If exercise isn’t your thing, maybe red wine should be (well, not quite…).

A new study suggests that yo-yo dieters may be healthier and live longer than those who stay obese.

Conventional thought
Yo-yo dieting seems generally frowned upon by people, including those in the medical community. Gaining, losing and regaining weight is thought to be damaging to health over time. It is also thought that it could ruin your body’s ability to control weight.

If you hadn’t heard, water is sort of important for our health… some even say we need it to live. Yeah, I guess this isn’t news to you. Hopefully, though, some of these cool water facts are. And hopefully they’ll help you to live smarter.

1. You are Full of Water: About 60% of your body weight is water and about 75% of your muscles are water.

2. Water is Critical to Weight Loss: “If people who are trying to loose weight don’t drink enough water, the body can’t metabolize the fat adequately.” Drinking water helps to improve your muscle tone

Maybe the ancient Chinese nobles were onto something when the forbade commoners from eating black rice.  It’s not because black rice is harmful – it’s because it’s delicious and healthful, and the nobles wanted it all to themselves.  Hence its moniker, Forbidden Rice.

Black rice is no longer forbidden and will likely become more common in the US as its nutritional properties are uncovered – it’s loaded with antioxidants and has other benefits as well.

Biosolids are a class of fertilizers and composts made from treated sewage sludge.  It has been shown that biosolids contain heavy metals and other toxic chemicals, yet these make their way onto crops year after year.  There is not enough evidence to suggest that biosolids pose a hazard to humans, but there has not been enough research either.  The lack of evidence doesn’t necessarily mean that there isn’t a problem, but the EPA hasn’t learned this yet in science class.

Biosolids is basically a euphemism for giving people their own waste back to them in the form of fertilizers and composts, with the bonus of additional toxins.

Don’t get me wrong, I love euphemisms.  They make unpleasant things sound so much more pleasant.  One of my favorite euphemisms is when my grandmother calls the room with a toilet and a sink in her house the “powder room.”  Ladies don’t use the toilet, they go to powder their noses.

Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa has issued a recall for 380 million eggs possibly infected with salmonella. The recall started on Friday, Aug 13 with 228 million, but expanded to 380 million eggs on Wednesday, Aug 18.

The eggs are packaged under several brands – Albertson, Bayview, Boomsma’s, Dutch Farms, Farm Fresh, Hillandale, Kemps, Lucerne, Lund, Mountain Dairy, Nulaid, Ralph’s, Shoreland, Sunshine, Sun Valley, and Trafficanda – as well as served in restaurants. If you’re wondering if the eggs in your fridge have been recalled, check out this handy chart. Scroll down to the bottom of the chart for a lesson on how to read the codes on the egg carton.

Dutch Farms has accused Wright County Egg of packaging eggs and selling them under the Dutch Farms brand without the permission of Dutch Farms.

Health impacts on children linked to pollution are estimated to cost billions annually.

One of the hardest-hit state economies in the nation, Michigan could save up to 1.5% of its gross domestic product annually by protecting children from environmental exposures, according to a new report released Monday by the Michigan Network for Children’s Environmental Health. Entitled The Price of Pollution: Cost Estimates of Environment-Related Childhood Disease in Michigan, the report examines direct and indirect costs for four childhood diseases that are linked in part or whole to environmental toxins.

Most folks associate dietary sources of iron with animal foods like red meat and eggs. Fortunately, there are lots of veggie sources of iron, and with a little bit of knowledge, it’s easy to work sufficient iron into a vegan diet.

The tricky thing about dietary iron is that there are two sorts: heme and non-heme. Non-heme iron is the type found in plant sources of iron, and it is harder for the body to absorb than heme iron.

That said, according to the Vegetarian Resource Group, iron isn’t as big a concern for most vegans for a couple of different reasons:

The EU recently approved cultivation of a genetically modified potato through controversial means.

Since I’m living in Europe now, I have been slightly comforted to know that genetically modified (GM) crops could not be grown here. I thought that at least one small continent could remain free of this very unnatural phenomenon. Of course, I was just slightly comforted because 1) the rest of my family and most of my friends still live in the US and 2) I am concerned with the effects GM crops will have, and are already having, on the whole world.

Unfortunately, the small comfort I had in the EU not allowing GM crops to be grown within its borders has diminished significantly in the past month or so.

Spirulina is called the Earth’s healthiest Superfood. It is considered to be one of the cleanest foods on the planet and it is also packed with numerous essential nutrients.

This simple, one-celled form of blue-green algae is believed to have appeared on the Earth about 3 billion years ago. “Spirulina has since survived without much evolution until today, and therefore it still displays primitive features, but it is a thriving life form with an extremely high vitality.”  Nowadays spirulina is grown almost all over the world, but there are still many people that don’t know about the powerful benefits it can have on their health.

ScienceDaily (Apr. 1, 2010) — Occupational exposure to certain chemicals and pollutants before a woman reaches her mid-30s could treble her risk of developing cancer after the menopause, suggests research published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Women exposed to synthetic fibres and petroleum products during the course of their work seem to be most at risk, the research suggests.

The researchers base their findings on more than 1100 women, 556 of whom were diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996/7 in Montreal, Canada, when aged between 50 and 75 and who had gone through the menopause.

Coffee starts the days of many people. With some stomach irritation can prevent proper enjoyment of the brew. Scientists have reported recently the discovery of several substances that may be among the culprits responsible for brewing up heartburn and stomach pain in every cup. Their report, presented at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, included the counter-intuitive finding that espresso, French roast, and other dark-roasted coffee may be easier on the tummy because these roasts contain a substance that tells the stomach to reduce production of acid.

The research could lead to a new generation of stomach friendly brews with the rich taste and aroma of regular coffee.