Drinking and Living Can alcohol be good for you? Much evidence would argue yes. Compare “moderate” drinkers who have perhaps one glass of wine a day versus those who never drink. Who lives longer? Those who drink small amounts regularly. Yet alcohol causes lung cancer, stomach cancer, kidney cancer, brain cancer, oral cancer. It’s a […]
Is chocolate healthy for me? (4/16/12)
Is Chocolate Truly Healthy? Is what some Aztecs considered the “food of the gods” capable of making you live long and well? The answer so far is “definitely maybe.” Like coffee, tea, and alcohol, chocolate is a food-drug which has been around for thousands of years. It can do much for you – both well […]
When the chickens come home to roost (4/12/12)
Nobody Here But Us Chickens Solely within hospitals, antibiotic-resistant infections hit 2 million Americans a year, according to an article today by Gardiner Harris in the New York Times. They kill about a hundred thousand. One of the more famous infections, MRSA, or methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, kills perhaps 20,000 every year. Where do all these […]
Does drinking green tea prevent disability? (2/13/12)
Food-Drugs and Health Many foods are also drugs, and have been effectively used for thousands of years. Green tea is one. Green tea has been credited with lowering stroke, osteoporosis, and cognitive failure risks. A new Japanese longitudinal study of green tea showed decreased disability from use of green tea – with a clear dose […]
What you eat changes your genes – quickly (12/28/11)
Food Just Got a Lot More Complicated – Which Is a Good Thing Food changes gene expression – directly. Eat a bowl of rice and you can turn off genes controlling cholesterol synthesis. Right out of the pot. You’ve been eating genetic information – probably all your life. The data come from China, from Lin […]