Samples Resources on Nutrition for Health (01)

Are Calcium Supplements the Key to Preventing Polyp Recurrence?
This is an article about the 1999 study by researchers that taking calcium supplements can reduce polyp recurrence. Dr. John A. Baron, professor of medicine and of community and family medicine at Dartmouth Medical School, says here that adenomas or polyps may develop into colorectal cancer. Less than one year into the study, we saw positive results from calcium - fewer adenomas and so, less potential for cancer. The effects of taking calcium supplements and eating calcium rich foods was evident here, and the focus of future studies since then.

Vegan Nutrition for Kids
This site is devoted to raising vegan children. Vegans don’t eat beef, chicken, pork, veal, milk, cheese, butter or eggs. The site says that kids on a vegan diet eat more fruits and vegetables, and they are sick less often and have less food allergies. This covers all aspects of vegan nutrition, including feeding vegan babies, vegan infants and vegan kids. These are suggestions for foods that vegan children will enjoy, such as spaghetti and tomato sauce; peanut butter and jelly, whole wheat bread, fruit on waffles, romaine lettuce salad, mashed potatoes, backed French fries with ketchup and tofu meats. It also discusses vegan nutrition during pregnancy, and gives a sample diet for vegan mothers-to-be.

The Nitty Gitty on Fiber
This page talks about fiber and says that it's not as simple as the food and bowel supplement manufacturers make it out to be. There are a great many types of fiber, each with different effects in the body. For example, no plant fiber is digested by the small bowel, but reaches the colon unchanged. Keeping it as simple as possible, there are two broad catgories of fiber: soluble and insoluble. All plants have both kinds, but the percentage of each varies. Insoluable fiber does not dissolve in water is is not acted on by colon bacteria, i.e., it is noty metabolized. Wheat and corn are about 90 percent insoluble fiber; oats about 50 percent. Ingesting these fibers are beneficial for bowel regularity and reducing the risk of colon polyps. Soluble fiber does dissolve in water and is often used as a food source by colon bacterial. Two categories of soluble fiber are psyllium and prebiotics. Psyllium contains mucilage, which increases stool bulk and reduces cholesterol. Prebiotics are used as a food source by certain beneficial colon bacterials, which create many health benefits.

Nutritional Information for Kids and Adults
The World Health Organization put out this collection of links on topics related to human health. Discussed are child growth and development, micronutrients, infant feeding, feto-maternal nutrition and low birth weight, dietary recommendations and nutritional requirements, malnutrition, obesity, senior citizen healthy eating and more. A section on HIV/AIDS is also included, as is one about household food security.