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A study from Tufts University found that daily consumption of pistachios can enhance eye health by increasing macular pigment optical density (MPOD), which helps protect against blue light and age-related eye damage. This benefit is attributed to pistachios’ unique content of lutein, a plant pigment essential for eye health and potentially useful in preventing age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Daily pistachios boost eye health by raising lutein, protecting against age-related damage, and supporting brain function. A recent study by researchers at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy suggests that eating pistachios daily may greatly benefit eye health. This...

Warnings against saturated fat on heart health need to be revisited as flaws were revealed in the seminal 1950s studies on which these warnings were based, according to research. In 1953, spurred by an apparent surge in heart disease in the US, physiologist Ancel Keys published a study that introduced the "lipid-heart hypothesis." He claimed without evidence that high saturated fat and cholesterol in the diet raise cholesterol levels in the blood and contribute to heart disease. Newport and Dayrit pointed out that Keys erroneously conflated the saturated fats found in meat and dairy with the harmful industrial trans-fats commonly...

After five decades of inaction, the Food and Drug Administration revoked the authorization of brominated vegetable oil (BVO) in food on July 3, 2024. The additive bromine, used to stabilize fruit flavorings in beverages and sodas, has toxic effects and has already been banned in many places, including California, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. What was the agency’s excuse for its 50 years in limbo? The FDA insisted it was “waiting for more safety data.” Right. Consumer advocates called the FDA’s ban on brominated vegetable oil in food “a victory for public health.” Still, digging deeper, it is indisputable...

New UC Riverside research shows soybean oil not only leads to obesity and diabetes, but could also affect neurological conditions like autism, Alzheimer’s disease, anxiety, and depression. Specifically, the scientists found pronounced effects of the oil on the hypothalamus, where a number of critical processes take place. “The hypothalamus regulates body weight via your metabolism, maintains body temperature, is critical for reproduction and physical growth as well as your response to stress,” “The dogma is that saturated fat is bad and unsaturated fat is good. Soybean oil is a polyunsaturated fat, but the idea that it’s good for you is...

Walmart has recalled an aromatherapy spray after it identified a bacteria in the product that has now been linked to four illnesses and two deaths... ...The spray, “Better Homes & Gardens Lavender & Chamomile Essential Oil Infused Aromatherapy Room Spray with Gemstones," was found Oct. 6 in the home of a Georgia resident who became ill with melioidosis in late July, according to the CDC..

Abstract Background: The lung cancer incidence in Chinese women is among the highest in the world, but tobacco smoking accounts for only a minority of the cancers. Epidemiologic investigations of lung cancer among Chinese women have implicated exposure to indoor air pollution from wok cooking, where the volatile emissions from unrefined cooking oils are mutagenic. Purpose: This study was conducted to identify and quantify the potentially mutagenic substances emitted from a variety of cooking oils heated to the temperatures typically used in wok cooking. Methods: Several cooking oils and fatty acids were heated in a wok to boiling, at temperatures...

A music video made to the black and white images, and color versions when I could later find them, from Dupont Vicars' book "Master Paintings of the World," 1902. The music is "When I Dream" by Joseph Blanchard.

The Oiling of America by Mary Enig, PhD, and Sally Fallon In 1954 a young researcher from Russia named David Kritchevsky published a paper describing the effects of feeding cholesterol to rabbits.1 Cholesterol added to vegetarian rabbit chow caused the formation of atheromas—plaques that block arteries and contribute to heart disease. Cholesterol is a heavy weight molecule—an alcohol or a sterol—found only in animal foods such as meat, fish, cheese, eggs and butter. In the same year, according to the American Oil Chemists Society, Kritchevsky published a paper describing the beneficial effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids for lowering cholesterol levels.2...

Omega-6-rich oils don't have same benefits as canola, soybean and olive oils, studies show The Canadian Press Posted: Nov 11, 2013 1:46 PM ET Last Updated: Nov 11, 2013 2:10 PM ET In 2012, Health Canada agreed to let manufacturers of cooking oils containing either omega-6 or omega-3 fatty acids claim on their product labels that these oils help reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering cholesterol. (iStock) A pair of Canadian scientists are challenging the fact that manufacturers of some cooking oils are entitled to make health claims about the products. They argue that new evidence suggests oils...

Price of oil rises 30 percent in 2010; gasoline prices could hit $4 a gallon in 2011 NEW YORK (AP) -- The price of oil is poised for another run at $100 a barrel after a global economic rebound sent it surging 34 percent since May. That could push gasoline prices to $4 a gallon by summer in some parts of the country, experts say. Flying, shipping a package and ordering a pizza all likely would get more expensive in the new year if that happens and companies pass along higher energy costs. Some economists say rising energy prices will...

Natural oils gave young boys breasts 22:00 31 January 2007 NewScientist.com news service Andy Coghlan Three young boys grew breast tissue after exposure to lotions and shampoos containing lavender or tea tree oil, researchers say. It is not uncommon for boys to develop breast tissue during puberty or just after, but the boys affected by the plant oils were aged four, seven and 10. The natural oils may be “gender-bending” chemicals mimicking effects of the female hormone, oestrogen, the findings suggest. The boys were otherwise normal, and lost the breast tissue within months of discontinuing use of the products. Researchers...

CHICAGO, July 14 — In Grant Park, this city’s front yard along Lake Michigan, a dizzying pack of people filled the streets evening after evening, all holding their gazes firmly on the little plates in their hands, loaded with catfish beignets, curly fries smothered in cheese, pirogies with sour cream, beer-battered artichoke hearts, and fried dough buried in berry sauce and whipped cream. This was the Taste of Chicago, an annual rite of summer that ended last weekend and was one more chance to eat in the city of Broad Shoulders — and, in many cases, broader bellies, hips and...

IT'S never pleasant to learn that an artificial substance in your food might be ruining your health. This is what happened with trans fats when they were "discovered" in the food supply a few years ago, after a high-profile lawsuit against the makers of the Oreo cookie (laden with trans fats, who knew?) captured headlines nationwide. The publicity pushed the Food and Drug Administration to require that trans fats be listed on package labels starting this year. Producers of cookies, cakes, crackers, frozen foods and margarines, all high in trans fats, thus had an incentive to eliminate them from their...

A group of university researchers said today that they had created what sounds like a nutritional holy grail: cloned pigs that make their own omega-3 fatty acids, potentially leading to bacon and pork chops that might help your heart. For now, the benefits of the research are highly theoretical. Omega-3 fatty acids, which have been linked to a lowered incidence of heart disease, are primarily found in fish. No one knows whether they would have the same effect if people ate them in pork instead. And government approval for such genetically modified foods is certain to face opposition from consumer...

News Analysis In an early 19th-century best seller, a famous food writer offered a cure for obesity and chronic disease: a low-carbohydrate diet. The notion that what you eat shapes your medical fate has exerted a strong pull throughout history. And its appeal continues to this day, medical historians and researchers say. "It's one of the great principles — no, more than principles, canons — of American culture to suggest that what you eat affects your health," says James Morone, a professor of political science at Brown University. "It's this idea that you control your own destiny and that it's...

By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, October 19, 2005, abstracted from “Anticancer properties of propofol-docosahexaenoate and propofol-eicosapentaenoate on breast cancer cells” in the June 7, 2005 issue of Breast Cancer Research   Despite increases in technology, research, and education, breast cancer incidence in the U.S. has increased from one in twenty people in 1960 to one in eight today, with a woman being diagnosed every three minutes. In addition to the 216,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer expected to be diagnosed in 2004, 59,390 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed, both expected to claim the lives of...

by Fr. William Saunders Other Articles by Fr. William Saunders The Chrism Mass 03/25/05 Would you please explain the significance of the Chrism Mass? On Holy Thursday morning (in some dioceses it may be another morning during Holy Week), the bishop, joined by the priests of the diocese, gather at the Cathedral to celebrate the Chrism Mass. This Mass manifests the unity of the priests with their bishop. Here the bishop blesses three oils — the oil of catechumens (oleum catechumenorum or oleum sanctorum), the oil of the infirm (oleum infirmorum) and holy chrism (sacrum chrisma) — which will be used...

Essential Oils Can Be Used As a Natural Antibacterial   It is estimated that infections such as MRSA (staph infection) kill 5,000 people each year. This is partly due to the fact that current treatments are only successful in around 50 percent of cases; such treatments can also cause skin irritation. However, researchers may have discovered a much more efficient, not to mention pleasant, way to treat staph infections: Essential oils (compounds found within aromatic plants). It seems that the use of these oils, typically used in aromatherapy, have been found to kill deadly MRSA bacteria within just two...

The Mediterranean diet, which includes olive oil, vegetables and pasta, has long been considered beneficial to health, particularly heart health. However scientists now claim to have discovered why this diet also appears to protect women from breast cancer. According to the researchers, the answer lies in olive oil, or more specifically, one of the ingredients of olive oil - oleic acid. They found that this fatty acid significantly reduced the levels of a gene - Her-2/neu - which is thought to trigger breast cancer. This gene is found in high levels in around one in five breast cancer patients and...

In 1954 a young researcher from Russia, named David Kritchevsky, published a paper describing the effects of feeding cholesterol to rabbits.1 Cholesterol added to vegetarian rabbit chow caused the formation of atheromas - plaques that block arteries and contribute to heart disease. Cholesterol is a heavyweight molecule - an alcohol or a sterol - found only in animal foods such as meat, cheese, eggs and butter. In the same year, according to the American Oil Chemists Society, Kritchevsky published a paper describing the beneficial effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids for lowering cholesterol levels.2 (Polyunsaturated fatty acids are the kind of...