Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Worth a listen

I really generally don't like diets that advocate a specific nutrient, but I would like to read this book, or at least browse through it. The other day I heard a nutrition episode on the Kojo Nnamdi show on WAMU and I couldn't turn it off. I brought it into my headphones on my iPhone in the supermarket. A lot of what was said wasn't exactly news to people who have read the Omnivore's Dilemma, What to Eat, etc. but those books were written and researched a few years ago now so it was interesting to hear the new studies, especially from an NIH researcher. There was a lot discussed about Omega 3s and depression. I found one study particularly interesting where they went to an army base and used all the same recipes that the base normally uses but switched out higher Omega 3 / lower Omega 6 ingredients like grass-fed cow milk and beef and olive oil instead of corn oil and violence  was reduced on the base. Now as I have often said, working at NIH has made me wary of all studies. There's always a new one around the corner, but it was certainly worth a listen and some of the articles may be worth looking-up.

Here were the guests:


Joseph Hibbeln
Acting chief, Section on Nutritional Neurosciences, NIH; Captain, U.S. Public Health Service
J. Thomas Brenna
Professor of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University
Evelyn Tribole
Registered Dietitian; Nutritional Counselor; Author, "The Ultimate Omega-3 Diet" (McGraw-Hill)

At any rate, while I don't like the idea that one nutrient is the key to life, as this hypothesis seems to suggest, but I do like reading about those theories, even if I don't totally trust them. 

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