Nutrition and physical activity information

[almostthere]

I am reading a book from 2003 on health, nutrition, and exercise where the author presents overviews from scientific studies on each of the major areas of exercise and nutrition as they relate to fighting the most common diseases. For example, on the question of 'does milk increase bone health?'. He'd write that there were 57 peer reviewed studies, 30 said yes, 27 said no statistical relationship, 3 noted adverse effects.

I am looking for similar work that has been updated for all studies up until 2014/15.

I noted the http://nutritionfacts.org/ on the wiki. It seems to synopsize the peer reviewed studies as well.

I think the more I learn about science and statistics the more I find that it not the result of any one study that matters but the results of all studies taken together.

I also realized just how bad my diet is. I am not getting anywhere near the amount of fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, and 'good fats' that I should. As I believe that we become what we fill our minds with, I want to start feeding my mind more good nutrition information. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[jacob]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochrane_Collaboration

You'll find, though, that diet is very individualistic. You need huge sample sizes to remove bias for dimensions that aren't all that important e.g. something that doesn't outright kill you within a couple of decades. This is why there are so many "X is good", "No, X is bad" studies out there. Small sample sizes + individual variation. In summary, you're not going to learn much from statistics beyond what will definitely hurt or help you (because it hurts or helps most or all humans). But that is well-known. For the rest, there's individual experimentation.

[simplex]

Cochrane studies are great, and valid on a population level.
In general you can apply the outcomes to yourself. The problem is that there is significant individual variation in response to nutrition. For example, some people are prone to high cholesterol and should avoid saturated fats, whereas in some others saturated fats have less influence. So, in general avoid saturated fats, except if you are in the (rare) group of people who don't get high cholesterol from saturated fats.
The problem is in figuring out what works for you. Still I think general guidelines are a good place to start.

[7Wannabe5]

Recent research indicates quite a bit of genetic variability. For instance, those who are descended from starch eaters have more copies of the amylase gene, Many of these variations in the digestive gene pool evolved fairly recently so it's just wrong to assume that all humans are necessarily best served by, for instance, hunting on the African savannah dietary model. Also,most of us have a mixed 2 or3 % Neanderthal due to recent intense out-breeding while heading North where they had already been adapting for much longer. Unfortunately, you have to pay attention to what works for you in terms of inflammatory response, energy levels and other health factors/symptoms.

[almostthere]

Wow, the cochrane studies are amazing. Thank you for the lead.