Diet Mind Spirit

Picnic Recipes

August 29th, 2008 cate

The weather is still warm enough to go out and picnic so here are 101 recipes, so you won’t run out of ideas. There’s more to picnic than bbq chicken and potato salad. Really!

Check it out here.

Posted in articles, diet, eco living, general, healthy recipes, kids, online self help, parenting, real food, recommendations and favorites, you should know | 1 Comment »

Superfood Rice Bran Has Arsenic in it

August 23rd, 2008 cate

From the newscientist:

Rice bran – a so-called “superfood” – might contain dangerous amounts of a natural poison.

A new study suggests that rice bran, the shavings left over after brown rice is polished to produce white rice grains, contains “inappropriate” levels of arsenic. Andrew Meharg at the University of Aberdeen, UK, and colleagues found that the levels of arsenic in rice bran products available on the internet and used in food-aid programmes funded by the US government would be illegal in China – the only country in the world to have standards for how much arsenic is permissible in food.

Meharg’s team are calling on the European Union and the US to follow China’s example and update food standards for arsenic.

Arsenic is a natural carcinogen, present in drinking water around the world including in Australia, the US and many developing countries.

In previous work, Meharg has shown that brown rice contains more arsenic than polished white rice (Environmental Science and Technology, DOI: 10.1021/es702212p).

Nutritional drink

In the new study, Meharg and colleagues purchased brown rice from China and Bangladesh and polished part of it in the same way that it would be to produce commercial white rice. They found that 1 kilogramme of brown rice contained on average 0.76 mg of arsenic in its toxic inorganic form. The rice also contained some non-toxic, organic arsenic. The polished white rice grains contained 0.56 mg inorganic arsenic per kg, whereas the rice bran contained 3.3 mg per kg on average.

On the surface, this appears to be good news: the bran shavings are usually discarded except in Japan, where they are used in traditional pickling recipes. But in recent years a number of rice-bran products have come onto US and European markets, mainly targeted at health-food consumers. They are labelled “superfoods”: the bran is high in antioxidants, vitamins, mineral nutrients and fibre. Producers say it is the largest wasted agricultural food resource on the planet, with 60 million metric tonnes of it discarded worldwide each year.

Some companies have produced a powdered version with a long shelf life at room temperature. Mixed with water, these “rice-bran solubles” make a nutritional drink and have been distributed as food aid to malnourished children in Malawi, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador. There are plans to further expand the aid programmes in Latin America, India and the Caribbean.

Meharg and his colleagues purchased nine commercial rice-bran products online, including rice-bran solubles from NutraCea, a company that participates in food-aid programmes, and analysed their arsenic content. The products contained between 0.48 mg/kg and 1.16 mg/kg of inorganic arsenic. China recently updated its standards, and set the limit to 0.15 mg of inorganic arsenic per kg of food.

Risk analysis

“The arsenic concentrations reported are worrisome, but the risk assessment is complex,” says Philippe Grandjean, professor of environmental health at Harvard University’s School of Public Health.

Indeed, “safe” standards for arsenic intake are controversial. The risk of skin, lung, bladder and kidney cancer increases proportionally with arsenic intake, which has lead toxicologists to the conclusion that there is no “safe” limit. But risks must be weighed against the benefits gained from drinking water and eating certain foods that contain the poison.

NutraCea has carried out a pilot project distributing their rice-bran solubles to 67,000 pre-school children in Guatemala. They monitored the nutritional state of 150 children. Whereas at the beginning of the trial, 37% were deemed malnourished, that dropped to 5% after taking 15 g of the rice bran 5 days a week for 6 months. The project was funded by the US Agency for International Development USAID and the Christian Children’s Fund.

Marie Vahter, an environmental toxicologist at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden who has done extensive studies on the health effects of arsenic believes the nutritional benefits do not necessarily outweigh the risks, given the availability of other supplements. “Recent reports indicate increased fetal and infant mortality due to fairly low-level arsenic exposure via drinking water,” says Vahter. Arsenic also impairs brain development and impairs the body’s ability to repair DNA.

Unwanted substances

“Rice-bran solubles are not the only way of getting nutrients to malnourished children,” argues Meharg. “If aid agencies want to go down the bran solubles route why not wheat, oat or barely bran solubles. All these crops have ten times less total arsenic than rice and are just as nutrient rich.”

“One would expect dietary supplements to be virtually free of unwanted substances like arsenic, especially when aimed at children, who are particularly vulnerable to arsenic,” says Grandjean.

Drinking water limits on arsenic levels are more widespread than food limits, despite animal studies showing that the body does not distinguish between arsenic derived from food and from drink. Water limits tend to be based on the World Health Organization’s “provisional” guideline limit of 0.01 mg of arsenic per litre of drinking water – although the WHO itself admits that “based on health criteria” the guideline would be less than this. It says the value is restricted by measurement limitations, hence its provisional nature.

According to China’s standards, all of the rice-bran products tested by Meharg would be illegal. According to the UK’s 50-year-old standards, two of the nine products are safe – yet all can be purchased online in the UK. The US has no standards for arsenic levels in food, and has a limit of 0.01 mg/l in drinking water.

“We totally agree with the overall message that it is important to set standards for inorganic arsenic in our food,” comments Walter Goessler, an arsenic expert at the Karl-Franzens University in Austria.

“Rice-bran solubles are being produced by commercial companies who profit from this commodity,” says Meharg.

At the time of going to publication, NutraCea had not replied to New Scientist’s request for comment.

[source]

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Pesticide Studies Reveal Why Bees Die

August 23rd, 2008 cate

I guess this is from the department of DUH! Of course, it’s better late than never…

From newsobserver:

“A Bayer CropScience pesticide is at the center of a legal battle for research data that could help explain what’s killing U.S. honeybees in large numbers.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in a Washington, D.C., federal court, accuses the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of hiding the honeybee data.

The Natural Resources Defense Council sued after the EPA missed a deadline to respond to a Freedom of Information request the council submitted July 17.

It’s not unheard of for federal regulators to take years to fulfill an FOIA request. But in the case of Bayer’s pesticide chlothianidine, the Natural Resources Defense Council decided to push hard.

“It’s an aggressive suit,” said the group’s spokesman, Josh Mogerman. “But in a scientific mystery that threatens the U.S. food supply, business as usual is not acceptable.”

Dale Kemery, an EPA spokesman, declined comment until the agency fully reviews the lawsuit.

John Boyne, a spokesman at Bayer CropScience’s U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park, said some of the data the Natural Resources Defense Council is seeking was published in a scientific journal a year ago.

“I don’t know why they filed the lawsuit,” Boyne said.

Chlothianidine is made to coat corn, sugar beets and sorghum seeds and protect them from pests. But the chemical has the potential to be very toxic for bees. Three months ago, German regulators banned chlothianidine and related chemicals after the family of pesticides was blamed for the destruction of about 11,000 bee colonies earlier this year.

The EPA approved the use of chlothianidine in 2003 on the condition that Bayer submit safety data, including how the use of the pesticide affects hives over the life of a honeybee.

“We met all the requirements of the conditional approval,” Bayer spokesman Boyne said. Results of a field study that monitored the long-term effects of chlothianidine on honeybees were published in the June 2007 Journal of Economic Entomology, Boyne added.

The NRDC thinks the data from that study might show whether chlothianidine plays a role in the sudden loss of millions of U.S. honeybee colonies.

The phenomenon, also known as colony collapse disorder, threatens a significant portion of the U.S. food supply. About one out of every three mouthfuls in the U.S. diet stems from crops pollinated by bees.”

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How to Power Nap

August 22nd, 2008 cate

From wikihow:

“Whether you’re nodding off during the afternoon slump at the office, working a double or a night shift, or fighting drowsiness while driving, a power nap can make you more alert and productive[1] but only if you do it correctly. Scientists have been studying the power nap–when to take it, how to take it, what to take before you take it, and so on; their findings suggest that the following steps will help you get the most power out of a power nap.

Find a good place to nap.

Napping at work – A survey by the National Sleep Foundation found that about 30% of people are allowed to sleep at work, and some employers even provide a place for employees to nap.[2] If your place of employment isn’t nap-friendly, you can take a power nap in your car.

Napping on the road – If you’re driving, find a rest area to park in. Don’t park on the shoulder. Always turn off the car and put on the emergency brake. If it’s nighttime, park in a well-lit area with plenty of people around and lock all of your doors.

Turn off your mobile phone and any other potential distractions. If background noise is unavoidable and distracting, or if you suffer from tinnitus, putting on headphones with relaxing music may help.

If you’re sleeping during the day and find that bright light inhibits your ability to sleep, wear sunglasses or use an eye mask to simulate darkness.

Have caffeine right before you nap. This may sound counterintuitive since caffeine is a stimulant, but it won’t kick in immediately. The caffeine has to travel through your gastro-intestinal tract, giving you time to nap before it kicks in. Taking a “caffeine nap” in which 200mg of caffeine are consumed right before a 20-minute nap will not only improve your performance, but it’ll also lessen how sleepy you feel once you wake up.[3] Skip the caffeine, however, if it’s late in the afternoon–you’ll have a hard time falling asleep later–or if you’re trying to quit caffeine.

When you’re close to finishing your coffee (or your green tea, or your caffeine jello shot, etc.), set an alarm to go off in 15 minutes. If you’re one of those people who has a habit of pressing the “snooze” button and going right back to sleep, put your alarm across the room so that you have to get up to turn it off. Immediately after consuming the caffeine, close your eyes and relax.

Even if you can’t sleep, close your eyes and meditate. You might not be used to napping, but if you incorporate short bouts of sleep into a daily routine (taking a nap every day after lunch, for example) you can “train” your body to expect a nap during that time and you’ll have an easier time falling asleep.[4]

What you’re doing during a power nap is capturing the benefits of the first two of the five stages in the sleep cycle. These first two stages take place in the first twenty minutes. In addition to making you feel more rested and alert, the electrical signals in your nervous system strengthen the connection between neurons involved in muscle memory, making your brain work faster and more accurately.[5]

After 15 minutes, not only will your alarm go off, but caffeine will also kick in and help since it blocks adenosine, the neurotransmitter that promotes fatigue.

Get up as soon as the alarm goes off. Sleeping for any longer than 20 minutes will be counterproductive. A half hour can lead to sleep inertia, making you feel sluggish and more tired than ever.[6]

Follow up with physical activity. Get your blood flowing with a few jumping jacks or push-ups, or a little bit of jogging in place.
Washing your face and exposing yourself to bright light (e.g. sunlight) can help you feel more awake as well.[3]

Remember that a power nap makes you more productive. Some people are reluctant to nap because it seems “lazy” but if that was the case, why would successful executives and athletes be power napping? Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison were power nappers, as well.

Warnings
A power nap can only help so much. If you’re sleep-deprived, you need to make up for your sleep deficit before you can realize the full benefits of power napping.”

^{Sources and Citations
Wired Magazine – Original source of this article. Shared with permission.
http://www.sleepdex.org/caffeine-nap.htm – Research source for “caffeine nap”
↑ The effects of a 20 min nap in the mid-afternoon on mood, performance and EEG activity. Clin Neurophysiol. 2003 Dec;114(12):2268-78.
↑ http://redeye.chicagotribune.com/red-072208-nap-main,0,2745098.story
↑ 3.0 3.1 The alerting effects of caffeine, bright light and face washing after a short daytime nap. Clin Neurophysiol. 2003 Dec;114(12):2268-78.
↑ http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/power-of-napping-feature?page=3
↑ http://www.mensjournal.com/healthFitness/0601/napping_power.html
↑ http://redeye.chicagotribune.com/red-072208-nap-main,0,2745098.story}

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Pollution Sucks

August 21st, 2008 cate

From popsi:

“Think smoking is bad for you? Try just breathing. Louisiana scientists have discovered a group of previously undetected air pollutants that when inhaled exposes the average person to 300 times more free radicals than that of one cigarette in a day.

Scientists have long suspected that free radicals from tobacco smoke can damage human cells and accelerate the progression of cancer or cardiovascular disease among other health-related problems. These free radicals, which are highly reactive compounds that form during the burning of fuels and photochemical processes, usually last for about a second and then disappear. However, the new class of pollutants is unlike atmospheric free radicals and can linger in the air for days or longer as well as travel far distances.

Scientists, who termed the air pollutants persistent free radicals (PFRs), say they form on fine airborne particles, usually the main culprit behind air pollution alerts in a lot of cities. Even worse are the particles with metals like copper and iron, which are more likely to persist. When inhaled, the lungs and other tissues absorb the PFRs, causing health effects similar to smoking. While more research is needed to tie PFRs to certain diseases, scientists believe this could explain why 10 to 15 percent of those diagnosed with lung cancers are non-smokers.” [Source]

What can you do with this information?
It can get you to think about finding a better and less polluted environment to live in. I know this is easier said than done, but think about your health, and the health of your kids and loved ones. Make it a goal to get away from the pollution!

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