Tag Archives: Health

"Geek" plugs GMO foods in O'Reilly cookbook

Posted on by
3

In “Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food’’ (O’Reilly, about $35), Jeff Potter blends boring recipes, such as those for garlic mashed potatoes and chocolate chip cookies, with punishingly detailed (even for many geeks, I imagine) discussions of the chemistry behind tastes and fragrances, and the importance of cooking things long and hot enough to prevent foodborne illnesses.

But at times the book reads like more than a cookbook whose author is benignly attempting to work-up a new angle.

In a weird tangent, Potter makes a backhanded pitch for foods made with genetically modified organisms.

“What if a strain of rice could be produced that was more resilient in the face of floods and droughts?’’ asks Potter, as if saying “no’’ to such a product would make you heartless to the needs of people in developing nations.

Potter calls the GMO issue “an intensely charged political and social minefield.’’

But as any geek will tell you, the GMO debate is also about science. And scientists have not yet even agreed on standards for assessing the safety of GMO foods.

A geek puts pots and pans next to his beakers – The Boston Globe.

To prevent stroke, get lots of kisses

Posted on by
Reply

They're good for each other. Photo: Felix Montino/Flickr CC

A UC Irvine study recently found that teasing a rat’s whiskers prevents the animal from having a stroke.

And the university’s researchers are extrapolating from their results a possible benefit for humans:

In people, “stimulating the fingers, lips or face in general could all have a similar effect,” says UCI doctoral student Melissa Davis, co-author of the study, which appears in the June issue of PLoS One.

In the animal study, the UCI researchers found that the facial stimulation rerouted blood flow to the brain from blocked arteries.

via UC Irvine Release: Whisker stimulation prevents strokes in rats :: UC Irvine TODAY.

North Korean healthcare "the envy" of developing nations, says UN boss

Posted on by
1

Embarrassed by a damning Amnesty International report that surprised no one — detailing amputations without anesthesia and other horrors in the Hermit Kingdom — the UN World Health Organization is still going to bat for Pyongyang.

The rationale for lying about North Korea, according to a spokeswoman for WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan is that only by kissing ass, can the the UN and nongovernmental organizations gain access to the country:

Major global relief agencies have been quietly fighting for years to save the lives of impoverished and malnourished North Koreans, even as the country’s go-it-alone government joined the exclusive club of nuclear weapons powers and wasted millions on confrontational military programs.

via WHO criticizes Amnesty report into NKorea health – Yahoo! News.

Zinc sunscreens increase disease risk, scientists report

Posted on by
Reply

South Boston sunbathers. Photo: Scott LaPierre

The whole point of investigating nanomaterials is that we know that metals behave differently on the nanoscale (<100 nanometers).
Still, the makers of sunscreens did think it was necessary to wait for research such as this (excerpt and link, below), which finds that nano-zinc is highly toxic, before stuffing it into their products.
Robust markers of apoptosis, Annexin V staining, loss of mitochondrial potential, and increased generation of superoxide were observed when cells were treated with ZnO particulate matter but not when treated with comparable concentration of a soluble Zn salt. Both ZnO samples induced similar mechanisms of toxicity, but there was a statistically significant increase in potency per unit mass with the smaller particles.

via ZnO Particulate Matter Requires Cell Contact for Toxicity in Human Colon Cancer Cells – Chemical Research in Toxicology ACS Publications.

Coffee prevents cancer of the head and neck

Posted on by
2

Good for her. Photo: Vladimer Shioshvili/Flickr CC

Cancers of the mouth and throat are among the deadliest. But if, like me, you drink coffee by the bucket-full, your chances of developing the disease are 40 percent less that non-coffee drinkers.

“Since coffee is so widely used and there is a relatively high incidence and low survival rate of these forms of cancers, our results have important public health implications that need to be further addressed,” Huntsman Cancer Institute (University of Utah) investigator lead researcher Mia Hashibe said in a release this afternoon.

This news comes on the heels of a report last week that coffee might reduce your risk for diabetes…

In other words, if you’ve been following Dr. Andrew Weil’s snake oil advise, and been feeling superior for not being a coffee drinker, you’ve again been misled by the self-appointed sage of alternative medicine.

U. of Utah's Mia Hashibe makes a startling epidemiological finding. Photo: American Association for Cancer Research

More from the announcement:

Using information from a pooled-analysis of nine studies collected by the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium, participants who were regular coffee drinkers, that is, those who drank an estimated four or more cups a day, compared with those who were non-drinkers, had a 39 percent decreased risk of oral cavity and pharynx cancers combined.

Data on decaffeinated coffee was too sparse for detailed analysis, but indicated no increased risk. Tea intake was not associated with head and neck cancer risk.

The association is more reliable among those who are frequent, regular coffee drinkers, consuming more than four cups of coffee a day.

Frying our kids' brains for perfect produce

Posted on by
2

At least one is contaminated with Malathion. Photo: /Tetsumo Flickr CC

No one wants tics, fleas or lice on his dogs or his children.

And I understand that some gardeners will go to any length to have a perfect rose bush, or lawn.

I even know a guy on my block in Milton, Massachusetts, who boasted that he had stockpiled a recently banned grub control chemical in his shed. A perfect lawn is that important to him.

But when a Harvard scientist reports that kids with just a little bit of a common pesticide in their pee have 55 percent higher risk for ADHD, it is time to give up on perfection.

Scientists are still trying to figure out the sources of most of the Malathion they found in children. But a previous report found pesticides in more than a quarter of frozen blueberries and strawberries.

Weisskopf and his colleagues speculated that for most of the children in their study, exposure came through food. The 2008 report of the U.S. pesticide residue program found, for example, that 28% of frozen blueberries, 25% of strawberries and 19% of celery were contaminated with malathion.

via ADHD study: Pesticide is linked to developmental problems – latimes.com.

More evidence that coffee cuts diabetes risk

Posted on by
Reply

And scientists at Nagoya University say it’s the caffeine. (Note, this is a finding in mice, not humans.)

Take that Andrew Weil!

Weil is the bearded supplements guru, who is for just about anything, until he’s against it (after the science catches up with him). Ditto for the reverse: He has railed against the evils of coffee and black pepper, for example, based on scant evidence that either is bad for you.

Indeed, the evidence is mounting that coffee is an excellent tonic.

Results of the study:

Effects of Coffee Ingestion on Blood Glucose Concentration and Lipid Metabolism in KK-Ay Mice (Experiment 1)

In experiment 1, 4-week-old KK-Ay mice ingested coffee or water as their drinking water for 5 weeks. The body weight, food intake, and tissue weights are shown in Table 1. The final body weight did not differ between the control and coffee groups. The food intake (on days 11−13 and 25−27) was also not different between these two groups. Coffee ingestion reduced subcutaneous or retroperitoneal fat tissue weight, but did not affect epididymal or mesenteric fat tissue or interscapular BAT weights. The liver weight in the coffee group was significantly lower than that in the control group. As shown in Figure 1A, the blood glucose concentration in the control group gradually increased during the course of the experiment, reaching a maximum of 30.2 ± 1.5 mmol/L. After the second week, the blood glucose concentrations in the coffee groups were significantly lower than the respective values in the control group. Finally, blood glucose concentration in the coffee group (19.6 ± 1.7 mM) exhibited a 30% decrease compared with that in the control group (28.1 ± 1.5 mM) (Figure 1A).

via Coffee and Caffeine Ameliorate Hyperglycemia, Fatty Liver, and Inflammatory Adipocytokine Expression in Spontaneously Diabetic KK-Ay Mice – Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (ACS Publications).

Two sickened when fishing vessel discovers canisters in LI Sound

Posted on by
Reply

Radioactive waste?

Officials closest to shore were notified when two crew members started blistering and had difficulty breathing. They were taken to St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford, Mass. One was expected to be released this afternoon and the other has been transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital, a Coast Guard news release said.

via 2 become sick after fishing vessel discovers 10 canisters – Projo 7 to 7 News Blog | Rhode Island news | The Providence Journal.

Report: Better to have two moms than one dad

Posted on by
Reply
Outstanding. And, of course, consistent with the personal experiences of anyone lucky enough to know a family with two moms. Bonus here is how CNN chooses to balance the story with criticism not from other scientists, but a Bible lady. Which makes this an example of something other than science reporting.

(CNN) — A nearly 25-year study concluded that children raised in lesbian households were psychologically well-adjusted and had fewer behavioral problems than their peers.

via Kids of lesbians have fewer behavioral problems, study suggests – CNN.com.

Four tips for healthy red meat eating

Posted on by
Reply

Health nut: Photo: H Anderson/Flickr CC

I knew I’d live to see red meat lose its bad boy image.

Turns out that the problem with the meat we’ve been eating is its toxic load, thanks to giant agribusinesses and our huge appetites.

Behold, the Heretic’s four-point harm reduction plan for meat eaters:

  1. Buy grass fed beef. It way better for you (higher in the good-for-you fats and vitamins) than corn fed cattle.
  2. Use spices. Rosemary and curry spices drastically reduce the formation of certain carcinogens.
  3. Avoid deli meats and dogs. A study suggests that processed meats, particularly those cured with sodium nitrate, are the real killers (quote from a WBUR story):

    We found that processed meats were associated with higher risk of heart disease and diabetes, and then unprocessed red meats were not.

  4. Don’t burn it. Hockey pucks are not the way to go. High heat and long cooking times turn burgers into poison pills, with higher levels of carcinogens. Surprisingly, though, grilled chicken is ten-times higher than beef burgers in its levels of certain cancer causing agents, according nutritionists at The Cancer Project.

via Not All Red Meats Are Heart-Unhealthy, Study Says | WBUR.