AAI Q and A: Selenium, Lychee, and Walter Willett

Dear AAI: I have been hearing some things about Walter Willett, who is supposedly a nutrition guru. Who is he and what has he done?  

Dear Reader: Walter Willett is the Stare Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at Harvard’s School of Public Health. He is also a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and has been chair of the Harvard Department of Nutrition and Epidemiology since 1991. He has also written two books: Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy and Eat Drink, and Weigh Less. Dr. Willett believes in healthy fats that are plant based, limiting white potatoes, eating mostly nuts and legumes as protein sources; that many dietary recommendations are based on politics, and that exercise is the foundation of health. Dr. Willett also created his own version of the food pyramid, which illustrates his main points as stated above.

Dear AAI: I saw an article mentioning a new food label that might be replacing food labels. What would the new label entail?  

Dear Reader: According to the FDA, the food label now has three basic problems: nutrition facts panel needs to be improved, ingredient labels need to be modernized, and health-related claims need more stringent regulated. The new food label would be improved by adding front-of-package nutrition labeling and improving the nutrition facts label by deleting extraneous information, providing clearer more accurate information on calorie, sugars, and fiber content, changing disclosures for “amount per serving” and “serving size” to statements like “amount per ½ cup serving”, prohibiting deceptive nutrition disclosures for large single-serving packages, and making nutrition labeling mandatory for single-ingredient meat and poultry products. The ingredient label would also be modernized by redesigning the ingredient list so that it is presented in a format similar to nutrition information, requiring the sources of added sugars, requiring the amounts of key ingredients as percentages, and mandating that caffeine content be disclosed in a conspicuous location on information panel. More can be learned about the new food label on the FDA’s website.

Dear AAI: I know selenium is a needed mineral in our diets, but is too much a bad thing?  

Dear Reader: Selenium is taken in by the diet by eating garlic, raisins, and fish, but if also taking a supplement, you could be overdoing it. Too much selenium has been shown to cause cholesterol levels to rise if taken in excess. So, unless you do not get any through your diet, a supplement is not needed.

Dear AAI: I have heard about a fruit called lychee, what is it, and are there any health benefits?  

Dear Reader: Lychee is a fruit grown in Asia, and its extract has been shown to help shed pounds. During one study, people who took lychee in daily supplements for 10 weeks reduced belly fat by 15 percent. Lychee has been shown to work by increasing levels of adiponectin, a hormone that fires up fat burning.

Dear AAI: I live in Kentucky and have heard it is one of the worst places to get good sleep. Is there any truth to this?  

Dear Reader: Unfortunately, there is. According to a study done by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, where you live can determine  the amount of sleep you get each night. The top state of the sleep deprived is West Virginia, where nearly one in five residents reports not having a single good night sleep in a 30-day stretch. Hawaii tops the list of having people sleep the most soundly.