food (Page 13)

We all have tastes we love, and tastes we hate. And yet, our preferences for certain flavors and foods can change over time, as we get older or we get tired of eating the same old thing.

Scientists have long assumed that our antipathy towards bitter tastes evolved as a defense mechanism to detect potentially harmful toxins in plants. Our taste buds are trying to help us avoid digesting any glucosinolates, which inhibit iodine uptake by the thyroid, increasing the risk of a goiter and altering the levels of thyroid hormones. The ability to detect and avoid naturally-occurring glucosinolates would confer a selective advantage to the over 1 billion people who presently eat foods with low levels of iodine and thus are at risk.
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Drinking sodas, instead of water, with meals and in between meals, is one of the primary causes of obesity in the US. Since these sodas are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup made from corn, they may even lead to Alzheimer’s disease. Now it’s been discovered that cola contributes to osteoporosis, the disease that causes brittle bones, especially in elderly women.

According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, over half of Americans, mostly women, are at risk of developing osteoporosis, a disease that leads to bone fractures. Nutritionist Katherine Tucker has discovered that colas, such as Coke and Pepsi, may contribute to lower bone mineral density in older women.
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We have too much corn in this country, and we’re subsidizing farmers to grow even more of it. Europe doesn’t use it and South Americans grow their own. If we didn’t feed it to cattle, but let them graze instead, eating meat would not raise our cholesterol levels. Corn, which seems so benign, could actually be considered evil. In the form of high-fructose corn syrup, which is the sweetener in soft drinks and fast and processed foods, it is one of the primary reasons for the type II diabetes epidemic in this country. Now scientists have learned that the fatty acids from corn, which raise “bad” cholesterol levels, actually FIGHT OFF the good fat we get from fish!
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Bad news for the Labor Day weekend: hot dogs may be even MORE unhealthy than you suspected they were. But here’s the good news: lobsters DO NOT feel pain when cooked.

LiveScience.com reports that hot dogs may contain compounds that cause mutations in your DNA that could increase your risk of developing cancer. There is a huge variation in the amounts of these chemicals between different brands, depending on how the hot dogs are made.
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