a treadmill helps reduce the likelihood of injury, and thus may allow some people to run longer and farther.

A number of studies have shown that in general, outdoor running burns about 5 percent more calories than treadmills do, in part because there is greater wind resistance and no assistance from the treadmill belt. Some studies show, for example, that when adults are allowed to set their own paces on treadmills and on tracks, they move more slowly and with shorter strides when they train on treadmills.

But other studies show that treadmill exercisers suffer fewer stress injuries in the leg. One study published in 2003 in the British journal of sports medicine, for example, analyzed a group of runners and found significantly higher rates of bone strain and tension during pavement running than during treadmill running, particularly in the tibia, or shinbone. This increased strain can heighten the risk of stress fractures by more than 50 percent, the study found.

The Bottom Line: Studies suggest that running on pavement generally burns slightly more calories, but also raises the risk of stress fractures.

ANAHAD O’CONNOR

Whom to Believe? Children Find Out Early

Beware a puppet who tells you that a ball is a book, or that you tie your shoe with a spoon. That, at any rate, is the message of a study that looked at how 3- and 4-year-olds evaluate the trustworthiness of others.

Puppets that had spun such fanciful tales were no longer believed when they tried to teach the children words for unfamiliar objects and actions. But faced with puppets who had given them reliable information — calling a cup a cup, for example — the children were much more accepting.

“Humans make mistakes,” Susan A. J. Birch of the University of British Columbia and colleagues write in the current issue of the journal Cognition. “They trick; they lie; they have different levels of knowledge and different areas of expertise; and they offer information even when they are uncertain.”

The challenge for the child is figuring out whom to believe, and the study suggests that this process starts early and without prompting by adults.

For the study, two puppets gave the children accurate or inaccurate information about everyday objects the children already knew. When the children were then shown objects they did not recognize and given different made-up names for them or explanations for their use, they responded to the names used by the puppet who had been right earlier.

By ERIC NAGOURNEY

Too much, too little sleep tied to ill health in CDC study

ATLANTA (AP) -- People who sleep fewer than six hours a night -- or more than nine -- are more likely to be obese, according to a new government study that is one of the largest to show a link between irregular sleep and big bellies.

The study also linked light sleepers to higher smoking rates, less physical activity and more alcohol use.

The research adds weight to a stream of studies that have found obesity and other health problems in those who don't get proper shuteye, said Dr. Ron Kramer, a Colorado physician and a spokesman for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

''The data is all coming together that short sleepers and long sleepers don't do so well,'' Kramer said.

The study released Wednesday is based on door-to-door surveys of 87,000 U.S. adults from 2004 through 2006 conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Such surveys can't prove cause-effect relationships, so -- for example -- it's not clear if smoking causes sleeplessness or if sleeplessness prompts smoking, said Charlotte Schoenborn, the study's lead author.

It also did not account for the influence of other factors, such as depression, which can contribute to heavy eating, smoking, sleeplessness and other problems.

Smoking was highest for people who got under six hours of sleep, with 31 percent saying they were current smokers. Those who got nine or more hours also were big puffers, with 26 percent smoking.

The overall U.S. smoking rate is about 21 percent. For those in the study who sleep seven to eight hours, the rate was lower, at 18 percent.

Results were similar, though a bit less dramatic, for obesity: About 33 percent of those who slept less than six hours were obese, and 26 percent for those who got nine or more. Normal sleepers were the thinnest group, with obesity at 22 percent.

For alcohol use, those who slept the least were the biggest drinkers. However, alcohol use for those who slept seven to eight hours and those who slept nine hours or more was similar.

In another measure, nearly half of those who slept nine hours or more each night were physically inactive in their leisure time, which was worse even than the lightest sleepers and the proper sleepers. Many of those who sleep nine hours or more may have serious health problems that make exercise difficult.

Many elderly people are in the group who get the least sleep, which would help explain why physical activity rates are low. Those skimpy sleepers who are younger may still feel too tired to exercise, experts said.

Stress or psychological problems may explain what's going on with some of the lighter sleepers, experts said.

Other studies have found inadequate sleep is tied to appetite-influencing hormone imbalances and a higher incidence of diabetes and high blood pressure, noted James Gangwisch, a respected Columbia University sleep researcher.

''We're getting to the point that they may start recommending getting enough sleep as a standard approach to weight loss and the prevention of obesity,'' said Gangwisch, who was not involved in the study.

For more information, just click
- National Center for Health Statistics: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs
- American Academy of Sleep Medicine: http://www.aasmnet.org/

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Go Ahead, Put the Water Bottle Down

Drinking a lot of water is supposed to be healthy, but there is apparently little scientific support for the belief. A review of clinical studies has found no evidence that drinking eight glasses of water a day, the usual recommendation, is beneficial to a healthy person.

Numerous claims have been made about water — that it prevents headaches, removes dangerous “poisons,” improves the function of various organs and is associated with reduced risk for various diseases. But none of these is supported by scientific evidence. The authors were not even able to find a study leading to the “eight glasses a day” rule, whose origin remains unknown.

The researchers, in the June issue of The Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, say some studies have found evidence that drinking extra water helps the kidneys clear sodium, and long-term sodium retention might increase the risk of hypertension, but no clinical significance for the phenomenon has been established. Water also helps clear urea, but urea is not a toxin.

There is “intriguing” evidence that water might help decrease appetite and control weight gain, write the authors, who say this might be worth more research.

“Under normal circumstances,” said Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, a co-author and a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, “drinking extra water is unnecessary. I want to relieve people of the burden of schlepping water bottles around all day long.”

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

Interactive Tool: When Are You Most Fertile?

What does this tool measure?

This interactive tool estimates your peak fertility period, also known as your "fertile window." This is when you are most likely to get pregnant. Do not use this tool to prevent pregnancy.

To find your peak fertility period, the tool first calculates the day you are most likely to ovulate. This is the day an ovary releases an egg. On the tool, you will enter the typical length of your menstrual cycle, and you will click on the first day of your last menstrual period.

• To know how long your cycles are, track the number of days on a calendar for 2 or 3 months or cycles. Your menstrual cycle begins with the day your period starts and ends the day before your next period starts.
• If you do not know the number of days in your menstrual cycle, you can use 28 days. This is the average length of a menstrual cycle. But if your cycle is longer or shorter than that, or if it is not always the same length, this tool will not predict your fertile window very well.

This calculator is meant to give you a rough estimate. Women usually ovulate at day 15, but it's also normal to ovulate well before or after the 15-day mark.

For information about reading your body's signs to tell when you will ovulate, see Fertility Awareness.

Health Tools

Health tools help you make wise health decisions or take action to improve your health.

	Interactive tools are designed to help people determine health risks, ideal weight, target heart rate, and more.
	Fertility calculator

What do the results tell me?

Your "fertile window" is up to 6 days long, once a month. It includes:

• The day you ovulate. This is when you have the best chance of becoming pregnant. (A human egg usually lives for only 12 to 24 hours after ovulation. This is why you are not likely to get pregnant by having sex a day after you ovulate.)
• The 5 days before ovulation. This is because sperm can live in a woman's body for 3 to 5 days after sex. When an egg is released, one of these sperm is ready to fertilize it.

If you are planning a pregnancy, do not have sex during the 5 days before your 6-day fertile window. (Not ejaculating for a few days helps build up a man's sperm count.) Then have sex once each day of your fertile window, including ovulation day.

What's next?

If your periods are irregular, this calculator is not a good way to predict your ovulation dates. Do not use this tool to prevent pregnancy. For more information, see the topics Fertility Awareness, Pregnancy, and Fertility Problems. If you are looking for information on birth control, see the topic Birth Control.

Source: Stanford JB, et al. (2002). Timing intercourse to achieve pregnancy: Current evidence. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 100(6): 1333–1341.

Why Sleeping is (Almost) More Important Than Breathing

I used to pull all-nighters back in college, forcing myself to stay awake to cram for an exam or finish a paper on art history, my major. I did it because I thought it would help me get ahead, but in the end it always set me back—I wound up tired, cranky and unproductive the next day.

Even though I've grown up (and wisened up) since then, I still have trouble convincing myself to crawl into bed at night: I keep a running tally of all the things I haven't crossed off my to-do list—reading manuscripts, prepping for a TV appearance, even laundry! And I'm always tempted to stay up just a bit longer to get everything done before morning.

So what stops me from burning the midnight oil? Not only has personal experience proved that I'll be more stressed (not to mention less chipper) when I'm sleep-deprived, but studies suggest that not getting adequate zzz's can increase your risk for heart disease and depression, and even cause weight gain (ever found yourself heading to the fridge or the vending machine when you're tired? I have!).

Try these tips to help relax before you hit the sack:

Unplug
Avoid having long conversations on your cell phone before bed: Researchers at Wayne State University in Detroit found that people who were exposed to the slight radiation that emanates from cell phones took longer to fall asleep and spent less time in the deep stages of slumber.
Make Your Bedroom a Haven
Draw the blinds and turn on a fan or a soothing CD of nature noises to block out distracting sounds. Swapping ordinary bedroom bulbs for yellow ones (GE makes a 25-watt version sold at drugstores) can help you feel more tranquil as you're getting ready to nod off. Consider treating yourself to a cozy new comforter or putting flowers on your nightstand so that being in your bedroom—and sleeping!—becomes something you look forward to.
Say Thanks
Once you're under the covers, take two minutes to reflect on the things you're grateful for. Studies show that practicing grateful thinking makes people more optimistic. And going to sleep with happy thoughts will help you sleep more soundly.
Share your favorite relaxing bedtime rituals on SELF's Trade Happiness Tips forum.

6 Fat-Melting Food Swaps

Not all burgers are created equal. That's important, especially when you consider that the average American will consume 100 of them this year.

Take, for example, America's two most famous burgers: the Whopper with Cheese and the Big Mac. A fair fight, right? Well, if you go for the Arch alternative, you'll save 220 calories over the BK Behemoth. (A Big Mac has 540 calories and 29 grams of fat, compared to the Whopper's 760 calories and 47 grams of fat!)

Use that strategy for every burger you eat in 2008, and you'll save 22,000 calories - the equivalent of almost six pounds of body fat. You don't have to (nor should you) live on Big Macs; pick an even leaner burger and save even more.

See, the way you pick your favorite fixes - from burgers to banana splits - could help you make the transition from chubby to chiseled. In researching our new book Eat This, Not That!, we found that the most effective weight-loss strategy doesn't require you to abandon the foods you love, but simply to make better choices when selecting them.

Supplement that approach with plenty of fresh produce and lean protein throughout the week, and you'll trade failed diets and wild weight fluctuations for healthy eating patterns and a lean, new you. And once you learn how it's done, you can stay that way forever. Who wouldn't make that swap?

Pizza
Eat This:
2 slices Domino's large cheese pizza with crunchy thin crust
360 calories
19 g fat

Not That!
2 slices Pizza Hut large cheese pizza with thin 'n cripsy crust
560 calories
24 g fat

Save 200 calories and 5 grams of fat!

In the world of mass-produced pizza, nothing beats Domino's crunchy thin-crust pie. Eat pizza just once a week, and you'll save more than 10,000 calories this year - which is a nice down payment on a smaller waist size.

Turkey Sandwich
Eat This:
Subway 6-inch Turkey Sub with provolone cheese
330 calories
8.5 g fat

Not That!
Panera Bread Sierra Turkey
840 calories
40 g fat

Save 510 calories and 31.5 grams of fat!

Don't sweat the meat in the sandwich: turkey, roast beef, and ham are all lean cuts. But Panera slathers its turkey with a thick layer of chipotle mayo and slides it into a heavy, oily wedge of focaccia, so that turkey is a porker. A Subway 6-incher not enough to quell your raging lunchtime hunger? Double up on meat for just 50 calories more.

Cinnamon Roll
Eat This:
Au Bon Pain Cinnamon Roll
350 calories
21 g sugars
12 g fat

Not That!
Cinnabon Classic Cinnamon Roll
813 calories
55 g sugars
32 g fat

Save 463 calories, 34 grams of sugars, and 20 grams of fat!

OK, there's absolutely no nutritional value in a cinnamon roll. We said it. But when you just have to have one, take comfort in knowing that Au Bon Pain's restrained rendition more than halves the calories, sugar, and fat found in the Cinnabon catastrophe.

Beer
Drink This:
Guinness Draught
125 calories
10 g carbohydrates

Not That!
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
175 calories
15 g carbohydrates

Save 50 calories a beer!

Surprised? Most people think of Guinness as a beer milkshake: dark, thick, and rich enough to inspire guilt at first sip. But switch out a six-pack a week and you've just saved yourself more than four pounds this year. Extend those savings even further with Beck's Premier Light: At 64 calories a bottle, it doesn't get any lighter than this.

Doughnut
Eat This:
Dunkin' Donuts Glazed Donut
230 calories
10 g fat
12 g sugars

Not That!
Dunkin' Donuts Glazed Cake Donut
330 calories
18 g fat
18 g sugars

Save 100 calories and 8 grams of fat!

Both are cloaked in sugar, but their original doughnuts are light and airy because they're made with yeast, and cake donuts are heavy and dense because they're made with cake batter. Remember: Cake is not a breakfast food.

Fruit Smoothie
Eat This:
Jamba Juice Power Mega Mango Smoothie
420 calories
97 g sugars

Not That!
Dunkin' Donuts Large Tropical Fruit Smoothie
720 calories
142 g sugars

Save 300 calories and 45 grams of sugars!

This sickeningly sweet concoction from Dunkin' has an ingredient list straight out of a chem lab and more sugar than seven Häagen-Dazs vanilla-and-almond ice-cream bars. So this tropical excursion will be bad for your equator. The Jamba version is 100 percent fruit, so there's a huge caloric discount and big antioxidant payload.

For nine more shocking swaps that will help you save big this year, click here.

6 Health Foods That Aren't

Healthy food may be making you fat.

Hold on: I'm not talking about broccoli and bell peppers here. I'm talking about a lot of the foods that are sold to us as "low-fat," "low-carb," or otherwise "healthy" fare. The food industry invests $30 billion a year in advertising, and much of that is used to dupe consumers into believing bogus bites are somehow good for us.

The truth is, behind every low-fat label and celebrated salad is a list of ingredients that would give even the most relentless glutton reason to reconsider.

In researching the best-selling book "Eat This, Not That!," the title for this new blog with my co-author Matt Goulding, we were shocked to find that the foods so many health-conscious eaters in this country consider to be smart choices are actually the most responsible for our ever-expanding waistlines.

Many of the "low-fat" or otherwise "healthy" options we examined packed several hundred extra calories in them! Translation: Get duped into eating one pseudo-healthy food a day, and you'll have an extra 30 pounds (or more) to work off by the end of the year.

We've identified six of the most misunderstood foods in America, so that next time you think you're doing your body a favor, you actually will be - by looking for something else that actually is healthy.

1. Bran Muffin
440 calories
23 grams of fat
35 g sugars

Made primarily with sugar, refined flour and hydrogenated oil, it's like starting your day with a candy bar. Actually, it's like starting your day with two candy bars, since this misunderstood muffin has more fat and calories than two Kit Kat bars.

2. Chicken Caesar Salad
900 calories
60 grams of fat

Caesar salads suffer the consequences of two natural disasters: a flood of fatty dressing and a blizzard of Parmesan cheese and croutons. All told, it's a caloric catastrophe - equal to scarfing down 20 Chicken McNuggets!


3. Tuna Melt
950 calories
55 grams of fat

Plain tuna out of the can is healthy; tuna drenched in mayo, shrouded in melted cheese, and slicked with another layer of dressing is not. You'd be better off eating three six-inch roast beef sandwiches from Subway!

4. Chicken Wrap
700 calories
35 grams of fat

How wraps got such a good rap is beyond us, since they're really just oversized tortillas, packing up to 400 calories on their own - that is, before the onslaught of cheese, meat, and dressing it houses! You'd get the same number of calories from 20 strips of bacon.

5. Turkey Burger
850 calories
50 grams of fat

At home a turkey burger might be a decent choice, but in the restaurant world it means high-fat ground turkey, heavy mayo, melted cheese, and a big, pillowy bun. It's the equivalent of three 8-oz sirloin steaks.

6. Fruit Smoothies
600 calories
120 grams of sugar

Unless it says 100 percent fruit, your "fruit" smoothie is likely made with ice cream, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and a few token chunks of banana. All told, this popular afternoon snack has as much sugar as six Haagen Dazs Vanilla and Almond ice cream bars. Ouch.

For even more 'healthy' foods that actually expand your waistline, check out these other surprising foods.

20 Saltiest Foods in America

Salty food may seem like the least of your worries, especially if you're among the 40 percent of people who mindlessly shake salt on every dish. An extra dash here, a few sprinkles there — what's the big deal?

A lot, when you consider some of the shocking stats and shady food industry practices we've uncovered. A mere teaspoon of salt contains all 2,300 milligrams (mg) of your recommended daily allotment, yet daily salt consumption is on the rise in the United States — from 2,300 mg in the 1970s to more than 3,300 mg today.

And according to Monell Chemical Senses Center researchers, 77 percent of that sodium intake comes from processed-food purveyors and restaurants. Their motivation: Pile on the salt so we don't miss natural flavors and fresh ingredients.

Why is that a problem? With ever-expanding portion sizes, supersalty foods are displacing fresh fruits and vegetables, which are rich in potassium. And a 1:2 ratio of dietary salt to potassium is critical for your health. Studies show that a high-sodium, low-potassium diet is linked to a host of maladies, including high blood pressure, stroke, osteoporosis, and exercise-induced asthma.

To protect your heart, your bones, your muscles, and your tastebuds, we scoured takeout menus and supermarket shelves to expose the 20 saltiest foods in America. No need to take the information with a grain of salt. These dishes provide plenty.

Saltiest Kids Food
Cosi Kid’s Pepperoni Pizza
2,731 mg sodium
911 calories
43 g fat
112 g carbohydrates

We’ve seen some fuzzy math in the past few months concerning this Cosi catastrophe, with the sodium count changing literally overnight from 6,405 mg sodium to the current number. We’ve tried to sort this out with the Cosi people, but have gotten little hope clarifying the sudden shift. One thing is clear, though: Even if we give them the benefit of the doubt, a pizza with 2,731 milligrams of sodium and 911 calories is the last thing you should be serving your kid.

Saltiest "Healthy" Food
Chili's Guiltless Grill Chicken Platter
2,780 mg sodium
590 calories
85 g carbohydrates

Beware the bait and switch. Many restaurants and packaged-food producers advertise their dishes as being low in calories and fat, only to jack up the sugar and salt content. Case in point: This platter actually has more sodium than Chili's 1,890-calorie Country Fried Steak with sides, toast, and gravy. Stick with the Guiltless Salmon, the best choice on Chili's sometimes-healthy special menu.

Saltiest Frozen Dinner
Swanson Hungry-Man XXL Roasted Carved Turkey
4,480 mg sodium
1,360 calories
70 g fat

Yes, the nutrition data on the back suggests that the package contains two servings, but the label proudly proclaims the 1 1/2 pounds inside, and besides, how many people are going to share their frozen dinner?

Saltiest Sandwich
Quiznos Turkey Bacon Guacamole Large Sub with Cheese and Reduced-Fat Ranch Dressing
4,670 mg sodium
1,120 calories
49 g fat
116 g carbohydrates

First, skip the large sandwich. At Quiznos, few come in under 1,000 calories and 3,000 mg sodium. Next, abandon mozzarella for Swiss, which has a tenth of the sodium. Finally, choose one of the low-calorie subs at Quiznos — the Tuscan Turkey, or better yet, the Honey Bourbon Chicken.

Saltiest Salad
Romano's Macaroni Grill Chicken Florentine
5,460 mg sodium
840 calories
53 g fat

Salads are often the biggest blood-pressure boosters on the menu, since the innocent leaves play perfect host to a flurry of briny toppings and dangerous dressings. Here, salt-laden olives, capers, and Parmesan collide with Macaroni Grill's massive portions and its cooks' affinity for the saltshaker. The only reasonable insalata on the menu is the Mozzarella alla Caprese: It has 450 calories and 760 mg sodium.

Saltiest Appetizer

Papa John's Cheesesticks with Buffalo Sauce
6,700 mg sodium
2,605 calories
113 g fat
296 g carbohydrates

If you were to split this appetizer with two friends, you'd still be close to downing your daily sodium allowance before you even reach for the pizza. Each stick packs the same amount of sodium as a small slice of cheese pizza, and that's without dipping. Your best bet? Cheese pizza. Thin crust.

The Saltiest Dish in America

Romano's Macaroni Grill Chicken Portobello
7,300 mg sodium
1,020 calories
66 g fat

With three items on our top 20 list, plus a slew of dishonorable mentions, Macaroni Grill earns its title as America's saltiest chain restaurant. But what makes this the saltiest dish in America? One word: demi-glace, a fancy French name for the viscous salt slick that blankets this disastrous dish. You would have to eat 32 cups of potassium-rich broccoli to compensate for this sodium avalanche.

For a complete list of the 20 Saltiest Foods in America, and details on how to disarm the restaurant industry's weapons of mass construction, check out these rankings and nutrition secrets.

Is This the Worst Drink on the Planet?

Recently, while poring over some research, I got a breathless call from my co-author buddy, Matt. “You won’t believe what I just found! Check this out.”

He sent me a link to a Baskin Robbins page, and what came up on my screen (gory details below - straight from their website) was a tower of nutritional insanity unmatched by any other beverage we’ve come across in our years of research.

“Instead of giving Socrates hemlock, they should have just forced him to drink one of these,” he said. “Could this 2,300-calorie liquid monstrosity be the worst drink on the planet?” We've seen a few 1000-calorie shakes, but this is twice as bad as anything we've ever seen.

The menu description may sound simple enough: “A blend of HEATH Bar Crunch and Jamoca® ice creams, chopped HEATH Bar pieces and caramel, topped with whipped cream and chopped HEATH Bar pieces.” But the ingredient list reveals a much more complicated story. Methyl paraben, propylene glycol, polysorbate 80: You’d need a degree in chemical engineering just to have a shot at cracking this brain-freezing code. All told, the list of ingredients runs seven inches and 73 ingredients long. Whatever happened to the days when a milkshake was just ice cream and milk?

As unsavory as this list of indecipherable emulsifiers, preservatives, and artificial flavorings may be, the most concerning part comes when you consider the sheer nutritional impact of this weapon of mass construction.

To give you some perspective, slurping up one 32-ounce Heath Shake is the caloric equivalent of eating 12 Krispy Kreme doughnuts, the saturated fat equivalent of scarfing 60 slices of bacon, and will give you the same sugar rush as working your way through 13 Haagen Dazs Vanilla and Almond ice cream bars.

The drink is part of Baskin Robbins “candy-bar madness” promotion — a deal struck with Hershey’s to any dairy derivative they can get their hands on with bite-size chunks of popular candies.

We put in a call to the company to check in on the product. They called us back to say they were discontinuing it at the end of May. For some tasty swaps for high-fat and high-calories drinks, click here.

And if you have your own list of food bombs, please add them in the comments section. Believe me, the food manufacturers are listening — and your opinion does matter.

Belt-Busting Beverages

My buddy, Bill, came to me a while back looking for advice on how to banish the bulging belly he had acquired in his later years. I skipped the diet lecture and instead gave him a copy of the book, Eat This, Not That!, and a single piece of advice: Start with the drinks chapter.

Four months later, Bill has adopted the simple food swap philosophy and dramatically altered his calorie intake without giving up the foods and drinks he loves. His reward: 25 pounds and three inches off of his waistline — in around six weeks!

I told Bill to start with beverages because between soda, coffee drinks, smoothies, and booze, he was sipping away more than a quarter of his daily calories. He’s not the only one. A study from the University of North Carolina found that we consume 450 calories a day from beverages, nearly twice as many as 30 years ago! This increase amounts to an extra 23 pounds a year that we're forced to work off — or carry around with us.

There’s good news and bad news when it comes to liquid calories. The bad news is they are the most difficult calories for us to gauge, because we have none of the greasy, cheesy visual cues we get when we go face-to-face with a plate of loaded nachos or a triple cheeseburger. The good news is that they are the easiest calories to cut from your diet. Just ask Bill.

I've identified the most bloating beverages in gas stations, bars, smoothie counters, and coffee shops across America and replaced them with sensible and satisfying stand-ins for a fraction of the caloric cost. So you can sip what you want, skip the diet, and still lose lots of weight this year.


Coffee Drink

Drink This:
Double Espresso Macchiato
15 calories
0 g fat

Not That!
Large Caffe Latte
190 calories
7 g fat

In the hierarchy of espresso drinks, lattes sit squarely at the bottom. That's because they're more milk than java, and are susceptible to huge pumps of sugary syrup from eager-to-please baristas. A macchiato gives the same caffeine kick for a tiny fraction of the caloric cost by swapping out the excess steamed milk for a thick crown of frothed milk. It's a simple but meaningful switch for caffeine junkies looking for a healthier fix.

Lunchbox Drinks for Kids

Drink This:
Minute Maid Fruit Falls Tropical (1 pouch)
5 calories
1 g sugars

Not That!
Capri Sun Pacific Cooler (1 pouch)
100 calories
26 g sugars

Make this switch in the little ones' lunchboxes every day of the school year, and you'll cut 25 cups of sugar — enough to make 1,600 chocolate chip cookies — from their diet. But, still, I have to give Capri some credit: They recently announced that beginning this spring, they’ll be cutting the sugar and calorie content of their namesake beverage by 25 percent.

When asked why, a Capri Sun rep said that parents more than ever are looking for healthier choices that their kids will like. I couldn’t agree more, and it’s hopefully the beginning of an important sea change in the types of foods and beverages companies market to our kids.

Blended Fruit Drink

Drink This:
Krispy Kreme Very Berry Chiller (20 oz)
290 calories
71 g sugars

Not That!
Starbucks Venti Strawberries and Creme Frappuccino Blended Creme (20 oz)
750 calories
120 g sugars

Let’s get one thing straight: Neither of these are the healthy, fruit-based beverages they may masquerade as. Little to no fruit goes into either of these, and in the case of the Starbucks Frappuccino, this drinkable disaster contains as much sugar as four Snickers bars. The Krispy Kreme Chiller proves to be a more reasonable indulgence, with little of the excessive added sugar or whipped cream that plague most blended "fruit" drinks.

Iced Tea

Drink This:
Honest Green Dragon Tea (16 oz)
60 calories
10 g sugar

Not That!
Arizona Iced Tea (16 oz)
200 calories
25 g sugar

Arizona Tea is a closer relative of the soft drink than the steeped beverage you read about in all of those health studies. That's because the beverage barons of Arizona have a heavy hand with the sugar, all but canceling out any of tea's formidable nutritional benefits. And in a recent analysis conducted by Men's Health, we found that Honest Tea packs more than six times the amount of metabolism-spiking, disease-fighting catechins as the Arizona calorie bomb.

For an entire list of the very best beverages for quick and easy weight loss, click here.

Five Easy Ways to Go Organic

Switching to organic is tough for many families who don’t want to pay higher prices or give up their favorite foods. But by choosing organic versions of just a few foods that you eat often, you can increase the percentage of organic food in your diet without big changes to your shopping cart or your spending.

The key is to be strategic in your organic purchases. Opting for organic produce, for instance, doesn’t necessarily have a big impact, depending on what you eat. According to the Environmental Working Group, commercially-farmed fruits and vegetables vary in their levels of pesticide residue. Some vegetables, like broccoli, asparagus and onions, as well as foods with peels, such as avocados, bananas and oranges, have relatively low levels compared to other fruits and vegetables.

So how do you make your organic choices count? Pediatrician Dr. Alan Greene, whose new book “Raising Baby Green” explains how to raise a child in an environmentally-friendly way, has identified a few “strategic” organic foods that he says can make the biggest impact on the family diet.

1. Milk: “When you choose a glass of conventional milk, you are buying into a whole chemical system of agriculture,'’ says Dr. Greene. People who switch to organic milk typically do so because they are concerned about the antibiotics, artificial hormones and pesticides used in the commercial dairy industry. One recent United States Department of Agriculture survey found certain pesticides in about 30 percent of conventional milk samples and low levels in only one organic sample. The level is relatively low compared to some other foods, but many kids consume milk in large quantities.

2. Potatoes: Potatoes are a staple of the American diet — one survey found they account for 30 percent of our overall vegetable consumption. A simple switch to organic potatoes has the potential to have a big impact because commercially-farmed potatoes are some of the most pesticide-contaminated vegetables. A 2006 U.S.D.A. test found 81 percent of potatoes tested still contained pesticides after being washed and peeled, and the potato has one of the the highest pesticide contents of 43 fruits and vegetables tested, according to the Environmental Working Group.

3. Peanut butter: More acres are devoted to growing peanuts than any other fruits, vegetable or nut, according to the U.S.D.A. More than 99 percent of peanut farms use conventional farming practices, including the use of fungicide to treat mold, a common problem in peanut crops. Given that some kids eat peanut butter almost every day, this seems like a simple and practical switch. Commercial food firms now offer organic brands in the regular grocery store, but my daughter loves to go to the health food store and grind her own peanut butter.

4. Ketchup: For some families, ketchup accounts for a large part of the household vegetable intake. About 75 percent of tomato consumption is in the form of processed tomatoes, including juice, tomato paste and ketchup. Notably, recent research has shown organic ketchup has about double the antioxidants of conventional ketchup.

5. Apples: Apples are the second most commonly eaten fresh fruit, after bananas, and they are also used in the second most popular juice, after oranges, according to Dr. Greene. But apples are also one of the most pesticide-contaminated fruits and vegetables. The good news is that organic apples are easy to find in regular grocery stores.

For a complete list of Dr. Greene’s strategic organic choices, visit Organic Rx on his website.

Patterns: Heavy Burden for Infants Who Lack Sleep

Infants who do not get enough sleep may have an increased risk for being overweight in childhood, a new study suggests.

Researchers recorded the sleep habits of 915 children at ages 6 months, 1 year and 2 years, using questionnaires and in-person interviews. At each visit, they recorded the infants’ length and weight and had parents report on the number of hours their children watched television or videos.

The study, published on Monday in The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, found that the more sleep infants got, the less likely they were to be overweight at age 3. Infants who slept less than 12 hours a day had double the risk of being overweight compared with children who slept more, and the effect was especially apparent in children who also watched more than two hours of television a day.

The relationship held after adjusting for birth weight, the mother’s age and body mass, breast feeding duration and other variables. The authors say this is the first study to report an association between infant sleep time and children’s being overweight.

What’s a parent to do? “Most important is to practice good sleep hygiene techniques,” said Dr. Elsie M. Taveras, the lead author and an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard, who is herself the mother of an infant and a toddler. “No TV in the bedroom, no caffeinated drinks and so on. Getting a good night’s sleep is not just to be at our best the next day; it’s really to assure good health.”

Memory Training Shown to Turn Up Brainpower

A new study has found that it may be possible to train people to be more intelligent, increasing the brainpower they had at birth.

Until now, it had been widely assumed that the kind of mental ability that allows us to solve new problems without having any relevant previous experience — what psychologists call fluid intelligence — is innate and cannot be taught (though people can raise their grades on tests of it by practicing).

But in the new study, researchers describe a method for improving this skill, along with experiments to prove it works.

The key, researchers found, was carefully structured training in working memory — the kind that allows memorization of a telephone number just long enough to dial it. This type of memory is closely related to fluid intelligence, according to background information in the article, and appears to rely on the same brain circuitry. So the researchers reasoned that improving it might lead to improvements in fluid intelligence.

First they measured the fluid intelligence of four groups of volunteers using standard tests. Then they trained each in a complicated memory task, an elaborate variation on Concentration, the child’s card game, in which they memorized simultaneously presented auditory and visual stimuli that they had to recall later.

The game was set up so that as the participants succeeded, the tasks became harder, and as they failed, the tasks became easier. This assured a high level of difficulty, adjusted individually for each participant, but not so high as to destroy motivation to keep working. The four groups underwent a half-hour of training daily for 8, 12, 17 and 19 days, respectively. At the end of each training, researchers tested the participants’ fluid intelligence again. To make sure they were not just improving their test-taking skills, the researchers compared them with control groups that took the tests without the training.

The results, published Monday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, were striking. Although the control groups also made gains, presumably because they had practice with the fluid intelligence tests, improvement in the trained groups was substantially greater. Moreover, the longer they trained, the higher their scores were. All performers, from the weakest to the strongest, showed significant improvement.

“Intelligence has always been considered principally an immutable inherited trait,” said Susanne M. Jaeggi, a postdoctoral fellow in psychology at the University of Michigan and a co-author of the paper. “Our results show you can increase your intelligence with appropriate training.”

Why did the training work? The authors suggest several aspects of the exercise relevant to solving new problems: ignoring irrelevant items, monitoring ongoing performance, managing two tasks simultaneously and connecting related items to one another in space and time.

No one knows how long the gains will last after training stops, Dr. Jaeggi said, and the experiment’s design did not allow the researchers to determine whether more training would continue to produce further gains.

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

Eat Less and Exercise More

A desire to turn over a new, more healthful leaf typically accompanies the start of a new year. My mail, for example, has been inundated with diet books, most of which offer yet another gimmick aimed ultimately at getting the gullible reader to eat less and exercise more.

Publishers assume, correctly, that the shock of the scale after nearly six weeks of overindulging on food and drink will prompt the purchase of one or more books on dieting by people who are desperate to return to their pre-Thanksgiving shape.

And really, it doesn’t matter whether you choose a diet based on your genotype or the phases of the moon, or whether you cut down on sugars and starches or fats. If you consume fewer calories than you need to maintain your current weight, you will lose.

My advice here is to save your money, toss out (or donate to a soup kitchen) the leftover high-calorie holiday fare, gradually reduce your portion sizes and return to your exercise routine (or adopt one if you spent too much of ’07 on your sofa).

Slowly but surely the pounds will come off. And as Aesop said, slow and steady does indeed win the race. Gradual weight loss, achieved on an eating-and-exercise regimen that you can sustain indefinitely, is most likely to be permanent weight loss.

If you’ve been reading this column for years, no doubt you already know that. But I believe it bears repeating at least once a year, not because I want to further depress the booksellers’ market, but because I’d rather you spend your hard-earned money on foods that can really help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight and good health.

The basics of good nutrition have not changed.

Meals replete with vegetables, fruits and whole grains and a small serving of a protein-rich food remain the gold standard of a wholesome diet. Still, at both ends of the age spectrum as well as in between, recent months have held some new findings — and some surprises — that are worth noting.

Perhaps most distressing to a chocoholic like me was a report in the Nov. 20 issue of the journal Circulation that while dark chocolate can indeed improve coronary circulation and decrease the risk of heart-damaging clots, most dark chocolate on the market is all but stripped of the bitter-tasting flavanols that convey this health benefit.

The color, in other words, tells you nothing. Now it’s up to manufacturers to label the flavanol content — not just the percentage of cocoa, which may have no flavanol at all.

Focus on Brain Food

As the population ages and the prevalence of dementia rises, increased attention has focused on how diet may help keep cognitive decline at bay. A heart-healthy diet that keeps clogged arteries from limiting the brain’s supply of oxygen and nutrients has been linked to a lower risk of dementia.

Likewise, omega-3 fatty acids in fish and fish oil, which counter inflammation, appear to protect the brain as well as the heart and joints. A recent analysis of 17 studies in the journal Pain found that daily supplements of these fatty acids significantly reduced inflammatory joint pain.

But now there may be a new kid on the block: vitamin B12. A 10-year study with 1,648 participants in Oxford, England, found an increased risk of cognitive decline in older adults who had low blood levels of vitamin B12. This vitamin is found only in foods from animals, yet it is common for older people, especially those on limited budgets, to cut back on foods like meats and fish.

Strict vegetarians, who have long been cautioned to take B12 as a supplement to prevent a deficiency, can add brain protection to the list of potential benefits. The rest of us should feel comfortable about eating red meat and poultry as long as it is lean and consumed in reasonable amounts. A serving of cooked meat, fish or poultry is only three to four ounces.

The British researchers noted that high blood levels of homocysteine had previously been linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease, and that B12 is one of the vitamins, along with folate and B6, that lower homocysteine levels. However, the researchers found no benefit to cognitive function from folate.

Foods to Fight Cancer

Here we come full circle. A decade after the American Institute for Cancer Research issued its first major report on diet and cancer, a new magnum opus in concert with the World Cancer Research Fund was published late last year. Based on 7,000 studies of 17 kinds of cancer, it concluded that being overweight now ranks second only to smoking as a preventable cause of cancer. “Convincing evidence” of an increased risk resulting from body fatness was found for cancers of the kidney, endometrium, breast, colon and rectum, pancreas and esophagus.

Other major findings of increased risk included red and processed meats for colon and rectal cancer, and alcoholic drinks for cancers of the mouth, throat, larynx, esophagus, breast, and colon and rectum.

“Convincing evidence” for cancer protection was found for physical activity against colon and rectal cancers, and for breastfeeding against breast cancer. “Probable” protection against various cancers was also found for dietary fiber; nonstarchy vegetables; fruits; foods rich in folates, beta-carotene, vitamin C and selenium; milk, and calcium supplements.

By JANE E. BRODY

Study Ties Too Little Sleep With Too Much Weight

A study of 7-year-olds has found that sleeping less than nine hours a night was associated with being overweight or obese, even after accounting for amounts of television watching and physical exercise.

The study, being published Tuesday in the journal Sleep, also found that short sleep duration was associated with mood swings. The researchers had followed the subjects — 519 children in New Zealand — since birth, making periodic health and developmental assessments and interviewing their parents.

Sleep time did not affect I.Q. scores or measures of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, but children who averaged less than nine hours’ sleep were significantly more likely than the others to be overweight.

Using sleep monitors, the scientists discovered some other patterns in the 7-year-olds. On average, the children stayed awake for 48 minutes after they went to bed, and slept about a half-hour longer on weekdays than weekends. They slept the least in the summer: 40 minutes longer on winter nights, 31 minutes longer in the fall and 15 minutes longer in the spring. Having a younger sibling cost a 7-year-old an average of 12 minutes of sleep per night.

“The study is important from the perspective of providing another means of preventing the development of obesity,” said Ed Mitchell, the senior author and a professor of child health research at the University of Auckland. “At least in New Zealand — and it needs to be confirmed in other age groups — this seems to be an important factor.”

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

Conflict on the Menu

New York City’s new rules for menu labels at chain restaurants have set off a food fight among the nation’s obesity experts.

Most support the theory of the city’s health commissioner that forcing chain restaurants to list the calories alongside menu items — flagging that a Double Whopper With Cheese has 990 calories, for example — will make patrons think twice about ordering one. The rules are set to take effect at the end of March.

There is a countertheory, however, set forth by Dr. David B. Allison, the incoming president of the Obesity Society, a leading organization of obesity doctors and scientists. An affidavit he recently submitted to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has ignited a controversy within his organization.

In the filing, Dr. Allison argues that the new rules could backfire — whether by adding to the forbidden-fruit allure of high-calorie foods or by sending patrons away hungry enough that they will later gorge themselves even more.

“What harms (if any) might result” from the new rules? Dr. Allison wrote in the court filing. “That is difficult to predict.”

It might be only a scientific debate among nutrition experts, except for the fact that Dr. Allison was paid to write the document on behalf of the New York State Restaurant Association, which is suing to block the new rules.

Dr. Allison’s role in the debate has angered some members of the Obesity Society, setting off an e-mail fury since word of his court filing began to circulate. Some have pointed to Dr. Allison’s other industry ties, which have included advisory roles for Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods and Frito-Lay.

Many of the group’s 1,800 members are “completely mad that a president-elect of the Obesity Society, an organization that cares about obesity and cares about healthy eating, wants to hold back information from people that helps them make healthy choices,” said Dr. Barry M. Popkin, a member of the organization, who is director of the Interdisciplinary Obesity Center at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Dr. Popkin has filed his own affidavit in the lawsuit, defending the city’s menu labeling plan.

The controversy highlights unresolved issues in the obesity field about industry ties and conflicts of interest, said Dr. Kelly D. Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. “The field is incapable of policing itself,” Dr. Brownell said.

Spurred by Dr. Allison’s affidavit, the obesity group released a statement on Tuesday supporting calorie labeling on menus. “The Obesity Society believes that more information on the caloric content of restaurant servings, not less, is in the interests of consumers,” said the statement by the society, which is based in Silver Spring, Md.

Dr. Allison, a professor of biostatistics and nutrition at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, is scheduled to start a one-year term as president of the Obesity Society in October. He has defended his affidavit. In a telephone interview, he said he did not take a position for or against menu labeling in the document but merely presented the scientific evidence that the labeling might deter over-eating but might not and, in fact, might be harmful.

He also defended his work for the restaurant industry, but would not disclose how much he was paid for his efforts.

“I’m happy to be involved in the pursuit for truth,” Dr. Allison said. “Sometimes, when I’m involved in the pursuit for truth, I’m hired by the Federal Trade Commission. Sometimes I help them. Sometimes I help a group like the restaurant industry. I’m honored that people think my opinion is sufficiently valued and expert.”

The executive vice president for the restaurant association’s metropolitan New York chapters, E. Charles Hunt, said that Dr. Allison was retained by the association’s lawyers. “Obviously, a lot of it was in favor of our position,” Mr. Hunt said, “although he didn’t come right out and say that.”

Dr. Allison’s 33-page affidavit cites a study that found that dieters who were distracted while eating and presented with information that food was high in calories were more likely to overeat.

“To the extent that many NY diners consume food from restaurants while in a state of distraction or performing distracting tasks,” he writes, “we might hypothesize that the belief that the food is especially high in calories would trigger disinhibited increased consumption.”

He also says that for some people, the deterrent of a high-calorie label might be short-lived and end up making them even hungrier and likely to eat even more later — “inadvertently encouraging patrons to consume lower-calorie foods that subsequently lead to greater total caloric intake because of poor satiating efficiency of the smaller calorie loads.”

Dr. Allison was quoted advancing similar arguments in 2006 during a breakfast meeting sponsored by Coca-Cola at an international conference of obesity experts in Sydney.

Dr. Allison, who disclosed at the meeting that he was a consultant to Coca-Cola on obesity issues, warned that policies to restrict certain foods might backfire, citing research showing that birds put on weight when food is scarce, according to a newsletter article about the conference.

The new labeling rules by New York City’s Board of Health have support from a cross section of organizations, including consumer groups like Public Citizen and the Center for Science in the Public Interest, as well as doctor groups like the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association.

While some chains already post calorie information on posters, fliers or on the Internet, public health officials argue that people may change their ordering habits or restaurants might change their menus if calorie labeling is more conspicuous.

The New York rule would require that chains with 15 or more restaurants nationally, including fast-food restaurants, put the information on their menus or menu boards.

This is the city’s second attempt to adopt such regulations. A judge struck down a menu-labeling plan last year, saying the law needed to be reworded. It has since been revised to comply with the judge’s order.

Similar requirements have been adopted in King County, Wash., which includes Seattle, and are under consideration by 21 other state and local governments.

New York’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, likened Dr. Allison’s claims to an argument that the world is flat.

“We don’t have 100 percent proof that it’s going to work, but we have a reasonable expectation it will be successful,” Dr. Frieden said.

“When places have to put ‘2,700 calories’ next to an appetizer,” Dr. Frieden said, “they might not have a 2,700-calorie appetizer anymore.”

By STEPHANIE SAUL

Body Mass Index

B.M.I. is a reliable indicator of total body fat, which is related to the risk of life-threatening diseases. The score is valid for both men and women, but it may overestimate body fat in athletes and others who have a muscular build. It may also underestimate body fat in older people and others who have lost muscle mass.

To determine your B.M.I.:
just click

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/health/bmi.html

Calorie Intake May Affect Bone Health of Young Women

When a young woman stops menstruating, doctors often take it as a red flag that she may not be eating enough, which, among other problems, can inhibit bone formation.

But a new study has found that some young women who have regular periods may still be eating so little that they endanger the health of their bones.

There are a number of reasons a teenager may not be consuming enough nutrients. Anorexia is a common one, but young women who work out intensively for a sport like gymnastics without increasing their energy intake are also at risk.

The study, by Anne Loucks and Aiden Shearer of Ohio University, looked at the role of nutrient intake and bone formation in women ages 18 to 32. It was presented last week at a meeting of the Endocrine Society.

For five days, the researchers restricted the women’s caloric intake and had them exercise for more than an hour and a half each day. The women were separated into two groups, one younger and one older.

When the researchers drew volunteers’ blood at the end of the five days, they found decreased levels of two markers for bone formation.

While earlier research found that calorie restriction did not disrupt the reproductive system in the older group of young women, the new study suggests that taking in too few calories still impairs their bone formation.

The implications may be greatest for women who exercise a lot and do not consume enough food.

“Regular menstrual cycles do not reliably indicate that they are eating enough for what they’re expending,” Dr. Loucks said.

By ERIC NAGOURNEY

Big Yawn, Cooler Brain?

Over the years, there have been many theories for why people yawn. It has been associated with sleepiness and boredom, and, incorrectly, with low oxygen levels in the blood.

“No one knows why we yawn,” says Andrew C. Gallup, a psychology professor at the State University of New York at Albany.

Now Dr. Gallup and fellow researchers have a new explanation: yawning, they said, is a way for the body to cool the brain.

Writing in the May issue of Evolutionary Psychology, they reported that volunteers yawned more often in situations in which their brains were likely to be warmer.

To prove their theory that yawning regulates brain temperature when other systems in the body are not doing enough, the researchers took advantage of the well-established tendency of people to yawn when those around them do — the so-called contagious yawn.

The volunteers were asked to step into a room by themselves and watch a video showing people behaving neutrally, laughing or yawning. Observers watching through a one-way mirror counted how many times the volunteers yawned.

Some volunteers were asked to breathe only through their noses as they watched. Later, volunteers were asked to press warm or cold packs on their foreheads.

“The two conditions thought to promote brain cooling (nasal breathing and forehead cooling) practically eliminated contagious yawning,” the researchers wrote.

The study may also help explain why yawning spreads from person to person.

A cooler brain, Dr. Gallup said, is a clearer brain.

So yawning actually appears to be a way to stay more alert. And contagious yawning, he said, may have evolved to help groups remain vigilant against danger.

By ERIC NAGOURNEY