Women who get most of their daily calcium from food have healthier bones than women whose calcium comes mainly from supplemental tablets, say researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Surprisingly, this is true even though the supplement takers have higher average calcium intake.

Adequate calcium is important to prevent osteoporosis, which affects an estimated 8 million American women and 2 million American men. Another 34 million Americans have low bone mass, placing them at increased risk for osteoporosis. Calcium consumption can help maintain bone density by preventing the body from stealing the calcium it needs from the bones.

The New York Times (registration required, but it's free, and it is quick) had a few very interesting nutrition related stories worth mentioning in the past week.  The first is about where the world the ingredients that are in your food come from. Click here to read.

Another is about taking running classes; do you really need to learn how to run? Find out. Then there are a few book reviews on Eating and the environment by William Grimes.  Lastly, columnist Lisa Belkin talks about family mealtime.

Sugar is popular, but according to consumer and retail information company The NPD Group, 44 percent of American homemakers are extremely or very concerned about serving foods with sugar, the highest percentage noted since 1994.  NPD data also shows an increase in consumption of foods and beverages that are low-sugar, sugar-free, or contain sugar substitutes.   

According to NPD’s Dieting Monitor service, nearly seven out of 10 adults say they want to cut down or avoid sugar completely, and about four out of 10 adults say they check food labels regularly for sugar.  Over half of consumers say they are aware of and concerned about high fructose corn syrup, one of the most commonly-used sweeteners today.

As consumers look to cut back on sugar, consumption of foods and beverages that are low-sugar, sugar-free, or contain sugar substitutes is on the rise.  In the year ending November 2006, 20 percent of Americans ate a low-sugar/sugar-free/artificially sweetened food item at least once in a two-week period, up from 14 percent in 2001. 

Use of sugar substitutes to sweeten beverages is increasing.  In 2006, more than 10 percent of coffee drinks had sugar substitutes added to them, up from eight percent in 1997.  And while consumption of sugar-sweetened, carbonated soft drinks is declining (from 88 annual drinkings per capita in 1997 to 77 in 2006), consumption of diet soft drinks has remained the same. 

"There's little doubt that Americans right now are increasingly concerned about sugar consumption," said Harry Balzer, vice president of The NPD Group.  He adds, "But, we've been here before.  Back in the 1980s, nearly 60 percent of Americans expressed concern about the sugar they were consuming, before declining during the early 1990s.  I suspect we'll see the same trend during the next 10 years."

Yet another study came out in favor of pistachios (another resent study from researchers at Penn State found that eating pistachios may reduce your body's response to the stresses of everyday life) and that it may offer potential heart health benefits. This is the second one I’ve seen in the last few months. The pistachio industry must be pushing for these studies, but that doesn’t mean they’re not accurate.  The most recent was published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, and found that a 4-week pistachio diet, containing moderate amounts of heart healthy fat, improves risk factors for heart disease with no weight gain. The study, conducted by James N. Cooper M.D., of George Mason University and Michael J. Sheridan, Sc.D., of Inova Fairfax Hospital, found that in people with moderately high cholesterol levels, a daily diet consisting of 15% of calories from pistachios (about two to three ounces or one to two handfuls of kernels) over a four-week period favorably improved some blood lipid levels.  Anyway, this is an interesting study, but keep in mind pistachios have about one ounce of nuts or 47 of them have approximately 170 calories. Eat them sparingly or use them to replace other high calorie high fat foods like brownies.