RDA & DRI

In your experience do dietary supplements actually help people, are there more positive effects than negative? Dietary supplements include vitamin, mineral, herbal and amino acid supplements. Because I am not sure to which you are referring I will respond about each. It depends on which dietary supplement a person is taking and why they are taking...

You should eat one antacid a day and you will have your daily required calcium, according to my friend's doctor. Is this true or false? True and False. Check the Nutrition Facts label on the antacid. Some antacids (chewable tablets) do contain calcium carbonate which is 40% calcium, but the amounts vary between brand names....

What supplements/therapies would you recommend to promote wound healing and minimize scarring for my 6-year-old daughter (50 pounds). She has two 1 to 1.5-centimeter wounds on the bridge of her nose near her eye from a dog scratch. The plastic surgeon used 40 stitches to close them. Thank you. I am sorry to hear about...

I am a 53-year-old nursing student at a local college. Prior to taking a nutrition course, I was an avid naturopath with an extensive library of reputable journals, publications and medical books and cabinets full of supplements, herbal remedies, "all-natural" health and beauty aids. I frequent several health food stores in my area and...

Given an active male who eats a well-balanced diet, including red meat, green, leafy vegetables, and whole grains, and, who additionally supplements his diet with a multi-vitamin, should he choose a multi which does not contain iron? I'm suggesting that he is getting plenty of iron in his normal diet. I think I read that...

Please post the conversion factor between an international unit of a vitamin and its metric equivalent. i.e. how many IU = X milligrams or micrograms? An international unit of a vitamin varies. I use the following table from "Food Chemistry and Nutritional Biochemistry by Zapsalis and Beck. Vitamin A, 1 IU retinol = 0.300 - 0.344...

I was recently told I have low saturation levels of iron in my blood, although I am not anemic at the present time. I also have recently been diagnosed with an adrenal tumor that, so far, tests have shown to be benign. I have no systemic indications of malignancy. I'm being followed by a...

On the girls' very best days, I'm lucky if they drink 2 cups of milk. It's usually MUCH less. More like 1 cup and 2 out of 3 days, an ounce of cheese. I can figure out how much yogurt etc might help with the cause, but what about calcium-rich veggies/fruits? My 9th-grade health class...

I am concerned about women getting brittle bones from not enough calcium. I don't like to drink milk except with cereal. How do you get your daily requirement of calcium? You can meet the Recommended Dietary Allowance of 1,000 milligrams (women or men 19 to 50 years of age) to 1,200 milligrams (women or...

I have been discussing with doctors this issue of the vitamins, but none could give me that convincing explanation and advice as you did. What you say make a lot of sense i.e. making expensive urine. Thanks a lot. The reason I said you would make expensive urine is your body absorbs about 15% from...