There are lingering weight tips and myths that seem to defy experts’ attempts at explaining them away. The American Dietetic Association’s Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo that took place in Chicago last month made yet another attempt to de-bunk some of these popular myths.

Here are ten of the most enduring and most mistaken diet and nutrition myths out there. The ones that get repeated all the time. Experts at the ADA conference busted these myths wide open giving you the scoop, once and for all, on these often repeated misconceptions.

Myth 1: Eating at night is bad for you.

According to Christine Rosenbloom, PhD, RD, CSSD of Georgia State University this is completely false. This misconception very likely came from an assumption made based on the positive effect on BMI when you eat breakfast. But that doesn’t mean eating later on during the day is bad. In the end, the number of calories you take in per day, whether first thing in the morning or late at night, is all that counts.

Myth 2: You should avoid foods with a high glycemic index.

Sure being aware of the glycemic index is a good thing… knowledge always is. The trouble comes when you use this index as the measure of everything you eat. It shouldn’t be your sole strategy for controlling blood sugar or trying to lose those extra pounds. At most, it will help you fine-tune your food choices. Eating a variety of healthy, natural foods is best… looking to one value alone is dangerously short sighted.

Myth 3: High fructose corn syrup causes weight gain.

This diet myth came about in 2003 when experts noticed that obesity was rising along with the increased use of high fructose corn syrup. Attempts were made to link the two together and it took a while to find the answer. The American Medical Association has just concluded that high fructose corn syrup does not contribute to obesity, beyond the calories in the food itself.

Myth 4: Caffeine is bad for you.

According to Rosenbloom, there is some evidence that caffeine, besides giving you a shot of alertness, might also have a positive effect on conditions like gout and Parkinson’s disease. And contrary to popular belief, caffeine doesn’t dehydrate you. What you do want to watch for is the hidden caffeine in products, and the number of high caffeine energy drinks your children may be taking in during the day… kids gulp these down without realizing what’s inside.

Myth 5: The less fat you eat, the better.

Counting fat grams isn’t everything and those with heart disease, diabetes and metabolic syndrome might actually benefit from adding a little healthy fat to their diet. Healthy fat is the monounsaturated kind and should be substituted, whenever possible, for saturated fats. Again casting one component of a diet as the “bad guy” is misleading, moderation in all things is your best bet.

Myth 6: To eat less sodium, avoid salty foods and use sea salt instead.

Gourmet salts like sea salt aren’t any healthier than regular, unglamorous table salt. You use less sea salt only because this type of salt is coarser, so fewer grains fit into a standard teaspoon. If you really want to impact your sodium intake, check the labels of processed foods you choose as these tend to have high sodium contents that are a good idea to avoid.

Myth 7: Drinking more water each day will help you lose weight.

There is no evidence that water helps you shed pounds, though foods with lots of water, like soup, do fill you up. Carrying around a huge water bottle and sipping regularly may quench your thirst, but it won’t affect your appetite or have you burning any more calories. According to Rosenbloom, “Our thirst mechanism and our hunger mechanism are two different things.”

Myth 8: Whole grains are always better than refined grains.

While whole grains are a great tasting, healthy option, you don’t have to ditch refined grains altogether. In fact, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “My Pyramid” guidelines suggest getting just half your grains from whole grain sources. Rather than putting a ban on breads, look for enriched grains – refined grains with some nutrients (like folic acid and others) can have health benefits too. A well balanced diet includes both sources of grains.

Myth 9: Sugar causes behavior problems in kids.

This is one myth where you need to look hard at your own expectations. What do you expect your child (or any child for that matter) to do after eating candy and then there’s the “sugar high” everyone talks about. Surprisingly, studies show that when parents think kids have been given sugar, they rate the child’s behavior as more hyper, though in fact no sugar had been eaten. Rather than blaming sugar, think about expectation and the excitement of the event at hand as a source for your child’s excitable behavior.

Myth 10: Protein is the key nutrient for athletes.

Of course athletes do need more protein than the rest of us, but they don’t need nearly as much as they’ve been led to believe. Supplements probably aren’t necessary as athletes, body and health conscious, as they tend to be, are usually getting plenty of protein from their food. If you’re weight training, eating protein after a workout, about 8 grams (what you’ll find in a small carton of low fat chocolate milk), will help your muscle tissue rebuild. Multiple scoops of whey powder as part of a special drink is probably going overboard.

These weight tips and myths are not the only ones that have little grounding in reasonable research but this article should outline some of the major myths circulating.

Nutrition and Memory

Proper nutrition is a public health concern. The Centers for Disease Control, Environmental Health Division estimates one-third of the world’s population is deficient in micro-nutrients such as iodine, iron, vitamin A, zinc, and folate. The Continuing Survey of Food Intake by Individuals reports that levels of magnesium and zinc were below the recommended daily allowance in the United States. Women were also low in vitamin B6, vitamin E, and calcium. Approximately 40% of elderly Americans and Europeans are vitamin and mineral deficient.

Proper nutrition can affect many cognitive functions. Folic acid is one of the most common nutritional deficits seen in neuropsychological disorders and may be a major factor in depression. Vitamin B12 has a similar role as folate in the metabolism of neurotransmitters. Folate and vitamin B12 may have an effect on the way antidepressants work. It has been found that depressed patients on a fluoxetine regimen who are deficient in these nutrients are less likely to respond to fluoxetine.

Nutrient supplementation when there is a dietary shortage has been shown to help memory and attention performance. Cognitive function improved after one year of taking a modest mixture of vitamins and minerals in otherwise healthy elderly adults. Slowing of cognitive processes is multifactorial. Therefore, a multidimensional approach, including dietary changes and nutritional supplements should be considered when approaching this problem. Reduced dietary fat, cholesterol, and increased servings of antioxidant fruits and vegetables are recommended as part of an overall approach to improving brain function.

Improving the nutritional intake of undernourished children to the recommended daily allowances (RDA), improved performance on non-verbal intelligence tests. Children and adolescents have significantly shown an increased ability to concentrate, focus, comprehend new information, and have improved memory skills following nutrient supplementation with iron, zinc, dimethylaminoethanol (DMAE), and extract of Bacopa monniera.

Phosphatidylserine, acetyl-L-carnitine, vinpocetine, and Gingko biloba extract have shown their worth as cognitive supplements in clinical trials. Combinations of these herbs have also been shown to be effective in improving memory and attention. Gingko and vinpocetine improved memory in terms of neural speed and reaction time which is an indication of increased working memory. Improving nutrition with a combination of herbal supplements decreased need for medication by 50% in individuals with Bipolar Disorder I. Patients had an overall reduction of symptoms of 55 to 65%.

There are many different types of athletes, sports programs, and exercise regimens. And for each different person and type of program your body may have unique nutritional requirements. For example, a marathon runner will have different energy and nutritional requirements than a sprinter. Also, a person who participates in strength training will have different nutritional requirement than someone who focuses on cardiovascular exercise.

If you are interested in strength training or have already participated in a strength training program, it is important that you understand the basic nutrition that your body requires. When strength training, a higher amount of calories is needed to keep your body energized and enable it to build muscle tissue.

Carbohydrates are the main source of energy your body will use for energy. Carbohydrates are stored in the body as glycogen and can be easily access for the energy your body requires. When strength training, it is recommended that you consume 500 to 600 grams of carbohydrates per day to give your body the energy it needs. Protein is also an essential nutrient that your body requires to be healthy while strength training. Protein is what your body uses to build muscle and repair damaged tissue. But don’t overestimate the amount of protein you need in your diet. As a general rule, you should consume about 90 to 115 grams of protein per day to give your body what it needs.

And while much of your focus will be on the foods that you eat, you also need to monitor the hydration and water intake of your body. Water is essential to help your body transport nutrients and aids in digestion. And though your body might not sweat as much during strength training, it is essential that you keep your body hydrated. By doing this, you should have a successful experience.

Everyone knows that omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial for the health of your heart and your brain. But how many of us know anything about omega-6 fatty acids? And for that matter, how many of us know what the recommended intake ratio is for those two compounds? Most Americans consume omega-6s and omega-3s in a ratio of about 20:1. However, the ideal ratio of these two fatty acids is 4:1.

We all know how beneficial omega-3′s are, yet we never seem to incorporate enough of them into the diet we are consuming. And given that both fatty acids require the same enzymes to function properly, getting way more omega-6′s starves omega-3′s and promotes inflammation in the body. This in return contributes to heart disease, cancer, arthritis, and asthma. That is why it is very beneficial to keep these two compounds well balanced. In the next paragraph I will provide a few helpful tips on how to achieve a better balance of these two fatty acids.

The first step towards balancing your ratio of fatty acids is raising your intake of omega-3′s. You can easily achieve this by eating oily fish at least twice a week. You can also achieve this goal by taking 1,000 mg of high quality fish oil every day. The second step towards achieving a balance of fatty acids is lowering your intake of omega-6′s. Even though omega 6 fatty acids are very important because they support skin health, keep cholesterol levels in check, and help blood clot, we tend to consume too much of this particular compound. We can help lower our intake by avoiding vegetable-oil-laden processed foods. We can also work into our diet more naturally balanced foods such as hempseeds, chia seeds, flaxseeds and walnuts. There are numerous ways to improve your nutrition; from various herbal remedies to the consumption of whey protein. So the next time you hear someone talking about fatty acids, be sure to explain to them how to achieve a well balanced ratio of the two.

How much good fat, fatty acids, should you be eating every day? And what is good fat? Most fat is good since your body needs all types of fat, but the best fats are the essential fatty acids. Even though saturated fat is called bad fat, the body still needs a little bit of this type of fat.

The amount of essential fatty acids that you should have in your diet, if you show no signs of any type of illness, is between 15 – 20% of the overall calories you eat every day. The breakdown of the types of fats that you should be eating is,

3-4% saturated fat

5-7% omega-6

2.5-3.5% omega-3

5-10% omega-9

Notice that you should be eating 5-10 % of omega-9. This is the best essential fatty acid for your health. The problem is that not that many foods or oils have a lot of omega-9, so it is hard to get 5-10% of this oil in your diet.

Digesting fats

Some of you may have problems digesting fatty acids and saturated fats. This may occur because you,

Don’t have any fat digestive enzymes

Have your gallbladder removed

Have a weak pancreas

To improve your digestion of essential fatty acids, you should be supplementing your diet with digestive enzymes. Since most fats are digested in the small intestine, just passed your stomach, you should be taking enteric enzymes.

Enteric enzymes are coated so that they are not used up in the stomach by acid and can reach the small intestine where most of the fats are digested.

If you don’t take digestive enzymes, you can improve the digestion of these fatty acids by mixing them with cottage cheese. When mixing flax seed oil with cottage cheese, the protein in the cottage cheese makes this oil more digestible.

Storing the essential fatty acids

The fatty acids and ground up flax seeds are sensitive to the environment and how they are processed and packaged. Improper handling of these oils will cause them to deteriorate and loss their potency.

The essential fatty acids are sensitive to,

Air

Heat

Light

Air

Oxygen from the air reacts quickly with fatty acids. This Oxidation causes these oils to deterioration and become rancid. When using these oils keep the bottles close when they are not in use. Buy omega-3, fatty acid, only in dark containers.

Heat

Heating fatty acids causes them to chemically change into molecules that are harmful to your health. This is one reason why you should never use them to fry foods. Use flax seed oil or omega oil only at room temperature. When adding them to soups, add them after you pull the soups of the hot plate.

If manufacturers do not take the precautions to package and process these oils in the dark and use opaque bottles, the air, oxygen, heat, and light will destroy the value of these oils.

Light

Light is extremely detrimental to fatty acids. When light hits fatty acids and oxygen is available, they speeds up the oxidation of these essential fatty acids by 1000 times. Under these conditions these oils quickly become rancid. Light produces free radicals in these oils, which in turn create various chemicals that are harmful to your body.

Now, you have more facts about how to use, eat, and store the essential fatty acids. Treat them good and they will give you excellent health.