Nutrition Wonderland

Food System 2.0: Can New Approaches Make Local Food Happen?

9. October 2009

What is the price of food? $3.99 for a gallon of milk? $0.99 for an energy bar? Complex market and policy forces make those prices. Its a process that starts far from the point of sale. Centralizing our food into fast food chains and supermarkets causes the farms that feed the system to scale up into mega-sized operations. The idyllic, diverse farms of American lore were long ago converted into monocrop fields of staple grains, hog farms with hundreds of thousands of head and distribution centers bigger than football fields. But how do you make food scale back to something more reasonable, a new system in which communities connect with the food being grown there? Is it even possible, nay desirable? We saw a couple examples of new approaches to these questions in the San Francisco area during our Tour of America recently. One deals with technology while the other with community. Both are necessary components in what should become Food System 2.0. (Thanks to Flickr User Fazen for the cool shot).

When You Should Eat

17. September 2009

View Comments

More often than not, dieters focus exclusively on what's going into their bodies. They cut out food groups, add food groups, count calories and create meal plans. But research has found out that while what you eat does matter, when you eat has a big impact, too. According to new research from Northwestern University published in the journal Obesity, eating at night can increase weight gain by more than 25%! (Thanks to Zach Sheppard for this photo)

Plastic Troubles: Brominated Flame Retardants (PBDEs)

3. September 2009

View Comments

Almost all pure plastics are inherently flammable. When exposed to heat and flame, the polymers in plastics split into smaller, more volatile pieces. The only thing that keeps most plastics from going up in smoke are the flame retardants mixed into the plastics themselves. But at what cost? (Thanks to dominicspics on flickr for the shot)

Plastic Troubles: Phthalates and Plasticizers

31. August 2009

View Comments

Plastic is a buzzword lately but mostly for the wrong reasons. Medical studies have lined up against the ubiquitous substance and the seas have filled with the jetsam and flotsam of our plastic society. Yet, if there was one compound responsible for this situation more than any other, phthalates might just wear the crown. Photo by adriagarcia on flickr.

Plastic Troubles: Bisphenol A

21. August 2009

View Comments

From grocery bags to drinking bottles, IV bags to the teflon on non-stick pans, plastics really do make everything possible. They're incredibly versatile: the final product can very in hardness, be shaped in almost any way imaginable, and is chemically inert, all for a bargain basement price. Really, it's a magical substance. Unfortunately, the very properties which make it so useful in so many industries are the same properties which make it one of the worst physical pollutant in the world.T hanks to flickr user billaday for the cool shot.

Turmeric and Curcumin Show Major Health Benefits

13. August 2009

View Comments

July was a big month for the herb tumeric, as a host of different studies and articles were published linking the bright yellow flavonoid found in the herb called curcumin to pain relief, protection against Alzheimer's and lowered risk of breast cancer. This new information adds to mounting evidence of the powerful role this herb can play as an anti-inflammatory agent in the body. Image thanks to _william @ flickr.

Autism and Gluten Free Casein Free Diets: The Latest Findings

30. July 2009

View Comments

Monday, the Mayo Clinic published one of the first comprehensive examinations of autistic dietary patterns in the journal Pediatrics, finding that autistic children suffer from some but not all digestive maladies more than did their non-autistic counterparts over the study's 18 year examination. Pediatrics also published an equally compelling finding about the autoimmune disorder Celiac's disease (gluten allergy) and autism, confirming for the first time there is a strong correlation between the two often bewitching conditions. Both studies underscore the nature/nurture debate surrounding the still obscure causes of autism; is it merely a genetic disorder or a genetic predisposition pushed by environmental toxins? And what can dietary interventions, like the oft prescribed gluten-free casein-free diet, do for autistic children? (Image part of the outstanding series HUMaN BeING from flickr user alainelorza)

Vitamin C the King of Antioxidants, 260 years later

23. July 2009

View Comments

From British Naval ships to 21st century micronutrient labs, the tale of Vitamin C is a long winding journey through scientific discovery and antioxidant sales pitches.

Behavior Change and Brain Disease: Lessons from History

15. July 2009

View Comments

How did our lives become 30 years longer? Modern medicine? The last time I checked, there still wasn't a magic pill (or assortment of pills, for that matter) that increased our life expectancy by that much. I believe that history has shown us that the 30-year addition to our lives is really due to an intense collaboration between the medical community that developed new drugs, and society, which improved health education, changed public health policy, and altered people's behaviors.

JBS Swift Beef Recalls 400,000+ Pounds of Beef, E.coli 0157:H7 Outbreak in 13 States

26. June 2009

View Comments

JBS Swift has voluntarily recalled 42,000 pounds of beef packaged in late April from 13 states at the request of the USDA after fears of another e.coli 0157:H7 outbreak. This news comes only one week after last Friday's major Nestle E.coli 0157:H7 outbreak in cookie dough. The USDA has classified the outbreak as a 'Class I Recall' which is the highest level of severity their FSIS division applies to any recall. Follow the read link to get the whole story (thanks to JC Westbrook of Flickr for the nice shot).

Archive | Health & Disease RSS feed for this section

Food System 2.0: Can New Approaches Make Local Food Happen?

When You Should Eat

Plastic Troubles: Brominated Flame Retardants (PBDEs)

Plastic Troubles: Phthalates and Plasticizers

Plastic Troubles: Bisphenol A

Turmeric and Curcumin Show Major Health Benefits

Autism and Gluten Free Casein Free Diets: The Latest Findings

Vitamin C the King of Antioxidants, 260 years later

Behavior Change and Brain Disease: Lessons from History

JBS Swift Beef Recalls 400,000+ Pounds of Beef, E.coli 0157:H7 Outbreak in 13 States

Subscription Options (Other Options)

The Latest Videos From Our Video Channel