Educator Idea File: Highlights of 2008

2008 was quite the year if you have been reading about the happenings on Wall Street! But what about the nutrition news front? We find it quite interesting that we started with an article about how our current health care system is high cost and low health (Feb) and we finished with a piece on the same theme about how angiosty patients are often misled (Dec).On the diet and weight loss front, we examined high-glycemic diets (Jan) and illustrated how they are not the best for weight control. We showed a piece on how high-calorie-dense foods are fattening (Oct). We also saw a media flurry about high fat diets being better for weight loss (Aug) but unfortunately there was a major flaw in this study and the best diet was not tested or mentioned.Speaking of heart disease, another study showed that it is the salt and not the genes that matters for hypertension (Oct).There was also another article about real versus minimal risks for consumers and their health. Vitamin D got attention in a study that showed more is needed for optimal health (July and Feb).And as always, the data on plant foods just keeps piling in for their favor. One study showed how tea is better for the mind (Aug). Another showed how hibiscus tea (Dec) helps lower blood pressure and another still showed how Vitamin K helps prevent cancer (Nov).