Some reassuring news from the Institute of Food Technologists on the safety of seafood from the Gulf. Despite the photos of pelicans and turtles drenched in the oil from Deepwater Horizon, seafood from Louisiana, which provides one-third of the continental US’s seafood (that’s about 1.5 billion pounds a year) does not seem to be that …
Food & Drink
Making Meat in the Lab
Sat in on an interesting session on meat substitutes at the Institute of Food Technologists meeting. So here’s the argument, which you’ve no doubt heard before – most of the western world, including North and South America and Europe is a carnivorous group. We love our meat. Since the 1960s, our consumption of animal-based protein …
What’s in Your Fruit Juice?
More news from the Institute of Food Technologists meeting.
It’s always disturbing to hear about intentional cases of food adulteration – the melamine in infant formula, for example, because it represents a concerted effort to deceive, and in many cases, harm the public. But how common is such nefarious manipulation of our food?
Making Breakfast Count
Hello from Chicago, where I’m attending the annual meeting of the Institute of Food Technologists. It’s an interesting gathering of food scientists from academia, industry and government who think about what we eat, how we eat and why we aren’t eating better. Over the next several days, I’ll be brining you some news from the …
Salt: “supertasters” and how obesity impacts sensitivity
New research from food scientists at Pennsylvania State University suggest that some people’s penchant for salt may be due to a broader hypersensitivity to taste. The researchers suggest that “supertasters” not only experience the taste of salt more intensely, but other flavors as well — meaning that they often rely on extra salt to
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Report: FDA needs more proactive food safety approach
A new report released today by the Institutes of Medicine (IOM) and National Research Council suggests that lack of resources, less than optimal organization and a reactive instead of preventive approach are undermining the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) ability to effectively regulate food safety.
Mediterranean diet linked to lower child asthma risk
Children who consume a diet rich in fish, fruit and vegetables tend to have a lower risk for asthma and wheezing, while kids who eat several hamburgers a week may have a higher risk, according to new research published this week in the international respiratory journal Thorax.
Autism research: infertility treatment link, no benefit of special diet
Autism researchers from around the world are meeting this week in Philadelphia at the annual conference of the International Society for Autism Research, and have presented studies investigating everything from the impact of an autistic child on the strength of his or her parents’ marriage, to the merits of popular gluten-free,
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Why urinary tract infections are getting harder to treat
Increasing antibiotic resistance stemming from the use of antibiotics in raising livestock is contributing to growing difficulty in treating urinary tract infections, according to new research published in the Journal of Medical Microbiology. Dr. Pak-Leung Ho and colleagues at the University of Hong Kong say that genes which encode
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Spicy research: peppers may help burn calories
Peppers are having a big week. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles’ Center for Human Nutrition say that preliminary findings from a small study suggest that the chemical that gives spicy peppers their kick, capsaicin, may not only make you sweat when digging in to a hot dish, but may actually prompt your body to
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The health dangers of piling up bad habits
At this point, most of us generally have a clue about the basics of staying in good health—eat well, exercise, don’t drink too much and don’t smoke. And plenty of research has been dedicated to exploring how failing on any of those fronts, or even more than one at a time, can be detrimental to overall health. Yet, for many people,
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How much mercury is in your sushi?
A new study combining DNA barcoding and mercury analysis finds that, mercury content in tuna sushi told in supermarkets and restaurants varies by species, and that, in some cases, exceeds recommended amounts. The study, published online today in the journal Biology Letters was based on 100 samples of both akami (lean red tuna) and toro
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Eating fruits and veggies only slightly cuts cancer risk
Despite the widely held belief—promoted by the World Health Organization and U.S. public health organizations for two decades—that eating more fruit and veggies can diminish cancer risk, a large scale study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute finds that getting a daily five servings of apples, tomatoes and leafy
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