Category: Food, Drink & Health

The health benefits of coffee

It’s been a great week for coffee drinkers: 1) “Data from 10 studies … suggest that people who drink coffee may be reducing their risk of liver cancer.” 2) “Drinking more than three cups of coffee a day helped protect older women against some age-related memory decline.” 3) “Drinking three or more cups of coffee a day may cut the risk of colon cancer in women by half.” 4) “Exercise and moderate caffeine consumption together could help ward off sun-induced skin cancer.”

William Saletan – Slate Magazine

He also has this (among some other interesting stuff):

A study suggests “Baby Einstein” and other baby videos are bad for kids. Findings: 1) “32% of the babies were shown the videos, and 17% of those were shown them for more than an hour a day.” 2) “For every hour per day spent watching baby DVDs and videos, infants understood an average of six to eight fewer words than infants who did not watch them.”

Whether Diet or Regular

Drinking just one soft drink a day — whether diet or regular — may boost your risk of getting heart disease, a new study shows.

That is because a soda habit increases the risk of developing a condition called metabolic syndrome, according to the new research, and that in turn boosts the chance of getting both heart disease and diabetes.

“Even one soda per day increases your risk of developing metabolic syndrome by about 50%,” says Ramachandran Vasan, MD, professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and the senior author of the study, published in the July 31 issue of the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation.

WebMD

103 years of ice cream cones

From the Library of Congress:

It is said that on July 23, 1904, Charles E. Menches of St. Louis, Missouri conceived the idea of filling a pastry cone with two scoops of ice cream and thereby invented the ice cream cone. Yet there are other, perhaps stronger, claimants to that honor: Ernest Hamwi, Abe Doumar, Albert and Nick Kabbaz, Arnold Fornachou and David Avayou have all been touted as the inventor(s) of the first edible cone. Interestingly, these individuals have in common the fact that they all made or sold confections at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, known as the St. Louis World’s Fair and it is from the time of the Fair that the edible “cornucopia,” a cone made from a rolled waffle, vaulted into popularity.

Well, NewMexiKen got that one wrong

In an earlier post on Stuff you need to know NewMexiKen advised against reusing certain plastic water bottles. The information I had — from a magazine — was wrong. Thanks to commenter Bob, I followed up. Here’s better info.

Question: What do you make of this recent email warning that claims dioxins can be released by freezing water in plastic bottles?

Answer: No. This is an urban legend. There are no dioxins in plastics. In addition, freezing actually works against the release of chemicals. Chemicals do not diffuse as readily in cold temperatures, which would limit chemical release if there were dioxins in plastic, and we don’t think there are.

Question: So it’s okay for people to drink out of plastic water bottles?

Answer: First, people should be more concerned about the quality of the water they are drinking rather than the container it’s coming from. Many people do not feel comfortable drinking tap water, so they buy bottled water instead. The truth is that city water is much more highly regulated and monitored for quality. Bottled water is not. It can legally contain many things we would not tolerate in municipal drinking water.

Having said this, there is another group of chemicals, called phthalates that are sometimes added to plastics to make them flexible and less brittle. Phthalates are environmental contaminants that can exhibit hormone-like behavior by acting as endocrine disruptors in humans and animals. If you heat up plastics, you could increase the leaching of phthalates from the containers into water and food.

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Will a plastic bottle leach harmful substances into water if I reuse it?
Most convenience-size beverage bottles sold in the U.S. are made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The FDA has determined that PET meets standards for food-contact materials established by federal regulations and therefore permits the use of PET in food and beverage packaging for both single use and repeated use. FDA has evaluated test data that simulate long-term storage and that support repeated use.

When consumers choose to refill and reuse convenience-size plastic bottles, should they be concerned about potentially harmful bacteria?
Not if they clean their plastic bottles between uses just as they would other drinking containers. Plastics are by nature extremely sanitary materials, and plastic bottles are no more likely to harbor bacteria than other kinds of packaging or drinking containers. Bacteria thrive in warm, moist environments. Once bacteria have been introduced, virtually any drinking container (coffee mugs, drinking glasses, serving pitchers, etc.) becomes a suitable environment for bacterial growth.

Consumers should clean any drinking container with hot soapy water and dry thoroughly between uses. Bottles specifically designed for extended reuse are often made with wide openings that allow consumers to use cleaning instruments and easily dry them.

FAQs: The Safety of Plastic Beverage Bottles

Stuff you need to know

Ever re-use water bottles? You know, refill them from the refrigerator dispenser or the tap, or freeze them?

Well, maybe you shouldn’t.

PETE 1There are various types of plastic used in bottles. PET or PETE 1 plastic, which is often used for manufactured water, should not be re-used because there is a risk the chemicals will leach out.

HDPE 2 or PP5 on the other hand, do not seem to leach.

Look on the bottom of the bottle to see what kind of plastic you have.

Update: See first comment and next post.

——–

A blue moon shows up about every two-and-a-half years. And guess what? The definition we’ve all known for a blue moon — the second full moon in a calendar month — is wrong. A blue moon occurs when a season (between a solstice and an equinox or between an equinox and a solstice) has four full moons. The blue moon is the third of the four.

The two full moons in one month definition got picked up by mistake about 60 years ago (by Sky & Telescope no less) and became the conventional wisdom. The seasonal definition makes more sense because seasons are natural events (defined by equinox and solstice) not human events defined by a calendar.

Of course, blue moons are human events too, so who really cares except the lyricist?

Blue Moon
You saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own
Blue Moon
You know just what I was there for
You heard me saying a prayer for
Someone I really could care for

——–

It was 100º officially in Albuquerque Tuesday, the first time in triple digits since July 15, 2003.

Ephraim is an evil witch doctor

First, thanks to all who have commented on my Half Wisdom, Half Whimsy, Half Wit post. There have been many words of encouragement and some suggestions. All of the comments are appreciated.

And no, I don’t think it’s approval I seek SonoranSon. I seek more readers. I don’t write this blog strictly for myself. Never have.

Which brings me to Ephraim, who said he sees me “as a shut-in who surfs the web all day.” I thought that was an interesting remark when I read it yesterday morning — two people actually sent me emails yesterday criticizing Ephraim. Even if I do spend too much time in front of the computer, in the past six months I’ve also been to Tucson four times, Denver twice, Washington and San Francisco, a concert and a one-man show, a handful of movies, baseball and soccer games, and have tentative plans for camping in Yellowstone and Sequoia this summer and visiting Europe this fall. I don’t even have cable TV. I’m hardly a shut-in. But Ephraim’s thing appears to be to try and get a rise out of me, so I let it go.

Except I didn’t know Ephraim had voodoo powers. Here I sit Friday with crutches by my side and a posterior splint on my left ankle — pretty much a shut-in. Seems I have developed a nasty case of tendinitis (brought about most likely by arthritis). Out of the blue. No signs of it before Wednesday and today I needed an injection for pain. (And I nearly assaulted the doctor who kept asking, “Does this hurt?”)

You’ve got my attention now Ephraim!

The Fight for Your Face

About a million Americans regularly go under the needle to get doses of Botox, which works by temporarily paralyzing wrinkle-making muscles in the forehead, and Restylane, a hyaluronic-acid dermal filler that fills in deeper folds or unevenness in the lower part of the face (think spackle).

The above from a report on the booming industry of wrinkle injections from Newsweek Health. Money quotes:

“Part of Allergan’s challenge will be to overcome the fear factor that comes with the notion of injecting a substance officially named Botulinum Toxin Type A into the face.”

“Medicis, for its part, has created a campy reality show called “Hottest Mom in America”—a cross between ‘Desperate Houswives’ and ‘American Idol.'”

It’s an interesting article.

Thanks to Veronica for the link.

Selecting Seafood

From the Monterey Bay Aquarium, A Consumer’s Guide to Sustainable Seafood — complete with regional seafood guides you can print and take along to the store.

Our Seafood Watch regional guides contain the latest information on sustainable seafood choices available in different regions of the U.S. Our “Best Choices” are abundant, well managed and fished or farmed in environmentally friendly ways. Seafood to “Avoid” are overfished and/or fished or farmed in ways that harm other marine life or the environment.

(Always avoid the fish on Trans American Airlines.)

Oceans Alive also has a guide to Best & Worst Seafood Choices. “Our guide can help you choose fish that are healthy for the oceans and safe to eat.”

How States Rank on Health Care

Hawaii leads and Oklahoma lags on a new state scorecard about health system performance.

The scorecard is the first of its kind from the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation focused on health care.

The Commonwealth Fund rated states based on 32 indicators, including access, quality, cost, insurance, preventive care, potentially avoidable hospital visits, and premature death (death before age 75).

The top five states in order are Hawaii, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine.

The bottom five states are Nevada, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.

WebMD

New Mexico ranks 35th. Follow the link to see the complete list of states.

If only I could find the corkscrew

Drinking alcohol in moderation may slow the progression to dementia in elderly people who already have mild mental declines, new research suggests.

Defined in the study as less than one drink a day, low to moderate drinking was associated with a significantly slower progression to dementia among people with mild age-related cognitive declines, compared with nondrinkers.

The protective benefit was not seen with higher alcohol consumption.

WebMD

Bipolar Illness Widely Underdiagnosed

There appear to be almost twice as many Americans with bipolar disorder as previously thought, and many are not getting the treatments they need, researchers from the National Institute of Mental Health report.

Once thought of as a single mental illness, bipolar disorder is increasingly recognized as a spectrum disorder, with symptoms ranging from less severe to devastating.

WebMD

Apparently this study says about 4% are afflicted, which NewMexiKen thought was really interesting, but when you think about it, is really none of their damn business.

Life expectancy

NewMexiKen has often wondered about life expectancy and the conventional wisdom that it was so low a century or two or more ago that 30 was old-age, etc.

So I looked at my own paternal line. Here’s the approximate age at death of my father and so forth going back eight generations: 83, 90, 70, 44, 72, 75, 62, 88. The average is 73. For the women of the same line beginning with my mother: 48, 90, 84, 90, 50, 69, 68 (and one unknown). The average is 71.

Now, I realize this sample is so small it’s meaningless. But what I am wondering for the umpteenth time is, what was the life expectancy once you were an adult and had survived childhood diseases?

By the way, I read somewhere just this past week that our parents’ longevity is not a good predictor of life expectancy. While we may inherit genetic tendencies toward certain diseases, etc., from our parents, there are too many variables for genetics to predict how long we might live.

Hecho en Mexico at Costco

Dios Mio! What did we see at the original urban wholesale-type big box in San Francisco but Coca Cola straight outta Mexicali. The reason why Mexicoke has a cult following here in the U.S. is the use of old-school sugar from cane, as opposed to the sweetener used by American bottlers these days: corn syrup.

SFist

Via kottke.

Breaking: Doctors say neckties are a health hazard

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysian doctors have declared neckties a health hazard and called on the heath ministry to stop insisting that physicians wear them.

Citing studies that show ties are unhygienic and can spread infection, the Malaysian Medical Association says they are not often washed and carry germs that can cause pneumonia and blood infections, the Star newspaper said on Tuesday.

Yahoo! News

NewMexiKen’s favorite was the colleague who stopped wearing a tie to the office when wearing one was still the norm. When asked why he didn’t wear a tie, he’d say there was nobody he worked with that deserved that much respect.

A year of eating locally

A discussion with Barbara Kingsolver at Salon about her new book. From the introduction:

“The Bean Trees,” Kingsolver’s first novel, was published in 1988 to great acclaim. With 2 million copies sold, it remains in print. Eleven others followed; all told, Kingsolver’s titles have sold 7 million copies. Few American writers have managed to so seamlessly merge their radical politics and commercial success. “If we can’t, as artists, improve on real life,” Kingsolver says, “we should put down our pencils and go bake bread.” Indeed, in her new book, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life,” she does both.

Part memoir, part investigative journalism, part cookbook, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” is co-authored by Kingsolver’s environmental scientist husband, Steven Hopp, and their then-19-year-old daughter, Camille. Together they tell the story of the year the family spent eating only food produced on or near their southwest Virginia farm. The central narrative rings with Kingsolver’s characteristic biting humor; Hopp’s sidebars focus on the industry and science of food production. Camille’s passionate essays, informed by youthful idealism and by her sharp intelligence, also include meal plans and recipes.

Local tap water bubbles up in restaurants

At a small but growing number of sustainably inclined Bay Area restaurants, bottled water has become as much of an outcast as farmed salmon and out-of-season tomatoes. Instead of bottled water, diners now are served free carafes of — gasp! — tap water. It’s filtered and comes still or sparkling, fizzed up by a soda-fountain-style carbonating machine.

Incanto, in San Francisco’s Noe Valley, and Poggio, in Sausalito, pioneered the trend four years ago. But for several years, no other restaurants wanted to give up popular — and profitable — bottled water.

Then Nopa, the San Francisco North of Panhandle hot spot, took the plunge when it opened last summer. And so did Ici, the Berkeley ice cream boutique.

And now, Chez Panisse, the godmother of the sustainability movement, is jumping on board, serving East Bay MUD’s finest, filtered and bubbly in carafes approved by Alice Waters herself.

San Francisco Chronicle

Why, you ask, if it was profitable are they giving it up? Because it takes a lot of energy to bottle water and ship it from Europe. These restaurants are getting a lot of upscale street cred for taking the environmentally conscious route.

Bottled water is so over. It’s the ultimate industrial consumerist product in a world that is beginning to realize that things have to change.