Nutrition Wonderland

Have we figured out what is causing honeybee colony collapse disorder?

John Serrao — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 18:19:13 +0000

The New York Times recently reported on a new discovery in understanding the devastating phenomenon of bee colony collapse disorder (CCD). Apparently a cocktail of a rare fungus and a virus have been teaming up to decimate bee populations. Image credit: emrank, flickr

Why the SOLE Food Movement is Failing

John Serrao — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 19:26:13 +0000

A friend of mine sent me an article from a publication called Zocalo that reviews American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields by Rowan Jacobsen. I'm not going to review this title (you can read the one from the Zocalo here) nor am I going to pick on Jacobsen. I'm sure his book is an interesting take on terroir foods as he calls them, picking up where Pollan's Botany of Desire left off. What I am going to do is explain why I think this book represents another step backwards in gaining wider acceptance of SOLE foods.

Vitamin B3 Niacin (Niaspan) beats Zetia as Heart Medication

John Serrao — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 16:49:25 +0000

I know this information is already about a year out of date but I thought it might be worth republishing (as I just ran into this article and study this last weekend.) At the 2009 meeting of the American Heart Association, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that niacin (vitamin B3) treatments worked better than the Merck prescription drug Zetia at reducing the size of arterial blockages in the neck.

Obesity Rates in America Continue to Rise, Adenovirus May Play Role

John Serrao — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 14:14:42 +0000

The latest examination of obesity rates by the CDC comes to some sobering conclusions about the state of public health in America. Their findings show a block of states, mostly concentrated in the South, now have obesity rates over 30%. Back in 1990, no states were over 20%, making the run-up in the last 20 years remarkable.

Neurophotonics Coming to a Human Being Near You

John Serrao — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 17:12:48 +0000

Researchers at SMU are working with DARPA (the US hyper-advanced military research group that initially developed the internet) to create an artificial fiber optic signaling system that will directly interface with your body's central nervous system. This technology, called neurophotonics, would allow bidirectional communication to and from the brain, giving amputees with prosthetic arms and legs the ability to feel heat, cold and pain in those artificial extremities.

Food Safety Legislation S.510 Stalled by One Senator

John Serrao — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 21:36:36 +0000

Ezra Klein's excellent blog on the Washington Post website highlights a Politico story today about the status of the long awaited food safety legislation (s.510). It is currently being held up by one senator, Tom Coburn (R) of Oklahoma. Here is the latest:

Winds of Change: Antibiotics in Livestock

John Serrao — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:02:34 +0000

The New York Times has a really good piece on the coming rules regarding the amount of antibiotics that can be given to confinement livestock. Now, after decades of debate, the Food and Drug Administration appears poised to issue its strongest guidelines on animal antibiotics yet, intended to reduce what it calls a clear risk [...]

Entering the Genetic Age: Enviropig and GMO animals

John Serrao — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 18:22:30 +0000

The October 2010 edition of Popular Science landed in my mailbox today with a brief overview of the genetically modified Enviropig. I would give you a direct link but, for some reason, Popular Science does not publish its magazine articles online. It’s not that big of a deal because the article isn’t even good enough to [...]

Corn Sugar: HFCS by a different name?

John Serrao — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 17:23:22 +0000

There was an article in the Cleveland daily today about The Corn Refiners Association, the lobbying arm of corn agribusiness, petitioning the FDA to rename high fructose corn syrup, 'Corn Sugar'.

Nutrition Wonderland moving towards v2.0

John Serrao — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:23:16 +0000

Over the next couple months, I will be rolling out a new version of Nutrition Wonderland. This update is substantial and will significantly effect this site – for the better I hope. I have taken into account everyone’s suggestions on how to improve what I started here and think I have come up with an [...]

Having trouble cutting down your salt intake? May be your genes.

Christie Wilcox — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:14:41 +0000

Americans eat two to three times the recommended amount of salt every day. Part of the problem may lie not in our foods, but in our genes.

Organic Food Isn’t For The Birds

Christie Wilcox — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 12:51:00 +0000

It turns out birds aren't bird brains when it comes to what they eat. A number of species of birds have been shown to choose foods that contain higher levels of healthy things like protein and antioxidants and lower levels of not-so-healthy things like heavy metals and pesticides. Since they're such finicky eaters, scientists figured to let them choose between conventionally and organically grown food, and see which they deemed better for them. The vote was unanimous: birds prefer non-organic.

Understanding Our Bodies: Insulin

Christie Wilcox — Thu, 13 May 2010 16:27:48 +0000

Insulin is one of the most important hormones in the human body, and yet most people don't really understand why our bodies make it or how what we eat affects the levels of insulin we produce. More so than any other hormone, our diet is key in regulating insulin levels, and thus a number of biological processes. As you'll soon see, everyone should think about how what they eat impacts their body's insulin release to be at their happiest and healthiest.

When Cutting Calories Doesn’t Cut It

Christie Wilcox — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:00:29 +0000

New research out of the Oregon Health and Science University may explain the discrepancy between the theory and reality of dieting. They found that, at least in some of our closest relatives, cutting calories isn't enough to lose weight because the body compensates for the reduced intake by lowering activity levels. Image credit: iamchenelle, flickr

Why Don’t We Just Eat Better?

Christie Wilcox — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:49:34 +0000

Why is it so hard for us to eat a healthy diet? It would appear to be the easiest solution in the world. Just choose wisely at the grocery store and - Poof! - you can feel better, lose weight, and look fantastic. Of course, we all know that eating healthy is never as easy as it sounds. So what is in the way of making good food choices?

Looking Deeper: Can Exercising 10 Minutes A Day Be Better Than 10 Hours?

Christie Wilcox — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:42:03 +0000

A recent paper in The Journal of Physiology titled, "A practical model of low-volume high-intensity interval training induces mitochondrial biogenesis in human skeletal muscle: potential mechanisms." has caused quite a stir. It centers around a recent fashion in workouts called High-Intensity Interval Training, or HIT. HIT is a method of exercise which involves working as hard as you can for brief intervals followed by brief rest intervals. The idea is that by doing higher intensity workouts for shorter time intervals, you can work out "less" but get the same, or even more, benefit - but is that true?

Book Review: The Fluoride Deception by Christopher Bryson

John Serrao — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 22:04:37 +0000

Few public health issues in American history have riled people quite like fluoride. Its story is replete with famous figures in American history, dramatic tales from the Manhattan Project, corporate cover-ups, redacted research, shattered careers of those that spoke against it's use and the tragedy at Donora in 1948. The tide that binds all these accounts together is a fascinating book called, “The Fluoride Deception” by Christopher Bryson. His work paints a picture with enough intrigue to be nominated for an Oscar but remains deftly aware of itself long enough to stay away from hyperbole – most of the time at least.

Understanding Our Bodies – Fiber!

Christie Wilcox — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:13:11 +0000

Most of us already know that we should be eating fiber - according to the Institute of Medicine, adults should be eating 20-35 grams of it per day. But why? What's so important about fiber anyway? What does it do for us physiologically? And does it matter what kind of fiber we eat? (Image Credit: Sami Taipale, flickr)

The Protein Problem: Eating Healthy While Making The Least Ecological Impact

Christie Wilcox — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:48:44 +0000

It would be great if we could just stop eating meat all together. But there's one problem - we need complete dietary protein, and about 60 grams a day of it. This is what I call the Protein Problem: the problem is that we need a lot of protein, nutritionally speaking, but producing it is an ecological nightmare. If you've read my post about why protein is so nutritionally important, you know that meat is simply the best source of complete dietary protein. But is becoming vegetarian and eating tofu the solution to our protein problem? Unfortunately, it's not that simple.

GMOs: Does Regulation Ensure Safety?

Christie Wilcox — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:21:59 +0000

The public's biggest concern when it comes to GMOs is their safety. There are a lot of misconceptions about genetic engineering. When pressed on science of GMOs, I have often heard people fear that the genetically modified material in the foods they are eating will somehow mutate their DNA too. While logically it sounds like that makes a bit of sense, scientifically its nonsense. So how do we test for and ensure that GMOs are safe? Allow me to introduce you to the complex world of genetic technology regulation. Image credit: kevin dolley on flickr.