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Nutrition Misinformation – Separating Fact from Fiction

March 27, 2024

ARS registered dieticians Courtney Thompson and James Can with the National Agricultural Library’s Food and Nutrition Information Center, provide answer popular questions about nutrition and how to find reputable, science-driven information about human nutrition, including diets, fats, carbs, supplements, and disease prevention.

Below are answers to questions placed in the chat during the event. 

Q: Is there somewhere I can go to calculate nutrient requirements?

A: Our DRI Calculator can be used to find an individual’s estimated daily nutrient needs: https://www.nal.usda.gov/human-nutrition.../dri-calculator

For more information about interpreting these recommendations or to learn more about dietary approaches to ensure adequate intake of those nutrients, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and USDA MyPlate are great resources: https://www.nal.usda.gov/human-nutrition.../dietary-guidance

Q: How many eggs do you recommend a person eat a day? I heard eggs are a good source of protein but also high in cholesterol.

A:  Eggs is one of the top searched food items for Nutrition.gov. Eggs can be part of a healthy diet. Like you mentioned are a good source of protein. More research has come out saying that the cholesterol in eggs do not directly increase cholesterol levels. One egg per day is not associated with heart disease risk in healthy individuals.

Find our egg resources here: https://www.nutrition.gov/topics/top-searched-foods

Q: What kinds of questions do you get the most?

A:  Most common questions are requesting resources for specific health conditions such as diabetes, or kidney disease. Our second most requested topic is regarding specific nutrients in foods.

Q: There are a lot of claims about how certain foods or vitamins can reduce cancer and other major diseases. How do I know if these claims are true?

A:  Cancer and other major diseases are complex, and while nutrition plays a role in risk reduction, it is rarely the case that a single food or vitamin can have a strong preventative effect. That said, a diet that broadly promotes generally healthy, balanced eating with adequate intake of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients has been shown to reduce the risk of major diseases.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans provide more information about diet and disease risks. You can find more reliable information on our pages here:

Dietary Guidance: https://www.nal.usda.gov/human-nutrition.../dietary-guidance

Cancer Nutrition: https://www.nutrition.gov/.../diet-and-health.../cancer

Dietary Guidance | National Agricultural Library

Find dietary guidance and recommendations, including the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and Dietary Reference Intakes.

Q: Do mushrooms have enough vitamin D to meet my needs?

A:  Different varieties of mushroom provide different amounts of vitamin D. You can find the nutrient information of specific mushroom varieties on ARS's FoodData Central here: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/

Mushrooms do not have enough vitamin D to meet your needs. You can also search FoodData Central to find food items high in vitamin D with the Component Search here: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/?component=0