How primary care providers might review evidence on hydration.

Primary care providers (PCPs) are increasing their use of evidence-based medicine (EBM) in the care they give patients. They evaluate the available evidence to determine if it applies to their patients and seek to complement their clinical experience with EBM to improve patient outcomes. In evidence-based practices, patient oriented data are valued more highly than disease oriented evidence. More than 8 million biomedical articles are published annually, but only an estimated 2% of those are relevant to improved patient outcomes (POEMs - patient oriented evidence that matters). This paper describes some of the tools used by PCPs to search for evidence and the decision-making process used to determine if they will change their practice. Understanding how PCPs evaluate research findings and other evidence can help hydration researchers frame their research questions and study reports.

Healthy Eating: Defining the Nutrient Quality of Foods.

Today, many initiatives to promote healthy eating and physical activity focus on changing policy and the environment to improve the health, not only of motivated or high-risk individuals but also the entire population. The escalating rates of overweight/obesity and incidence of diet-related diseases/health conditions will require many interventions to influence change. Those wishing to affect policy and environmental changes are often faced with defining foods and beverages that meet criteria defined as "healthy."