A small, selective harvest from the information garden

For a while I've been struggling to come up with an original title for the resource collections I publish intermittently. Something concise and descriptive, like "Quicklinks" or "Handpicked Links". Then, last week I came across the term "information garden." Yes, I can see parallels between harvesting a bumper crop of fruits and vegetables, and retrieving high-quality nutrition resources.

For example, while searching the rampantly growing mixed beds of research, reviews & commentary, I rely on familiar guides (e.g., OVID, Google Scholar,) and carefully curated collections (PEN, Amedeo). Sometimes I get lost in dense overgrowth (verbiage and statistics) or distracted by a showy specimen (sensational headline or provocative title). Most of my time, thought & energy go to weeding, pruning, sorting and then placing in the "trug" (Connotea) only the best "produce": evidence to guide dietetic practice; expert opinion on current nutrition topics & controversies where research is limited or difficult to interpret; thoughtful, insightful articles by my colleagues and mentors.

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled* over PubMed Central Canada, an archive of life science journals with free full-text articles. My search last week on nutrition articles published in 2009 yielded 1000+ results, including these articles pertinent to clinical dietitians' diverse practice areas:

The Differential Diagnosis of Food Intolerance

The Public Health Impact of Herbs & Nutritional Supplements

Flavonoids & cognitive function: a review of human randomized controlled studies & recommendations for future studies

Nutritional status and nutritional therapy in inflammatory bowel diseases

Effect of B vitamin supplementation on plasma homocysteine levels in celiac disease

An update on iron physiology

Comparison of Weight-Loss Diets with Different Compositions of Fat, Protein, and Carbohydrates

The effect of a low glycemic diet verus a standard diet on blood glucose levels and macronutrient intake in children with type 1 diabetes

Effects of different cooking methods on health-promoting compounds of broccoli

That's all for today -- the articles are information-dense so I'm going to leave you with them for a while before I publish the next collection.

(*Yes, I do use the word "stumble" a lot in my posts, but it's very true: I often find the best resources when I'm looking for something else.)

Links & resources, mid-August 2009

 

Photo credit: Round-Up Cleaners by Jason B on Flickr

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Time for another round-up: a semi-regular, variably-scheduled blog post in which I share the "keepers" after I sort through recent Twitter Favourites & Delicious Bookmarks. This collection features thoughtful, well-reasoned commentary on controversial research; evidence-based, practical lifestyle advice; sage words on mindful eating; quick kitchen references, and even some edible art I could never bring myself to eat -- it's too beautiful! 

• Responses to the British Food Standards Agency's systematic review comparing the nutritional content of organic and conventional foods (PDF):
  
  • Marion Nestle on her Food Politics blog - "Today's Huge Flap About Organics"
  • Paula Crossfield in The Huffington Post - Organic Versus Conventional Food: UK Report Flawed" 
  • James E. McWilliams in Slate - Are Organic Veggies Any Better for You?"
    
• "Anatomy of health effects of Mediterranean diet" (BMJ research article)
• "Healthy Living is the Best Revenge" - research on 4 lifestyle factors & risk of developing diabetes, CVD or cancer
• USA Today Health article quotes vegan dietitians about bone health
• An RD describes 5 ways to improve your relationship w/food
• A Beliefnet blogger applies mindful eating research: ideas for reconnecting the body and food
  
• From @Sophie (Mostly Eating): a link to an article about orthorexia nervosa in which "fixation with healthy eating can be sign of serious psychological disorder"
• From @Kathryn Elliott (Limes & Lycopene): this useful link to Tips on storing vegetables & best order in which to use them
• From @EatingWell: a sweetener cheat sheet
• From @inhabitat: "Biodegradable bowls made from vegetables"
  

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I also recently added these items to the Nutrition Practice Resources page:

Celiac Disease

• Canadian Celiac Association
• Canadian Celiac Association Guide for Health Professionals
• Coeliac UK
• Gluten-Free Diet (Shelly Case, Registered Dietitian's site)
• Home Blood Testing for Celiac Disease

Vegan & Vegetarian

Position of the American Dietetic Association: Vegetarian Diets (PDF)

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I hope you find some or all of these helpful and/or interesting. How do you manage your resources? I enjoy collecting and sharing them, but find reviewing, sorting, deleting and annotating tedious -- yet I know it's necessary to keep things manageable.

Tweeter's Digest

 

I'm torn between micro-blogging on Twitter & "long form" blogging on Greens & Berries. (If you aren't familiar with Twitter, you may want to read this overview.)  Because each Twitter message or "tweet" consists of no more than 140 characters (spaces included), I'm forced to be highly selective and concise about what I share. I'm still experimenting but I think, used wisely, Twitter can be an efficient, interactive learning and communication tool that spreads the wealth of knowledge far and wide.

Here are several links I shared via Twitter during the past few days:

• A Low-Fat Vegan Diet Elicits Greater Macronutrient Changes, but Is Comparable in Adherence and Acceptability, Compared with a More Conventional Diabetes Diet among Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes. Here are links to the study's abstract and a dietitian's commentary in the Globe & Mail.

• Gramene Species. If doing research on grasses or just simply curious about cereal grains, this site, which goes beyond genomics, is worth checking out.

• The International Framework for Food Description. While looking for the online Canadian Nutrient File, I serendipitously found this site that includes helpful compilations {1} {2} of food composition data.

• In the Service of Life. Wisdom from Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen who explains the important differences among serving, helping and fixing.

• Food for Thought. An editorial on supplements and neurological disease, published in the online Nature Clinical Practice Neurology.

I've also discovered food and nutrition resources through other Twitter users' updates -- but I'll leave these for another day. You see, I've had to set an Internet curfew. (Many thanks to Sophie who pointed out the blog post that will help me do this.)