sutton067

How did our food get so bad? Ironically, the catastrophic decline in food quality began more than 200 years ago with breathtaking improvement. The Industrial Revolution, which would transform the lives of billions, was really a series of smaller, mutually reinforcing revolutions: The industrial energy revolution, the industrial transportation revolution, the industrial chemicals revolution, and so on. One of these was the industrial food revolution. From around 1800 to about 1950, all of the major food problems that had plagued mankind for centuries were largely solved by industrialization, at least for people in the minority of countries that industrialized during this period. Famine, food-borne illness, lack of food variety, basic nutritional deficiencies among the poor and other problems were largely eliminated for millions. Agriculture machinery, chemicals, railroads and trucks, factory assembly lines, refrigeration, pasteurization, sterilization and other industrial-revolution inn...

Tart cherries have a unique combination of powerful antioxidants that may help reduce inflammation http://bit.ly/hJOYvv Strange but true: the brain is shaped by bacteria in the digestive tract http://bit.ly/hj1FWY Type 2 diabetes may be an autoimmune disease http://lat.ms/hbmfMW YMCA survey: 74% of US kids don't get minimum exercise; 74% of parents choose TV for family time. Coincidence? http://bit.ly/fRJ4J7 How to reduce BPA exposure from food http://bit.ly/hpRlln Losing weight improves your memory! http://usat.ly/eJ37bI Nationwide study finds US beef and poultry is widely contaminated http://bit.ly/fM8moH Nearly three-quarters of samples tested of top-selling imported olive oil failed extra virgin standards. http://lat.ms/fJe4gO Why tea is better than coffee, green tea better than black, and white better than green. http://lifehac.kr/idOkLQ The science is clear: Sugar can also make us fat and unhealthy http://bit.ly/hMAvDs How the military is being hammered by obesity and yo yo...

The makers of an upcoming documentary called Wine From Here have posted a trailer for the movie. The documentary is about the burgeoning natural wine movement in California, which is a post-industrial process for making wine without the long list of chemicals, additives and processes used by industrial wine makers. Most natural wine makers use grapes from vineyards that are unsprayed and sometimes even unirrigated. They add no sugar or yeast, make no changes for acidity and they add either very little or no sulphite (the stuff universally overused in industrial wine that can wreck the flavor). Natural wine is a global movement, but the documentary focuses on 14 winemakers in California. We're really glad this documentary has been made, because anyone who drinks wine needs to understand how conventional wine is made (it won't be pretty), and also why natural wine is so much better. Our own favorite natural wine maker, A Donkey and Goat , is featured in the documentary.

The standard villain in any discussion of the global health crisis is the so-call " Western diet ." The meaty, sugary, refined-grain and processed-food heavy diet is blamed for the unprecedented growth of obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and all the rest. "Western" is convenient shorthand. Unfortunately, it's also intellectually dishonest, lazy and inaccurate. The "West" refers generally to Europe and its former colonies. It's a legitimate cultural designation based on historical reality. Europe was a creation of the Roman Empire, which itself was largely modeled on classical Greece. The "West" is Ancient Greece and its cultural descendants. The traditions that began in Greece, which served as the foundation for our views about Democracy, science, architecture, philosophy and more also included a culture of food. And while key aspects of the Greek cultural tradition (Plato, Socrates, etc.) was lost, then rediscovered during the R...

Your mother told you that "germs are bad." The germ theory of disease says that we get sick when pathogenic microorganisms invade and infect our bodies. Your best bet is to wash your hands and avoid sick people -- at least that's what we were told. In recent years, we've learned a lot more about how the immune system works -- or doesn't work. It turns out that pathogenic microorganisms are invading our bodies every day. They're in the air we breathe and the food we eat. They're on the surface of just about everything we touch. Not getting sick is more about fighting germs than avoiding them. Our immune systems are engaged in a constant battle, and usually destroy these bugs before they can cause our bodies to generate noticeable symptoms. The most interesting update to the germ theory is that, yes, microorganisms can make us sick -- but when we don't get sick it's usually because other microorganisms protected us. Some 200 trillion tiny creatures -...

The huge range of harmless and beneficial microbes that live in our guts may be the key to health without antibiotics. http://bit.ly/fk2WOD Why the United States has the highest rates of cancer in the world (TEDtalk video) http://bit.ly/i1dOrr How optimal fitness has changed the life of one 46-year-old http://bit.ly/g8YQH9 Add anorexia to the growing list of diseases that used to affect only adults but now hit very young children: http://bit.ly/gXwZAo Vitamin D and sunshine key to pregnancy health http://bit.ly/ieAHpD The most common heart rhythm disturbance, called an atrial fibrillation, is largely preventable with healthy diet. http://bit.ly/fES0Tx Coffee after high-fat meal can raise blood sugar to harmful levels http://bit.ly/eiOuQx Get outside and get some sunshine, people! Vitamin D levels linked with health of blood vessels http://bit.ly/e9doAw Exercise gets more necessary with age, not less http://usat.ly/eceXHP Probiotic bacteria could help treat Crohn's disease http://b...