5-Hour Energy shots are linked to 13 deaths and 33 hospitalizations, the FDA confirms.So far, 5-Hour Energy maker Living Essentials LLC has received 92 reports from people who fell ill after using the product. Since the product is sold as a nutritional supplement, the company is required to relay such reports to the FDA.The reports themselves do not prove that 5-Hour Energy had anything to do with any of the deaths or illnesses.
Diet
Coffee: The Original Wonder Drug?
Coffee: The Original Wonder Drug?.
Great online slideshow with a number of excellent references.
Chocolate May Reduce Stroke Risk
In a prospective, longitudinal study, those who consumed a median 62.9 g of chocolate a week were at a significantly lower relative stroke risk than those who ate a median of zero grams weekly RR 0.83, 95% CI 0.7 to 0.99, according to Susanna Larsson, PhD, of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and colleagues.
via Chocolate Each Day May Keep Strokes Away.
Please pass the M&M’s.
Butter Flavoring Linked to Alzheimer’s Disease
A new study published in Chemical Research in Toxicology showed that the butter flavoring diacetyl (DA) increases the type of protein clumping linked to Alzheimer’s disease. The chemical is found in many processed foods, iA new study published in Chemical Research in Toxicology showed that the butter flavoring diacetyl (DA) increases the type of protein clumping linked to Alzheimer’s disease. The chemical is found in many processed foods, including microwave popcorn, snack foods, baked goods, and margarine. In fact, the researchers say that diacetyl is “ubiquitous” in the modern diet.ncluding microwave popcorn, snack foods, baked goods, and margarine. In fact, the researchers say that diacetyl is “ubiquitous” in the modern diet.
via Butter Flavoring Linked to Alzheimer’s Disease | Food Poisoning Bulletin.
Popcorn anyone?
Health Toll of Fast Food Spreads Eastward
Eating Western-style fast food on a regular basis significantly increased the risk of diabetes and coronary heart disease in a large Asian cohort, investigators reported.
The diabetes odds increased by 27% and CHD risk by 56% among Singapore residents who ate fast food at least twice a week.
The results changed little with overall dietary pattern, energy intake, or body mass index (BMI), as reported online in Circulation.
Injuries from Ingestion of Wire Bristles from Grill-Cleaning Brushes — Providence, Rhode Island, March 2011–June 2012
Case Reports
A man aged 50 years arrived at the ED with abdominal pain that had begun after eating steak at a backyard barbeque. Computed tomography (CT) scan of the abdomen and pelvis revealed a linear object extending through the wall of a loop of small intestine into the omentum (Figure). Laparotomy was performed to remove the foreign body, which appeared to be a wire bristle from a grill-cleaning brush. The patient fully recovered and was discharged the next day.
Five more patients visited the ED during August 2011–June 2012 after inadvertent ingestion of a wire bristle that had become dislodged from a grill-cleaning brush and embedded in food. In all of the cases, the bristles were initially identified by radiographs of the neck or CT scans of the abdomen and pelvis, and their origin was confirmed after removal (Table). Patient interviews revealed a common history of recent ingestion of grilled meat. After definitive treatment, all six patients recovered fully.
Severe pain on swallowing was the chief symptom in three of the six patients. In all three of these patients, a wire bristle from a grill-cleaning brush was found in the neck. The three included a woman aged 46 years and two men aged 50 and 64 years (Table). The three initially were evaluated with plain radiography, which identified the foreign object in each patient. One who was initially evaluated with plain radiography then underwent CT for precise localization. All three were treated successfully with laryngoscopic removal of the wire bristle.
Severe abdominal pain was the chief symptom of the other patients, who were three men aged 31, 35, and 50 years (Table). These patients were evaluated primarily with intravenous contrast-enhanced CT of the abdomen and pelvis. In two patients, the wire bristle was noted lodged within the omentum adjacent to a loop of small intestine. In one patient, the wire bristle was located within the sigmoid colon, indenting the bladder. Two patients underwent emergency abdominal surgery to retrieve the foreign object and repair the intestine. In one patient, the wire had not perforated the intestine and was removed via colonoscopy.
Tomorrow is July 4 and many grills will be fired up for the holiday. I thought this article was particularly well timed.
East ‘Meats’ West: Diabetes on Rise in China
The Chinese people are eating more food per serving, have more money to buy and eat food — particularly junk food — when they’re not hungry, and engage in less physical activity, Xiaohui said.
He said that many people still eat a traditional Chinese meal, but along with rice and veggies will be more meat, and portions will be bigger as well. In addition, fast-food restaurants such as Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald’s are enjoying success at the price of a growing obesity epidemic among children and teens, he said.
Traditional ethnic diets are preferable for your particular ethnicity. You want fries with that?
Fugu or Not to Fugu?
Tetrodotoxin poisoning
- Numbness around the mouth followed by paralysis and death by respiratory failure – the victim remaining conscious throughout
- First recorded case found in the logs of Captain Cook in 1774, after crew members ate the fish
- Tetrodotoxin is named after the Tetraodontiformes order of fish, which includes blowfish
- It is also found in blue-ringed octopuses, some toads, newts and other animals
via BBC News – Dicing death: The fish more poisonous than cyanide.
I refuse to eat sushi in Oklahoma. I doubt I’ll ever eat Fugu.
It’s Drinking Water Week 2012
Omega-3s Linked to Lower Amyloid Levels
People who had a lot of omega-3 fatty acids in their diets tended to have lower plasma levels of beta-amyloid proteins, possibly reducing their risk of Alzheimer’s disease, researchers said.
In a cross-sectional study of more than 1,200 cognitively normal individuals older than 65, omega-3 fatty acid intake was significantly predictive of plasma levels of the 40- and 42-residue forms of beta-amyloid protein (AB40 and AB42, respectively), according to Nikolaos Scarmeas, MD, of Columbia University in New York City, and colleagues.
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