Free Republic

UIC Researchers Show How Cancer-preventing Foods Work Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago are unraveling the biochemical mechanism by which functional foods combat cancer."Compounds like sulforaphane in broccoli and resveratrol in wine have been shown to prevent cancer," said Andrew Mesecar, associate professor of pharmaceutical biotechnology in the UIC College of Pharmacy. "They do that by signaling our bodies to ramp up the production of proteins capable of preventing damage to our DNA."We now have a good idea how that signal works."The findings are published in this week's Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of...

ATHENS (Reuters) - Treating obesity-related disorders costs as much or more than illnesses caused by aging, smoking and problem drinking.  It accounts for 2 percent of the national health expenditure in France and Australia, more than 3 percent in Japan and Portugal and 4 percent in the Netherlands. A review of research into the economic causes and consequences of obesity presented at the 14th European Congress on Obesity showed that in 2003 up to $96.7 billion was spent on obesity problems in the United States. "An increase in the prevalence of obesity increases the healthcare costs," Anne Wolf of the...

did you know you can make, and keep remaking your own buttermilk? in case there is some gawd awfull reason anyone would want buttermilk, that is ;)

Groundbreaking new research published in the International Journal of Obesity reveals that artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose -- precisely the kinds of chemical sweeteners found in diet soft drinks or many low-carb food products -- may actually promote obesity by tricking the body into thinking that sweet-tasting foods and drinks don't contain as many calories as they really do. In the experiments, rats who were fed artificially-sweetened foods tended to overeat foods containing real sweeteners, causing them to gain weight. In humans, it's the same result: drink diet soft drinks and consume enough foods made with artificial sweeteners, and...

Antioxidant-Rich Diet Helps Fight Leukemia   As if undergoing chemotherapy isn't trying enough, kids with the most common form of childhood leukemia receiving this treatment may also experience a significant reduction in their antioxidant and micronutrient levels. This decrease could lead to severe side effects from the chemotherapy.However, there may be a ray of hope amidst this dark cloud.According to a study, children could improve antioxidant and micronutrient levels and prevent some of the adverse side effects of chemotherapy by simply incorporating more fruits and vegetables into their diets.The study, prompted by parental concern regarding children's safety in taking...

Harvard Study: Snack Foods And Soda Not Linked To Obesity From the rhetoric coming out of last weekend's obesity-lawsuit-pushing Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) conference in Boston, you'd think snack foods and soft drinks were the number one cause of childhood obesity. But the sue-first-ask-questions-later food cops and trial lawyers apparently didn't bother to consult researchers across town at Harvard, who last week provided the latest evidence that snack foods and soda are actually not a cause of childhood obesity. After studying more than 14,000 American children, a team of six Harvard doctors found that snack food and soda do...

Since most FReepers are personally responsible, hard-working, well-prepared, self-sufficient individuals, I thought it would be nice for us to get to brag about the fruits of our labor--whether it be traditional county-fair fare (canning, crochet, quilting, crops, cheeses) or FReeper-oriented fare (political slogans, FReep posters, FReep ideas, breaking news, opus posts, FR handles, FR profiles, posts-of-the-day, etc.) I'm not sure who the judges will be, but you all are welcome to post your entries here.

Bird flu hits Grampian Foods PERRY GOURLEY SCOTTISH firm Grampian Country Foods is facing a sales clampdown following the outbreak of bird flu in Thailand. The European Union suspended all chicken imports from Thailand on Friday after the country revealed there had been two cases of humans catching the disease which has already ravaged bird flocks in other parts of Asia. A spokesman for Grampian Country Foods - Scotland’s biggest private company - stressed that its site in Thailand, which processes more than 800,000 birds a week, was not linked to the cases. But the plant does export to other...

WE LOVE TO PUT TURKEY INTO OUR MOUTHS each Thanksgiving. But why do we find this odd word “turkey” in our mouths, in our vocabulary? Finding this answer brings us to a smorgasbord of history, politics and culture that gives added savor to most of the foods of this Thursday’s feast. “About 1530, a new dish began to be put on English tables,” writes one cultural historian, “a fowl a little larger than the traditional goose, but with a lot more meat and a refreshingly new taste. “This bird,” the historian continues, “had been brought to England by merchants trading...