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Win a Free Copy of Somebody's Daughter at The Opinionated Parent

Fresh from the writers' conference, I have books on my mind. Nicely coincidentally, The Opinionated Parent ran a review of Somebody's Daughter--and you can win a free copy of it just by commenting! Check it out here.

Do American birds taste funny because we chlorinate them?

I'm baa--aack.

We were fed by Aramark, which a colleague described as the "Blackwater of caterers." This friend goes to a lot of different writers' conferences and says that the food, whether in Vermont, Tennessee, Ohio, etc., is always the same soylent-greenesque plasma. People actually thought I was vegetarian, as in my zeal to avoid MSG, nitrates, mad cow, bad tasting meat, I pretty much stuff to the salad bad hummus (metabisulphates, probably) and salad (pesticides, but oh well). So MAN FERTILITY sent me this tidbit from Slate. I know they already feed chickens arsenic, antiobiotics, other chickens, but chlorine??

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Funky Chicken: Do American birds taste funny because we chlorinate them?

By Nina Shen Rastogi
Posted Monday, July 28, 2008, at 6:58 PM ET


Barack Obama was vague about key trade issues during his recent trip to Europe, according to an analysis published in Friday's New York Times. The article referred specifically to the 11-year European ban on importing chlorinated chickens from the United States, a sanction that "is less about safety than about taste." Does chlorine really make our chickens taste funky?

read more here.

Farmer Jane is going South

A little break for GreenFertility; I'm headed to the Sewanee Writers' Conference. And you can see even though we have a super dinky yard, we cram a lot of food into it. (oops, Blogger's down, but if I can upload the photos of our two raised beds, I will).

MAN FERTILITY, I trust will continue to water and compost!

Wear your watch on your RIGHT wrist to help your heart

[p.s. I fixed this to reflect some copyright laws I wasn't aware of]

After that post on how metals on your body can do weird things to you, I stopped wearing my watch and have forgotten to put it on. What's odd is that I feel different. Not better/worse, but different. But I always instinctively take the watch off when I meditate, etc. I'm very sensitive to energy. So check this out:

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Author: Victoria Anisman-Reiner
Published: Apr 4, 2007

If you’re right-handed, you probably wear a watch on your left wrist. You might consider switching, however, when you consider the impact that your watch’s battery can have on the health of your heart meridian and, ultimately, on your heart.

...Wearing any piece of jewelry for long can bring on fatigue or have the opposite effect and make the wearer over-energized. Some people are so sensitive that they have to remove earrings or other jewelry after only a few minutes, because the metal charges with their energy and begins to affect the way they feel.

read more here.

Big belly = bad sperm!

Stop genetic damage before it happens--maintain an ideal weight!
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By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer Wed Jul 9, 12:14 PM ET
BARCELONA, Spain - Too many fatty foods are dangerous not only to men's waistlines, but to their sperm production.

In research presented Wednesday at a meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, scientists found that obese men have worse sperm than normal-weight men.

"There is a very long list of health hazards from being overweight," said Ghiyath Shayeb, the study's lead researcher at the University of Aberdeen. "Now we can add poor semen quality to the list."

But experts aren't sure if that necessarily means obese men face major difficulties having children.

"If you have a man who isn't fantastically fertile with a normal partner who is fertile, her fertility will compensate," said Dr. William Ledger, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Britain's University of Sheffield, who was unconnected to the study.

But if both partners are heavy, Ledger said that could be a problem, since obesity is known to decrease women's fertility.

Shayeb and colleagues analyzed the sperm samples of more than 5,000 men in Scotland, and divided the men into groups according to their Body Mass Index. Men who had an optimal BMI (20 to 25) had higher levels of normal sperm than those who were overweight or obese.

Fat men had a 60 percent higher chance of having a low volume of semen, according to Shayeb's research. They also had a 40 percent higher chance of having some sperm abnormalities.

Shayeb and colleagues found that underweight men were just as likely to have the same problems as obese men. "But there were not many underweight men in Scotland," he noted.

The researchers adjusted their analysis to account for other factors that could have affected men's sperm count, like smoking, alcohol intake, history of drug abuse, and age.

"Male fitness and health are clearly linked to a man's fertility," said Neil McClure, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Queen's University in Belfast.

The study supported results of an earlier sperm study done by doctors at hospitals and universities in Denmark.

There are several theories about why obese men might have bad sperm. Because fat tissue influences the metabolism of sex hormones, scientists think it might also disrupt sperm production.

It could also be a temperature problem. Sperm is best produced at a temperature two degrees cooler than normal body temperature. But because obese men have more fat, Shayeb said their bodies might be overheated.

Another study presented at the conference concluded that diabetes in men damages their sperm and is linked to male infertility.

Con Mallidis and colleagues at Queen's University in Belfast examined semen samples from nearly 40 men who were being treated for diabetes, but were not overweight. They found significant DNA damage linked to the excess sugar in the body from diabetes.

They found that diabetic men had twice the rate of DNA damage in their sperm as men without diabetes.

American Academy Of Pediatrics: Put 'em on Drugs!

I am aware that doctors really hate it when patients look to empower themselves by looking up stuff on the internet, but right here, right now, I have to say the American Academy of Pediatrics is WACKED. Putting 8-year olds on cholesterol lowering drugs when it already seems like this drugs may be harming ADULTS?

When we first had J, because MAN FERTILITY and I had no clue about how to raise a kid, we took every word from our pedi as the gospel truth. Now I question everything the AAP says and does (hello, ridiculous vaccine schedule, anyone?), and I urge you to, too.

p.s. our pedi hinted I was a hysterical mom when I insisted there was something wrong with J. Turned out it was his spinal cord tumor that almost paralyzed him. Needless to say, she is our ex-pediatrician. She never apologized for that and other major screwups. I hate feeling like I have to practically spend as much time studying biology, etc., as she did for a career that makes her $$$, thus, the Fertility Bitch. But what are you going to do to protect yourself and your loved ones? I am grateful to have the resources of the science library here at Brown.

p.s. if you have a child with autism/vaccine damage, check out this site: www.reversingautism.org. This is run by a person who is doing some original thinking to help her own kids--and mine--in the gentlest way possible.

From the New York Times:

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8 Year olds on Statins?

By TARA PARKER-POPE

Cholesterol drugs for 8-year-olds?

This aggressive new recommendation for warding off heart disease in some children has stirred a furious debate among pediatricians since the American Academy of Pediatrics issued it on Monday.

While some doctors applauded the idea, others were incredulous. In particular, these doctors called attention to a lack of evidence that the use of the cholesterol-lowering drugs, called statins, in children would prevent heart attacks later in life.

“What are the data that show this is helpful preventing heart attacks?” asked Dr. Darshak Sanghavi, a pediatric cardiologist and assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. “How many heart attacks do we hope to prevent this way? There’s no data regarding that.”

Nor, Dr. Sanghavi added, are there data on the possible side effects of taking statins for 40 or 50 years. [ahhh, but think of the revenue!]

Other doctors said the recommendation would distract from common-sense changes in diet and exercise, which are also part of the new guidelines.

“To be frank, I’m embarrassed for the A.A.P. today,” said Dr. Lawrence Rosen of Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, vice chairman of an academy panel on traditional and alternative medicine. He added: “Treatment with medications in the absence of any clear data? I hope they’re ready for the public backlash.”

Doctors who sat on the academy’s committee on nutrition, which issued the guidelines, agree there are no long-term data on statin use in children. But they say there are adequate safety data to justify the recommendations. One statin, Pravachol, has already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in children as young as 8.

read more here.

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Metal earrings and tooth fillings 'cause chronic back pain'

My father, an acupuncturist, was SOOOOO against me getting my ears pierced. So I waited until I was in college. It was kin dof a yucky process (and now my students have multiple piercings, eeek). The good thing is that when I was training for my black belt in Korea, I was working out 2x/day and didn't wear earrings at all because I'd have to take them out. So guess what, the holes closed. Now, clip ons are good enough for me.

Best not to fool with Mother Nature...

From the UK's Daily Mail:

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Metal earrings and tooth fillings could be the cause of chronic back pain, experts claimed last night.

Pieces of metal that pierce or even just touch the skin could be setting off a massive chain reaction in the body, sending hundreds of muscles out of alignment.

And even the smallest bits of metal - such as tooth fillings - could be the cause of major agony in muscles far away.

Experts say the nervous system automatically tries to move body parts away from metal objects because they are uncomfortable to the skin that surrounds them.

The muscles used in that movement will then place strain on other, larger muscles as they constantly try to maintain a distance.

The result, according to a growing school of thought, is whole body stresses that cannot be cured by any amount of rest, exercise or nutrition.

However, experts say the good news is that something as simple as removing jewellery or having a metal filling replaced with an acrylic one could be all that is needed to end years of agony.

Chiropractor Simon King is one of around 250 professionals who are telling patients that the answer to their chronic back pain could be very straight-forward indeed.

"I've always been fascinated and confused that some people with massive injuries made a quick recovery while others with minor strains took forever to get better," he said.

"Then I made a remarkable discovery. Most patients who struggled to recover from pain or injury had metal touching or piercing their skin."

Mr King says earrings are a common cause of back and neck pain, dentistry and jewellery such as necklaces and watches can cause pain and arthritis.

read more here.

Americans Wasting Food

With all the hunger around the world (think of the Haitians and their dirt biscuits), it's astounding to think we waste a pound of food per person per day. Yikes! My solution is growing some of our own food in our dinky backyard. With all the sweat that goes into growing things, I'm diving after every dropped lettuce leaf. Don't take your food for granted!

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By Inspired Protagonist - June 2, 2008

It's hard for most of us to imagine what it's like to go to sleep hungry, let alone to watch a child die slowly from starvation. We read the headlines about global food prices. We see charts that show how prices of corn, wheat, rice, and soybeans have more than doubled in the last year. And we watch pictures of food riots on the TV news. But it seems there's little that we can do to make things right.

Two years ago, I purchased a diesel car that I converted to run on vegetable oil. Even though I no longer own it, I wonder if my well-intended decision, which seemed so clear back then, makes any sense today?

Andrew Martin, of the New York Times -- one of my hiking companions on a recent trek through Costa Rica's rainforest -- did some research on how much of the food we grow ends up in the trash instead of on the dinner table. "As it turns out, Americans waste an astounding amount of food -- an estimated 27 percent of the food available for consumption, according to a government study -- and it happens at the supermarket, in restaurants and cafeterias, and in your very own kitchen. It works out to about a pound of food every day for every American.

Fireworks and Thyroid

I'm not a big fireworks person--the noise! I'm sensitive. But Mary Shomon from About.Com has another reason I migh tnot like them: My thyroid!
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As America gears up for the traditional Fourth of July fireworks displays, scientists are looking at ways to make fireworks more environmentally friendly, while minimizing potential health risks. Chemical & Engineering News has an interesting story, Pyrotechnics For The Planet, that focuses on the use of potassium perchlorate in fireworks, and the connection between perchlorate to thyroid problems. You can also read Roland Piquepaille's blog recap of the situation at ZDNet.

Also, learn more about how the thyroid is affected by perchlorate -- which is a byproduct of rocket and firework production that is contaminating water supplies around the nation.

_{Photo: clipart.com}

Don't Eat Rock Hard pears

Conceptually, eating food that's been picked in one place and shipped over ungodly distances already seems unappetizing. But there are also real nutritional factors involved (i.e., eat local when you can! plant a garden and fruit trees!)


From Realage.com
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We’ve all seen those hard-as-rock pears at the supermarket, picked well before their prime. Well, here’s a reason you might want to pass on them.

Or at least let them ripen on your kitchen counter before you bite. A pear (or an apple) at its peak offers something extra -- a special kind of antioxidant that only develops once it’s ripe.

Do It Ripe
We know fruits like apples and pears are chock-full of flavonoids. Now, research shows that when ripe, these fruits contain additional potent disease fighters: NCCs (short for nonfluorescent chlorophyll catabolites -- say that three times). As fruit ripens, chlorophyll breaks down and forms NCCs. And it turns out NCCs pack quite the antioxidant wallop!
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p.s. I'm not the hugest pear fan, but I do believe there are some sorts of pears that never get squishy, just the way there are several varieties of persimmon. Ask you friendly fruit seller.

Another bonus: pears don't feed yeast!