Every day scientists learn more about the links between food and health. As promising new research emerges, it gets reported in the news. Sometimes one study seems to contradict a previous study you’ve heard about. Nutrition news can be confusing!

Should you change your food choices based on a single report? Probably not. Experts know they can’t rely on a single study. One study is just one piece in a large puzzle. Sometimes one puzzle piece leads to a change in thinking or raises many new questions. Research needs to be repeated again and again before reliable advice can be given to consumers. Sometimes scientists find that the results of a study cannot be duplicated, perhaps because they were misinterpreted. That means the puzzle piece needs to be discarded or studied in a different way.

Remember, too, that brief news reports often oversimplify research results. Good health is complex. It’s related to heredity, gender, age, and many food and lifestyle choices people make.

When you read an article about nutrition research, look for the answers to these questions. •Who did the research? What are the researcher’s qualifications?

• Who paid for the study? Might that have influenced the conclusions?

• How was the study designed? Have other scientists reviewed the methods used?

• Have other studies reached the same conclusions?

• Do the results apply only to a certain group of people? Do they apply to you? For instance, good advice for adults may not be good advice for teens.

No matter where you read or hear nutrition advice—in a book, magazine, or newspaper article; on radio, television, or the Internet—think carefully before you follow it. Use your critical thinking skills. That may be the most important nutrition advice of all!

A modified diet is a special eating plan that helps to keep a medical condition under control. It may involve limiting certain foods or choosing foods for their nutrients or for texture. For instance:

• A low-fat, low-cholesterol diet may help people lower high levels of cholesterol in their blood.

•A low-sodium diet is useful in lowering blood pressure for sodium-sensitive people. This diet is also used in managing kidney disease.

• A high-fiber diet is helpful for treating certain digestive problems, such as constipation. This type of eating plan also may be recommended for people with diabetes or heart disease.

•A soft diet may be recommended for someone having difficulty chewing.

People on a low-sodium diet can enjoy seasoning foods with herbs, spices, or lemon instead of salt or other high-sodium ingredients. Finds recipe that you would enjoy, using herbs as a seasoning.

Food and Medications

Taking medicine may not seem like a food issue. However, food and medicines can affect each other and your body’s chemistry. Food can help or hinder your body’s use of medicines. Similarly, some medicines affect how your body uses nutrients.

Tips for Taking medications

To get the full benefits of both food and medicine, always follow directions for how much medicine to take and when to take it. Some medicines should be taken with food. For example, if you take aspirin for a headache, take it with food to keep your stomach from getting upset. Other medicines are taken on an empty stomach because food may slow the medicine’s absorption or action. Some foods cannot be eaten while you are taking certain medications. If you’re unsure about how to take a medicine, always check with a doctor or pharmacist.

Follow the instructions for taking medicines to get their full benefits. For instance, citrus fruits and juices can destroy penicillin, a medicine often prescribed for an infection.

Food Intolerance

A food intolerance means that the body has trouble digesting or handling a component of food. For instance, some people cannot digest gluten, a protein found in wheat and some other grains. Symptoms may have many causes, so a medical diagnosis, not a self-diagnosis, of a food intolerance is important.

One of the more common types of food intolerance is lactose intolerance. Lactose intolerance is the inability to adequately digest lactose, the natural sugar found in milk and milk products. Symptoms may include nausea, stomach pain, gas, and diarrhea.

For those with lactose intolerance, there may be ways to enjoy milk and milk products, and get their nutritional benefits, yet limit the side effects.

• Drink milk with other foods and in small servings of one cup or less.

• Try eating milk products with less lactose, such as hard cheeses (cheddar, American, Swiss) and
yogurt.

• Look in the dairy section for milk and milk products that have been specially treated. They’re labeled as “lactose-reduced” or “lactose-free.” You can also buy tablets and drops that reduce the lactose when they’re added to milk.

Ask your doctor if you can take a supplement that will help your body digest lactose.

• Provide plenty of fluids. Soup and juice, as well as water, are usually appealing choices during illness.

• Help the person sit comfortably before bringing food.

• Serve a nutritious meal attractively so that it is more appetizing.

• Be calm and patient if you eat with the person.

• For a sick person with a poor appetite, fix small, frequent meals.

• Use disposable dishes, cups, napkins, and utensils to prevent the spread of illness.

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Warning Signs of Eating Disorders
If you or someone you know shows any combination of the following, seek help.

• Refusing to eat—or eating tiny amounts.

• Noticeable extreme weight loss or weight that seems to go up and down.

• Exercising frequently and more intensely than normal.

• Eating secretly.

• Disappearing after eating, often to the bathroom.

• Unhealthy teeth and gums.

• Loss of menstrual cycle.

• Use of diet pills or laxatives.

Types of Eating Disorders

There are three main types of eating disorders.

Anorexia nervosa : A person with this disorder ignores feelings of hunger and eats very little or refuses to eat. Victims of anorexia nervosa see themselves as overweight even when they are dangerously underweight.

Bulimia nervosa :

A person with this disorder repeatedly binges, or eats very large amounts of food at a time. To prevent weight gain, the person may then purge—get rid of the food by vomiting or taking laxatives. People with bulimia nervosa may also exercise excessively. Often they are a normal weight.

Binge eating disorder :

A person with this disorder binges but does not purge or exercise excessively. A person with binge eating disorder may be overweight or may “seesaw” between losing and gaining weight.

Dangers of Eating Disorders

An eating disorder is more than just a problem with eating. It’s an emotional illness. If the illness is not treated, it can have long-term effects and cause serious health problems. These problems may include heart and kidney problems, breathing difficulties, and digestive troubles. Eating disorders can even cause death.

How to Get Help

The first challenge in dealing with eating disorders is recognizing that a problem exists. People with eating disorders often hide their behavior from others. The box on this page lists some warning signs of eating disorders.

If you think you or someone you know has an eating disorder, don’t try to solve the problem alone. Talk to a parent, teacher, counselor, school nurse, or doctor about getting professional help. The sooner treatment begins, the better the chances for full recovery. Treatment may involve medical and dental care along with nutritional and psychological counseling. Support from family and friends helps promote recovery.

Why are you smart to eat just small amounts of foods with added sugars? These foods provide extra calories but may be limited in nutrients. Eating a lot of sugary foods may replace nutrient-rich foods in meals or snacks. Sugars are also among the foods that promote tooth decay.

If you would like something sweet, choose fruit. It supplies natural sugars plus other nutrients. Visit a supermarket and find a fruit you have never tried. Research its origin and nutrients.

ACTIONS:

In your overall food choices, go easy on added sugars. Here’s how.

• Limit soft drinks, fruit ades, candy, and other sweets that have few nutrients. Don’t let them crowd out foods that help keep you healthy, such as milk and fruit.

• Check food labels to look for added sugars with names such as corn sweetener, fructose, honey, maltose, molasses, sugar, and syrup. Any ingredient name ending in “ose” is a sugar.

Your upper limit of fat intake depends on how many calories you need. No more than 30 percent of the calories you take in over several days should come from fat of any kind—and no more than 10 percent should come from saturated fat. Cutting back on fat usually lowers cholesterol intake, too. Limit cholesterol from food to 300 milligrams or less a day. Labels on packaged foods will inform you about their fat content.

ACTIONS!

Try these ways to trim fat and cholesterol but not flavor.

• Go easy on high-fat foods. Choose mostly foods prepared with little or no fat. Cut down on fried foods.

• Make your dairy food choices mostly reduced-fat, low-fat, and fat-free.

• Eat a meal featuring cooked dry beans or peas one or more times a week.

• Enjoy fish several times a week.

• Buy lean meat and poultry. Remove skin from chicken and turkey. Trim away fat you see on meat.

• For less cholesterol, eat egg yolks and whole eggs in moderation or use egg substitutes.

Actions!
Remember these four words to keep your food safe enough to eat: clean, separate, cook, and chill.

• Keep clean. Take time for washing your hands before and after you handle food. Keep counters and cutting boards clean. Use hot, soapy water.

• Separate raw, cooked, and ready-to-eat foods while you shop, store, and prepare them.

• Cook foods to a safe temperature to destroy possibly harmful bacteria.

• Chill foods that spoil easily as soon as possible after buying or preparing them.

An eating plan, also called a diet, includes everything you eat or drink. The Dietary Guidelines offer recommendations for your eating plan. Follow these recommendations to get the nutrients and food energy you need for wellness during your active, growing teen years. Following the guidelines now may also provide benefits as you get older—your chances for developing some health problems may go down.

Keep Trim, Keep Active

Staying at your appropriate weight and being active throughout life—these are two basics for fitness! This advice helps you be more productive, enjoy life, and be your best in all you do. Active living helps you use food energy, too. That’s one way to keep your body weight at an appropriate level.

Making food choices for good health can benefit you now and when you are older. Research physical activity programs in your community. Combine your list with your classmates’ lists and distribute them to your school activity center, community centers, and retirement homes.

While you are a teen, your body is growing rapidly. You will be putting on weight as your body develops and as you grow taller. Weight gain needs to be looked at in relation to your overall growth and physical development. Keep in mind that your body is changing from that of a child to that of an adult.

As you get older, being overweight with too much extra body fat increases your chances for heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, arthritis, and other health problems. Keeping an appropriate weight throughout life is wise.

Keep in mind that physical activity doesn’t mean just exercising or playing sports. List ways you could be active physically and help your family or community at the same time.

ACTIONS

When your overall food choices provide more calories than your body uses, the extra calories get stored as body fat. On the flip side, if your body uses more calories than you eat, you may be underweight. For the weight that’s right for you, balance how much you eat with how many calories your body uses. And stay active!

To be active:

• Enjoy at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on most days. Aim for 60 minutes.

• Look for active ways to have fun, such as dancing or in-line skating.

• Move more in your daily life. Use stairs. Walk with your friends.

ACTIONS!

The Food Guide Pyramid, an easy-to-use guide, helps you choose the right amount of food with enough variety. . In the meantime, follow these tips.

For enough food variety:

• Get a firm foundation: plenty of grains, veggies, and fruits. Fit in low-fat dairy foods and protein-rich foods, such as beans and lean meats. Go easy on less-nutritious, higher-calorie foods.

•Try new-to-you foods often. Have you ever tasted snow peas, kohlrabi, papaya, garbanzo beans, or pumpernickel bread?

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Weighing Health Risks
Being overweight with too much extra body fat increases the work load on the heart, lungs, and body frame. In time, that increases the chances of heart disease, some cancers, and diabetes.

Being underweight has health risks also. An underweight person doesn’t have much body fat as an energy reserve and may not have many protective nutrients stored up. He or she may be more prone to infection and other illnesses and may feel tired. Being significantly underweight keeps some people from growing properly.

Figuring your Body Mass index,  helps you see if you need to be concerned about your body weight.

It’s Your Turn!

Make suggestions for how an underweight person could get more calories while still following the Dietary Guidelines.