Today many people are not getting enough calcium because other beverages, especially soda, are replacing milk at meals. A government survey shows that more than half of school age children are not getting enough calcium in their diets. Among adults, 55 percent of men and 78 percent of women have inadequate calcium intakes.The Institute of Medicine has determined calcium needs by age as shown in chart.What foods are highest in calcium? Dairy products, including yogurt, milk and cheese, are the best calcium sources. Calcium fortified juices, soy milk and cereals are other high calcium food options. Broccoli has more calcium than most other vegetables but it would take 6 cups of broccoli to equal the calcium in 1 cup of milk!How is calcium listed on food labels? Calcium is shown as % Daily Value.

Popular Mechanics's 2003 AAIW Editor's Choice Awards

LAS VEGAS, Nov. 5--While the general population might stand in line at the world's most famous galleries and museums to view humanity's greatest creative works, auto-industry professionals make a different pilgrimage each year, to Automotive Aftermarket Industry Week. Here, they get their annual dose of culture and artistry. The gathering of the world's major forces in the automotive aftermarket--and increasingly, the automakers themselves--is a rich display of sculpture and painting, though it's applied to metal on wheels rather than canvas in a frame.

This collection of trade-only shows also makes up the setting for POPULAR MECHANICS's annual Editor's Choice Awards Ceremony. The PM automotive staff assembled here early this week to ready its assault on the show floors of the Las Vegas and Sands Convention Centers, the sites of the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) and Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo (AAPEX) exhibitions.

Who ensures the safety of pet food?

The FDA and state feed program officials regulate the industry, but it's largely self-policing. Pet food companies set their own standards for testing raw ingredients and finished products, said Greg Aldrich, an animal nutritionist with Pet Food & Ingredient Technology of Topeka, and a consultant to pet food companies.

Typically, companies will take samples from random lots of raw products and test them. They look to make sure the product is what it is supposed to be, that it's free of foreign objects, that bacteria levels are low and that it's free of dangerous mycotoxins, poisons produced by molds or fungi, said Peter Clark, a food-processing consultant in Oak Park, Ill.

Chris Satullo: Religious Right gives way to a new prophet

Jim Wallis is a prophet rapidly gaining honor in his own land. His new book, The Great Awakening, just hit the New York Times best-seller list. Jon Stewart fawns over him. On his book tour, Wallis speaks to large, rapt audiences, as he did last week at the Episcopal Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in Chestnut Hill. Wallis, a founder of the Sojourners revival movement, seeks to be a prophet in the biblical sense - a man driven to proclaim the hard truths that God has branded on his heart to a skeptical people in a stubborn time. He's also not doing a bad job as a prophet in the popular sense - a guy who predicts what's going to happen. In his book Faith Works, published in 2001, Wallis argued that religious faith was not merely a private matter, but also an incomparable basis for social action - and predicted that more people of faith would enter the public square.

Watercooler Stories

PARIS, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- A Paris auction of the late socialist French President François Mitterrand's personal belongings proved popular in Tuesday night, it was reported.

About 300 people bid on Mitterand's trademark scarves, fedoras, slippers and other items, The Times Online reported. The auction sales totaled about $222,000, or more than twice the amount expected, the news Web site reported.

The auction raised money for France Libertes, the charity of his his wife, Danielle Mitterrand.

French Socialists panned the auction, saying Mitterrand's belongings should have been preserved in his memory. Mitterand, who died 12 years ago, served as France's president from 1981-95.



Jell-O wrestling lawsuit thrown out

NEW YORK, Jan.

Clinton and Obama take poll fight to the finish

Hillary Clinton was holding on early today in the face of a surge by Barack Obama in the Super Tuesday elections, one of the biggest and most competitive contests in US history.

Obama and Clinton were slogging it out for the Democratic nomination, matching each other with victories in the early states.

Both Republicans and Democrats were fighting it out coast-to-coast in 22 states for the right to represent their parties in the White House race in November.

In the Republican race, John McCain, the Arizona senator, established himself as the clear front-runner. He was projected to take several key early states.

For the Democrats, Obama made early gains, building on the momentum that has seen him eat into the 10- to 20-point poll lead Clinton had enjoyed only a few weeks earlier.

Who Do We Vote For This Time Around?

He says he's for the little guy, but then he votes for a corporate-backed bill to make it harder for the little guy to file a class action suit when his kid swallows lead paint from a Chinese-made toy. In fact, Obama doesn't think Wall Street is a bad place. He wants the insurance companies to help us develop a new health care plan — the same companies who have created the mess in the first place. He's such a feel-good kinda guy, I get the sense that, if elected, the Republicans will eat him for breakfast. He won't even have time to make a good speech about it.

But this may be a bit harsh. Senator Obama has a big heart, and that heart is in the right place. Is he electable? Will more than 50% of America vote for him? We'd like to believe they would. We'd like to believe America has changed, wouldn't we? Obama lets us feel better about ourselves — and as we look out the window at the guy snowplowing his driveway across the street, we want to believe he's changed, too.