- With Mayo Clinic nutritionists
Jennifer Nelson, M.S., R.D. and Katherine Zeratsky, R.D.
read biographyclose windowBiography of
Jennifer Nelson, M.S., R.D. and Katherine Zeratsky, R.D.
Katherine Zeratsky and Jennifer Nelson
Jennifer K. Nelson, M.S., R.D., L.D., C.N.S.D.
Jennifer Nelson is your link to a better diet. As specialty editor of the Food & Nutrition Center, she plays a vital role in bringing you healthy recipes and meal planning."Nutrition is one way people have direct control over the quality of their lives," she says. "I hope to translate the science of nutrition into ways that people can select and prepare great-tasting foods that help maintain health and treat disease."
A St. Paul, Minn., native, she is certified by the National Board of Nutrition Support Certification, has been with Mayo Clinic since 1978, and is director of clinical dietetics and an associate professor of nutrition at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
She leads clinical nutrition efforts for a staff of more than 50 clinical dietitians and nine dietetic technicians and oversees staffing, strategic and financial planning, and quality improvement. Nelson was co-editor of the James Beard Foundation Award-winning "The New Mayo Clinic Cookbook." She has been a contributing author to and reviewer of many Mayo Clinic books, including "Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight for EveryBody," "The Mayo Clinic Family Health Book" and "The Mayo Clinic/Williams Sonoma Cookbook." She contributes to the strategic direction of the Food & Nutrition Center, which includes creating recipes and menus, reviewing nutrition content of various articles, and answering nutrition questions posed to Ask a Specialist.
Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.
As a specialty editor for the Food & Nutrition Center, Katherine Zeratsky helps you sort through the facts and figures, the fads and the hype to learn more about nutrition and diet.A Marinette, Wis., native, she is certified in dietetics by the state of Minnesota and the American Dietetic Association. She has been with Mayo Clinic since 1999.
She is active in nutrition-related curriculum and course development in pediatrics at Mayo Clinic Rochester and nutrition education related to the physiology and recommended intakes for premature infants.
Other areas of interest include breast milk and formula safety, neonatal feeding, and nutrition for breast-feeding mothers.
She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, served a dietetic internship at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and worked as a registered dietitian and health risk counselor at ThedaCare of Appleton, Wis., before joining the Mayo Clinic staff.
Latest entries
- Healthy eating habits
Nov. 13, 2009
- Healthy holiday eating
Nov. 7, 2009
- Diet and immunity
Oct. 31, 2009
- Curb the candy binge
Oct. 28, 2009
- Menu planning
Oct. 24, 2009
Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Nutrition-wise blog
-
June 10, 2008
Sugar substitutes stir sweet debate
By Jennifer Nelson, M.S., R.D. and Katherine Zeratsky, R.D.
In my 30 years of practice, the number one subject that triggers the most controversy is that of low or no calorie sweeteners.
People seem to take sweeteners personally — responding in angst, argument or even anger. How can a substitute for sugar (that has a measly 16 calories per teaspoon) create such an uproar? Enter the blog! At last a medium where dialogue can reign.
What triggered my interest in discussing this subject was a study by Swithers and Davidson in the February 2008 issue of "Behavioral Neuroscience."
We know that sweet taste from sugar is a powerful trigger that prompts the mind and body to eat and to process calories. However, when the researchers fed rats a food sweetened with a no calorie sweetener — food that was actually lower in total calories — the rats actually ate more food and gained more weight than rats given sugar sweetened food that was higher in total calories. In addition to eating more of the no-calorie sweetened food, the rats also adjusted their body processes to burn fewer calories — contributing to increased body weight and fat.
They discuss the potential implications of their findings: the increases in the numbers of Americans consuming products containing low/no calorie sweeteners from about 70 million in 1987 to about 160 million in 2000, and that low/no calorie sweeteners abound in a wide variety of foods (especially in the form of soft drinks). That the incidence of obesity has also increased dramatically during this period, from about 16 percent of the population to about 30 percent.
They also site a recent human study from the July 31, 2007, issue of "Circulation" that suggested that intake of one or more regular or diet soft drinks was associated with a greater than 50 percent incidence of metabolic syndrome (obesity, inches around the abdomen, higher fasting blood sugar and fat levels, and higher blood pressure).
Could it be that low/no-calorie sweeteners (and foods containing them) fake us into consuming and conserving more calories than if we simply eat the food that has the real (calorie-containing) sugar in it?
My take? Low/no calorie sweetened foods sometimes offer a lower calorie alternative to foods sweetened with sugar (check the label to make sure). There are studies that also show that low/no calorie sweetened foods are helpful for controlling weight. The rat study gave me pause though.
For me — I'll take sugar-sweetened items on special occasions and in moderation. We get ample "sugar" naturally from whole foods and don't need sweets every meal, every day. Safety of these low/no calorie sweeteners? I'm going to save this topic for another time.
Your take on low/no calorie sweeteners? Angst? Argument? Anger? I want to hear from you.
- Jennifer
48 comments posted