Category: Nosh

I know that summer is really here when the sun stays up past its dreary, winter bedtime of six o’clock, when my windows open and let in fresh air for the first time in over a season, and when that nostalgic, heavy scent of a backyard grill fired up for dinner permeates the neighborhood.

Grilling can either be an opportunity to add robust flavor to a variety of foods, or it can be a bit of a problem for our health. Now that grilling season is officially upon us, there are a few key ground rules to establish before we whip off that grill cover and light it up.

Ground Rule #1: Minimize the formation of heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), two very scientific terms for compounds that have raised red flags as being potential carcinogens. They tend to form when meat is exposed to high heat for long periods of time.

• Choose lean proteins, like fish, chicken breast, ground turkey breast, and 93% or leaner ground beef. Trim the visible fat and remove skin before cooking. Fish, seafood, tofu, and veggies have a much lower risk of PAH or HCA formation.
• Marinate foods for grilling in vinegar or lemon juice, avoiding sugary or oily marinades.
• Cook foods on the grill for the least amount of time necessary to cook them through safely. Avoid charred or blackened foods.

Ground Rule #2: Get savvy with food safety basics. Cookouts are rife with opportunities for cross-contamination and food spoilage, which can lead to foodborne illness.

• Keep raw meat, fish, and poultry well-chilled until just before cooking. If any of it needs to thaw, set a reminder to transfer it from the freezer to the bottom shelf of your fridge the day before.
• Never re-use cooking utensils or dishes that have touched raw meat, unless you have washed them thoroughly with soap and water in between.
• Don’t leave cold salads and sides at room temperature for more than two hours, especially if they contain mayonnaise or dairy.

Ground Rule #3: Rethink the menu. Trust me, I like a good burger as much as the next person, but I think we can breathe some fresh and healthy new life into traditional cookout fare.

• Mashing a ripe avocado into extra-lean ground turkey or chicken breast before cooking can keep it from drying out, so you get a leaner protein that still tastes good.
• Fish wrapped in foil or grilled on a well-soaked cedar plank offers an alternative to heavier meat dishes.
• You can even grill tofu and cauliflower!
• Go heavy on the veggies. Grill up mixed veggie kebabs, ears of corn, and Portobello mushroom caps (they make great burger alternatives); throw together an easy salad with plenty of greens, berries, and a quick oil-and-vinegar dressing; and try lighter versions of mayonnaise-based salads.
• Swap out staples like ketchup and mayo for salsa, mustard, hummus, or fresh avocado.
• Use a big leaf of lettuce instead of a bun for your sandwiches.
• Offer a beverage table of unsweetened iced tea and infused waters over soda and juice. If alcohol is a non-negotiable, stick to one or two, and really savor it.
• Serve up fruit for dessert. Grilled peaches, pineapple rings, and watermelon wedges pair well with a dollop of lightly sweetened yogurt, and banana boats stuffed with just a few dark chocolate chips are great wrapped in foil and grilled until warm and melty.

Ground Rule #4: Go beyond the food. A cookout is a celebration, and although food is a big part of it, it’s far from the only one. Plan for some activities to keep everyone engaged and moving. We never go to a cookout without a Frisbee in tow, since it’s easily portable and great for large or small groups. Touch football, a baseball toss, hula-hooping, volleyball, and tag are other great options. If you’re not big into sports of any kind, gather the group for a walk or bike ride around the neighborhood or park.

Ground Rule #5: Relax! If most of your diet is full of nutrient-dense foods, one or two summer holiday cookouts will not fully derail your health goals. It’s important to prioritize your own well-being, but that means taking a deep breath and cutting yourself some slack now and then just as much as it means eating well and moving more most of the time. Your health journey is bigger than any one meal or social outing.

Now go out there and enjoy the summer, healthfully!

There’s no question that protein is important. It plays a role in just about everything that goes on in our body, keeping our bones and muscles strong; our nails, skin, and hair looking good; our internal organs running properly; and more. But the proliferation of high-protein products and the nonstop barrage of ads has got millions of us convinced that we’re not getting enough protein. In reality, however, we’re getting way too much. And our fixation on this one nutrient could be making us sick—or worse. The solution? Fiber.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommends that we get an average of 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. (Since most Americans don’t know their weight in kilograms, an easier way to calculate how many grams of protein you need is to simply multiply your body weight in pounds by 0.36.) On average, that works out to about 46 grams per day for women, 56 for men (pregnant women, athletes, and those who work out a lot may need more protein, but check with your medical provider before you start messing with your diet).

Too Much of a Good Thing

Despite the USDA’s recommendation, the average man over 20 years old consumes nearly 99 grams of protein per day—75 percent more than necessary. The average woman eats 68 grams per day—48 percent more than necessary. The result? Despite some advertisers’ insistence that the more protein the better, too much of it can cause some pretty serious problems. Here are just a few examples.

• Cancer. Grilling and frying some animal proteins can produce chemicals that may cause breast and colon cancers. In addition, diets that are high in red meat (a major source of protein for a lot of us) have also been linked with increased colorectal cancer risk.
• Cardiovascular issues. High-protein diets also tend to be high in cholesterol and saturated fat, both of which are associated with increased risk of heart attack, high blood pressure, and stroke.
• Kidney problems. Diets that are high in animal protein have been linked with increased risk of developing kidney stones. And in those who already have kidney function issues (that’s about 25 percent of adults), high animal protein diets reduce kidney function even further.
• Weight loss sabotage. When you eat more protein than your body can absorb, the excess gets converted to fat and sugar, neither of which will help you lose weight.

The Solution? More Fiber

Fiber is a type of carbohydrate, but instead of getting broken down and absorbed by your digestive system like rice and bread and other carbs, fiber’s purpose is to slow down digestion and make your stool softer so it’s easier to pass.

There are actually two different types of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber absorbs water (think oatmeal—you’ll also find it in beans, blueberries, and grains). Insoluble fiber doesn’t absorb water (think celery). You’ll find it in the peels of fruits and veggies, seeds, whole wheat, and brown rice. No one knows exactly how much of each type is ideal, but suffice it to say you need both. The USDA recommend that adults get a combined total of 14 grams of fiber per 1000 calories you eat. On average, that’s 20–35 grams per day, but you can do your own math.
So why should you make fiber a priority in your diet? Insufficient fiber intake is linked to a variety of health conditions. Getting enough, however, offers a number of protective benefits. For example:

• Cancer reduction. A high-fiber diet is associated with lower risk of developing colorectal and other cancers.
• Diabetes. Unlike carbs that the body absorbs, soluble fiber doesn’t cause the type of blood sugar spikes that are the markers of diabetes. And if you already have diabetes, soluble fiber in particular may help control the disease and keep it from getting worse.
• Digestive health. Both soluble and insoluble fibers reduce the chance that you’ll get constipated or develop hemorrhoids.
• Heart protection. Soluble fiber grabs hold of cholesterol and drags it out of your body. Lower cholesterol generally goes hand in hand with lower risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, arterial disease, and stroke. Oatmeal is among the best foods for this.
• Weight control. High fiber foods help with weight loss because they’re generally pretty low in calories, but they also leave you feeling full. Without that full feeling to slow them down, a lot of people overeat.

(A note of caution: As wonderful as fiber is, don’t go overboard. Too much of it can cause stomach cramps, bloating, and diarrhea.)

Gluten-free used to be pretty black-or-white: either you had celiac disease and needed a gluten-free diet, or you didn’t. Now, though, there’s a whole lot of gray area, and it can make for some pretty confusing health advice.

Part of the confusion lies in the difference between celiac disease (a diagnosable autoimmune condition involving physical damage to the lining of the intestines as a result of ingesting gluten) and the more mysterious phenomenon vaguely termed “gluten sensitivity.” Gluten sensitivity does not involve changes in intestinal lining or permeability and therefore may produce normal intestinal biopsy results when a person is tested for celiac disease. Gluten sensitivity is only established if celiac disease has been ruled out but symptoms seem to improve on a gluten-free diet.

Does gluten sensitivity actually exist, though?

New research seems to say it may not. A 2013 study reviewing gluten sensitivity in non-celiac irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients found improvement of symptoms not upon removing gluten from the diet, but by reducing the amount of FODMAPs the participants consumed.

…Huh?

Ok, let’s backtrack. FODMAPs are fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols, and they are the wrench in this gluten sensitivity equation. FODMAPs are carbohydrates that are often insufficiently digested in the intestine, making them prime food for gut bacteria. When gut bacteria “eat” (break down) compounds in our intestines, we may very well experience cramping, abdominal distention (bloating), and diarrhea. Do you know what those symptoms also describe? Yup: non-celiac gluten sensitivity.

Is it possible that the majority of individuals who seem to have a sensitivity to gluten are actually responding to high levels of FODMAPs in their diets? In short, yes, it’s possible, but everyone is a little different. Wheat, barley, and rye (the three gluten-containing grains to avoid) also happen to be high in FODMAPs, so feeling relief after eliminating these foods doesn’t say for sure whether it was the gluten or the FODMAPs causing the issue. More and more, scientists are considering wheat intolerance (as a result of FODMAP content) to be a more accurate explanation for this particular set of symptoms than gluten itself.

Wheat, barley, and rye are not the only foods high in FODMAPs; in fact, certain individuals who experience some relief by going gluten-free don’t find that it completely eliminates their symptoms. Total symptom relief often comes by looking at high-FODMAP foods in general. These foods fall into a few categories: foods with excess fructose (honey, apples, mango, watermelon, pear, and the vilified high-fructose corn syrup), fructans (artichokes, garlic, leek, onion, scallions, shallots, wheat, rye, barley, and inulin, which is found added to many packaged foods), lactose (milk and yogurt products), galacto-oligosaccharides (legumes, lentils, chickpeas), and polyols (apples, apricots, nectarines, pears, plums, prunes, mushrooms, and sugar alcohols like sorbitol and xylitol). Foods are constantly being tested and retested for FODMAP content, so this list should only be considered partial.

There is a way to tell if your gastrointestinal symptoms are related to gluten or these poorly absorbed carbohydrates known as FODMAPs. The first step is to find a gastrointestinal (GI) doctor you trust. Rule out actual celiac disease and wheat allergies (you must continue to consume gluten while testing for celiac or the results will be inaccurate), lactose intolerance, and a lesser-discussed condition called small intestine bacterial overgrowth, or SIBO for short. Once those are all excluded, find a registered dietitian, because this next part can be a bit of a pain.

You see, to test for FODMAP sensitivity, you have to do what’s called an elimination diet. Working closely with a dietitian, you will remove all sources of FODMAPs for up to six weeks to see if symptoms improve. Then, the dietitian will guide you through reintroducing the FODMAPs, group by group (fructose, fructans, lactose, galacto-oligosaccharides, and polyols, as mentioned above). The initial phase of the diet is highly restrictive, but the goal is to discover which specific groups of FODMAPs are causing you discomfort and in what quantities—in other words, to ultimately create as liberal a diet as possible without symptoms developing.

The gut is a fascinatingly mysterious set of organs, capable of much more than we fully realize. There is a solid chance that non-celiac gluten sensitivity either doesn’t exist or, at the very least, is considerably rarer than it seems. But that does not make your individual symptoms less real. If you feel as though something in your body is not right, find a doctor who takes your concerns seriously and explore all possible explanations.

It might be gluten, but it may be something else entirely. Don’t stop searching for answers, and don’t underestimate the power of those poorly digested, fermentable carbohydrates called FODMAPs. I think we’ll be hearing a lot more about them moving forward.

Adding a smoothie to your daily menu can be a great way to kick-start your morning. A delicious blend of vegetables and fruits provides a healthy, refreshing snack perfect for any time of the day. Fruit and vegetables are the main additions to most smoothies, but it’s simple to add a few powerful favorites to help make the most delicious—and nutritious—smoothies.
Here are five simple power additions that are perfect for any smoothie.

Kombucha

Kombucha is a fermented probiotic drink. It’s generally a fermented tea (green or black), sugar, and fruit juice with added cultures of bacteria and yeast. It can easily be used in any smoothie as a base and will provide a wide array of health benefits, one of the greatest of which is its ability to detox the body. It’s also been known to improve digestion, help with weight loss, increase energy, reduce joint pain, and prevent cancer.

Kefir

Kefir is a creamy fermented product that is traditionally made using cow’s or goat’s milk. The health benefits are endless, including antibiotic and antifungal properties. Kefir has been used to treat allergies, cancer, digestive issues, heart disease, osteoporosis, and more.

Flax

Flax seeds pack a big nutritional punch. They have a crunchy and chewy texture with a slight nutty flavor. Stirring one tablespoon into your favorite smoothie will add essential vitamins and minerals. Flax seeds are a good source of protein (1–2 grams of protein per tablespoon) and are chock full of omega-3 fatty acids (which are a key force against inflammation in our bodies), antioxidants, minerals, and essential vitamins. They are also low in carbohydrates and high in fiber. If you don’t like the texture of full flax seeds, you can grind them before adding to your smoothie.

Pomegranate Juice

Pomegranate juice is a powerful drink filled with amazing nutritional benefits. Pomegranate juice has been found to have three times the antioxidant activity of red wine and green tea. Adding it to your smoothie could help reduce stress and protect against heart disease and cancer. Try to use organic pomegranate juice when you can.

Matcha

Matcha tea is the dried leaves of green tea ground into a powder. Add the powder directly to your smoothie to give it a nutritional boost.
The list of health benefits is long, including providing many minerals and vitamins. It can also protect against many kinds of cancer and help prevent cardiovascular disease.
There are so many simple ingredients to add to any smoothie to give it a more powerful and nutritious punch. Adding any one or all of these supplements can help you make the most delicious and nutritious smoothies year round.

Frozen foods often get a bad rap. Some people say they aren’t as tasty, are too highly processed, or just plain cheap. I say the opposite: Many frozen foods are tasty; they are often frozen at the height of ripeness; and I think cheap is good. If you are trying to lose weight but you turn your nose up at frozen foods, I want you to take a second look at this underrated dieter’s friend.

I purchase quite a bit of frozen food—but not highly processed frozen foods. You won’t find any frozen diet dinners, boxes of frozen lasagna or macaroni and cheese, or frozen breakfast foods in my freezer. I buy frozen fruit, vegetables, chicken, veggie burgers, fruit popsicles, and sometimes ice cream.

If you aren’t sure how frozen foods can benefit your weight loss efforts, I’ve put together a short list.

1. Long Shelf Life

Frozen foods have a long shelf life, which can save you money and ensure you have healthy food on hand at all times. Have you ever bought a container of fresh strawberries and forgotten about them? They go bad very quickly. If you have frozen strawberries on hand you can still make that smoothie or add strawberries to your oatmeal.

2. Nutritionally Sound

Some people believe that freezing makes fruits and vegetables lose their nutrients. But the American Frozen Food Institute indicates that many frozen fruits and vegetables have almost identical nutrients as fresh because of the methods used to quickly cool and freeze the foods.

I have to say though: always read the ingredient label. Look for fruits and vegetables that don’t have sauces or added sugars. And when purchasing frozen meats or grains, look for those with little or no preservatives.

3. Versatile

Frozen foods are incredibly versatile. Vegetables can be used in soups, as side dishes, and in salads. I buy large bags of frozen stir-fry vegetables and use them in fajitas, Asian stir-fries, and soup. Frozen fruits are great in smoothies, eaten by themselves, or used as a base for homemade popsicles or drinks. Remember that making meals from scratch, whether with fresh or frozen foods, is a way you can control your calories.

4. Always in Season

If you try to eat fruits and vegetables that are in season, you know that it is almost impossible to find locally grown cucumbers in the dead of winter unless you live in a very southern region. Frozen fruit and vegetables allow you to eat foods that aren’t in season year-round.

5. Diet Friendly

If you choose wisely, you can find a variety of frozen foods that are diet friendly. For example, here are 10 diet-friendly frozen foods:

• Black-eyed peas
• Lima beans
• Mixed vegetables
• Strawberries or other fruits
• Rice and grains (usually partially cooked)
• Plain potatoes
• Fish
• Chicken, natural beef, or organic vegetable burgers
• Bread products such as Ezekiel Bread
• Sherbet or sorbet

6. Easy to Repurpose

You can repurpose and repackage frozen foods into individual homemade frozen diet meals very easily. Put some frozen vegetables, chicken strips, and homemade sauce into a divided container and freeze. Take the container to work with you and microwave until cooked through. It’s cheaper and healthier than purchasing a traditional diet meal.

If you are like many dieters, you sometimes experience that inevitable feeling of disappointment with yourself after eating a food or meal you know isn’t good for your diet. Do you ever stop to wonder what drives you to make bad food choices when you know better? Here are six possible reasons and solutions to go along with them.

1. Tired of So Many Decisions

A top reason for making bad food choices is being tired of having to make so many decisions when it comes to food. Throughout the course of your dieting day you may have to decide:

• What to have for dinner, snacks, lunch, and breakfast for yourself and maybe even your family.
• Where to take the kids for a quick meal and whether you will eat whatever fast food they do.
• Whether you have exercised enough.
• Do you weigh your food or not?
• Did you remember to record your snack from this morning?
• Should you eat just one of the doughnuts your coworker brought?

That’s a lot of decisions just for food alone. Sometimes you may just give up thinking about making good choices and eat whatever you want—even if it is bad for you.

To avoid falling into this trap, try sticking to a similar diet each day and plan your meals ahead of time. Having fewer food decisions to make each day can make it easier to say “no” to bad foods that tempt you.

2. Stress

Stress is a known trigger for bad food decisions. One client of mine said that eating candy was like a sedative when she was under stress. In some ways I think she’s right. Eating candy or whatever bad food appeals to you can make you feel better—temporarily.

To combat stress eating, you need to do two things:

First, identify stressful situations while they are occurring.

Second, wait 30 minutes before eating anything.

Once you have trained yourself to wait until eating after a stress-filled situation, you will be able to remove some of the emotional eating and make reasonable food choices.

3. Food Cravings

Food cravings come on strong and fast. And that can make you eat whatever you want right then, whether it is cupcakes, chips, or a large coffee dessert from Starbucks.

The good news is that the strategy for fighting food cravings is similar to handling stress. Train yourself to identify situations that trigger cravings and wait awhile until you eat. Often the cravings will pass and you will feel successful and in control.

4. Burning the Candle at Both Ends

If you are the type of person who stays up late and gets up early without much sleep in between, you may find it very difficult to resist junk foods. Sleep deprivation increases your appetite and lowers your ability to make good food choices.

Fix this problem by establishing a regular bedtime, not trying to catch up on sleep on the weekend, and managing your workload. I know it’s easier said than done, but it will help your weight loss once you figure out a healthier sleep–wake cycle.

5. Social Pressure

Friends are terrific but they can pressure you into making bad food choices. When I was losing weight I had situations where friends came out and told me to “loosen up and enjoy the moment.” And in case you were wondering, they didn’t want me to go zip lining or participate in a crazy game but instead eat the same bad foods they were eating when we were out together.

I came to realize that my weight loss and health were more important than my friends’ desire to have company when they made poor food choices. It took some time but eventually my friends realized I was serious about my health and they respected my decisions.

6. Living in the Moment

It’s easy to get carried away and eat more than you intend when you are celebrating holidays, toasting a retiring coworker, or on vacation. It’s okay to indulge now and then, but regularly doing so will always backfire when it comes to weight loss.

Before you head to the party or take off for vacation, decide how strict you will be with your food choices. Allow yourself an indulgence or two but place limits on yourself. You will be glad you did when the event has passed and you are still on track with your diet.

When it comes to celiac disease, few foods have caused as much controversy as the humble oat.
Oats are naturally gluten-free, but they’re almost always contaminated from being farmed, stored, transported, or processed using fields and equipment that once touched gluten-containing grains (wheat, barley, and rye).
For years, the only way for someone with celiac disease to safely eat oats was to buy ones that were grown, harvested, and produced under a “purity protocol” that guaranteed they never came in contact with gluten. When oat-based food companies decided they wanted a piece of the gluten-free pie, though, they were faced with a dilemma: There are not enough purity protocol oats to meet their demand.
Enter mechanical and optical sorting, where commodity oats are fed through a machine that separates them by length, density, and color in order to remove any foreign grain (mostly wheat or barley). With the gluten-containing grains removed, the commodity oats are said to be “cleaned” and—by U.S. government standards—gluten-free.
Are they really, though?

THE PROS

Big guns in the food industry like General Mills and Quaker would not risk the negative exposure if they didn’t genuinely believe the sorting process worked. Their websites assure consumers there are various testing checkpoints to ensure the finished product contains less than 20 ppm (“parts per million,” or about 0.02%) gluten—the government standard for gluten-free.
(It turns out that several other companies producing gluten-free oat products have been using the same technology for some time now, but only recently has it gotten media attention.)
This sorting process could make gluten-free products more available and more affordable than ever, with companies like General Mills promising to keep prices constant. For someone with celiac disease who doesn’t live in a more affluent or metropolitan area, these two factors have been major obstacles in treating their disease.
Ultimately, several big celiac organizations do support the mechanical sorting of commodity oats, as long as the testing is consistent, transparent, stringent, and reliable; which of course brings up the question…is it?

THE CONS

Mechanical and optical sorting may mostly work, but the testing protocols have rendered it rather risky. As long as humans drive the process, there will be room for error, and testing has to be on point to catch it. Mere months after their gluten-free launch, General Mills recalled a number of boxes of Cheerios for cross-contact with wheat during transport. General Mills responded swiftly, but top representatives of the gluten-free community asserted that this incident was not only avoidable but a sign that testing was more lax than the company let on.
It’s not only a concern of the frequency of testing, though; the method itself has also raised questions. Quaker says it tests every sample box individually, but General Mills uses a composite or mean score. Basically, they grind up a minimum of 12 boxes, test, and average the results; if 11 of them contain 3 ppm gluten and the last contains 70 ppm, they average out to less than 10 ppm, and the lot will pass inspection. Would you want to be the unlucky celiac sufferer who gets box number 12?
Then there are the unintended consequences of the technology. When titans like PepsiCo (Quaker) and General Mills step onto the scene, the livelihood of the smaller companies that are producing purity protocol oats is threatened. Why would companies spend money on these special oats when they can just buy and sort cheap, commodity oats themselves? Pure oat sales have been declining, leaving their manufacturers questioning the future of the business. Pretty soon, celiac sufferers may not have a choice: the companies growing and using pure oats could be put plum out of business.

THE BOTTOM LINE: FIT OR FLOP?

I wish I didn’t have to say this, but as of right now, FLOP. Look, I’m not so cynical as to think these larger companies got into the gluten-free game solely to take advantage of a “trend” and earn a quick buck, but if they don’t do this thing right, that’s exactly how it will appear. They have a huge responsibility in pioneering this technology to make sure they’ve tested and retested ad nauseam.
As of today, that testing simply isn’t there for me to recommend that anyone with a diagnosed intolerance to gluten take the chance on mechanically and optically sorted oats.
If you’d still like to incorporate oats into your diet, first check with your doctor, because even certified gluten-free oats can be problematic for a subset of people with celiac disease. Then, find a company that uses purity protocol oats to be certain that the utmost care and attention is being devoted to making sure your oats are safe to eat. These smaller companies need your support.
Gluten-free eating is not a fad; it’s a medical treatment. Every decision we make has consequences, and every decision we make matters.
Choose with care.

With nearly half of all Americans (and 70 percent of older women) claiming to supplement with calcium, you would think that its benefits would be pretty well established.

We do know that calcium is important for health. It’s the most abundant mineral in the body, with a whopping 99 percent of it found in bones, where it aids in both structure and function. The remaining 1 percent contributes to vascular contraction, vasodilation, muscular function, nerve transmission, intracellular signaling, and hormonal secretion.

So, yeah, calcium is kind of a big deal.

We also know that many Americans do not get enough through diet alone. Dairy might get the most attention, but it’s not the only food bringing its calcium game. In fact, sardines packed with bones contain more calcium than eight ounces of milk, and the calcium found in the kale family (kale, broccoli, cabbage, turnip greens, and bok choy), although found in smaller quantities, is comparable in “bioavailability.” (That’s a good thing.) Additional sources include almonds, Brazil nuts, dried figs, fortified tofu, and (my personal favorite!) blackstrap molasses.

Calcium’s important roles in the body—paired with our tendency to under consume it—should make supplementation a no brainer, but as with many health habits, it is not so cut and dried.

WHY NOT? (THE CONS)

The mixed results of the Women’s Health Initiative, which looked at 36,282 postmenopausal women, has raised some notable red flags. It found that daily supplementation of 1000 mg calcium with 400 IU vitamin D for seven years did not lead to any significant decrease in colorectal cancer, and that women who started supplementing during the study actually wound up with an increased risk of cardiovascular events. These women also had a 17 percent higher risk of kidney stones than women on a placebo.

The finding regarding calcium supplements and heart disease, in particular, has been receiving attention lately. Researchers can’t say for sure, but their concern is that high calcium intakes, especially from supplements, can lead to calcium deposits in—and subsequent hardening of—arteries, a known risk factor for incidents such as heart attacks. This area of research needs more attention before any changes to guidelines occur, but it’s certainly something to pay attention to moving forward.

Nonetheless, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently concluded that there is actually no benefit to supplementing calcium in doses smaller than 1,000 mg and that the data is insufficient to support higher doses as well. They ultimately no longer recommend the majority of Americans take calcium supplements at all.

BUT BEFORE YOU TOSS YOUR PILLS…(THE PROS)

Let’s not forget that we know that a dietary calcium deficiency can lead to osteoporosis, and segments of our population are more at risk than others. Women who are postmenopausal, amenorrheic, or suffering from female athlete triad; vegetarians and vegans; smokers; and anyone with a family history are particularly susceptible. Even if we shouldn’t prescribe preventive calcium supplements to every American, that doesn’t mean that it’s not advisable for certain demographics.

In fact, despite the risks many experts conclude that calcium supplements are probably a good idea for women with osteoporosis or broken bones over the age of 50.

We need to see more consistent results across studies before we jump to any new conclusions. Repeat research doesn’t happen nearly as often as it should, leading to single, flawed studies making big headlines. One of the biggest challenges and criticisms of the research, for example, is that adherence is poor; it’s hard to study a supplement’s effect if the participants forget to take the prescribed dose. If everyone took the pills as instructed, perhaps the results would be more definitive.

THE BOTTOM LINE: FIT OR FLOP?

FIT…but only if necessary. We need to focus first on calcium-rich foods. Dietary calcium has all of the potential benefits without any of the purported risks of supplemental calcium. Use the money you’ll save by not buying the supplements on buying more nutritious foods, and you won’t have to be bothered with popping a pill every time you eat.

If you do choose to supplement as a high-risk individual, find a high-quality one, preferably with a USP seal to ensure that it’s been independently tested for contamination and quality. Definitely do not take more than the 1,000 to 1,300 mg daily dose (depending on your life stage and sex). Split your daily intake into less than 500 mg per sitting, which is crucial for proper absorption, and ideally go for one that’s also packed with some vitamin D, magnesium, phosphorus, and vitamin K.

Supplemental calcium may make us healthier in the short term, but don’t let it be a crutch or an excuse to not turn to those calcium-rich foods first. Medicine saves millions of lives, but remember, nature is pretty remarkable, too.