4. Don't consume much dairy unless you are of northern European descent. Most Nothern European types are able to digest lactose after they become adults. Most adults of other groups cannot. I think it might have been better if it were put along lines of if you can't digest lactose . I am black and can drink dairy all day long with no problems.  A white friend of mine has problems with even small amouts of dairy. So the Northern European rule far from  a hard and fast one. Jet Silverman to email me, remove the X

That's because just about any college grad knows all anyone needs to know about nutrition in the first place. There's very little to add in med school. This is basically what nutrition boils down to: Please provide an example of one day's diet (make it as basic as you like and appetizing need not be a criteria) that provides 100% or more RDA of the vitamins and minerals for which there are RDAs. turf

Most of us were taught  that if we ate a balanced diet,  we would be getting the nutrients we need to maintain optimum health.  Whether it was the Basic-7 food groups or the Basic-4 food groups  or the Pyramid of Health, what we were not told is how much we would have to eat to ensure a daily nutrition balance. I've selected LifePak (an optimal dietary supplement  which has what the body requires in bio-available antioxidants,vitamins , phyto-nutrients and minerals) to use as a comparison between a good supplement and just eating your vegetables .                 Should we take LifePak...?                     or can we get the nutrients we need                   from our three daily meals...? To get:        of this ingredient in LifePak:   You would have to eat each of these  (Daily):   20-25 mg        (12,600 IU’S) Beta-Carotene           10 cups of broccoli or 40-50 peaches                         (7,400 IU’S) Vitamin A Palmitate,                         Dunaliella Salina 500 mg          Vitamin C (Calcium Ascorbate            7 1/2 oranges or 23 tomatoes Complex         (Ester C) 400 IU          Vitamin D-3 ( Cholocalciferol)          16 eggs or 40 lbs of cheddar cheese 300 IU                  Vitamin E                                       12 cupsolive oil or30 cups kale 3 mg            Thiamin                                                 3 1/2 3.1-oz porkchops 3.4 mg          Riboflavin                                              1 3/4 whole 10-inch cake                 or 8 1/2  8-oz glasses of whole milk 4 mg            Vitamin B6                                       25.4 servings of eggs benedict 40 mg           Niacin                                                  6 cups cooked, drained mushrooms 400 mcg         Folate (Folic Acid)                             53 cups romaine lettuce 12 mcg          Vitamin B12                                     3 3/4 lbs processed cheddar cheese 300 mcg Biotin                                                  5/8 lb beef liver 20 mg           Pantothenic Acid                                        5 1-lb filets of flounder 44 mg           Grape Skin Extract                         w/Polyphenols(Anthocyanins)             4,400 skins of grapes 32 mg           Acerola Cherry Extract           20 mg           Freeze Dried Tomato Powder w/Lycopene 16 mg           Powdered Broccoli Extract w/Sulforaphane 4 mg            Bilberry Powder w/Anthocyanosides 2 mg            Leucoanthocyanin (Grape Seed Extract) 2 mg            Alfalfa Extract w/Lutein 1 mg            Reduced Glutathione 500 mg          Calcium (Calcium Carbonate, Calcium Citrate,                         Calcium Chelate)                 6 3/4 cups of  fresh steamed brocco                                                           6 mg            Iron (Iron Chelate)                             1 1/5 cup canned refried beans 75 mcg          Iodine (Potassium Iodide)                       Quantities of Seafood & Iodized Salt 200 mg          Magnesium (Magnesium Chelate,                         Magnesium Citrate,                         Magnesium Oxide)                         1.12-oz of shrimp or 3/4 cup roasted                                                                                     cashews 15 mg           Zinc                                                    10 ounces of lean ground beef or                 50 slices of whole grain bread 100 mcg Selenium                                                12 cups of mushrooms 2 mg            Copper (Copper Chelate)                 1 plate of oysters 3.5 mg          Manganese                                               2 2/3 cups pineapple 200 mcg Chromium (Chromium Chelate,                         Chromium Picolinate)                     Lots of calves liver, raisins, root                                                                                     vegetables, clams,nuts 1 mg            Boron 150 mg          Carnitine (l-Carnitine l-Tartrate)                                               (This amino acid helps prevent accumulation of ketones during weight loss; improves fat _meta_bolism; reduces blood triglycerides; increases use of fat as an energy source; is a useful pharmacologic agent in management of ischemic heart disease.) Try telling someone to maintain his/her nutritional needs by having a daily diet of 40 peaches, almost 4 pounds of cheddar cheese....I think it's about time we stop prescribing food.  Go with the obvious.  A good supplement to provide the necessary elements is the better pre_script_ion. Eating right is the advisory.

Dr. Uthman's gripe with alternativists is similar to my gripe with medicalists (MDs) - except medicalists (MDs) dressed up a big part of their religion - their most frequent surgical behavior toward males - in religious clothes...and now they are trying, belatedly, to dress it up in scientific clothes... Todd D. Gastaldo, D.C.

about nutrition in the first place. There's very little to add in med school. This is basically what nutrition boils down to: Please provide an example of one day's diet (make it as basic as you like and appetizing need not be a criteria) that provides 100% or more RDA of the vitamins and minerals for which there are RDAs. turf    Another example of the guy who doesn't know what he doesn't know.    What makes you think you have to get the RDA of every vitamin every eay?  Think your body isn't capable of storing most vitamins longer than 24 hours?     The RDA is a target for a running average.  Nobody intended it literally as something you have to do everyday.   Anymore than when we say that the average American has 2.3 children, one testicle, and .85 ovaries, we mean there are actually people like this around.                                       Steve Harris, M.D.  

Excellent summary.  There's some more interesting stuff about the effect of vitamin supplements on health, but here the vitamins are being used in doses that make them more drugs than nutrients.  So I'm not sure that's nutrition. Actually, I would like to hear your take on that subject, Steve. I have had a hard time separating truth from hype on this. Last year there was hype about folate preventing stroke; now I hear nothing on that. Then there was hype on selenium preventing cancer, now nothing. And how about the _Newsweek_ piece on homocysteine and atherosclerosis? Is this evidence-_base_d or more data-free theory? Inquiring minds want to know. I don't know offhand about the folate and strokes (although folate has several other well-proven benefits), but while there may have been a lot of hype about selenenium preventing cancer, and the homocysteine/artherosclerosis connection, in my book these are both well proven by studies. I have posted abstracts about the later on two of these ngs before. Go do your own search. Or must I feed you?