I remember way back when… the saccharine study was all the rage. Right before it was basically outlawed. One of the statements made was that if sugar were not a natural substance and subject to the same testing as saccharine, it would have been eradicated from the market. Because the same dose of sugar in pop was far more harmful to humans than saccharine.
Continue reading Sugar High (or is that low?)
You know the rule- drink 8 glasses of water a day. (OK, I admit it- I drink that much fluid- and then some- but NOT pure water, since I need some flavor to handle the volume.)
Continue reading Water- for our diet and our brains!
Our companions make a difference. The old rule of thumb was to examine your five closest friends- because they tell a great deal about you. Now, there’s data that roommates (at colleges) dramatically affect the thinking of one another. If you are assigned a depressed or negative outlook individual- the odds are your outlook will begin to match theirs.
Continue reading Does it take a village?
I admit it. I’ve been a fan of David Kessler since his first year as FDA Commissioner. He not only streamlined approvals (without sacrificing safety), he required nutrition labelling of foods, and took on the cigarette (tobacco) lobby. He graduated from Harvard Med and Chicago Law, ran a teaching hospital in Manhattan, was Dean of Yale Medical School, among many other things. Just your normal underachieving academic.
Exercise. Our brains need it. Our bodies need it. We expect exercise to show results- with weight loss, with muscle tone- and it doesn’t always do so. It affects our blood pressure maintenance, keeps our cholesterol balance in check, reduces the risk of stroke and cardiac disease. It’s why we are supposed to exercise 2.5 hours over the course of a week; 60 minutes a day helps with weight loss. (I don’t think many of you are spending an hour a day exercising. Me, neither.) So far, I’m sure that nothing I’ve said surprises you.
Continue reading 1, 2, 3, 4– exercise- get out the door
I guess I am lucky. I don’t recall a single instance of having a headache. (OK. I know some folks provide me pains- but they are NOT in my head, but another part of my anatomy.)
Earlier this week, I talked about how the flu vaccine is useful in lowering our cardiac risk. Today, we’ll examine its relationship to diabetes.
Continue reading Flu virus and diabetes
Dr. Suraj Unniappan, along with Drs. Gonzalez,Perry, Ceddia, Reingold, Gao, Gaidhu, and Tsushima from York University (Canada) have been expanding their research on nefstatin-1, a brain protein. This protein was first described in Nature (2006) by Dr. Mori (along with 14 other researchers from Japan), where it was found to interact with receptors in the nucleus and hypothalamus.
Continue reading Obesity buster?
FIRST: AN ASIDE. (2 May 2011) Until last night at 11:00, I had no idea how profoundly my (then) 10 year old son was affected by 9-11. Or, how in the middle of 10th inning (to go onto 14 innings) game filled with Mets and Phillies fans could coalesce to declaim with gusto: “USA! USA”! while their two teams were dueling it out on the field to win a game (4:45 minutes by the time it ended unfortunately)… To the tenacious, steadfast efforts of the (guessing) 12 Navy Seals who carried out a mission, unsure they could make it home (due to the destruction of their personal transportation): We salute you!
Continue reading Read all about it! (Oh, damned, the headline wasn’t really the truth!)