BPA Lurks in Canned Soups and Drinks

Many companies began phasing out BPA in baby bottles and other plastic food containers in recent years to ease public anxieties, but it is still widely used in the linings of metal cans because it helps prevent corrosion and is resistant to high heat during the sterilization process.

People who ate one serving of canned food daily over the course of five days, the study found, had significantly elevated levels — more than a tenfold increase — of bisphenol-A, or BPA, a substance that lines most food and drink cans.

As part of the study, Dr. Michels and her colleagues recruited a group of 75 staff members and students at the Harvard School of Public Health, split them into two groups, and then followed them for two weeks. During the first week, one group ate a 12-ounce serving of vegetarian soup from a common brand of canned soup every day for five days; the other group, meanwhile, ate 12 ounces of vegetarian soup made from fresh ingredients each day. Then, after a two-day soup-free “wash out” period, the groups switched roles and were followed for five more days. At the end of each five-day period, the subjects provided urine samples.

In general, most studies have found that urinary BPA levels in typical adults average somewhere around 2 micrograms per liter. That was roughly the levels the Harvard researchers found in the subjects after a week of eating the soup made from fresh ingredients. After eating the canned soup, though, their levels rose above 20 micrograms per liter, a 1,221 percent increase.

Do dietary lectins in Wheat cause disease? | BMJ

Lectins stimulate class II HLA antigens on cells that do not normally display them, such as pancreatic islet and thyroid cells.9 The islet cell determinant to which cytotoxic autoantibodies bind in insulin dependent diabetes mellitus is the disaccharide N-acetyl lactosamine,10 which must bind tomato lectin if present and probably also the lectins of wheat, potato, and peanuts. This would result in islet cells expressing both class II HLA antigens and foreign antigen together—a sitting duck for autoimmune attack. Certain foods (wheat, soya) are indeed diabetogenic in genetically susceptible mice.11 Insulin dependent diabetes therefore is another potential lectin disease and could possibly be prevented by prophylactic oligosaccharides.

Another suspect lectin disease is rheumatoid arthritis. The normal human IgG molecule possesses carbohydrate side chains, which terminate with galactose. In rheumatoid arthritis much of the galactose is missing, so that the subterminal sugar—N-acetyl glucosamine—is exposed instead. These deficient IgG molecules feature strongly in the circulating immune complexes that cause fever and symptoms.12 In diet responsive rheumatoid arthritis one of the commonest trigger foods is wheat, and wheat lectin is specific for N-acetyl glucosamine—the sugar that is normally hidden but exposed in rheumatoid arthritis. This suggests that N-acetyl glucosamine oligomers such as chitotetraose (derived from the chitin that forms crustacean shells) might be an effective treatment for diet associated rheumatoid arthritis. Interestingly, the health food trade has already siezed on N-acetyl glucosamine as an antiarthritic supplement.

Among the effects observed in the small intestine of lectin fed rodents is stripping away of the mucous coat to expose naked mucosa and overgrowth of the mucosa by abnormal bacteria and protozoa.14 Lectins also cause discharge of histamine from gastric mast cells,15 which stimulates acid secretion. So the three main pathogenic factors for peptic ulcer—acid stimulation, failure of the mucous defence layer, and abnormal bacterial proliferation (Helicobacter pylori) are all theoretically linked to lectins. 

Acne: Are Milk and Sugar the Causes?

Two large controlled trials found that cow’s milk increased both the number of people who got acne and its severity. Other large randomized prospective controlled trials (the gold standard of medical research) found that people who had higher sugar intake and a high glycemic load diet (more bread, rice, cereal, pasta, sugar, and flour products of all kinds) had significantly more acne. The good news is that chocolate (dark chocolate that is) didn’t seem to cause acne.

Good article on Spirulina's health benefits

Discovery Health "Foods That Moisturize Skin"

Omega-3s

Spinach

Berries

Food Additives & Cancer

good resource

Pomegranate juice melts belly fat - The Times of India

Some foods prevent age-related memory decay.

Rats that ate foods with high amounts of antioxidants as measured by high ORAC levels had “had significantly better long-term memory than the animals getting the control diet” when older.

“fat cells burn around 2.05 Calories per pound, so you’d gain a lot of weight” in order for for the extra fan to burn off the extra calories you’re eating.

Sad reality.

For every 1% increase in energy from saturated fatty acids, cholesterol levels rise by 1.3 to 1.7 mg/dl

http://www.csuchico.edu/grassfedbeef/research/Review Grassfed Beef 2010.pdf

Of course, not all saturated fat is equal, so this is an average over several studies. A few more tidbits from this article:

  • Lauric Acid (C12:0) preferentially increases HDL so affects cholesterol in a positive way
  • Stearic Acid (C18:0) has no impact on serum cholesterol concentrations

Being FAT is now illegal in Japan. ;) (by randomusername999)

What You Eat Affects Your Genes: RNA from Rice Can Survive Digestion and Alter Gene Expression | 80beats | Discover Magazine

via slashdot

“Tiny bits of genetic material, called microRNAs, can make their way from the food you eat into your blood stream, and change how your genes are expressed, according to a new study. A team of Chinese scientists found tiny bits of white rice microRNA floating around in people’s blood after a meal. When they looked at what was happening on a cellular level, they found that the microRNAs were changing gene expression, decreasing levels of a receptor that filters out LDL (bad) cholesterol. When the scientists gave mice both rice and a chemical to block the microRNAs, their levels of that receptor returned to normal—-showing that the microRNAs weren’t just swimming through the blood stream, but acting on genes in the animals’ cells.”

I see this as more evidence that we really don’t understand all the ways in which food affects us. Additionally I see it as more evidence that we should eat foods for which we are evolutionarily designed. It’s difficult to know and understand all the effects of foods we are are not used to. Having worked in a laboratory where drugs are tested, I can tell you that foreign compounds are usually not a good thing for any organism.

Locally grown food isn't always better for the environment

Perhaps locally grown produce tastes better to some people. And perhaps it is psychologically better to have close contact with the people who grow your food. But that doesn’t make it good for the environment. For example, it is twice as energy efficient for people in Britain to eat dairy products from New Zealand than from domestic producers. It is four times more energy efficient for them to eat lamb shipped from the other side of the world than it is to eat British lamb. That’s because transporting the final product accounts for only a small part of the energy consumed in the production and delivery of food. It’s far better to eat foods from places where production itself is more efficient. For example, New Zealand cattle eat clover from the fields while British livestock tend to rely on feed — which itself is often imported.

Artificial Sweetener Contaminates Water of 28 Million- splenda/sucralose

. In a new study over the presence of contaminants in the drinking water, researchers analyzed water samples from 19 US drinking water treatment plants (DWTP) which serve more than 28 million people. Sucralose was found in source water of 15 out of 19 water samples, finished water of 13 out of 17, and distribution system water of 8 our of 12. 

In my judgment this is yet another example of the failure of the municipal water systems, and a reason why I typically avoid them. In general, water treatment plants don’t do as good a job as mother nature, so study the source of your water.

What evidence is there that Sucralose (Splenda) is or isn't healthy?

…a Duke University study shows that at Sucralose consumption levels of 1.1–11 mg/kg (below the FDA ‘safe’ level), a 12-week administration of Splenda exerted numerous adverse effects, including reduction in beneficial fecal microflora, increased fecal pH, and enhanced expression levels of P-gp, CYP3A4, and CYP2D1, which are known to limit the bioavailability of nutrients and orally administered drugs. This study has been the subject of some controversy, with experts on both sides of the argument….