AJCN Dec, 2008 - The December American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has great ideas for New Year's resolutions.

SUMMARY - RESOLVE TO TAKE A VITAMIN D SUPPLEMENT 1. Estimation of the dietary requirement for vitamin D in healthy adults - 290 TO 1,700 IU/DAY - AND OVER 55 YRS OLD NEED TWICE AS MUCH].  Read about WHY this is so important!

RESOLVE TO GIVE UP SOFT DRINKS
2. Soft drinks harm your bones
3. Phosphorus [from soft drinks] contributes to kidney disease

RESOLVE TO EAT FOODS LIKE EGG YOLKS, SOYBEANS, OR PEANUTS
4. Eat eggs for choline and bread for betaine
5. Breastfeeding reduces postpartum weight retention
6. Your genes influence how fat [sic] you eat
7. Selenium supplements have no value for prostate cancer
8. Eating fish reduces heart disease

RESOLVE TO CONTRIBUTE TO SOMPLACE LIKE UNICEF
9. Children are still dying of malnutrition

DETAILS -
1. Estimation of the dietary requirement for vitamin D in healthy adults -Conclusion: The range of vitamin D intakes required to ensure maintenance of wintertime vitamin D status in the vast majority (>97.5%) of 20–40-y-old adults, considering a variety of sun exposure preferences, is between 7.2 and 41.1 µg/d. [WHICH IS 290 TO 1,700 IU/DAY - AND OVER 55 YRS OLD NEED TWICE AS MUCH].
WHY? Vitamin D Daily Value too low - The current adequate intake allowance of vitamin D, recommended in 1997, is considered by many scientists to be too low and to be focused only on vitamin D's actions on calcium and bone issues (1). However, over the past decade, new evidence has shown that there are 5 additional physiologic systems in which the vitamin D receptor and its cognate steroid hormone, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3], generate biological responses (8). These are the immune, pancreas, heart-cardiovascular, muscle, and brain systems; the control of the cell cycle and thus of the disease process of cancer is also involved. Vitamin D levels are falling in US - Conclusions: Overall, mean serum 25(OH)D was lower in 2000–2004 than 1988–1994. Assay changes unrelated to changes in vitamin D status accounted for much of the difference in most population groups. In an adult subgroup, combined changes in BMI, milk intake, and sun protection appeared to contribute to a real decline in vitamin D status. Vitamin D deficiency may contribute to disease of the arteries- Racial differences in vitamin D status may explain nearly one-third of the excess risk of lower-extremity peripheral arterial disease in black compared with white adults.

2. Soft drinks harm your bones - Conclusions: Long-term consumption of caffeinated and uncaffeinated soft drinks appears to have bone catabolic [weakening] effects in boys and girls. This effect is mainly mediated by the negative association with total protein intake and is not primarily based on milk displacement.

3. Phosphorus [from soft drinks] contributes to kidney disease - Background: Dietary restrictions to control serum phosphorus, which are routinely recommended to persons with chronic kidney disease, are usually associated with a reduction in protein intake. This may lead to protein-energy wasting and poor survival...Conclusions: The risk of controlling serum phosphorus by restricting dietary protein intake may outweigh the benefit of controlled phosphorus and may lead to greater mortality.

4. Eat eggs for choline and bread for betaine - Conclusion: ...neither plasma choline nor betaine was positively associated with consumption of animal products, fruit, or vegetables, but each was positively associated with the intake of specific food items such as eggs (choline) and bread (betaine). [Choline and betaine are quaternary amines with a close metabolic link (1-3). Choline and its derivatives have several biologic functions by serving as components of structural lipoproteins, blood, and tissue lipids and as a precursor of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (1). Betaine acts as an osmolyte and as a methyl group donor in the remethylation of homocysteine to methionine...]

5. Breastfeeding reduces postpartum weight retention - Conclusion: Breastfeeding was associated with lower postpartum weight retention in all categories of prepregnancy BMI. These results suggest that, when combined with gestational weight gain values of 12 kg, breastfeeding as recommended could eliminate weight retention by 6 mo postpartum in many women.

6. Your genes influence how fat [sic] you eat - Conclusion: Faster eating appears to be a heritable behavioral phenotype related to higher weight.

7. Selenium supplements have no value for prostate cancer - Conclusion: Plasma selenium concentration was not associated with prostate cancer risk in this large cohort of European men.

8. Eating fish reduces heart disease - Conclusions: Modest fish consumption was associated with a lower risk of total cardiovascular disease, consistent with cardiac mortality benefits but not with total cancer or overall major chronic disease; n–6 fatty acid consumption did not influence these relations.

9. Children are still dying of malnutrition - The overall malnutrition-attributable fraction for in-hospital deaths was 51%... Conclusions: Despite global improvements, malnutrition still underlies half of the inpatient morbidity and mortality rates among children in rural Kenya. This contribution is underestimated by using conventional clinical definitions of severe malnutrition.