Results tagged “nutrition” from 60 Second Science

There was a dark period in my young life where I consumed between 2 and 40 cans of coke a day — not Diet Coke or Pepsi, mind you, but pure, unfiltered, Triple-C Coca-Cola Classic. (Only the best for my body, I always say). I had to quit when my sugar levels got so high I would lift a bus but then crash hard and take a nap right on the curb after I threw it. That's how the cops find you.

I hadn't thought about it much since, but now I'm a little bit worried about my past: Drinking two or more cola drinks, artificially sweetened or not, can lead to a twofold risk of chronic, serious kidney disease, according to a study published in the journal Epidemiology.

Colas contain high levels of phosphoric acid, which has been linked to kidney stones and renal problems, but the evidence was considered largel anecdotal and circumstantial until the NIH decided to investigate.

Continue reading 'Put down the Coke, Lindsay — no, the one you're drinking — unless you want kidney problems' >

I live near the mountains, which attracts all types of people who seek to be closer to nature in lifestyle without really being prepared for it — most don't know how to stay warm in the winter, and if they had to, they couldn't even slay an elk with their bare hands, like me. But basically, it means while waiting in line at Vitamin Cottage I have to listen to all sorts of yupster hippies complain about all of us rubes who cook our food, thereby robbing it of Mother Nature's natural nutritional gifts. (The raw foodists look like they're talking amongst themselves, but all along I see them shooting sidelong glances at me. So what if I still have steak in the corners of my mouth? I don't complain about your licey dreads; I just cut them off while you sleep.)

Anyway, put down that buckwheat stalk, Sunshine, and listen up: New evidence by Italian researchers shows that cooking certain types of food might actually boost its nutritional value. In the Dec. 26 issue of ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Nicoletta Pellegrini and colleagues from the University of Parma tested the effects of boiling, steaming and frying on the nutritional components of carrots, zucchini and broccoli. Not surprisingly, frying reduced the antioxidant compounds of the vegetables, but boiling and steaming maintained antioxidant levels across the board. In broccoli, steaming actually increased the content of glucosinolates, a group of plant compounds lauded for their cancer-fighting abilities.

Continue reading 'Eat it, raw foodists: Cooking can boost nutrional value of vegetables' >

Despite the fact that there are millions of people around the world suffering from it, HIV is actually surprisingly hard to transmit. Each time a man has unprotected sex with an HIV-positive man, his risk of becoming infected is only 82 in 10,000, and the risk is even lower for heterosexual sex: a woman only has a 9 in 10,000 chance of contracting the virus from an HIV-positive male during an unprotected sexual encounter. Researchers have long wondered why this is, and whether our bodies have some kind of preliminary line of defense against the virus.

Continue reading 'Why is HIV so prevalent in Africa?' >