Good news for some of us. peace, mjh

Coffee and Green Tea May Help Lower Stroke Risk

The new study found:

• People who drank at least 1 cup of coffee daily had about a 20% lower risk of stroke compared to those who rarely drank it.
• People who drank 2 to 3 cups of green tea daily had a 14% lower risk of stroke, and those who had at least 4 cups had a 20% lower risk, compared to those who rarely drank it.
• People who drank at least 1 cup of coffee or 2 cups of green tea daily had a 32% lower risk of intracerebral hemorrhage, compared to those who rarely drank either beverage. Intracerebral hemorrhage happens when a blood vessel bursts and bleeds inside the brain. About 13% of strokes are due to this condition.

Researchers adjusted their findings to account for age, sex, and lifestyle factors like smoking, alcohol, weight, diet, and exercise. Green tea drinkers in the study were more likely to exercise than non-drinkers.

Coffee and Green Tea May Help Lower Stroke Risk

Seems obvious to me: we’re hard-wired to listen. There is evolutionary benefit to listening; not listening has negative impact (“there’s a deadly spider on your neck.”). Some people may have become more conscious of this as a problem due to cellphones, but I struggle with this in crowded restaurants, etc. It’s why  you want to kill the talkers behind you in a theater. You can’t tune out because your ancestors’ survival depended on it. But, I’ll wait while scientists do their job their way and confirm this later on. peace, mjh

Hate Other People’s Cellphone Calls? You’re Not Alone – WebMD

According to the researchers, people appear to be less able to tune out cellphone conversations compared to two-person exchanges. This supports notions that overheard cellphone jabber might negatively affect a person’s ability to concentrate and focus, they said.

Galvan said it remains unclear exactly why this is so.

"We didn’t study why cellphone conversations are more distracting," she noted. "But there’s a lot of research that shows that [mental] multitasking isn’t really possible. That your brain actually has to switch back and forth between listening in and doing something else, rather than doing both tasks at the same time."

"And it also could be a question of control," Galvan added. "Bystanders to these conversations lack any control over whether someone in public answers their phone and shares personal information the bystander doesn’t really want to hear. And that lack of control could be stressful. Of course that could be true of a two-way conversation too. So we’ll need more research to try and figure this out."

For her part, Lauren Emberson, the lead author of the 2012 study and now a postdoctoral associate in the department of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, said the findings were "not surprising."

"I think it’s important to know that this is not about people eavesdropping," she said. "Our brains are just naturally drawn to things we know less about that are informationally rich and spark our curiosity. It really is beyond people’s control."

Her advice? "I think this work speaks to etiquette," she said. As "people become more aware of the issue, there will be more and more pressure for people not to make calls in a public space where people can’t escape."

Evolving technology may even offer at least a partial solution, Emberson said.

"People are using their phones more and more for texting, rather than talking, so while this will probably always be relevant it might actually become less of a problem. But maybe I’m just an optimist."

Hate Other People’s Cellphone Calls? You’re Not Alone – WebMD

I’ve never been in a *growing* minority — oh wait, computer users, Windows 8 users, etc — never mind. When wheat-free becomes majoritarian, I’ll return to baking bread, ever the contrarian. peace, mjh

30% of US adults trying to cut down on gluten, claims NPD Group

Almost a third (30%) of American adults say they are trying to reduce or exclude gluten from their diets, according to The NPD Group, which conducted a consumer survey in January 2013.

And interest in gluten-free menu items at restaurants is also growing fast, said the consultancy, with the incidence of consumers ordering food described as gluten-free or wheat-free now more than double what it was four years ago.

“The number of US adults who say they are cutting down on or avoiding gluten is too large for restaurant operators to ignore”, said Bonnie Riggs, NPD restaurant industry analyst

30% of US adults trying to cut down on gluten, claims NPD Group

OMG, I’m in a cult. peace, mjh

Baking industry acknowledges the impact of Wheat Belly | Wheat Belly Blog

Hopefully, [new converts] will also recognize the essential differences between the arguments articulated in Wheat Belly and the common and awful mistakes made by the “gluten-free” world that relies on junk carbohydrate sources, typically cornstarch, rice flour, tapioca starch, and potato starch—foods that cause weight gain, inflammation, insulin resistance/diabetes, visceral fat accumulation, cataracts, arthritis, hypertension, heart disease, dementia, and cancer. Yeah, don’t go down that path unless making full use of your healthcare insurance is part of your lifeplan.

Wheat Belly is about understanding that modern wheat, via the efforts of the Green Revolution to increase yield-per-acre, was inadvertently turned into a nutritional monster, complete with appetite-stimulating and other mind effects. But it is also about understanding what to replace wheat with: We don’t want to replace a problem–wheat–with another problem–gluten-free junk carbohydrates.

Make no mistake: The Wheat Belly message is making headway [thanks to you, my proselytizing disciples].

Baking industry acknowledges the impact of Wheat Belly | Wheat Belly Blog

All kidding of Our Leader aside, modern wheat may be poison. Just like carbonated beverages. There is precedent for the Food Industry selling poison. And the Unhealth Industry selling cures for the ills that poison causes. peace, mjh

Colonoscopy Cuts Advanced Cancer Risk by 70 Percent: Study – WebMD

However, the study does not show that colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy is better than the much easier, far less expensive "fecal occult blood test" (FOBT), which is done at home by swiping a tiny amount of stool onto a card for three days, said Doubeni. "There is strong evidence showing the effectiveness of the [fecal occult blood test] when done annually. There is no reason, based on the knowledge we currently have, that you should switch to a colonoscopy if you’re getting a FOBT every year," said Doubeni.

If simpler tests are effective, why are patients encouraged to undergo a colonoscopy? "Let me just say there are other factors beyond the evidence that are driving the use of colonoscopy in the U.S.," said Doubeni. "No other country uses colonoscopy for screening purposes as much as the United States, although Germany comes close," he noted.

Colonoscopy Cuts Advanced Cancer Risk by 70 Percent: Study – WebMD

Which does the Food Industry value more: your health or its profits?

Beyond BVO (Brominated Vegetable Oil) In Food Products | Fooducate

[Brominated Vegetable Oil] was an ingredient that raised red flags back in the 70s and was only allowed to stay on the market pending further studies, which weren’t done. Those original studies from the 70s showed that bromine builds up in fatty tissues and that rats ingesting large quantities of BVO developed heart lesions. So a compelling case could be made for why BVO should have, at some point, been unceremonious yanked from the food supply.

It’s not the only suspicious ingredient. There are other additives with dodgy safety records and that are still being used in popular foods. The preservative BHA (short for butylated hydroxyanisole) is the best (or worst) example. It is considered a “probable carcinogen” by the Health and Human Services Department and yet found in DiGiorno pizza, McDonald’s breakfast sausages and steak, and some varieties of Tang and Kool-Aid.

A “probable carcinogen” in Tang and Kool-Aid. Good thing those aren’t kids’ drinks.

There’s also the related BHT, which is more widely used and thought to be safer but was flagged for further study in the last systematic review the FDA did of food additives, which ended in 1980. Azodicarbonamide, a manufacturing aide in Subway’s and Sara Lee’s bread, among others, was found in recent tests to break down into the carcinogen semicarbazide when heated. The fat preservative TBHQ has been linked to convulsions, liver enlargement and precursors to stomach tumors in animals.

I mention all this not to scare anyone, but to point out how murky and broken the system of food additive regulation has become. There are no less than 5,000 substances that can be added directly to food (another 3,750 chemicals are used in manufacturing and they may or may not migrate into your lunch), yet there is no database or central place where you can find a list of them.

Beyond BVO (Brominated Vegetable Oil) In Food Products | Fooducate

Merri and I went wheat-free more than a year ago and see many benefits beyond weight loss. Follow the link to read a summary of Dr Davis’ anti-wheat argument. It’s not my intent to endorse the cookbook referred to in the blog entry — I think you’ll find plenty of wheat-free recipes on the Web. peace, mjh

Chef Pete Evans goes wheat-free! | Wheat Belly Blog

Modern wheat is the product of 40 years of genetics research, intensive efforts aimed at increasing yield-per-acre. The result: a genetically unique plant that stands 18-24 inches tall, a “semi-dwarf” strain, not the 4 1/2-foot tall “amber waves of grain” we all remember. Traditional wheat is long gone, a product that has not been on store shelves since around 1985. Today, virtually all products made with wheat flour, regardless of whether it is organic, sprouted, multigrain, etc., originates from this high-yield, semi-dwarf creation of genetics research.

The genetic distance modern wheat has drifted from its ancient origins exceeds the difference between chimpanzees and humans. Chimps and humans genes differ by only a few percent, sharing at least 90%—but what a difference a few percent can make! But that’s more than modern wheat is genetically removed from its ancestors.

Okay: So wheat has been changed by genetics research that altered the appearance of this plant. Is it really that important?

You bet it is. In fact, understanding the changes that wheat has undergone is probably one of the most crucial aspects of gaining control over modern health and weight, more than calorie intake, more than exercise, certainly more than fat intake. I will go so far as to say that modern wheat is the most powerful disruptive factor in the health of modern humans than any other, nutritional or otherwise. …

Chef Pete Evans goes wheat-free! | Wheat Belly Blog

A friend of ours who is a doctor read the book and found much of the science acceptable. However, he was suspicious of the implication that everything wrong with health today stems from wheat. Agreed. On the other hand, would you be surprised that through a combination of ignorance and greed, the Food Industry and the Health Industry would let you poison yourself every single day? mjh

Maybe the recent introduction of wheat (in the evolution of humans) and the abrupt modifications to modern wheat in our lifetimes aren’t good for us. Surely the Food Industry and Big Pharma (sometimes the same companies) would tell us. Surely!

“If a person has a choice between eating wheat or not eating wheat,” he said, “then for most people, avoiding wheat would be ideal.” Read the whole article, which largely supports the conclusions of Dr Davis in Wheat Belly without ever mentioning him or his book. Nothing says paradigm-shift like “experts are skeptical.” peace, mjh

Gluten-Free for the Gluten Sensitive – NYTimes.com By KENNETH CHANG

Now medical experts largely agree that there is a condition related to gluten other than celiac. In 2011 a panel of celiac experts convened in Oslo and settled on a medical term for this malady: non-celiac gluten sensitivity. …

What worries doctors is that the problem seems to be growing. After testing blood samples from a century ago, researchers discovered that the rate of celiac appears to be increasing. Why is another mystery. Some blame the wheat ….

There are also people who are allergic to wheat (not necessarily gluten), but until recently, most experts had thought that celiac and wheat allergy were the only problems caused by eating the grain.

For 99 out of 100 people who don’t have celiac — and those who don’t have a wheat allergy — the undigested gliadin fragments usually pass harmlessly through the gut, and the possible benefits of a gluten-free diet are nebulous, perhaps nonexistent for most. But not all.

Anecdotally, people like Ms. Golden Testa say that gluten-free diets have improved their health. Some people with diseases like irritable bowel syndrome and arthritis also report alleviation of their symptoms, and others are grasping at gluten as a source of a host of other conditions, though there is no scientific evidence to back most of the claims. Experts have been skeptical. It does not make obvious sense, for example, that someone would lose weight on a gluten-free diet. In fact, the opposite often happens for celiac patients as their malfunctioning intestines recover. …

Gluten-Free for the Gluten Sensitive – NYTimes.com