Equal opportunities for hunter-gatherers?

Published in the American Journal of Play Volume 1, Number 4, Spring 2009

Play as a Foundation for Hunter-Gatherer Social Existence
Peter Gray

This paper can be accessed at: http://www.journalofplay.org/issues/28/76-play-foundation-hunter-gatherer-social-existence

The author offers the thesis that hunter-gatherers promoted, through cultural means, the playful side of their human nature and this made possible their egalitarian, nonautocratic, intensely cooperative ways of living.

They maintained playful attitudes in their hunting, gathering, and other sustenance activities, partly by allowing each person to choose when, how, and how much they would engage in such activities. Children were free to play and explore, and through these activities, they acquired the skills, knowledge, and values of their culture.

Play, in other mammals as well as in humans, counteracts tendencies toward dominance, and hunter-gatherers appear to have promoted play quite deliberately for that purpose.

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Fully hydrogenated vegetable oils = No trans fat... but still no good!

Just because a product contains no trans fat does not mean that it is healthy. There could well be other, equally or more harmful substances in it.

E.G  Peanut butter may be manufactured with fully hydrogenated vegetable oil, then it is true that it does not contain any trans fat as trans fats are found only in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, not in fully hydrogenated vegetable oils. However, no trans fat does not automatically mean not harmful to health.

What is hydrogenation?

To understand this, we need to know what the process of hydrogenation is all about.

Hydrogenation is a process of adding hydrogen to oil, in order to turn liquid oils (mono or polyunsatured fats) into solids (saturated fats).

In liquid oils, the molecules are bent. They cannot be packed closely together and that is why the oil is soft, or liquid.

In partially hydrogenated oils, the oil molecules become more or less straight, but with a slight kink. They pack more closely together and the oil becomes semi-solid.

However, the oil molecules have been twisted “out of shape” as they are no longer shaped like the original, bent molecules. This makes them extremely harmful to health. And such twisted oil molecules are called trans fats.

In fully hydrogenated oils, the oil molecules have all been broken up at the point where they previously bent or had a kink. Now the molecules are all straight. They pack very closely together.

This oil is now hard and completely saturated. It no longer contains twisted, "out of shape" molecules. It now contains no trans fat.

Still no good!

However, it does not mean that the oil has suddenly become healthy again.

This fully hydrogenated fat is now very hard and not edible. It can be consumed only when it is mixed with liquid oils (in this case, oils naturally found in peanuts) to form a semi-solid grease.

It is true that the oil now has no trans fat, but this does not cancel out the fact that it had gone through a highly unnatural hydrogenation process involving high heat, high pressure and the use of toxic substances, such as nickel, as catalysts.

To begin with, hydrogenated fats are typically manufactured from cheap, poor quality oils – including toxic oils like cottonseed which are not suitable for human consumption,

Moreover, such oils had already turned rancid – because they had been extracted from oil seeds using high heat.

High heat – as well as exposure to light and oxygen – makes oils rancid. This is why oils were traditionally stored in dark bottles, in cool places.

Modern commercial oils are sold in see-through plastic bottles because they had already turned rancid and gone through deodorisation and other processes to mask the rancidity.

Rancid oils are very toxic. They are as harmful as trans fats, or possibly even more harmful.

Even though they may contain no trans fat, such oils contain lots of free radicals, which can cause serious damage to body cells. Some scientists believe that, apart from trans fats, rancid oils are another major cause of heart disease, cancer and other degenerative diseases.

Grey, smelly grease

After the hydrogenation process, the resulting margarine / vegetable shortening is grey and smelly. It has to be bleached, deodorised, artificially coloured and artificially flavoured before humans would consume them.

Rats and cockroaches would still avoid this stuff, yet many health authorities, nutrionists and other health experts encourage consumers to take soft margarine simply on the basis that they contain lower levels of trans fat.

This is taking a very narrow and ill-informed viewpoint. Just because a product has low or no trans fat does not mean that it is healthy.

To know whether or not a product is healthy, we need to know what ingredients they are made from, how they are made, and so on.

This article can be accessed at: http://www.stop-trans-fat.com/no-trans-fat.html

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Eating whole grains increases the risk of prostate cancer

This post includes a summary of a paper published in Cancer Causes Control 2010 Oct 31 and a recipe for crockpot Italian chicken.

Study title and authors:

Books:

Dietary glycemic index, glycemic load, insulin index, fiber and whole-grain intake in relation to risk of prostate cancer.

Nimptsch K, Kenfield S, Jensen MK, Stampfer MJ, Franz M, Sampson L, Brand-Miller JC, Willett WC, Giovannucci E.
Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue, Building 2, Room 304, Boston, MA, 02115, USA, knimptsc@hsph.harvard.edu.

This paper can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21069447?dopt=Abstract
 
The study investigated the association between the consumption of whole grains and prostate cancer in 5,112 men.

The study found the men who ate the most whole grains had a 13% increase in prostate cancer compared to the men who ate the least.

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Recipe of the day

Crockpot Italian Chicken

Ingredients:

12 boneless, chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces

Food Mall: Boneless Chicken Thighs

2 14.5 oz cans tomatoes with Italian herbs

2 cups cubed zucchini
1 cup pearl onions, peeled
1 cup baby carrots
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Instructions:
Combine all ingredients in crockpot. Stir to mix. Cook on low setting 6 to 10 hours or until done.

Crockpot Italian Chicken



Why drugs are not as effective - or safe - as the pharmaceutical industry are telling us

Published in the Annals of Internal Medicine October 18, 2010 vol. 153 no. 8 532-535

What's in Placebos: Who Knows? Analysis of Randomized, Controlled Trials
Beatrice A. Golomb, MD, PhD; Laura C. Erickson, BS; Sabrina Koperski, BS; Deanna Sack, BS; Murray Enkin, MD; and Jeremy Howick, PhD
University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, San Diego, California

This paper can be accessed at: http://www.annals.org/content/153/8/532.abstract

How do you know a drug is safe and effective? Because it’s tested against a placebo, or sugar pill, and you know it works if it significantly outperforms the dummy pill. But suppose the sugar pill isn’t as benign as we think – suppose it contains a chemical that makes even a bad drug such as a statin look good?

This study looks at the placebo, a method used in countless drug trials over the years. The researchers studied four of the major medical journals published in 2008 and 2009 – and discovered that hardly any trials listed the ingredients of the placebo.

As the composition of the placebo can have a big effect on a drug trial’s results, the researchers concluded its ingredients should be listed every time.

AMAZON UK $29 Billion Reasons to Lie About Cholesterol: Making Profit by Turning Healthy People into Patients
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High cholesterol levels are associated with a better survival rate after having a stroke

Published in the BMJ 1997; 314 : 1584 (Published 31 May 1997)

Influence of cholesterol on survival after stroke: retrospective study
Alexander G Dyker, lecturer in stroke medicinea, Christopher J Weir, statisticiana, Kennedy R Lees, clinical director, Acute Stroke Unita
Acute Stroke Unit, University Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Gardiner Institute, Western Infirmary, Glasgow G11 6NT

This study can be accessed at: http://www.bmj.com/content/314/7094/1584.abstract
 
This study, which involved 977 patients with acute stroke, took place in the acute stroke unit of an inner city general hospital, found that even after adjustment for known risk factors for stroke, higher serum cholesterol concentrations were associated with a better survival rate after stroke.
 
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Glitazones (diabetes drugs) lead to 42% increase in heart attacks

Published in JAMA. 2007;298:1189-1195.

Long-term Risk of Cardiovascular Events With Rosiglitazone. A Meta-analysis.
Sonal Singh, MD; Yoon K. Loke, MBBS, MD; Curt D. Furberg, MD, PhD

This paper can be accessed at: http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/298/10/1189

The study showed that people with diabetes who took rosiglitazone (Avandia) were 42% more likely to have a heart attack than those who didn’t take the drug, and were twice as likely to develop heart failure.

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Good sleep helps in physical and mental health

Published in Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences Volume 56, Issue 3, pages 235–236, June 2002

An examination of sleep health, lifestyle and mental health in junior high school students
HIDEKI TANAKA phd1, KAZUHIKO TAIRA phd3, MASASHI ARAKAWA ma 3, ATUSHI MASUDA ma 3, YUKARI YAMAMOTO phd2, YOKO KOMODA phd2, HATHUKO KADEGARU ma 3, SHUICHIRO SHIRAKAWA phd2

This paper can be accessed at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1440-1819.2002.00997.x/abstract

The factors that influence sleep health and mental health in junior high school students’ lifestyles was examined. The proportion of students who replied that they feel bad in the morning, and who do not have breakfast was significantly higher in poor sleepers. The proportion of students who regularly take exercise was significantly lower among poor sleepers. Compared with good sleepers, poor sleepers had a higher number of illnesses and their General Health Questionnaire score was worse. The study’s results suggest that sleep health is closely related to both physical and mental health, and that habits such as exercise, and regular sleeping and eating, are important for maintaining and improving students’ sleep health.

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Egg breakfast enhances weight loss

This post includes a summary of a study published in The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology 2007;21:538.1 and a recipe for an omelet.

Study title and authors:
Egg breakfast enhances weight loss

Books:

Nikhil Vinod Dhurandhar1, Jillon S Vander Wal2, Natalie Currier1, Pramod Khosla3 and Alok K Gupta1

1 Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, 6400 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, LA, 70808,
2 Saint Louis University, 3511 Laclede Avenue, Rm 228, Saint Louis, MO, 63103,
3 Nutrition and Food Science, Wayne State University, Science Hall, Detroit, MI, 48202

This study can be accessed at: http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/meeting_abstract/21/5/A326-d

In this study subjects were divided into groups eating either a breakfast of 2 eggs or a breakfast equal in kcal and weight but containing bagels.

The study found that eating eggs for breakfast resulted in greater weight loss and better energy levels than eating bagels even though the number of calories was the same.

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Recipe of the day

Omelet

Ingredients:

Food Mall: Eggs

1 cup of chopped fresh spinach

4 chopped green onions
1 clove of fresh chopped garlic
1/2 cup of portabella mushrooms
3 eggs
1/4 cup butter
pepper, cayenne pepper to taste

Instructions:
Saute chopped vegetables in butter. Beat eggs and seasonings in bowl. Pour eggs over sauteed vegetables and cook until firm. Flip omelet and cook other side until firm. Garnish with fresh tomato slices and serve.

Omelet



Diets higher in saturated fat lower the risk of death from heart disease and stroke

This post includes a summary of a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition August 4, 2010 and a recipe for bacon, roasted red pepper, onion frittata.

Study title and authors:
Dietary intake of saturated fatty acids and mortality from cardiovascular disease in Japanese: the Japan Collaborative Cohort Study for Evaluation of Cancer Risk Study?1,2,3

Books:

Kazumasa Yamagishi, Hiroyasu Iso, Hiroshi Yatsuya, Naohito Tanabe, Chigusa Date, Shogo Kikuchi, Akio Yamamoto, Yutaka Inaba, Akiko Tamakoshi and for the JACC Study Group

Address correspondence to H Iso, Public Health, Department of Social and Environmental Medicine, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, 565-0871 Japan.

This paper can be accessed at: http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/ajcn.2009.29146v1

The aim of this study was to investigate the association of saturated fat with  the risk of death from cardiovascular diseases. The study included 58,453 participants, aged 40-79 years, who were followed for 14.1 years. 

The study found:
(a) Those who consumed the most saturated fat had a 31% reduced risk of death from all strokes compared to those who consumed the least saturated fat.
(b) Those who consumed the most saturated fat had a 52% reduced risk of death from intraparenchymal hemorrhage compared to those who consumed the least saturated fat. (Intraparenchymal hemorrhage is bleeding within the brain tissue).
(c) Those who consumed the most saturated fat had a 9% reduced risk of death from subarachnoid hemorrhage compared to those who consumed the least saturated fat. (Subarachnoid hemorrhage is when blood leaks into the space between two membranes that surround the brain).
(d) Those who consumed the most saturated fat had a 42% reduced risk of death from ischemic stroke compared to those who consumed the least saturated fat. (Ischemic stroke occurs as a result of an obstruction within a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain).
(e) Those who consumed the most saturated fat had a 7% reduced risk of death from heart disease compared to those who consumed the least saturated fat.
(f) Those who consumed the most saturated fat had a 15% reduced risk of death from a heart attack compared to those who consumed the least saturated fat.
(g) Those who consumed the most saturated fat had a 50% reduced risk of death from cardiac arrest compared to those who consumed the least saturated fat. (Cardiac arrest is where the heart suddenly stops pumping blood around the body).
(h) Those who consumed the most saturated fat had a 1% reduced risk of death from heart failure compared to those who consumed the least saturated fat.
(i) Those who consumed the most saturated fat had a 18% reduced risk of death from all cardiovascular diseases compared to those who consumed the least saturated fat.

The data from the study reveals that a diet higher in saturated fat lowers the risk of death from heart disease and stroke.

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Recipe of the day

Bacon, Roasted Red Pepper, Onion Frittata

Ingredients:

◦6 eggs

◦3 strips of bacon, crumbled

Food Mall: Bacon

◦2 green onions, chopped

◦3 basil leaves, chopped
◦1/2 roasted red pepper, chopped
◦1/4 t vinegar or lemon juice

Method:
Grease an oven safe baking dish (a pie or tart pan works great here) and turn the oven to 350F.

In a bowl whisk together all the ingredients and pour them into the greased baking dish. Bake for approx. 20 minutes–or when you gently agitate the dish, the center doesn’t jiggle.

Eating high quantities of full fat dairy products lowers the risk of death from heart disease by 69%

Published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2010) 64, 569–577; doi:10.1038/ejcn.2010.45;

Dairy consumption and patterns of mortality of Australian adults
M Bonthuis1,2, M C B Hughes1, T I Ibiebele1, A C Green1 and J C van der Pols1
1Cancer and Population Studies Group, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Queensland, Australia
2Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen, The Netherlands

This study can be accessed at: http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v64/n6/abs/ejcn201045a.html

This study looked at adults over a 15 year period and found that people who ate the most full fat dairy products had a 69% lower risk of death from heart disease than those who ate the least.

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