SubscribeDigest - Protein, Caffeine, Broccoli, and More
No Traditional Diets post today. I’m still running behind due to things. Fear not friends, it will be rekindled in the near future though. In the meantime, enjoy some other reading.
Do National Dietary Guidelines Do More Harm Than Good? What?!? No way that a dictum from the government to eat less fat could be misconstrued by the public! Ok, so maybe the problem is that people want to trust their government and assume that the government has their best interests at heart. Too bad the recommendations were driven by poor science and politics.
From the “Unintentional Humor” file today: Consuming Extra Virgin Olive Oil Helps To Combat Degenerative Diseases Such As Cancer, Study Suggests. The humor is in the opening statement: “In the 1960s, Ancer [sic] Keys, a US expert on nutrition”. If by expert you mean “good at manipulating data to get the results he wants and then sticking his head in the sand to ignore opposing data,” then I concur. And uhh…eat your olive oil. It’s good for you.
Easy on the Joe: Caffeine Is Linked To Miscarriage Risk, New Study Shows. “High doses of daily caffeine during pregnancy — whether from coffee, tea, caffeinated soda or hot chocolate — cause an increased risk of miscarriage…” Caffeine is a drug, even if it’s a socially acceptable one. And hey, I enjoy a nice cup of coffee now and again myself, though it’s rarely more than twice a week. But abusing a drug to cover your likely sleep deprivation is a bad idea. Apparently it’s bad for your fetus too since the little one can’t metabolize it.
Grandma was right - vegetables are good for you. Broccoli Good for the Heart And get this. It “may also curb cancer.” Who’da thunk that green stuff was good for you?
But isn’t it bad for the kidneys? Hormone Suppression May Be Why High-Protein Weight-Loss Diets Work “Proteins are better at suppressing the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin than carbohydrates and lipids”…too bad that would require us to eat more fat since protein and fat come bundled in convenient little packages known in the industry as “animals”. And as a note, protein has only shown to be harmful to those with existing kidney issues, not to the rest of us that are healthy. Check this out: “this study found that carbohydrates initially suppressed ghrelin levels, but then they rebounded to above baseline values.” This just in…carbohydrates stimulate the appetite.
If you enjoyed this post, share it on StumbleUpon or Health Ranker (or both!)
- Other Stuff You'll Enjoy:
- Digest: Mumps, Obesity, Caffeine, Alzheimer’s, Dementia, and Healthful Trans Fats
- Digest: Chiropractic, Blood Pressure, Breast Cancer, Coffee, and Sunshine
- Digest - Eggs, Caffeine, Horsey ADHD, Childhood Nutrition, and…Hot Pockets?
- Digest - Broccoli, Sleep, Sunlight, Cancer, and The Big Bang
- Pondering Energy Drinks and The Fatigue of a Nation
Posts from 1 year ago:
Why High Intensity Training Is Better
How Carbohydrates Affect Your Cholesterol
Print This Post
Filed in Digest 4 Comments so far
Digest - Protein, Caffeine, Broccoli, and More by medTRIALS.info on 25 Jan 2008 at 11:13 am #
[...] post by Scott Kustes delivered by Medtrials and [...]
Alex on 25 Jan 2008 at 4:35 pm #
I have a general question for readers and host alike - while I am trying to cut back on caffeine, I love my coffee. What’s the general thinking on decaf v. caf? Is it helpful to simply switch to decaf? I generally don’t go for the “double whip choco-cinna-leche mocha with sprinkles” and tend to stick to the coffee only (with a splash of 1/2 and 1/2) so it’s not the sugar and crap I’m worried about, just the caffeine.
Anna on 28 Jan 2008 at 3:48 pm #
I wonder about this too though I don’t worry about it much.
My husband, in particular, drinks a *lot* of coffee (I’m sure it is well over 12 times a day), though not the way most Americans drink coffee. He grew up in England, spent a lot of time in France as a young adult, and only moved to the US when he was 25 yo - he’s 52 yo now. So his coffee habits are not typically American, they are more European.
If it is drip coffee (away from home) he has a half cup. If he buys a “to go” coffee, it is always the smallest size. And he never has “refills” at restaurants. But he drinks espresso throughout the day. At home he drinks espresso in a tiny espresso cup (which because of the brewing method actually has less caffeine than a coffee cup of drip, percolated, or french pressed coffee).
When I was pregnant 10 years ago we switched to half reg/half decaf beans for daytime drip coffe , and then stuck with that ratio ever since. A few years ago when we got an espresso maker and got rid our drip coffee maker, I started buying only organic beans. After dinner and in the evening, we use decaf beans only (I usually drink tea in the evening).
Scott Kustes on 28 Jan 2008 at 4:14 pm #
Alex, I don’t know enough about the decaffeination process to really speak to that. From what I’ve found, it sounds like most decaf is made by treating the beans chemically and steaming them. They claim no carcinogenic effects from the chemicals when consumed by lab animals. As I said, I really don’t know enough about it to go there. Besides, why drink coffee without the caffeine?
Anna, I didn’t know that about drip vs. espresso. I like my coffee strong enough to stand a spoon up in on the rare occasions that I drink it. I need to try some good espresso. Course, I think your husband has no worries of miscarrying.
Cheers y’all
Scott