The listeria outbreak from cantaloupes has caused at least 72 illnesses and up to 16 deaths so far. Those numbers are expected to rise since the time it takes to show symptoms can be a month or longer. Can you imagine trying to recall what you ate a month ago?"And, for the argument that the sick and dead should have washed away the listeria, the FDA advises consumers not to eat the recalled cantaloupes and to throw them away. In Fact, the FDA says:Do not try to wash the harmful bacteria off the cantaloupe as contamination may be both on the inside and outside of the cantaloupe. Cutting, slicing and dicing may also transfer harmful bacteria from the fruit’s surface to the fruit’s flesh."
Ulrika Ericson, in an oral presentation at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) this month, reported results from her team's large population-based study (27,140 participants from Sweden)."CONCLUSIONS: Diets high in animal protein are associated with an increased diabetes risk. Our findings also suggest a similar association for total protein itself instead of only animal sources. Consumption of energy from protein at the expense of energy from either carbohydrates or fat may similarly increase diabetes risk."And a post from a few weeks ago based on a new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: High-Protein Diet Worse For Insulin Sensitivity Compared To High-Cereal-Fiber Diet
"Insulin sensitivity was 25% higher after 6 weeks of the high-cereal-fiber diet than after 6 weeks of the high-protein diet."Not only did the cereal-fiber group eat less protein, but they absorbed less of the protein they did eat owing to interference from increased fiber. This lower protein may have contributed to improved insulin sensitivity.
I was looking for a good Office suite. I'd been using MS Office 2003 for the longest time and was satisfied. But when I switched computers I never bothered to load it, using Google Docs and Spreadsheet instead. I liked them, and although I liked the ease of keeping my docs on the cloud (I use more than one computer and it made hopping around convenient) I was concerned about security.
I'm collecting studies that address the effect of magnesium on sleep. "A low intake of the mineral magnesium may be one nutritional factor causing sleep problems."
"Magnesium plays a key role in the body's chemistry that regulates sleep. This may be why persons with long-term lack of sleep, or abnormal brain waves during deep sleep, often have low magnesium in their blood."
"Magnesium treatment increased deep sleep and improved brain waves during sleep in 12 elderly subjects. (See below.) Magnesium treatment decreased time to fall asleep and improved sleep quality of 11 alcoholic patients who often have a low magnesium status. (See below.) Magnesium deficiency increased time awake at the expense of deep sleep in rats. Feeding magnesium to the rats restored their sleep patterns to normal."
"A national food consumption survey found that many Americans, especially older women, consume less than the RDA for magnesium."
"Another risk factor for low magnesium status in older women is the use of calcium supplements without magnesium for bone health. High calcium intakes can make magnesium deficiency worse."
"Foods that have good amounts of magnesium are whole grains, nuts and green leafy vegetables. Green leafy vegetables are a good source of magnesium because the green color is chlorophyll, a chemical that contains magnesium and converts sunlight into food energy."
"The similarities of the effect of Mg(2+) and that of the related electrolyte Li+ furthermore supports the possible efficacy of Mg(2+) as a mood stabilizer."Magnesium as an anti-depressant?
Oh, Dr. Greger isn't going to make friends with poultry producers, or people who like KFC:"Researchers measured the levels of phthalates flowing through the bodies of pregnant women, and then later measured the size and characteristics of their infant sons’ genitalia between ages 2 months to 3 years. The women who had the most phthalate exposure had up to 10 times the odds of giving birth to sons with one or both testicles incompletely descended, their scrotum categorized as small and/or “not distinct from surrounding tissue,” and a significantly smaller penile volume, a measure of penis size taking into account both length and girth. In other words, the more phthalates pregnant women are exposed to, the “increased likelihood of testicular maldescent, a small and indistinct scrotum, and smaller penis size.” "As to which foods contain the most phthalates, he cites this study:
"In the current study, creatinine adjusted levels of MEHP (a metabolite of DEHP) were significantly associated with poultry consumption; total meat, poultry, and fish consumption; and discretionary solid fat consumption in multivariate regression models."I see that vegetables were a significant source for the lower molecular weight phthalates, which they say are more water soluble than heavier weight. I don't know the implication of that.
"The results from this study, combined with results from previous studies, suggest that the food supply is contaminated with phthalates, among other chemicals."
Letter to the editor in the Journal of Clinical Oncology that documented two cases where oral magnesium was thought to reduce hot flashes:"She prepared for a routine colonoscopy with 300 mls of magnesium citrate, and that night had no hot flashes at all. Subsequently, she used over the counter magnesium 250 mg, and then 400 mg, with reduction in her hot flashes to three or four a day of mild severity that did not interrupt her life or sleep or cause drenching sweats. She categorized her hot flashes as very bothersome before magnesium and not bothersome after magnesium. Her sleep and overall well-being improved."2. 54-year-old woman who went into natural menopause at age 52, 3 or 4 hot flashes each night, less common during the day:
"She watched “Dr. Phil” on TV, and the guest suggested a combination of Vitamin D at 400 U, calcium at 1,200 mg, and magnesium at 600 mg for weight loss (the purported mechanism was to turn fats into soaps that would not be absorbed). She began these supplements, and overnight her hot flashes diminished to half their frequency and severity. She also described her prior hot flashes as very bothersome, and nonexistent after beginning the regimen."Hard to tell if it was the magnesium in the second case. The first case offers some strong anecdotal evidence. A 300 ml colonoscopy prep delivers about 2 grams of magnesium, almost 6 times the upper intake level. (The DRI for magnesium for these women is 320 mg/day, with an upper limit of 350 mg.) When she pulled back to 400mg she still had considerable relief.
I get a kick out of Dr. Ralph Cinque's blog. I like it! I don't have to agree with someone to enjoy reading them. In the case of Cinque, I agree with a lot."Our total need for protein isn’t that great. The US government, which is no enemy of the beef and dairy trusts, says that adults need about 60 grams of protein a day, which is about 2 ounces- a little more for men and a little less for women. 60 grams of protein comes to 240 calories, and if a man gets 2400 calories total, that comes to 10% of calories. The government admits that there is a significant “safety factor” (excess) built in to that figure, and other organizations, such as the World Health Organization, cite a much lower requirement."Protein eaten above our needs gets broken down and some of it can be used as fuel. This is what he says about consuming protein above our needs:
...
"One researcher who has studied it a lot is Dr. Mark Hegsted of Harvard University, and he concluded from his vast work that, based on all the considerations for protein utilization in the body, that humans need .8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.",
"So, we can use protein as a fuel. So, what’s the big deal? The big deal is that 15% of the amino acid is nitrogenous, and nitrogen doesn’t burn. When that amino group (NH2) gets split off, it immediately tends to pick up another hydrogen (since nitrogen has three hands) forming NH3 which is ammonia. You know how caustic and irritating ammonia is. Burns the nose, right? Well, it burns inside of you as well. The body has to get rid of ammonia pronto, so it combines two amino groups with one molecule of carbon dioxide to form a different substance: urea. Urea is essentially non-irritating. It is a waste product, but it doesn’t burn like ammonia. So, it’s easier to handle. The more protein you eat, the more urea you form. And the more urea you form, the greater the burden on your liver and particularly your kidneys.This is a fair argument. In older people, people with hypertension, diabetes, kidney or liver conditions, excess protein does present a problem. What does a low-protein Paleolithic Diet look like?
...
"People who eat high-protein diets tend to have higher levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN). Ideally, BUN should be in the teens. I have even seen it in the single digits in people who scrimp on protein. But people who eat high-protein diets are usually in the 20s, and sometimes in the 30s, and I don’t consider it a good thing or a harmless thing. Why should turning the blood more urinous be considered OK?"
This has to be one of the most unfortunate side effects of a pharmaceutical ... A class of drug intended to reduce bone fractures increases risk for fractures. The drugs are still on the market."[The FDA] has evaluated the safety of the drugs, known as bisphosphonates, for almost four years and cited possible links to unusual thigh fractures and jawbone deterioration in 2010."2Why are they still being sold?
"Bisphosphonates generated $4.2 billion in U.S. sales last year and $7.6 billion worldwide."Here's some background on the bone-damaging mechanism from a prior post:
"Too often these tests, some doctors and researchers say, trigger a cascade of expensive, anxiety-producing diagnostic procedures and invasive treatments for slow-growing diseases that may never cause problems, leaving patients worse off than if they had never been tested. In other cases, they say, treatment, rather than extending or improving life, actually reduces its quality in the final months."The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of experts that evaluates the risks and benefits of screening tests:
I read that NSAIDS damage joints, and that those which inhibit more COX-2 than COX-1 enzymes, as Vioxx and Celebrex do, were less damaging. They carried a higher risk for stroke and heart attack, however. (Vioxx is off the market for that reason.) "Researchers found further proof that COX-2 is responsible for loss of bone healing ability with age when they were able to reverse the process with a drug known to encourage the COX-2 signaling effect."So, a drug that compensates for missing COX-2 results in more efficient formation of bone. And is being used to prevent osteoporosis. This just doesn't look good for the safety of NSAIDS relative to bone health, especially for older people.
"Prior work in other labs had established that the ability of PGE2 to create new bone growth occurs in particular through its interaction with the EP4 receptor. In the current study, the team showed that delayed fracture healing observed in aged mice could be rescued with local delivery of an experimental drug, CP-734432, which directly activates the EP4 receptor in place of the missing COX-2 (an EP4 agonist). The drug, provided to the team by Pfizer Inc., was also recently used to prevent osteoporosis in early animal studies. Local injection of an EP4 agonist to the fracture site of aged mice compensated for the reduced fracture repair observed with aging, with a significant reduction in immature cartilage seen and more efficient formation of mature bone."
A landmark study presented at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology's conference in Paris this week is reporting that "mental disorders have become Europe’s largest health challenge in the 21 century." "Mental illnesses account for a larger proportion of disability in developed countries than any other group of illnesses, including cancer and heart disease. In 2004, an estimated 25% of adults in the United States reported having a mental illness in the previous year. The economic cost of mental illness in the United States is substantial, approximately $300 billion in 2002."They say nearly half of us will develop at least one mental illness during our lifetime. These are only reported illnesses. I imagine the number of unreported cases is considerable, especially addictions, in light of the stigma attached to mental illness.
"For example, the rodents spent more time exploring narrow elevated walkways and wide-open spaces, which are scary to rodents, and they exhibited a smaller spike in stress hormone levels when the researchers put them in water."The probiotic resulted in changes in their brain's GABA receptors. Drugs that humans are given to treat anxiety target these same GABA receptors.
"NSAIDs may be useful in reducing pain and inflammation in osteoarthritis, [but may] enhance the process of cartilage degeneration by interfering with intrinsic repair activities."1Looks like NSAIDS that were more selective for inhibiting COX-2 enzymes were less damaging to joints, but had a higher risk for stroke and heart attack.
