Health Hodgepodge

I’ve been hanging onto several articles and things to share with everyone for a while, figuring they might interest the health-conscious folks on PNN. But it’s been one thing after another the past few weeks—a broken computer, a broken heater during a rare cold spell in Florida, a minor injury, lots of work, and  plenty of purchases, repairs, and things to make my new house a home. Now that I’m finally getting caught up, here’s a hodgepodge of health-related news that I thought was worth sharing:

E. coli Alert: A California company recalled more than 850,000 pounds of ground beef that was potentially contaminated with E. coli. A according to this news blurb, it was sold to restaurants and hotels in California between Feb. 19 and May 15, 2008, and between Jan 5. and Jan. 15, 2010. That’s quite a time span!  http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-01-18-california-company-ion-beef-recall_N.htm

Retail meat linked to urinary tract infections: New evidence suggests that eating chicken puts young women at risk for UTIs. This also pertains to E. coli bacteria, which, according to the article, can travel from the anus to the vagina and urethra during sex, which can lead to the infection. I hadn’t heard much about that before, but I have read about a 2006 Harvard study showing that people who frequently eat grilled skinless chicken have a 52 percent higher chance of developing bladder cancer than people who don’t. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100120144005.htm

Pork grown in lab shows promise: I’ve written about in-vitro meat before, but the topic is in the news again because Dutch scientists have been trying to grow pork in a Petri dish. This may make some people—especially vegans like me—a bit squeamish at first, but I figure that anyone who is willing to eat the dismembered body parts of sentient animals who were raised in feces-filled sheds and killed in blood-covered slaughterhouses, shouldn’t have a problem eating lab-grown meat. It’s actually an appetizing alternative that can benefit animals, the environment, and human health. (In-vitro meat wouldn’t contain hormones, antibiotics, and harmful bacteria, and no one would have to live downwind of an animal factory either.)  Of course, while  in-vitro meat won’t be available for several years,  mock meats and other vegetarian foods can be found in supermarkets today, so it makes more sense  just to go veg. If only more people would try to…http://www.star-telegram.com/238/story/1897846.html

High cholesterol puts 1 in 5 teens at risk for heart disease: Yikes! This news comes just in time for American Heart Month (February) and should open some eyes.  In case anyone doesn’t know, meat, eggs, and dairy products are the only dietary sources of cholesterol—and they’re all high in saturated fat too, which explains why most of the “at risk” kids are overweight or even obese. That’s another sensible reason to go vegan if you ask me.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/21/AR2010012102481.html

Is the USDA trying to kill our kids?: Last but not least, please check out my blog about the USDA’s recent gaffe. A January 15 USDA blog inadvertently stated that the organization was making every effort to make sure that today's kids have a shorter lifespan than their parents. They’ve since corrected the error, but they've done little to fix the unhealthy school lunches that lead to childhood obesity and life-threatening diseases. The mistake would be funny if it weren’t so sad. There is a poll at the end of the blog, so please vote if you have a second. http://www.care2.com/causes/health-policy/blog/is-the-usda-trying-to-kill-our-kids/