The Philip Markoff case prompts a look at how sex work moved from strip bars to phone lines to the web. Each shift changed the risks rather than removing them, the writer argues, since the same pimps, con men and opportunists followed the women online.
Food Consumer
Food
Grapes boosts heart health
A University of Michigan team led by E. Mitchell Seymour fed salt-sensitive rats a high-sodium diet, then gave one group grape powder. After 18 weeks those rats had lower blood pressure, better heart function and fewer signs of hypertension damage than rats given a blood pressure drug.
Cooking
Edamame and Orange Salad
A spring salad of boiled shelled edamame with radishes, cucumber, red pepper, scallions and orange segments, dressed with rice vinegar, soy sauce, canola oil and orange juice and topped with cilantro. Makes 4 servings at 127 calories each.
Diet
Keeping hydrated crucial
The CDC says water keeps body temperature normal, cushions joints, protects the spinal cord and carries off waste, and that thirst already signals dehydration. Working or playing outdoors, drink 10 ounces every 15 to 20 minutes and watch for less urination, dry mouth and dizziness on standing.
Healthcare
Experts back away from annual PSA test
New American Urological Association guidelines offer PSA testing to well-informed men aged 40 and older with a 10-year life expectancy, drop the fixed blood-level cutoff and weigh family history. False or inconsistent results can lead to surgery risking impotence and incontinence.
Vitamins
Vitamin C shown to prevent gout
An Archives of Internal Medicine study followed 46,994 men for 20 years and found gout risk fell as vitamin C intake rose: 34 percent lower at 1,000 to 1,499 mg a day and 45 percent lower above 1,500 mg. It counted 1,317 new gout cases over the period.
Vitamins
Reduced form of CoQ10 shown more effective
A NaturalNews report says ubiquinol, the reduced form of CoQ10, absorbs better than ubiquinone. Texas researchers who could not maintain adequate blood plasma CoQ10 on high doses of the unreduced form saw levels rise 22 to 39 percent once patients were given ubiquinol.
Food
Chew On This
In a Wrigley-funded Baylor College of Medicine study, 108 students aged 13 to 16 were split by whether they chewed gum during math class and tests. After 14 weeks the gum chewers' standardized math scores were about three percent higher, but researchers cannot explain the mechanism.
Lifestyle
Recession gardens take root
The National Gardening Association projects 45 million of 111 million US households will grow some of their own food this year, up 19 percent. It says the average garden yields 300 pounds of produce worth about $600, and organic gardeners rose from 5 million in 2004 to 12 million in 2008.
Food
Chewing gum may boost academic performance in students
In a Wrigley-funded Baylor study, 108 students aged 13 to 16 either chewed gum during math class, tests and study or refrained. After 14 weeks the gum chewers' standardized math scores had risen about three percent and their final grades were better. Researchers cannot say why.
Food
Pomegranate juice slows tumor growth in post-treatment prostate cancer patients
In a six-year trial of 48 men treated for localized prostate cancer, drinking 8 ounces of pomegranate juice daily was followed by PSA doubling time rising from a mean of 15.4 months to 60 months. Five of the six researchers disclosed ties to POM Wonderful, which made the juice used.
Food
Walnuts and fish lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels
In a randomized crossover feeding trial funded by the California Walnut Commission, a walnut diet lowered total and LDL cholesterol more than the control and fish diets, while the fish diet cut triglycerides and raised HDL cholesterol.
Drug
FDA Okays emergency use of flu medicines, test in response to swine flu outbreak in humans
At the CDC's request, the FDA issued Emergency Use Authorizations covering certain Relenza and Tamiflu antiviral products and the rRT-PCR Swine Flu Panel test. They allow Tamiflu in children under 1 and end when the emergency declaration is terminated or the authorization revoked.
Alerts
USDA: Michigan firm recalls frozen meat and poultry
USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced a Class II, low-risk recall: Mucci's Food Products of Canton, Michigan is pulling an undetermined amount of Mama Mucci's frozen meat and poultry pasta made between May 2008 and April 2009 without federal inspection.
Alerts
FDA: Raw alfalfa sprouts lined to salmonella contamination
The FDA and CDC told consumers to stop eating raw alfalfa sprouts and blends containing them after 31 illnesses from Salmonella Saintpaul in six states. Contaminated seed is the suspected source, and because lots may be sold nationwide the agencies issued a general advisory.
Food
Green tea, capsaicin affect weight loss
Testing 27 subjects over six weeks, researchers found CH-19 sweet pepper and the combination of capsaicin and green tea significantly cut energy intake during positive energy balance, though no significant interactions on intake emerged overall. Capsaicin's effect faded with habitual use.
Heart & Blood
Fructose vs. glucose debate ignited by study
In a 10-week test of 32 obese people, those drinking fructose-sweetened beverages for a quarter of their daily calories gained the same weight as the glucose group but added more belly fat, became somewhat insulin resistant and had higher blood lipids.
Food
Cherries boost antioxidant levels
Twelve healthy adults aged 18 to 25 ate one and a half or three cups of frozen tart cherries; antioxidant activity rose in all of them for up to 12 hours, along with five anthocyanins in the blood. Lead researcher Sara Warber says more research is needed.
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