Tag: Earlier Research

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Weight Loss Exercise

High Fructose Corn Syrup Makes You Dumb?


I heard this story on the news this morning and it makes a bit of sense to me, even if I am not a rat. High Fructose Corn Syrup is pretty bad for you anyway and this study seems to show that.

A new UCLA rat study is the first to show how a diet steadily high in fructose slows the brain, hampering memory and learning — and how omega-3 fatty acids can counteract the disruption. The peer-reviewed Journal of Physiology publishes the findings in its May 15 edition.

“Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think,” said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a professor of integrative biology and physiology in the UCLA College of Letters and Science. “Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain’s ability to learn and remember information. But adding omega-3 fatty acids to your meals can help minimize the damage.”

While earlier research has revealed how fructose harms the body through its role in diabetes, obesity and fatty liver, this study is the first to uncover how the sweetener influences the brain.

Results of the High Fructose Corn Syrup Rat Study

High Fructose Corn Syrup Makes You Dumb?

Even Coke contains high fructose corn syrup

The UCLA team zeroed in on high fructose corn syrup, an inexpensive liquid six times sweeter than cane sugar, that is commonly added to processed foods, including soft drinks, condiments, applesauce and baby food. The average American consumes more than 40 pounds of high-fructose corn syrup per year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “We’re not talking about naturally occurring fructose in fruits, which also contain important antioxidants,” explained Gomez-Pinilla, who is also a member of UCLA’s Brain Research Institute and Brain Injury Research Center. “We’re concerned about high-fructose corn syrup that is added to manufactured food products as a sweetener and preservative.”

So looking at this study is just another nail in the coffin for high fructose corn syrup which is really a terrible sweetener however cheap it is to produce. The best way to avoid HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) is to avoid pop and sodas and sweetened juices as well as any foods that are highly processed. Remember that because this substance is so sweet and cheap it is a very easy and cheap way to sweeten foods instead of using regular sugar. Also there are studies that show that HFCS will also help cause diabetes and this was one of the real starting points where some scientists say that the obesity issues in the US were caused by.

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Weight Loss Exercise

Bacteria on Shopping Carts

Bacteria on Shopping Carts

Bacteria on Shopping Carts

I just ran across an article on MSNBC  that wrote about a study that found that Bacteria on Shopping Carts is so bad that there is more bacteria on them than in the restrooms in supermarkets themselves. I am not really surprised since all the food going in and out of a supermarket is from farms and storage facilities, and other very dirty places.

Researchers from the University of Arizona swabbed shopping cart handles in four states looking for bacterial contamination. Of the 85 carts examined, 72 percent turned out to have a marker for fecal bacteria.

E.Coli Bacteria on Half of All Shopping Carts

The researchers took a closer look at the samples from 36 carts and discovered Escherichia coli, more commonly known as E. coli, on 50 percent of them — along with a host of other types of bacteria.

“That’s more than you find in a supermarket’s restroom,” said Charles Gerba, the lead researcher on the study and a professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona. “That’s because they use disinfecting cleaners in the restrooms. Nobody routinely cleans and disinfects shopping carts.”

The study’s results may explain earlier research that found that kids who rode in shopping carts were more likely than others to develop infections caused by bacteria such as salmonella and campylobacter, Gerba said.

Bacteria on shopping carts handles aren’t the only thing you need to worry about when you go to the local supermarket, Gerba added. In other research, he’s found that reusable shopping bags that aren’t regularly washed turn into bacterial swamps. “It’s like wearing the same underwear every day,” Gerba said.

How To Avoid Bacteria on Shopping Carts

So what should we do about the problem of bacteria on shopping carts? Well I know that the bright colors and mostly clean floors in a supermarket as well as the really bright lights seem to give an image of cleanliness – false sense of safety. So here are things that you should do when you are in shopping.

1. Never touch your face – As you are probably aware, anytime that you touch your face you are giving a very easy access for bacteria to enter your body.

2. Know that you hands are dirty – Sure you can’t see the dirt but the bacteria can live a while on your hands so make sure that anything that you touch; keys, kids, shopping cart, car, steering wheel,food boxes, meat. Are all dirty.

3. Keep baby wipes or antibacterial wipes with you – I know that some people will say that these wipes will not kill all bacteria but they still do a great job. We keep these in my wifes purse as well as have them in the car (my wife is a bit of a bacteria paranoid.).

So you can see that even the most common areas of society, a place of shopping is really dirty with unseen bacteria. Keep the above tips handy to help make sure that you stay safer. And remember that bacteria on shopping carts is something that you have to be careful of for yourself.

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