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Tag: nutrition

Thirteen Facts About Caffiene, 17th

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Thirteen Things about J. Lynne

  1. Coffee beans are actually the seeds of the berries of the coffee plant. It’s a fruit, not a vegetable. (Coffee Bean)
  2. According to Chinese myth, in 2737 BCE, Emperor Shen Nung of China discovered tea while sitting under a wild tea tree with a cup of hot water. A leaf from the tree fell into his water, creating the first tea. Then in 900 B.C., Homer makes reference to a mysterious black and bitter beverage with the power to ward off sleep … a reference repeated in several Arabian legends from the same period. (Caffeine Timeline)
  3. A major study has found fewer suicides among coffee drinkers than those who abstained from the hot black brew. (Studies on the Side Effects of Caffeine)
  4. Although it’s important to note that coffee is the most popular drug in the world. Ninety percent of Americans consume it in some form every day and over 450,000,000 cups of coffee are consumed in the United States every day. (Fast Facts About Caffeine)
  5. According to a study at the University of Georgia in Athens, Women who had the caffeine equivalent of two cups of coffee the day after their quadriceps were stimulated (as if they’d done squats) felt 48% less leg pain within an hour. Apparently, caffeine may block the body’s receptors for the pain-causing chemical adenosine. (Self Magazine, May 2007)
  6. Decaffeinated coffee does not mean caffeine-free. Decaf coffee may contain enough caffeine to affect people sensitive to the stimulant, especially after a few cups. (Self Magazine, May 2007)
  7. A moderate amount of caffeine may make you more agreeable to persuasive arguments according to a study in the European Journal of Social Psychology. Apparently Caffeine enhances not only alertness but also reasoning abilities. (Health Magazine, December 2006)
  8. Despite the fact that coffee has been described as a contributor to hypertension in the past, a study in the Journal of American Medical Association found that drinking coffee isn’t associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure after all; however, soda may be. Women who drank 3 cans or more of caffeinated regular or diet soda increased their chances of developing the condition by 16 to 44 percent, compared to those who had none. (Fitness Magazine, March 2006)
  9. Young women drinking 4 or more cups of caffeinated coffee daily reduced their breast cancer risk by 40 percent compared with nondrinkers according to a study in the Journal of Nutrition. (Self Magazine, June 2006)
  10. People who drank more metabolism-firing caffeine gained less weight over 12 years than those who cut back on caffeine according to researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. The best choice for a healthy buzz? Black, lightly sweetened tea. (Self Magazine, August 2006)
  11. According to a study of more than 27,000 women by the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis, daily coffee drinkers of 1 to 3 cups had a 4% lower risk of dying from heart disease and other inflammatory conditions. (Self Magazine, October 2006)
  12. During the Civil War, coffee was as commonplace on the battlefields as it is in office buildings and shopping malls today. In fact, the Union army was so fueled by the need for caffeine, if there was no time to boil water, the Boys in Blue would chew on whole beans as they marched. Apparently they hadn’t discovered chocolate-covered coffee beans yet. The Confederates however were pretty much cut off from a good caffeine buzz by the Union naval blockade. While a pound of coffee in the Northern states cost about 20¢, after the pre-war supplies ran out, a pound of coffee beans in the South ran about $60. And people complained when Starbucks raised their prices a few cents this year! (How Coffee Played A Role In The Civil War)
  13. The world’s first coffee house, Kiva Han, opened in Constantinople in 1475, 496 years before the first Starbucks opened in Seattle. (Caffeine Timeline)

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Published:
08 Nov 2007 / 12:31 AM
Category:
Facts of Life, Health, Thursday Thirteen
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Diet Denial

Here’s something of a paradox, apparently 2/3rds of Americans claim they’re healthy eaters even though the same fraction of Americans are overweight or obese.

When I read that pair of facts, I couldn’t help but recall these two women I once was behind in a cafeteria line. One of the women was telling the other how “good” she was being because she’d gotten the taco salad for lunch. The taco salad was in one of those tortilla bowls with greasy taco-seasoned beef, salsa, shredded cheese, and globs of sour cream, on a bed of nutrient vacant iceberg lettuce.

Have you ever checked out the caloric value of the taco salad at Taco Bell? It’s pretty much the worst thing you can pick at Taco Bell, calorie-wise. It gets a lot better if you choose not to eat the tortilla bowl.

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Published:
22 Oct 2007 / 07:51 AM
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Health
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Red Meat, Fish, & Breast Cancer

A study, involving more than 90,000 premenopausal nurses, suggests women who eat 1½ servings or more of red meat a day have almost double the risk of developing breast cancer compared with women who eat red meat three times a week or less. Possible reasons for this include compounds in the cooked meat or growth hormones given to animals. This is just another reason why you should eat a wide variety of foods, including fruit, veggies, and whole grains. [Health Magazine, May 2007]

Something else to think about is that each year 47 pounds of seafood is consumed per person in America, but 145.7 pounds of seafood is consumed per person in Japan. [ Health Magazine, June 2007] There are 21.2 per 100,000 America women that suffer from breast cancer, while in Japan only 8.6 per 100,000 Japanese women suffer from breast cancer. It might be a coincidence, but then it might not be. [Breast Cancer Incidence by Country]

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Published:
15 Oct 2007 / 07:44 AM
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Veggies Make You Smart

I knew that I’d been feeling so much smarter this past year since I became a pescetarian (vegetarian + fish). According to research published in the journal Neurology, folks who eat more than two servings of vegetables a day have brains that function as if they are five years younger. The best veggies for honing sharp minds apparently are grean, leafy types such as spinach, kale, or romaine. Yum!

Source: Self Magazine, April 2007

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Published:
14 Oct 2007 / 07:43 AM
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Facts of Life, Health
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