The Non-Evolution of Ethnic Cuisine
Jul 14 at 9:09pm by Aileen
It was bound to happen. Science Daily reports that research from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil entitled The non-equilibrium nature of culinary evolution has established that regional cuisines don’t evolve much. Even in a small world.
The researchers examined historical food preferences for ‘national’ diets in Britain, France and Brazil, and found that certain staples as well as unique ingredients remain in the cuisines despite modern access to restaurants specializing in regional or ‘national’ foods. And despite the modern availability of regional foods in grocery stores.
In other words, the Irish still love potatoes, the French still eat snails and frogs’ legs, the Germans still love sausages and sauerkraut, the Japanese still rely on fish stock and Central and South Americans still choose tortillas over Wonder Bread. Mediterranean peoples still consume lots of olive oil, and still have longer lives, less heart disease and lower cholesterol than the average American.
The ‘08 Farm Bill and Improving America’s Diet
Jun 2 at 4:04pm by Aileen
The 2007 Farm Bill - now the 2008 Farm Bill, was passed by both chambers of Congress, vetoed by President Bush, then the veto was overridden by both houses and is now the ‘Law of the Land’. Politically, the bill isn’t perfect, there is still too much pork and payments to rich agribusiness concerns for their poor farming practices, and not enough clarifying guidelines for biofuels production and organic farming.
But it’s a lot better than no bill at all, which would have kept the last support bill in place for the foreseeable future. The new bill has incentives to clean up residue discharges in important watersheds, and supports for best practices in crop rotations, cover crops and low-chemical input farming. It’s still strong on commodity production (corn, wheat, rice), but does put some real support into farmer’s market promotions and expansion of organic markets. It does somewhat limit subsidies to near-millionaire commodity farmers, requires more fresh fruit and vegetables to be available in schools, increases food stamp benefits as tied to the price of food, allots priority funding to research into the bee die-off situation, and supports rural enterprise and microenterprise investments.
Research into the “typical American diet” and its relationship to serious health issues and obesity informs us that Americans eat way too much junk and not nearly enough healthy food. Which, in a country that rations health care by income level and allows insurance companies to exclude people who actually need health care, would seem to be an important issue to address with education and real food availability in public institutions such as schools.
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Surprise! Human Babies Should Drink Human Milk
May 7 at 6:06pm by Aileen
Michael Kramer, a professor of pediatrics at McGill University reported this week that breastfeeding raises children’s IQ and improves their academic performance later in childhood.
Their study evaluated children in 31 Belarusian hospitals and clinics. Half of the women were directly encouraged to breastfeed exclusively, the other half did things the ‘normal’ way (for Belorussia). Six and a half years later the children’s IQs were tested and their teachers submitted academic performance ratings. Scores on both were significantly higher for the children of women encouraged to breastfeed, though there is no indication that the researchers confirmed how many of those mothers actually did breastfeed or for how long.
“Our study provides the strongest evidence to date that prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding makes kids smarter,” Kramer said.
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Mom was Right! You Are What You Eat
Feb 4 at 5:05pm by Aileen
The scary take-home lesson from the 2004 documentary Super Size Me has some new scientific confirmation from recent research at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, though evidence that a fast food diet leads to liver problems and obesity wasn’t what the researchers set out to find.
You Are What You Eat is about research that found - using mice instead of chimpanzees or humans - that some of the obvious differences between humans and chimpanzees can be attributed to the differences in our diets.
The research was published in PLoS One 3(1): e1504 entitled “Somel M., Franz H., Mueller U., Lachmann M., et al (2008) Human and Chimpanzee Gene Expression Differences Replicated in Mice Fed Different Diets.
They fed lab mice one of three different diets for two weeks - raw fruits and vegetables, Institute cafeteria food, and straight McDonalds junk. The fresh fruit and veggies diet differed very significantly on liver effects of the other two diets, which caused thousands of gene expression changes. The McDonalds mice also got fat. The conclusion?
“A significant fraction of the genes that changed in the mouse livers had previously been observed as different between humans and chimpanzees. This indicates that the differences observed in these particular genes might be caused by the difference in human and chimpanzee diets.”
The researchers also noted that these genes appear to have evolved faster than other genes, possibly because of adaptation to new diets. I could not find any indication in the article that humans who go raw vegan become chimpanzees, or that chimpanzees fed cafeteria food or fries and shakes become human. But it is quite interesting that diet alone can significantly affect gene expression (and evolution). Seems that evolutionary biology may have to include diet-caused gene changes as yet another mechanism for generating biodiversity.
Another Example of Irresponsible Science News?
Oct 24 at 6:06pm by Aileen
Continuing the theme of bad science writing - confusing or completely ridiculous headlines, absurd assertions of fact and fancy, questionable conclusions, etc. - take a look at the screenshot below of the BBC website’s lead story in their ‘Health’ section this past Monday…
Now, it might give you a chuckle, as it did me. But come on, folks… I hereby add ‘Irresponsible Use of Illustration’ in science news reporting as yet another category for the Science News Booby Prizes at year’s end. After last week’s sordid destruction of Nobel Laureate James Watson’s storied career as a notorious bigot, this sort of thing can definitely make one wonder what the heck these science reporters are thinking.
If they are in fact thinking at all.
2007 Ig Nobel Prizes Bestowed
Oct 6 at 12:12am by Aileen
The Annals of Improbable Research has announced the winners of the 2007 Ig Nobel Prize, awarded Thursday night (October 4) at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre.
The Ig Nobels honor the contributions of off-beat scientists to humanity’s off-beat knowledge, or at least major contributions to humanity’s fine-tuned sense of the completely absurd. For instance, this years’ Ig Nobel Prize for Peace was awarded to the U.S. Air Force’s Wright Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, for research into a chemical weapon designed to make enemy soldiers become irresistible to each other - the “Gay Bomb.”
No, the Air Force neglected to send any of its prize-winning researchers to Cambridge to formally accept the Prize. Reminds me of a line Tommy Lee Jones delivered in Men In Black, with liberties…
“We in the Air Force do not have a sense of humor that we are aware of.” Luckily the sciencey-types at MIT do have a sense of humor.
Research: You CAN Teach an Old Dog New Tricks
Sep 28 at 6:06pm by Aileen
It started way back in 2002, when researchers at the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University discovered some Compounds That Rejuvenate Rats, May Aid Humans. Actually, it was a combination of dietary supplements that dramatically improved the activity, energy level and cognitive function of old lab rats. The micro-nutrient compounds were identified as acetyl-L-carnitine and alpha lipoic acid.
Lipoic acid comes naturally in organ meats as well as spinach, broccoli and potatoes. Acetylcarnitine is found in red meats, milk, fish and chicken. Best vegetable sources are avacado, whole wheat and asparagus.
Pass the Pectin, Please!
Aug 22 at 6:06pm by Aileen
A new study from the University of Georgia Cancer Center reports that the fruit and vegetable fiber known as pectin actually kills prostate cancer cells.
“What this paper shows is that if you take human prostate cancer cells and add pectin, you can induce programmed cell death,” said Mohnen, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. “If you do the same with non-cancerous cells, cell death doesn’t occur.”
Most home gardeners and canners are familiar with pectin, using commercial concentrations usually derived from citrus peels, apples, crabapples as additives to set jellies, compotes and jams to desired consistency. Pectin is naturally abundant in fruits and vegetables as well as algaes and seaweed.
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