"I think very few people change their eating habits because of a little blurb," she says.

Anwar N. Floyd-Pruitt '99 says he seldom reads the column because he is usually socializing during meals. Furthermore, he says the column sometimes makes him regret what he is eating.

"I don't like to read things about nutrition because I feel guilty," he says.

Fung says that when she is putting together the nutritional advice, she might encounter conflicting studies. Therefore, her strategy is to look at all of the evidence.

"The main thing about interpreting scientific evidence is that you can't just look at one paper," she says. "It is one piece of evidence, one piece of the puzzle, [so] we should take a look at the whole picture."

According to Fung, it is the diet as a whole that should be our health concern. Variety, she says, is especially important.

"A health-conscious person is not someone who eats salads and tofu, and never ice cream," she says. "It's not like that."

Fung says her favorite food to indulge in once in a while is dark chocolate, especially truffles.

Fung started writing the column this year after replacing former nutrition consultant Shirley Hung, who wrote it for four years.

In addition to writing nutritional advice, Fung answers questions via e-mail that students have about their diets. She says she gets about one or two inquiries a month, but would like to receive more.

Fung says she currently has no influence over the daily menu or the nutritional content cards that go above the entrees at every meal.

Dining Services makes those decisions, she says.

As a student working toward a doctorate degree, Fung is taking four classes and doing 10 to 15 hours of research per week on the relationship between diet and skin cancer.

"I'm also a typical Harvard student, I suppose," she says, "although grad students lead a different kind of life."