Being Watched

I was feeding the birds. Here's Chuck. If you look behind him in the bush you can see a white-throated sparrow, waiting its turn. I know that's Chuck and not a generic cardinal because these birds, as I've witnessed, are territorial. Chuck fought off challenges from at least two males this summer. One was his son.



I felt I was being watched.




________

Organic Seafood, No Such Thing

First,

"There are no U.S. governmental organic standards for seafood."¹

So, if a label says "Organic," it was vetted by some country or organization outside of the US, using standards that Food and Water Watch say have little meaning.

For example, some European standards:

• Fail to prohibit or minimize use of wildcaught fish in industrially produced fish feed.
  • Because the lives of wild fish cannot be controlled, they can never be considered true organic products.
    
  • For seafood production to be sustainable, the amount of wild fish used to produce farmed fish has to be kept to a minimum.
• Allow the use of antibiotics and other chemicals.
  • EU regulation states that, “chemically synthesized allopathic veterinary medicinal products including antibiotics may be used where necessary…” (Article 15, 1, f(ii)). The use of immunological veterinary medicines is also allowed (Article 15, 1, f(iii)).
• Fail to protect surrounding environment from pollution.
  
• Fail to adequately regulate waste disposal.
  
• Allow unsustainable use of water resources.
  
• Allow "net pens," huge cages filled with farmed fish in the open ocean, which cause environmental damage and allow fish to escape into the wild.

"Organic" seafood is a marketing ploy. One, I'm afraid, the Organic Consumers Association has bought into.

Making seafood choices is difficult. Jill Richardson, in her article, "Yuck: Our Seafood Is Loaded With Unspeakably Gross Pollutants. Some Of Our Most Popular Seafood Treats Come To Us From Filthy Operations In Other Countries," says:

"91 percent of U.S. seafood is imported, and half of that is farmed."

"It's not just antibiotic residues on the seafood. It's also antibiotic-resistant microbes that come with the fish or the shrimp. ... A primary source of salmonella is the raw manure that is used to feed the shrimp and fish."

"All the human waste, and all of the waste from cities… it's all going into the river and the river is the source of the water [for fish farms].”

"What happens when a shipment of filthy or toxic seafood shows up in a U.S. port? Most likely, nothing." (Japan inspects 12-21% of seafood imports, the European Union 20-50%, the US less than 2%.)

"Once the FDA rejects a shipment of seafood, “they don't destroy the product,” ... It can go out on the ship and come in on another port."

"Even worse, because other importing nations have stricter regulations than the U.S., “the best quality fish goes to Europe and Japan and Canada, and we get lower quality products here."

Seafood sure isn't what it used to be.
________¹ European Organic Aquaculture Certification, Fact Sheet, Food and Water Watch, September 2008.
Graphic from This Magazine: Why Your So-called "Organic" Farmed Salmon Probably Isn't

Grapefruit And Drugs Don't Mix

And as more drugs emerge from the pharmaceutical pipeline, the list of drugs that interact with grapefruit (and Pomelos and Seville oranges - a bitter orange from Asia used to make marmalade, so marmalade too) is growing.

Eating grapefruit can lead to higher doses of a drug in the bloodstream. This recent article from the New York Times describes one mechanism:

"Under normal circumstances, the drugs are metabolized in the gastrointestinal tract, and relatively little is absorbed, because an enzyme in the gut called CYP3A4 deactivates them. But grapefruit contains natural chemicals called furanocoumarins, that inhibit the enzyme, and without it the gut absorbs much more of a drug and blood levels rise dramatically."

Those higher doses can be deadly. The article describes...

"The 42-year-old was barely responding when her husband brought her to the emergency room. Her heart rate was slowing, and her blood pressure was falling. Doctors had to insert a breathing tube, and then a pacemaker, to revive her.

They were mystified: The patient’s husband said she suffered from migraines and was taking a blood pressure drug called verapamil to help prevent the headaches. But blood tests showed she had an alarming amount of the drug in her system, five times the safe level.

“The culprit was grapefruit juice,” said Dr. Unni Pillai."

Lots of drugs interact with grapefruit - benzodiazepines (Valium, Xanax), antidepressants (Zoloft), statins (Lipitor, Zocor), erectile dysfunction drugs (Viagra), antihistamines (Allegra), painkillers (oxycodone, hydrocodone, Tylenol). Wikipedia has a lengthier list.

This is something I learned years ago in one of my nutrition classes, but my peers and I weren't taking many drugs so it sat on my mental periphery. Not anymore.
________Thanks, BL!

Blue Light To Stay Awake, Red Light To Sleep

The new Solid-State Lighting Module (SSLM) will replace a fluorescent panel
on the space station. One is seen here held by astronaut Michael Fincke.

One of the tests coming up in the International Space Station is the use of various wavelengths of light to stimulate wakefulness and sleep:

NASA To Test Space-Sleep Colour-Changing Lights

Blue light causes alertness. It's a mechanism behind the light therapy used for depression, which also employs blue light (Light Therapy Edges Out Prozac In Head-To-Head Comparison).

"Studies on Earth suggest humans and other creatures follow what is known as a circadian rhythm - a 24-hour biological cycle involving cell regeneration, urine production and other functions critical to health.

Research indicates that it is regulated by a group of cells in a portion of the brain called the hypothalamus which respond to light information sent by the eye's optic nerve, which in turn controls hormones, body temperature and other functions that influence whether people feel sleepy or wide awake.

When the [Solid-State Lighting Modules (SSLMs)] are coloured blue the aim is to stimulate melanopsin - a pigment found in cells in the eye's retina which send nerve impulses to parts of the brain thought to make a person feel alert.

Blue light is also believed to suppress melatonin - a hormone made by the brain's pineal gland which makes a person feel sleepy when its levels rise in their blood."

But blue light at night can keep us awake. Television and computer monitors give off light in the blue spectrum and are known to disrupt sleep. It looks like red light, or at least less blue light, can improve sleep:

"By switching from blue to red light - via an intermediary white stage - this process should be reversed, encouraging a feeling of sleepiness."
...
"So, varying the spectral composition of light does make sense from a circadian perspective, and better regulating artificial sleep-wake cycles may indeed benefit astronauts' sleep in space."

It seems counterintuitive. I expect red light to rev us up and blue light to calm us down.
________Photo from NASA.

Tour Of The International Space Station

Sunita Williams, while Commander of the International Space Station, recorded this video of the station just hours before she departed to return to earth. She had been up there for several months.

Some fascinating details... The bathroom: you need good aim. The kitchen: lots of hermetically sealed packages. This was interesting:

"Salt and pepper are available but only in a liquid form. This is because astronauts can't sprinkle salt and pepper on their food in space. The salt and pepper would simply float away. There is a danger they could clog air vents, contaminate equipment or get stuck in an astronaut's eyes, mouth or nose."
- NASA: Space Food

The exercise equipment is not fastened securely so as not to transfer load through structure, which would eventually need to be reacted by ... devices, probably jets? ... used to keep the station in place. An energy conservation decision. So, as you pedal (you don't need a seat, in fact she didn't sit down for 125 days!) the whole cycle moves also.

You have to not be bothered by tight places.


________Thanks, BL!

How Accessible Are Modern Devices?

What would you put on a wish list for how you'd like to see modern devices change?
________

Tax Rates Over The Years

When I heard that France's new president intends to raise the tax rate for millionaires (those making above €1 million or $1.3 million) to 75%, I wondered what our highest tax rate was here in the US, for the top tier. I found this graph that shows the top tier in the US (making over $200,000 at the time) paid 91% all through the 1950s!



Source: The Truth About Taxes: Here's How High Today's Rates Really Are

"Importantly, this was one of the most successful eras in US economic history [the 1950s and early 1960s]. The middle class boomed, the economy boomed, and the stock market boomed. And all with the top marginal income tax rate over 90%."
...
"Super-low tax rates on rich people also appear to be correlated with unsustainable sugar highs in the economy - brief, enjoyable booms followed by protracted busts. They also appear to be correlated with very high inequality. (For example, see the 1920s and now)."

________

Brazil Kept Mad Cow Secret for Two Years

... While they continued to sell 67 million pounds of beef to the US:

Brazil Reports First Case Of ‘Mad Cow Disease’ In A Cow That Died Two Years Ago

“That means the U.S. imported enough beef from Brazil in 2011 and 2012 to feed over 1 million Americans their annual consumption of beef,” said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard.

But, really, US beef isn't that protected from mad cow. Jean Halloran, former Director of the Consumer Policy Institute at Consumer's Union, described USDA's mad cow policy as "Don't Look, Don't Find."

I discovered:

• Japan tests nearly 100% of its slaughtered cattle.
• The European Union tests 100% of cattle over 30 months old.
• The US tests less than 1%.

Not only doesn't the USDA test adequately for mad cow, it prohibits private companies from testing (and sues if they do):

"Detection of BSE is needlessly hindered by the fact that USDA prohibits private companies from testing their own beef. Private testing could augment USDA testing and provide an extra measure of monitoring and assurance of safety to consumers. USDA only tests cattle that are sent to the renderer and doesn’t test at slaughterhouses. We find it hard to understand why USDA prohibits private companies from testing."
- Consumers Union Statement On BSE Positive Cow, 24 April, 2012

And...

"The Agriculture Department is within bounds to bar meatpackers from testing slaughter cattle for mad cow disease, a U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in a 2-1 ruling on Friday."
- Court Bars Meatpacker Tests For Mad Cow, Reuters, August, 2008

Why does USDA prohibit private testing? If BSE is found to be more pervasive than thought, it would be costly for the cattle industry and could damage public trust in the food supply. The USDA exists in part to promote the beef industry and to ensure trust in the food supply.

The Organic Consumers Association says:

"We suspect there are many other USA Mad Cows confined in feedlots and factory scale dairies."

________Photo from a sobering article by Michael Greger, MD: Is Mad Cow Already A Silent Epidemic?
I first saw this story on Bill Marler's Food Safety News.

Study Finds Low-Fat Diets Lead To Weight Loss

There's a new, big study in the BMJ that delivers "high quality, consistent evidence" showing cutting fat leads to weight loss. (Coincidentally, the last post gave a graphic description of the energy density of 2 tablespoons of fat.)

Effect Of Reducing Total Fat Intake On Body Weight: Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis Of Randomised Controlled Trials And Cohort Studies, British Medical Journal, 6 December 2012

It analyzed 33 randomised controlled trials (73,589 participants) and 10 cohort studies (107,624 participants). Not a small undertaking. Note that the bulk of the data was from controlled intervention trials, the gold standard of studies, "the best scientific way of testing cause and effect," say the authors.

They found that a low-fat diet was associated with:

• Lower body weight
  
• Less weight gain
  
• Lower body mass index (BMI)
  
• Smaller waist circumference
  
• Lower LDL cholesterol
  
• Lower total cholesterol
  
• Lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure

The numbers:

"Meta-analysis of 33 randomised controlled trials in adults suggested that diets lower in total fat on average reduced body weight by 1.6 kg, body mass index by −0.51, and waist circumference by 0.3 cm. These effects were from randomised controlled trials in which weight loss was not an intended outcome, suggesting that they occur in people eating normal diets and the direction of effect on weight was consistent regardless of subgroups or sensitivity analyses."

They excluded studies where weight loss was the goal, making their findings all the more compelling:

"Populations recruited specifically for weight loss studies and interventions intended to result in weight loss would be excluded. This was because they were potentially confounded by the implicit objective of reducing calorie intake to produce weight loss."

There was criticism that the effect was minimal. The authors said:

"We disagree that loss of 1.6kg is pointless. The effect on health of an individual reducing his or her body weight by 1.6 kg is likely to be small, but the effects of a whole population doing so would be noticeable. In a man of average height (1.75 m) and weighing 80 kg a loss of 1.6 kg will reduce body mass index from 26.1 to 25.6, a reduction of 0.5. Moving the whole population distribution (remember, we are talking about a sensible way to eat for the whole population, not an individual diet) to the left by 0.5 BMI units would have a serious impact on risks of weight-related illnesses including respiratory problems, infertility, diabetes, some cancers, some forms of arthritis and high blood pressure."

But that 1.6 kg was an average. Many experienced greater losses. The lower the fat intake, the lower the weight:

"There was evidence of a dose-response gradient between total fat intake and change in weight."

The mechanism? It may be that eating less fat leads to eating fewer calories. May be:

"Although further metabolic studies may reveal a mechanism of action, most studies that reported energy intake suggested lower energy intake in the low fat group than in the control or usual fat groups, and subgroups suggested that a greater degree of energy reduction in the low fat group (compared with control) was related to greater weight loss. This suggests that weight reduction may be due to reduced energy intake in those on low fat diets, rather than a specific effect of the macronutrient composition of the diet."

There's a lot of good literature that says macronutrients do matter. I think they do. These authors say that those who ate low-fat ate more carbohydrates (and a little more protein). There is a profound and complex impact on the body from carbohydrates. The effects of resistant starch and fiber are just two carbohydrate-based lines of study that might have contributed to the the weight loss seen above. ________Photo of my fat-free cabbage and white bean soup.

Instead of 2 Tablespoons Oil, You Could Eat...

For the amount of calories in 2 tablespoons olive oil (238 calories, 0 protein, 0 fiber), you could eat...

Salad:

1 cup iceberg lettuce ... 10 calories, 1 gram protein, 1 gram fiber
1 thick (1/2") slice large tomato ... 5, 0, 0
1/4 cup sliced cucumber ... 4, 0, 0
1 thin slice onion ... 4, 0, 0
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar ... 2, 0, 0

Plus Soup:

1/2 cup cooked cauliflower ... 14, 1, 1
1/2 cup cooked broccoli ... 27, 2, 3
1/4 cup cooked green beans ... 11, 0.5, 1
1/4 cup cooked carrots ... 13, 0.5, 1
1/4 cup cooked lentils ... 57, 4.5, 4
2 teaspoons tamari soy sauce ... 8, 2, 0

Plus Dessert:

1 cup cantaloupe ... 60, 1, 2
1/2 cup strawberries ... 24, 0.5, 1.5

And get 13 grams of protein and 14.5 grams of fiber. That's a lot of food!
________Photo, mine, is of a tablespoon of what I believe is olive oil, although it could be hazelnut oil, or sunflower seed oil, or... (See: Adulteration And Corruption In The Olive Oil Trade)

An Airplane That Can Hover

Watch it take off at 2:00 minutes in. No runway!



At 6:23 in, it lands vertically, taxis, and takes off again with a spit of a runway. In less than 20 seconds.

I would love to learn to fly one of these. It would be so exhilarating. So like a bird.
________

So, ObamaCare Was Crafted By The Insurance Industry

Bill Moyers on the revolving door between the health insurance industry and government:



I saw Moyers' video on Glenn Greenwald's column in the Guardian this week:
Obamacare Architect Leaves White House For Pharmaceutical Industry Job

Where he wrote:

"Whatever one's views on Obamacare were and are: the bill's mandate that everyone purchase the products of the private health insurance industry, unaccompanied by any public alternative, was a huge gift to that industry."
...
"This is precisely the behavior which, quite rationally, makes the citizenry so jaded about Washington. It's what ensures that the interests of the same permanent power factions are served regardless of election outcomes. It's what makes a complete mockery out of claims of democracy. And it's what demonstrates that corporatism and oligarchy are the dominant forms of government in the US."

________

Light Therapy At The Bus Stop

Depressed Swedes Get Bus Stop Light Therapy

"An energy company in Umeå, northern Sweden, has installed phototherapy lights in the city’s bus stops to combat the short days, lack of sunlight, and residents’ depression."

________

Organic Seafood

The Organic Consumers Association advocates eating local and organic seafood:

'Our #seafood is loaded with unspeakably gross #pollutants'! ow.ly/fMZG4 Avoid these by eating #local and #organic!

— Organic Consumers (@OrganicConsumer) December 4, 2012

Does anyone know what organic seafood is?
________

Thomas Jefferson Ate Vegetables, Kept Slaves

Part of the extensive vegetable gardens at Jefferson's Virginia estate.

Thomas Jefferson was 83 years old when he died (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826). He lived a privileged life for his time, which, you could say, contributed to his long life. He also ate little meat:¹

Thomas Jefferson: "I have lived temperately, eating little animal food, and that not as an aliment, so much as a condiment for the vegetables which constitute my principal diet."

Ellen W. Coolidge, granddaughter: "He lived principally on vegetables. ... The little meat he took seemed mostly as a seasoning for his vegetables."

Edmund Bacon, Monticello overseer from 1806-1822: "He never eat much hog meat. He often told me, as I was giving out meat for the servants, that what I gave one of them for a week would be more than he would use in six months."

About those servants:

"Over the course of his life, Jefferson owned 600 people. His way of life always depended on the labor of people he held in slavery."

A country founded on the principles of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" kept enslaved 20% of its population, not accounting for women, while inscribing these principles in a Declaration of Independence. Jefferson, while claiming "all men are created equal" and calling slavery an "abominable crime," spent much of his adult life finding ways to maximize the productivity of his slaves.²
________ ¹The Thomas Jefferson Foundation.
²PBS: Scientific American Fronteirs: Thomas Jefferson, Slavemaster

Sleeping Pills May Shorten Life

This study found an association between taking sleeping pills and dying early. There was also an increased risk for cancer with heavy use:

Hypnotics' Association With Mortality Or Cancer: A Matched Cohort Study, British Medical Journal, Feb 2012

It wasn't a small study:

"Subjects (mean age 54 years) were 10 529 patients who received hypnotic prescriptions and 23 676 matched controls with no hypnotic prescriptions, followed for an average of 2.5 years."

Hypnotics are drugs whose primary function is to induce sleep. They include the benzodiazapines [diazepam (Valium), alprazolam (Xanax), lorazepam (Aivan)] and non-benzodiazepines [zolpidem (Ambien), eszopiclone (Lunesta) and zaleplon (Sonata)].

Sophie Ramsey at BMJ wrote a nice summary:

Prescription Sleeping Pills May Raise The Risk Of An Early Death

"What’s particularly notable about these findings is that there was no level of sleeping pill use that wasn’t linked to a higher risk of dying during the study."

Indeed, just a couple pills a year raised risk:

"Compared with people prescribed no sleeping pills, those prescribed one to 18 pills in a year were over 3.5 times more likely to die during the study. Those prescribed 18 to 132 pills in a year had more than four times the risk, and those prescribed more than 132 pills had more than five times the risk."

And:

"The researchers did a good job of taking into account many other factors that might have increased people’s risk, including their age, whether they smoked, their body mass index (BMI), and whether they had other health conditions, including heart problems, diabetes, lung problems, dementia, and kidney disease."

There's a terrible catch-22 here. Not sleeping raises the risk for diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and accidents. Now, taking sleeping pills is being linked to at least some of these conditions. And insomnia appears to be a silent epidemic; Americans filled some 60 million prescriptions for sleeping pills last year. The sleep hygiene guideposts like reducing caffeine, going to bed at regular times, in quiet and darkened environments, getting exercise, eating and drinking in moderation, and of course trying not to think about work or school or money or your ailing spouse/parents/children/friends or the MRI you have scheduled or anything that might disturb sleep, don't seem all that effective.

What could be contributing to all this sleeplessness? Or is shorter sleep duration as one ages just the natural order of things?
________The photo is from a NYTs article, F.D.A. Warns of Sleeping Pills’ Strange Effects which is itself disconcerting. "Unusual reactions [ranged] from fairly benign sleepwalking episodes to hallucinations, violent outbursts, nocturnal binge eating and — most troubling of all — driving while asleep. ... In one case, a woman woke up with a paintbrush in her hand, discovering she had painted the front door of her home while asleep."