Debate!: Childhood Allergies

Bailey Jane and Piper Jaimes in their favorite spot: the kitchen.

My gal pal, Bailey and her partner in crime and cuteness Piper, have this great blog called Foodie Patoodie!  (love the use of exclamation points in titles, by the way) where she actually got some heat for giving her 10+ month old baby a PB&J for the first time. This, coupled with my obnoxious obsession with teaching people, made me realize how misinformed... and slightly paranoid... a lot of people are. So, I blog. Hey, any excuse to update this thing, right?

First off: I am not denying that childhood allergies exist. I AM saying that they aren't as prevalent as you would think and a lot of contributing factors to the ones that do have allergies. Now on to the studies!

Some info on Allergies:

While it is true that approximately one in five Americans have allergies, only about 2.5% of Americans have food related allergies. Allergies are your immune systems abnormal response to a harmless substance (like a flower) causing varying reactions from sneezes to rashes.

When a person is exposed to an allergen, a few things happen. First, the body produces antibodies. The antibodies produced attempt to contain the allergen. Then through a serious of really complicated chemical reactions, you get histamines in your blood and you react. WebMD does a great job of explaining the really scientific jargon, but you know me... I don't wanna scare you off that fast!

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News Snippets: Grapes, Ginger, Beetles and Butterflies

Three snippets that I found interesting today follow: two are about food and one about butterflies. The second one also has to do with beetles. Woo, invertebrates! Could my day get any better?

• Grapes made the news again. Well, actually, resveratrol did. I have posted about this interesting compound a few times on Potspoon! and I am still waiting on the reveratrol beer. Well, besides the fact that this compound is good for its anti-aging properties, it also appears to display anti-obesity and anti-insulin resistance. You can read the article here. 

Fig 1. Yum

•  In an article published in Insect Conservation and Diversity, good news was found for the UK's incredible stag beetle and good news come in the form of a root. Ginger is useful in the kitchen, sure, but it is also useful as bait to lure stag beetles. Researchers have also devised a method using tiny microphones to hear larvae underground. This all helps determine numbers of the rare beetle and can aid in its conservation. You can read more on ScienceDaily as well.

Fig. 2 Not the right species of butterfly, but a butterfly nonetheless

• Squinting bush brown butterflies, Bicyclus anynana, seem to have a bit of role reversal in mating behaviors. This confusion only seems to occur when changes of weather happen. When it's cool, females act as the aggressors and flash their wing patterns. In this species the males and females have the same eye spots, but the UV patterns change dependent on temperature. In warm moist conditions, the males have more flashy designs while the females are dull, but when the temperature drops, new males and females are opposite. It's the females that are flashier and spend time displaying. You can read more here.

 Hope you all are having an awesome Monday!

Photos: Grapes from Google Creative Commons search and butterfly from Paraflyer's photostream. Both lisenced through Creative Commons.

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COPD Eating

While I haven't done a LOONNG post in forever, this is related to the series I started about COPD. It's short and sweet. Because COPD affects your breathing, it can also affect how you eat. I was very pleased when earlier today, Health.com posted an article on how you can enjoy your meals more when suffering from one of the many conditions under the COPD blanket. Eating is super important because, according to the chief medical officer for the American Lung Association, COPD leads to hypermetabolic states. This means burning of excess calories leading to weight-loss and undernourishment.

Many of the tips may seem like common sense, but people may need to be reminded of these things. People with COPD should first and foremost quit smoking. Also, drinking anything while eating can be a bit tricky. Another good tip is to eat your largest meal early in the day and try to eat many smaller meals. The list includes many other helpful tips so if you or someone you know suffers from COPD, you may want to check it out. There are 15 very easy tips in all.

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Peanut Butter and Jelly for the World

As any long time readers of my blog may know, I love food. I especially love being able to mix food with science... hence my affinity for all things Alton Brown. Imagine the giddy feeling I got when I stumbled across the PB&J Campaign.

The PB&J campaign is an online effort to educate consumers and promote plant-based meals like the beloved peanut butter and jelly sandwich. While I am not vegetarian, plant-based meals do make up a large portion of my eating habits. Having a PB&J instead of a burger, for example, can save up to 3.5 pounds of carbon dioxide and save approximately 280 gallons of water. That is not even mentioning the land saved.

Cutting back on meat from an environmental standpoint is not a new concept. This extends to fish and poultry as well. Many fish people consume are caught or farmed in less than savory ways. Because of this, I am a HUGE proponent of Seafood Watch. I carry the cards and have the site saved on my phone for quick referencing when at the store or out to eat. Beef, however, is a little more tricky and harder to come by in a sustainable way. In fact, in 2006, the UN declared cattle farming as the number one contributor to climate change. Cattle rearing is also a factor in water quality degradation. To quote the article:

The livestock business is among the most damaging sectors to the earth’s increasingly scarce water resources, contributing among other things to water pollution from animal wastes, antibiotics and hormones, chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and the pesticides used to spray feed crops.

On a lighter note, though... just by changing a few meals a week to plant and veggie based can make an impact. PB&J is a great start to that. According to the PB&J Campaign website:

If you have a PB&J instead of a red-meat lunch like a ham sandwich or a hamburger, you shrink your carbon footprint by almost 3.5 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions.

So go out and save the earth one peanut butter and jelly sandwich at a time!

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Catching Fire

Many people today are touting that uncooked foods are the way to go, but is that necessarily true? In a new book by Dr. Richard Wrangham, primatologist at Harvard, the point he argues is that it is not. He even goes on to explain how cooking actually helped us separate and speed up our separation from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens. The book came out in May, but Dr. Wrangam was recently interviewed on NPR's Talk of the Nation and had some pretty interesting and compelling arguments.

The books is entitled Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human and covers just not Wrangham's expertise, but uses studies in anthropology, paleontology, evolutionary biology, and ape studies to round out his hypothesis. Of course, many raw-foodists have a bit of a problem with this idea. Raw-foodists have the tendency to believe that it is natural to eat your food raw. Many of them use the argument that we only really began cooking about 400,000 years ago and that it takes millions of years to evolve to a new diet. Wrangum argues why it is possible that this could have occurred right when we speciated.

As inevitable, a raw-foodist called in and asked a question:

KATIE: I've recently been introduced to the raw food diet, and I was wondering what you think about that and if you think it's all a hoax.

RAEBURN: Go ahead, doctor(ph).

Dr. WRANGHAM: Well, thanks, Katie.

RAEBURN: Go ahead.

Dr. WRANGHAM: I mean, that's a great question. And I think that it - the funny thing about the raw food diet is that many of the proponents argue that it is the natural thing to do. And I'm quite sure that it's not the natural thing to do in the sense that we're not biologically adapted for it, because if you look at raw foodists nowadays, they lose weight on a raw food diet, even to the point where women, in the only large survey that is being done of this, turn out to stop menstruating in half the cases when they are on a 100 percent raw food diet, an indication of how little energy they have. The scientists conclude that raw food diets lead to chronic energy shortage.

So if you want to gain energy, if you're living in the Third World, like a third of the people in the world, very hungry, then you - the last thing you want is a raw diet. But in our society, a raw diet can have all sorts of advantages. It can help you control your weight, and it has other advantages, too, for some people. I mean, there's lots of benefits that people report.

Some people find that they get reductions in rheumatoid arthritis, for instance, some very specific things like that. But many people feel a greater sense of well being, more vitality - quite often, less pain. And I think partly, this is going to be due to just eating less, and partly it probably is due to the fact that some people may be allergic or have some kind of response to the chemicals that are produced in cooked food. So, it's a very personal thing. You know, for some people, raw diets can be terrific. It's just that, you know, don't think they're natural, they're not.

Now, one of the best arguments he has for this was given as an answer he gave when being interviewed by Publishers Weekly:

Biologically, we are not well-adapted to raw foods. Our teeth and stomachs are small compared to those of chimpanzees or gorillas, because we don’t eat huge quantities of tough, high-fiber raw foods. Our large intestines are relatively small because we don’t have to retain and ferment raw food for hours. Humans don’t thrive on raw food—they lose weight, and women’s fertility is severely compromised.

You can read the entire transcript here. I plan on purchasing this book and giving a bit more insights to his arguments at a later date.

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food for thought

I'm back in St. Thomas and got some computer time (WOOT!), but I will keep this short and sweet. It's all about agriculture.

There are sheep shrinking on a Scottish isle. Since 1985, the weight and stature of sheep on the isle of Hirta has declined 5%. What is causing this? Surprisingly, it's mild temperatures. Normally, with a grazing season longer than norm, one would assume that the sheep would be bigger and fatter, so what is the issue? Well, milder weather means the weaker and smaller sheep are surviving more, mixing in their genes. Also, with more surviving sheep, the smaller sheep are at an advantage if there is a food shortage since they won't have to eat as much. They are going through a period of natural selection.

Dairy is getting a lot of grief. I understand it. Mass dairy farming practices are a little gross, and the ammount of hormones used is outrageous. A lot of people think that dairy is bad for you. However, despite big farms' bad reputations, dairy itself is actually a healthy and cost effective way to get 9 super essential vitamins. You can find out more here.

The ADA (American Dietetic Association) did a study stating that if properly approached, a vegetarian diet can be healthy at any stage in life.

"Vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index and lower overall cancer rates. Vegetarian diets tend to be lower in saturated fat and cholesterol and have higher levels of dietary fiber, magnesium and potassium, vitamins C and E, folate, carotenoids, flavonoids and other phytochemicals. These nutritional differences may explain some of the health advantages of those following a varied, balanced vegetarian diet."

You can find out more on the ADA website.

Sorry this was short. Be back later!

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More Olives, Please!

In a continuation, it appears, of a post I did a while ago about why olive oil is good for your health, here is why olives are as well. The University of Granada and the University of Barcelona have teamed up to discover that a certain compound in olive skins, maslinic acid, actually significantly contributed to death of cells and inhibition of new cell growth in colon cancer. This acid, while found in many other medicinal plants, is in concentrations of up to 80% in olives.

According to another study, olives are also being considered in HIV treatments. The maslinic acid is also good, it appears, at inhibiting receptors in the virus that allow it to spread throughout the body. This study was also done by the University of Granada.

You can find the source articles here and here.

Olives are quite the wonder-fruit. This is quite exciting for those of you, like myself, who absolutely love olives of all types. Nothing like a good kalamata to go with your hummus!

Looking for more ways to use olives? A very easy way I like is simple, too. Make tapenade!

Easy Tapenade Recipe:

all kinds of pitted olives (about 8 ounces)
olive oil (eyeball it, I guess about 1-2 tbsp)
anchiovies or anchiovy paste (I use about a teaspoon of paste)
garlic (however much you like)
handfull of capers
juice of one lemon
some basil

Now you blend it all. Easy and so yum! What a great way to get your olive intake and this post was about science and food!

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Olive Oil For Your Health

In an article posted earlier today on ScienceDaily, it was revealed that there are anti-cancer components to olive oil. According to the article, good quality olive oil contains "phytochemicals" which can kill off cancer cells. The research was done to determine if Mediterranean diets were the reason breast cancer rates were lower in the region. Researchers were from the Catalan Institute of Oncology and the University of Grenada in Spain. It was found that Extra Virgin Olive Oil is best for these "phytochemicals" as the oil is extracted from pressed olives. No heat is involved therefore leaving the chemicals in tact. The oil was tested on cultured breast cancer cells and really worked; however, no testing has been done on humans and the researchers are uncertain of how it would work since the human body is more than a few cancerous cells.


In other good olive oil related science, it is just good for you. Olives have great fatty acids and good cholesterol too! Pair this with some wine high in resveratrol (and good at determining climate change) and you have one heart healthy snacking opportunity. I love food and science so this is perfect! Doesn't Alton Brown have the best job? A food scientist! Nice.

Photo is licensed under Creative Commons to Grace on Flickr.

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Turkey for Two (or three)

The holidays (YIKES!!!) are quickly approaching with American Thanksgiving less than a week away. I won't be spending it with much family. Nick does have a brother on the island so he might be # 3. SO far though, I was thinking turkey pot pie and video games. I'm not really sure what to do. Last year we didn't even spend any holidays together so I am sort of at a loss. The year before we had both of Nick's brothers over and the year before that we were in Utah so we had LOTS of family over. I guess this post is just asking for advice. What would you do for such a small group. I sort of liked the pot pies and video games because that is something we all enjoy. Or maybe we could grill turkey on the beach??? Any ideas? I know some of you are crafty/creative/smart when it comes to this homemaker stuff. I am still learning.

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So Much Corn: Corn-Fed Animals Strike Again.

I know I have posted different articles about corn in the past, but corn seems to be in the news a bit lately. As a fresh piece of produce, no one is denying the nutrition I have mentioned earlier, however (love that word), that does not mean I want it snuck (sneaken/sneaked?) into my diet at every opportunity just so corn farmers can make more money and deplete soil and pollute with pesticides even further (somehow, I have the feeling this is going to have negative repercussions). I love corn. I love corn grown on small farmsteads fresh from the fields. I do not want a CORN BURGER when I crave grease, though. Is real beef too much to ask? Apparently it is.

A recent study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences (PNAS) showed that the burgers we order at random fast food joints are mostly corn. I don't eat at these places often but about twice a year, I will admit, I do get a craving for all things artery clogging. The scientists discovered this by doing a chemical analysis in burgers, chicken, and french fries from certain fanchises. The sample size was quite large (more than 480). The study found that you could actually determine chemically how much corn was in the diet of the animals... and french fries. Of the meat tested, only 12 samples showed that the animal may have been fed less corn than other animals.

Strange how what we feed the animals comes back to haunt us, but there you have it. The beef tested actually contained more corn-like values than you would expect. People on the West Coast, rejoice, though, beef there was found to have less of a "C-value," C for carbon, not corn, than the beef served on the East Coast. Middle America was a toss up. What does this mean for Average Consumer Person? So far, nothing yet. There are still tests being done determining the affects of corn byproducts on the human body at John Hopkins. Until the the results are in though, buy grass-fed beef or bison and make your own.

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Yummy Snacks

This picture is small but I'm sure you can guess what it is... yummy crispy rice (yes crispy rice, I'm ghetto and bought the cheaper cereal) treats with Ghiradelli chocolate chips (on sale, woot!) melted in... mmm. I don't like the square rough edges of cut crispy rice treats so I roll them into balls. Needless to say, they didn't last long.

I had to post this because they were that yummy.

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Midnight snacking....

Since my digital camera is currently indisposed, you are gonna have to trust me on this. I grow a lot of herbs and things and one of the plants we can't keep up with is the mint. I love my mint, but it is getting out of hand. Instead of making a little tzatziki, WE MADE A LOT! A ridiculous amount. That is fine with me though as not only is it great on my veggie burger (no, I am NOT vegetarian, I just love me a good veggie burger) but apparently also great on an English muffin at 3 in the morning with really good capocollo (really good cured ham stuff) and cheese. Here is the closest thing to a recipe I could come up with: (caution, it makes a ridiculous amount)

Tzatziki Yum:

32 oz plain yogurt (try to use up at least 10 ounces for something else... we made banana smoothies)
2 Cucumbers
As much fresh mint as you can stand (we used a Nick sized handful of leaves)
Ditto for garlic (a LOT in ours, we are garlic-philes)
Lemons (if using Greek yogurt, use 2... if regular yogurt, 1 will do, don't want it too runny)
salt and pepper also to taste....

This is why I am bad with recipes. I end up doctoring everything anyway... On to directions...

We grated the cucumber, but using a mandolin to get thin slices would be nice. We don't have one of those. We mixed that into the yogurt. Then we chopped up like 5 cloves of garlic (unless you love garlic, I recommend 1 clove). You WILL smell like garlic for the rest of the day if you use this much! We also chopped the mint using a style with a fancy name I can't remember. Wait, it was a chiffonade. Sounds important. We mixed this in also. Then we squeezed as much lemon in there as we could. Salt and pepper to our liking and Voila! Yummy tzatziki! We added a bit of cumin after, but I couldn't taste the difference. Nick swears there was one.

This will really fill up the container, even if you have already used about a third of the yogurt, but you can use it on any sandwich/buger/thing. We made lemon chicken wrapped in paratha with tzatziki and lebanesse hummus and it was yum. This was a very mixed culture dish. Also great for dipping veggies into. This keeps for a bit.

Enjoy.

And really, about the garlic... be careful! Once it sits over night, it really takes on the flavors of all that is in there.

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More Corn

My post yesterday got me thinking of the amounts of corn I am going to eat this weekend whether in the form of cornbread, corn on the cob, the cornflakes that make fried chicken so crispy and other things (like the horrid high fructose corn syrup that makes soda-pop so yummy). This, in turn, got me thinking of what health benefits fresh corn has (not the evil refined things we get force fed in our cereals and juices). I can't help these trains of thought, I'm a science geek. It happens daily.

The good news is fresh ears of corn (grilled with a tiny drizzle of olive oil and salt please!) are LOADED with fiber and B vitamins. Corn also has a lot of complex carbs and essential fatty acids. If you are a carb friendly person, like me, this doesn't seem so scary. White corn is deficient in vitamin A but yellow corn has plenty of vitamin A. Corn also has lutein, so it's good for your eyes! There is even a bit of vitamin C, vitamin E, folic acid, magnesium and phosphorus. A serving is 1/2 a cup and counts as starchy veggies.

Now that guilty pleasure doesn't seem so guilty does it? Get to grillin'!

Happy Emancipation Day! (July 3rd, Virgin Islands)

Photo from the USDA website so is Public Domain.

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