commonground

The Healing Property of Spice

Pass the goat curry please. Recently a number of natural compounds--such as resveratrol from red wine and omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil--have begun to receive close scrutiny for thier healing properties.   Turmeric, an orange-yellow powder from an Asian plant, Curcuma longa, has joined this list. No longer is it just an ingredient in vindaloos and tandooris that, since ancient times, has flavored food and prevented spoilage. ( Scientific  American)

Tumeric                                                                                Healing Properties

Seeds of a Mission

With some restaurants and even the city of New York swearing off trans fat,  Monsanto recently sent representatives here with a mission: persuade farmers to grow a special kind of soybean that produces a valuable alternative to frying oil laden with trans fat. ( NY Times)

NYC Board of Health                                                                                            Ventura Foods

Brain Teazers Ease Memory Loss

Ten sessions of exercises to boost reasoning skills, memory and mental processing speed staved off mental decline in middle-aged and elderly people in the first definitive study to show that honing intellectual skills can bolster the mind in the same way that physical exercise protects and strengthens the body. ( Washington Post)

Joystick                                                                                                        TechDirt

Saving Lives One Dose At a Time

American hospitals are charter members of our throw-away society. How one small organization bucks the system -- and saves lives. ( OnEarth)

Global Links

Who's the McFattiest of Them All?

Americans consumed more than twice as much high-fructose corn syrup per person as in 1980 and remained the fattest inhabitants of the planet, although Mexicans, Australians, Greeks, New Zealanders and Britons are not too far behind. ( Seattle P-I )

US Census Bureau

Serving Up Bacteria

Pinning down the culprit in the latest food-contamination case can seem a bit like the guessing game of Clue: a California grower, at the Taco Bell, with the scallions? As a result, major producers of fruits and vegetables are speeding up efforts to develop industry standards for farm inspections, water- and soil-quality monitoring, and sanitation. ( CS Monitor)

WGA                                                                                                                            Fast Food Nation

Flushing Pills Doesn't Make Them Dissapear

For hospitals and other health-care institutions the disposal of drugs is a confusing and expensive process.  The long held practice of flushing unused or  expired drugs down the toilet has environmental consequences. ( State Journal)

Surface Water

Researchers Investigate Toxic Body Burden

A decade ago, the very idea that pollutants could interfere with a body's chemical messages was near the fringes of science. But now, it is an urgent topic for lawmakers and researchers around the world, and especially in the Washington area. ( Washington Post)

Body Burden                                                                                        Endocrine Disruptors

Genetic Clues Tied to Cancer Cluster

Children in a northern Nevada leukemia cluster are more likely to have a variation in a gene that helps combat unsafe chemicals, and more research is needed to learn why, federal researchers said Thursday. The study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the latest to suggest genetics and toxins play a role in the cancer cluster plaguing the agricultural community. (Seattle P-I)

CDC

Marathon Mice

An ordinary laboratory mouse will run one kilometer on a treadmill before collapsing from exhaustion. But mice given resveratrol, a minor component of red wine and other foods, run twice as far. ( NY Times)

Health Benefits                                                                                        Reseveratrol