Vitamin

Many Americans have been warned that they're deficient in vitamin D and need to take supplements to protect against all the purported ills of getting too little of the vitamin, such as heart disease, diabetes, fractures, and a variety of cancers. Yet the latest review of research, conducted by a Tufts Medical Center team, suggests that many of the supposed benefits of supplementation remain unproven and that taking too high a dose of D -- a fat-soluble vitamin that has hormone-like effects -- can increase the risk of problems it's supposed to prevent.

Shares of Vitamin Shoppe closed at their highest price since the New Jersey-based company went public in October 2009. The company, which sells nutritional products, reported first-quarter profit of $18.3 million, or 61 cents a share, up from $11.6 million, or 40 cents, a year earlier. The per-share results beat analysts' estimate by 7.8 percent.

"Eat your veggies" took on new meaning recently with the unsettling news that while Americans spend $11.8 billion on vitamin and mineral supplements, such supplements provide little benefit for most people and, in some cases, might actually be harmful. According to a study reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine, which followed 39,000 women over 19 years, there was a 3.9 percent increased risk of premature death among older women who took an iron supplement, and a 2.4 percent higher risk of dying early among all multi-vitamin users.

Many Americans have been warned that they're deficient in vitamin D and need to take supplements to protect against all the purported ills of getting too little of the vitamin, such as heart disease, diabetes, fractures, and a variety of cancers. Yet the latest review of research, conducted by a Tufts Medical Center team, suggests that many of the supposed benefits of supplementation remain unproven and taking too high a dose of D - a fat-soluble vitamin that has hormone-like effects - can increase the risk of problems it's supposed to prevent.

Many Americans have been warned that they're deficient in vitamin D and need to take supplements to protect against all the purported ills of getting too little of the vitamin, such as heart disease, diabetes, fractures, and a variety of cancers. Yet the latest review of research, conducted by a Tufts Medical Center team, suggests that many of the supposed benefits of supplementation remain unproven and taking too high a dose of D - a fat-soluble vitamin that has hormone-like effects - can increase the risk of problems it's supposed to prevent.

CHICAGO -- Apparently energy-packed sports drinks aren't enough. Now there are vitamin-laced jelly beans and ginseng-stoked chews. The nation's candy makers are targeting fitness enthusiasts seeking to boost athletic performance or quickly grab a jolt of energy. Industry insiders and analysts who gathered this week in Chicago for North America's largest candy trade show say the odd pairing of candy and fitness might just make economic sense. Consumers are scooping up more than $3 billion a year in "energy" gels, bars, and drinks, and the $25 billion confection...

What could be simpler than a glass of orange juice? The beverage holds a place in the pantheon of wholesome American breakfast foods, on equal footing with toast, cereal, and eggs. It's pure and natural, ads tell us, and we buy both the sentiment and the product. More than 620 million gallons of orange juice are sold per year in the United States, according to market research from Nielsen. Author Alissa Hamilton would have us take another look at the glass on the breakfast table.

Popeye might want to consider switching to broccoli. British scientists recently unveiled a new breed of the vegetable that experts say packs a big nutritional punch. The new broccoli was specially grown to contain two to three times the normal amount of glucoraphanin, a nutrient believed to help ward off heart disease. "Vegetables are a medicine cabinet already," said Richard Mithen, who led the team of scientists at the Institute for Food Research in Norwich, England, that developed the new broccoli.

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Nell I. Mondy, a Cornell University biochemist who was considered an international expert on the potato, died Thursday at Cayuga Medical Center, the university said. She was 83. Dr. Mondy, professor emerita of nutritional sciences at Cornell, was on the university's faculty for more than 50 years. She grew up in the town of Pocohontas, Ark., and received her doctorate in 1953 from Cornell. Her early research dealt with vitamin B6, folic acid, vitamin B12, and enzymes in choline metabolism, but her major focus was the potato, which she...

If you're looking for vitamin C, you may put orange juice or oranges on the grocery list. But you can also find C in cabbage, cauliflower, canned and fresh peppers, apples, grapes, and other fruits. To highlight the healthier foods in their supermarkets, Shaw's and Star Market have recently unveiled a Nutrition iQ campaign, a tagging system used in all departments on fresh, canned, and other items. Billed as the "better-for-you food finder," Nutrition iQ is in all 169 New England locations of the chain.

Many Americans have been warned that they're deficient in vitamin D and need to take supplements to protect against all the purported ills of getting too little of the vitamin, such as heart disease, diabetes, fractures, and a variety of cancers. Yet the latest review of research, conducted by a Tufts Medical Center team, suggests that many of the supposed benefits of supplementation remain unproven and that taking too high a dose of D -- a fat-soluble vitamin that has hormone-like effects -- can increase the risk of problems it's supposed to prevent.

"Eat your veggies" took on new meaning recently with the unsettling news that while Americans spend $11.8 billion on vitamin and mineral supplements, such supplements provide little benefit for most people and, in some cases, might actually be harmful. According to a study reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine, which followed 39,000 women over 19 years, there was a 3.9 percent increased risk of premature death among older women who took an iron supplement, and a 2.4 percent higher risk of dying early among all multi-vitamin users.

Popeye might want to consider switching to broccoli. British scientists recently unveiled a new breed of the vegetable that experts say packs a big nutritional punch. The new broccoli was specially grown to contain two to three times the normal amount of glucoraphanin, a nutrient believed to help ward off heart disease. "Vegetables are a medicine cabinet already," said Richard Mithen, who led the team of scientists at the Institute for Food Research in Norwich, England, that developed the new broccoli.

Two studies this week raised gnawing worries about the safety of vitamin supplements and a host of questions. Should anyone be taking them? Which ones are most risky? And if you do take them, how can you pick the safest ones? Vitamins have long had a "health halo. " Many people think they're good for you and at worst might simply be unnecessary. The industry calls them an insurance policy against bad eating. But our foods are increasingly pumped full of them already. Even junk foods and drinks often are fortified with nutrients to give them a...

As many as half of American men take supplements containing vitamin E, yet that practice could be increasing their risk of prostate cancer. A landmark clinical trial involving more than 35,000 men found that those who were randomly given vitamin E supplements had a 17 percent greater likelihood of developing prostate cancer after seven to 10 years of follow-up compared with those who were randomly given placebos. The study, published in today's Journal of the American Medical Association, underscores the importance of clinical trials in evaluating...

If you're looking for vitamin C, you may put orange juice or oranges on the grocery list. But you can also find C in cabbage, cauliflower, canned and fresh peppers, apples, grapes, and other fruits. To highlight the healthier foods in their supermarkets, Shaw's and Star Market have recently unveiled a Nutrition iQ campaign, a tagging system used in all departments on fresh, canned, and other items. Billed as the "better-for-you food finder," Nutrition iQ is in all 169 New England locations of the chain.

He had a Las Vegas wedding to attend, but Bryan Dalia was hung over from some marathon partying the night before. "I did two bachelor parties, back-to-back," Dalia said, putting his hand to his forehead as he recalled steins of beer and shots of alcohol the previous afternoon at the Hofbrauhaus Las Vegas, then gambling, dining and drinking martinis at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas resort. He remembered "getting a little lost and finding myself on the floor of the Paris" hotel-casino, then "a few more martinis as I gambled my life away.

By Paul E. Kandarian, Globe Correspondent Found a couple of interesting travel items, both coming in handy on a hideously long, 20-hour flight to Thailand recently. One keeps the brain engaged, the other does just the opposite.   The Scruble Cube is billed as a cross between Rubik's Cube and Scrabble, a 3-D word game with 96 individually rotating letter and premium scoring pegs inserted into a four-inch cube. Like a Rubik's, you spin the cube?s sliding layers and instead of trying to form colors, you form words, keeping score on a pad...

Vitamin Shoppe Inc. said Thursday that its second-quarter net income surged 64 percent as it sold more products in stores and through its website. The specialty retailer and direct marketer of vitamins said net income rose to $11.95 million, or 40 cents a share. That compared with net income of $7.3 million, or 26 cents a share, in the second quarter of 2010. Revenue rose 12.3 percent to $215.9 million, which included an 8 percent increase in sales at stores open a year. That's an important measure for retailers because it excludes new or recently closed locations.