Marion Nestle's blog
Monday, July 30, 2007 Usually I add items to my blogroll without comment but today I want to point out the latest addition so you won't miss out. The new link is What to Eat, Marion Nestle's blog where she is commenting on current events, answering questions, and responding to comments.
Here is a sample post that shows Dr. Nestle's conversational, direct and intelligent writing:
Do Fruits and Vegetables Prevent Cancer Recurrence?
July 19, 2007Oh that nutrition and health were that simple. The The WHEL trial results appeared yesterday in JAMA. The sadly disappointing results of that trial showed no difference in rates of breast cancer recurrence among women who typically ate 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day as compared to those who ate nearly twice that amount. I served on the data management committee for this trial and was involved with it for more than 10 years–a fascinating experience and a long saga. I thought the trial was exceptionally well done. The investigators monitored fruit and vegetable intake by measuring the amounts of carotenes and other nutrients in the blood of the participants. Although there was some convergence of dietary patterns over the 8 years of study, the patterns were distinct enough to show benefits from eating more fruits and vegetables if that had been the case. An accompanying editorial explains why sorting out diet and cancer risk is so complicated. In the meantime, what to do? We know that people who habitually eat fruits and vegetables are healthier than those who don’t. The old “five-a-day” is a reasonable goal and it’s too bad that the promoters of that message messed it up by turning it into “fruits & vegetables: more matters.” As with most things in nutrition, enough is enough and more is not necessarily better.
What to Eat is also the title of Marion Nestle's latest book. It sits on my bookshelf between the Omnivore's Dilemma and 10 Steps to Healthy Eating and is third on my September reading list, to be enjoyed, studied and digested after Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and the 100 Mile Diet. However, I think I may read all three concurrently and may write a "compare and contrast" essay or series of posts about them for this blog.
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