Nutrition and Physical Activity Guidelines on the Internet

It would be pretty safe to say that the basic principles of healthy diets and good exercise are now well understood by scientists, and the information is available in the form of easy to understand nutrition and physical activity guidelines on the internet and in print. If we want to get our general eating and exercise habits up to world's best practice for humans going about their everyday lives on planet Earth, we can do it using these guidelines, adjusting the information to suit our particular circumstances.

Here are some links to guidelines or sources of information on nutrition and exercise found on reliable websites. Doubtless there are many more good sources of info on the topic.

The American Cancer Society's Nutrition and Physical Activity Guidelines: a condensed version of their guidelines can be found here
www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_3_2X_Diet_and_Activity_Factors_That_Affect_Risks.asp?sitearea=PED
and the full version can be found here
http://caonline.amcancersoc.org/content/vol56/issue5/

Their guidelines include sections called "Diet and Physical Activity Factors That Affect Risks for Select Cancers" and "Common Questions About Diet and Cancer".

Breastcancer.org (www.breastcancer.org) has a section on nutrition, starting on this page
www.breastcancer.org/nutr_intro.html .

There's a simple guide prepared for the general public by the US Department of Agriculture here www.mypyramid.gov.

For those who wish to delve further into dietary guidelines, here are links to two detailed documents:

"Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005" (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture) www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/DietaryGuidelines/2005/2005DGPolicyDocument.pdf
It's a pdf file 4 mb in size - big for dialup.

They say "TheDietary Guidelines for Americans ..., first published in 1980, provides sciencebased
advice to promote health and to reduce risk for chronic diseases through diet and physical activity. The recommendations contained within the Dietary Guidelines are targeted to the general public
over 2 years of age who are living in the United States. Becauseoof its focus on health promotion and risk reduction, the Dietary Guidelines form the basis of federal food, nutrition education, and information programs."
and elsewhere "The Dietary Guidelines for Americans are the cornerstone of Federal nutrition policy and nutrition education activities. They are jointly issued and updated every 5 years by the Departments of Agriculture ... and Health and Human Services ... ."

There's an Australian government National Health and Medical Research Council publication called "Dietary Guidelines for Australian Adults" at
www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications/synopses/_files/n33.pd f (1 mb pdf file), and a detailed scientific publication called "Nutrient Reference Values for Australia and New Zealand Including Recommended Dietary Intakes" 2005 (1.3 mb pdf file) at http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications/synopses/n35syn.htm.

The Linus Pauling Institute (an institute of the Oregon State University in the USA) is devoted to the science of nutrition and health. Their website is at http://lpi.oregonstate.edu. They say: "The Linus Pauling Institute's mission is to: Determine the function and role of vitamins and essential minerals (micronutrients) and chemicals from plants (phytochemicals) in promoting optimum health and preventing and treating disease Determine the role of oxidative and nitrative stress and antioxidants in human health and disease Help people everywhere achieve a healthy and productive life, full of vitality, with minimal suffering, and free of cancer and other debilitating diseases". And "Major areas of research in the Institute encompass heart disease, cancer, aging, and neurodegenerative diseases."

Included on their website is a "Micronutrient Information Center". It's described as "a source for scientifically accurate information regarding the roles of vitamins, minerals, other nutrients, dietary phytochemicals (plant chemicals that may affect health), and some foods in preventing disease and promoting health." The website is user-friendly but of necessity there's plenty of scientific terminology and language.

Another site that may be worth exploring is the website of the American Council on Exercise (ACE) at www.acefitness.org. I haven't examined the site in detail but it looks like a good website for finding information and tips if you're planning a program to improve your fitness. Look for the "Get Fit" link on the home page, and you can read about such exercises as the single leg reverse curl and the overhead triceps extension on a stability ball (I suggest checking that your health insurance is paid up before attempting those). If you're into trying new recipes, there are "over 2,000 healthy, delicious recipes" starting on this page www.acefitness.org/getfit/recipes.aspx (if anyone tries them all could they let me know if the description "healthy, delicious recipes" is accurate please?).

Those in Australia may find valuable information on the website of the Dietitians Association of Australia at www.daa.asn.au and I'm sure many other countries would have similar organisations with websites.

If you know of any other good websites with nutrition and exercise guidelines you would like to see added to this page, or you find any errors or broken links, please send me an email at everest@bestcancersites.com.

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