Did you skip breakfast this morning? If you did, you’re not alone—busy schedules mean many of us have to eat on the go or skip meals altogether. But new research suggests that it’s important to take time to eat regular meals, as structured mealtimes may be the key to maintaining a healthy diet. The study, published in the journal Public Health Nutrition, surveyed 1,013 college students on their eating habits (food preparation, meal regularity, eating on the run, etc.). Researchers also looked at the types of foods the students were eating and categorized them as either healthy (i.e., fruits and vegetables) or unhealthy (i.e., fast foods and sugar-sweetened sodas). Here is what they found:

• Students who prepared food at home and routinely ate breakfast and dinner, ate healthier foods than students who practiced other eating habits.
• Students who ate on the run, used technology while eating, and purchased food while out and about, ate unhealthier foods than students who practiced other eating habits.

The study’s researchers suggest that the importance of structure and routine in a healthy diet could be a meaningful consideration in the development of future dietary guidelines and messaging. However, it’s important to note that the study was observational, so more research is needed to confirm the findings. In the end, although this study can’t magically add extra hours to your day, it does provide another reason to be sure you’re fitting in breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Source: Public Health Nutrition

It’s common for exclusively breast-fed infants to be vitamin D deficient, which is why the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that these infants be given 400 IU of oral vitamin D daily soon after birth. However, recent research may offer an alternative to giving infants a vitamin D supplement—if nursing mothers supplement with high doses of vitamin D₃, infants may get the D they need. The new study, published in the journal Pediatrics, randomly divided 334 mothers and their four to six week old, nursing infants into three groups: in the first group, both the mothers and the infants received 400 IU of vitamin D₃ daily; in the second and third groups, the mothers received 2,400 IU or 6,400 IU, respectively, of vitamin D₃ daily, while their infants received a placebo. All of the groups followed the supplement plan for six months. Maternal vitamin D levels were measured at the beginning of the study, and then monthly; infant vitamin D levels were measured at the beginning of the study, and then at months four and seven. Here is what researchers found when they compared the effectiveness of maternal vitamin D₃ supplementation to maternal and infant supplementation:

• Breastfeeding infants receiving a placebo whose mothers were taking 6,400 IU daily had vitamin D levels similar to breastfeeding infants in the group where both the mother and infant were receiving 400 IU daily.
• Mothers receiving 6,400 IU daily safely increased their vitamin D to adequate levels compared with mothers receiving other amounts of vitamin D₃.

These findings suggest that if you’re a nursing mother, supplementing with 6,400 IU of vitamin D₃ daily may be an alternative strategy to current vitamin D recommendations for exclusively breast-fed infants. This research is important because vitamin D plays such an essential role in childhood health; not only is it linked to children’s muscle development, but vitamin D deficiency has also been linked to a variety of illnesses, including rickets, a childhood disease that causes bone malformations.

Source: Pediatrics

The market for gluten-free products continues to explode; annual sales will climb to $15 billion by 2016. But not all of this market demand comes from individuals with celiac disease, an inherited autoimmune disorder triggered by gluten consumption that damages the small intestines. According to a recent post in The New York Times, individuals who react poorly to gluten may not actually have celiac disease, but rather a condition called non-celiac gluten sensitivity. People with gluten sensitivity still experience digestive distress or other symptoms when eating gluten, but there is no intestinal damage, as with celiac patients. While there is some indication that people with gluten sensitivity are reacting more to certain carbohydrates than to gluten itself, it is clear that many people who are gluten sensitive (or who have celiac disease) will continue to avoid gluten, and that gluten-free products are here to stay. Here are some additional facts surrounding the “gluten-free” trend:

• Gluten is a protein found in wheat and some other grains, such as rye, barley, KAMUT wheat, and triticale; however, there are thousands of other products or ingredients on the market that contain gluten because they are made from these grains. Some grains, such as quinoa, brown rice, and millet, do not naturally contain gluten.
• According to a recently passed federal regulation, all packaged products labeled “gluten-free,” including dietary supplements, must contain less than 20 parts per million (ppm) of gluten.
• For people with celiac disease, the malabsorption of nutrients can be a serious problem; therefore, in consultation with a doctor, celiac patients should consider a high-potency multivitamin/mineral product, and should possibly supplement with other single nutrients, such as magnesium.

Source: The New York Times

Do your kids and teens like sports drinks—those brilliantly-colored beverages that promise rehydration, calorie replenishment, and electrolyte replacement? If they do, be aware: The Washington Post reports that while these drinks may offer some benefits for elite athletes, who train vigorously and sweat profusely, the younger set doesn’t need them. If they do lose electrolytes from sweating, less common in the types of athletics done by kids and teens, it’s typically a loss of sodium, which is already plentiful in the American diet. For this reason, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that sports drinks for kids and adolescents be avoided, or at a minimum restricted, and that water should be the drink of choice. Sports drinks may even be bad for children due to the sugar and chemical content that rivals amounts found in soda.

But, if your kids still require something other than water, and you don’t want to buy into the nutritionally questionable sports drink market, here’s a tip: Along with water, give them a sweet-tasting but nutrient-dense fruit like a banana or clementine. Hopefully, this will satisfy their sweet tooth and provide them with a dose of micronutrients, like potassium and vitamin C, at the same time.

Source: Washington Post

Chocolate is chocolate, right? Maybe not. According to a recent article from the BBC, several manufacturers have now started selling a “raw” version of the ancient treat, which is already eaten by many people in cacao-growing regions. This chocolate is made from cacao beans just like any other, but rather than roasting the beans prior to grinding, the beans are left outdoors to dry naturally. According to manufacturers, the unroasted cacao beans retain more nutrients such as iron, zinc, magnesium, copper, and vitamin C, and are known to have high antioxidant content. Best of all, it's said that raw chocolate has a more natural taste than using roasted beans. 

Source: BBC