SportsGeezer

This Year's Super Bowl Tip: Skip the Dip

Count on Geezer to spoil the Superbowl party with an instructive report on the dangers of communal party dip. The New York Times reported two years ago on a Clemson University study that explored the likelihood that bacteria would be transferred by double dipping chips or crackers. Researchers at Clemson told volunteers to take a bite of a wheat cracker and dip the cracker for three seconds into about a tablespoon of a test dip. They then repeated the process with new crackers, for a total of either three or six double dips per dip sample. The team then analyzed the remaining dip and counted the number of aerobic bacteria in it.  On average, they found, three to six double dips transferred about 10,000 bacteria from the eater’s mouth to the remaining dip. Because each cracker picked up between one and two grams of dip, sporadic double dipping in a cup of dip would transfer at least 50 to 100 bacteria from one mouth to another with every bite. The bottom line, says Clemson food microbiologist Prof. Paul L. Dawson, is this: "Before you have some dip at a party, look around and ask yourself, would I be willing to kiss everyone here?" Read more in the New York Times.

The Facts Behind Six Healthful-Sounding Food Label Claims

Tara Parker-Pope, writing in the Well column of the New York Times, tells us the real meaning, or lack of meaning of six common healthful-sounding food claims. And the winners are:

Lightly-sweetened
A good source of fiber
Strengthens your immune system
Made with real fruit
Made with whole grains
All natural

To find out what these labels don't tell you, read Tara Parker-Pope in the New York Times.

To Minimize Hangover, Go With Vodka, Not Bourbon

Researchers at Boston University's School of Public Health have some good news and some bad news about hangovers. According to a study published in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, it doesn't matter if you drink bourbon or vodka, the resulting hangover will have the same impact on performance on neurocognitive tests requiring both sustained attention and speed. And it won't be a good influence. But, the researchers found, what you drink can influence how bad you feel the next day. The researchers found that drinking high-congener (a substance produced in fermentation) beverages such as bourbon, versus low-congener drinks such as vodka, significantly increased the severity (read "pain") of the hangover.

Read more from the BU School of Public Health.

 

How To Walk Off a Turkey Dinner

This Thanksgiving, Geezer is giving thanks to Google, which makes it possible for him to remember (and copy) what he wrote last Thanksgiving, and the Thanksgiving before that, et cetera.

Geezer was surprised to learn that he had already done the math to calculate how many hours a 160- pound man would have to walk to burn the calories normally consumed at a Thanksgiving meal. According to this handy calories burned chart, walking burns just under 8 calories a minute (active sex burns 5.6--no word yet on passive sex). And according to this discouraging Thanksgiving calorie counter, a typical Thanksgiving meal delivers 4,575 calories. Yes Virginia, the numbers are discouraging. If you start walking at 7p.m., you will burn the last of your Thanksgiving related calories just before sunrise, about 5 a.m., just in time to say good-bye to the in-laws.

Geezer suggests that we all give thanks to GORP, for their state-by-state directory of scenic hikes.

Alcohol: Cut Back or Quit?

Here's the question: Can a person who drinks too much cut back on drinking, or does one have to quit altogether? Here's the answer: It depends. The Los Angeles Times reports on research suggesting that different people have different problems with alcohol, and those different problems can be solved by different solutions. In other words, many people can simply reduce their unhealthful drinking to less unhealthful drinking, or posssibly to healthful drinking. The paper reports on a survey of 43,000 which revealed that about 30 percent of Americans had experienced an "alcohol use disorder," but about 70 percent of those quit drinking or cut back to safe consumption patterns without treatment after four years or less.Only 1 percent of those surveyed fit the stereotypical image of someone with severe, recurring alcohol addiction who has hit the skids.  The Times reports that the data suggest that there are two forms of alcohol disorders: one that fits the traditional view of alcoholism, in which the need for a drink takes over a person's life, and a time-limited form in which people drink heavily for a period but then cut down and recover.

Read more about the survey.

Read about what to do if you suspect that you are drinking too much.

Just Two Soft Drinks a Day Can Harm Kidney Function

They're called "soft drinks," but they can be very hard on kidneys, at least if they use artificial sweeteners, as most sodas sold in the U.S. do. ScienceDaily reports on research conducted at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, where the diet and kidney function of more than 3,000 women was run through some revealing algorithms. The researchers found a two-fold increase in likelihood of faster kidney decline in people who drank two or more servings per day of artificially sweetened soda a day. Wait, there are more hard facts about soft drinks.

Read more in ScienceDaily.

Whole Grains Lower Blood Pressure

Yet another thing whole grains are good for: your blood pressure. Reuters reports on a recent Harvard School of Public Health study that revealed that men with the highest whole-grain consumption were 19 percent less likely to develop high blood pressure than men who ate the least amount of whole grains. Reuters reports that the researchers looked at data from 51,529 men whose health had been tracked since 1986, when they were 40 to 75 years old. The researchers looked at a subset of 31,684 men free of hypertension, cancer, stroke or heart disease at the study's outset. During 18 years of follow-up, 9,227 of them developed hypertension.The men in the top fifth of whole grain consumption, who averaged about 52 grams daily, were 19 percent less likely than the men in the bottom fifth, who ate an average of about 3 grams of whole grains daily, to develop hypertension during follow-up. Reuters reports that when the researchers looked at separate components of whole grains, only bran showed an independent relationship with hypertension risk, with men who consumed the most at 15 percent lower risk of hypertension than men who ate the least.

Read more about whole grains and blood pressure from Reuters.

Read more about blood pressure from SportsGeezer.

The 10 Worst and 10 Best Foods for Health

Who knew that Progresso Rich & Hearty soups would take the number three position among least healthy foods we can eat? In this case, the Center for Science in the Public Interest reports,it's all about salt: way too much of it. And who knew that diced butternut squash would make the list of the most healthful foods we can eat? In this case, it's all about vitamin A, vitamin C, and fiber. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has put together an interesting list, but what Geezer finds most interesting is which list readers will go to first: the "worst" or the "best." What do you think?

Read the complete list of worst and best foods here.

Low Protein Diet May Promote Long Life

First the bad news: the encouraging research described below was conducted on flies, not humans. Now the good news: much research conducted on flies also holds true for humans. And finally, the research: scientists at the Buck Institute for Age Research fed flies a low protein diet and studied the response of their mitochondria, whose function generally declines with age. The researchers found that "dietary restriction can enhance mitochondrial function hence offsetting the age-related decline in its performance." According to a Buck Institute news release, flies fed a low protein diet showed an uptick in activity of the protein knows s d4EBP, which is involved in a signaling pathway that mediates cell growth in response to nutrient availability. When the activity of the protein was genetically “knocked out,” the flies did not live longer, even when fed the low protein diet. When the activity of d4EBP was enhanced, lifespan was extended, even when the flies ate a rich diet. Confused?

Read more from the Buck Institute.

            T

Best and Worst Diets: How Does Your State Rate?

How bad exactly, is the American diet? According to a recent survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, only 33 percent of adults meet the fruit consumption target of two servings a day and only 27 percent eat the recommended amount of vegetables of three servings a day. Wait, there's more: only 32 percent of high school students eat the recommended amount of fruit and 13 percent meet the goal for vegetables. eat at least two daily servings of fruit and at least three daily servings of vegetables. US News & World Report has more.

Want to see how your state's diet stacks up against others? The list below shows the percentage of adults who meet the recommended goals:

1. Mississippi: 8.8%

2. Oklahoma and South Carolina: 9.3%

3. Alabama 9.8%

4. South Dakota: 10.1%

5. West Virginia: 10.3%

6. Kansas, Kentucky, and North Carolina: 10.6%

7. Arkansas and Missouri: 11.2%

8. Louisiana: 11.5%

9. Minnesota: 11.6%

10.Michigan and Nevada:  11.8%

11. Ohio: 12.2%

12. Delaware and Iowa: 12.3%

13. New Mexico: 12.5%

14. Idaho: 13.0%

15. Tennessee: 13.1%

16. Utah: 13.2%

17 Georgia and North Dakota: 13.3%

18. Indiana: 13.5%

19. Illinois and Wisconsin:13.7%

20. Alaska: 13.9%

21. Nebraska: 14.0%

22. Virginia: 14.2%

23. Texas: 14.3%

24. Montana: 14.5%

25. Rhode Island and Wyoming: 14.6%

26. New Jersey: 14.9%

27. Pennsylvania and Washington state: 15.1%

28. Colorado: 15.2%

29. Maryland: 15.4%

30. Florida and Oregon: 15.6%

31. Arizona and California: 16.1%

32. Connecticut and New Hampshire: 16.2%

33. Massachusetts: 16.4%

34. New York: 16.5%

35. Hawaii: 17.5%

36.;Maine: 17.7%

37. Vermont: 17.9%

38. Washington, D.C.: 20.1%

Data came from government health surveys conducted in 2007.

Read more from Web MD.