Science

Organic Milk Beats Conventional Milk for Nutrition, Says UK Study

by Jan Ellen Spiegel, Posted Jan 19th 2011 @ 4:00PM

organic milk bottle Photo: sarah sosiak, Flickr

It's long been exasperating to the organic food industry -- the oft-stated belief that organic food is most notable for what it doesn't give you – all those yummy pesticides and chemicals. Nutritionally, common wisdom goes, organic food is no better for you than the conventional stuff.

Maybe not.

A study by researchers at Newcastle University,in England, published in the Journal of Dairy Science, has poked a hole in that thinking, showing that organic milk does have some nutritional advantages over conventional -- less saturated fat and more "good" fatty acids -- specifically omega-3s.

Testing 10 organic and 12 conventional milks sold in British grocery stores (not raw at the farm), seasonally over two years, lead researcher Gillian Butler found the organic milk more consistently showed healthier fat levels, which she believes is a result of the cows' greater reliance on grazing and their ingestion of larger amounts of clover -- typically planted in organic operations for the nitrogen that conventional fertilizers would otherwise provide.

Filed under: Science, Farming, Health & Medical

The Nose Knows Beer

COMMENTS 1

by Joshua M. Bernstein, Posted Jan 14th 2011 @ 4:00PM

sniffing beer Photo: Tojosan, Flickr

When it comes to identifying the aromas of beer, the scientific community has spoken: Your nose is no good.

While trained sniffers -- both men and, increasingly, women -- have long helped assure quality control in brewing, the scientists claim human noses are slow to assess scents, they're subjective, easily fatigued and require pretty expensive upkeep. What, you think those Kleenex are going to pay for themselves?

Instead, in a review published in Trends in Food Science & Technology, scientists from Spain and Iran (hardly global brewing powerhouses, mind you) offered an alternative to a human schnoz: an electronic nose. "The demand for electronic noses in brewing is growing because the versatility and ease of operation of these instruments make them suitable for quick and accurate analysis of beers or for monitoring quality in the production process," the scientists wrote.

Filed under: Science, Drinks

Eating on the Brain

COMMENTS 1

by Jan Ellen Spiegel, Posted Jan 11th 2011 @ 3:00PM

Photos: Getty Images

You know that little voice in your head that looks at a big plate of fresh cookies and whispers, "You'd better eat just one?" Turns out, in people who are already obese, it may be a teeny-tiny voice or missing altogether.

That's the finding of brain researcher Dr. Antonio Convit, a professor of psychiatry and medicine at the New York University School of Medicine and the Nathan Kline Institute, reports New Scientist magazine. Convit and others have long been aware that type 2 diabetes is associated with memory difficulties, the result of a diabetic's inability to increase fuel for the brain to conduct the kind of problem solving that will, for instance, allow them to remember where the heck they put their car keys.

Figuring something similar might occur in people who were obese, Convit looked at the brains of 44 middle-aged obese people and 19 lean ones, using MRI's and other tests.

What he found were changes in the obese subjects in two parts of the brain that play major roles in eating. In obese people there was more water in the amygdala, which, among its functions, regulates feeding behavior. He also found that the orbital frontal cortex of the brains of obese people was smaller, which meant it had less ability to perform one of its key functions -- inhibit automatic responses -- such as the impulse to eat that whole plate of cookies.

Filed under: Science, Health & Medical

Extreme Beer: Why Do We Love It?

COMMENTS 0

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Dec 30th 2010 @ 3:00PM

extreme beer Pliny the Younger from Russian River Brewing Photo: --Mark--, Flickr

American craft beers keep upping the hops content, making them more and more bitter. But, reports Lizzie Buchen, in New Scientist magazine, humans have a universal dislike for bitter flavors. "Many bitter substances are at best nutritionally useless and at worst downright toxic," Buchen writes, "so we have evolved ways to protect ourselves. Placing a bitter foodstuff on the tongue will trigger a reflex reaction that encourages us to spit it out, or increase saliva flow to wash the taste away. A harmless bitter substance inserted directly into a person's stomach will generally induce nausea."

So why are we running after bitter beers with names like HopSlam?

Psychologists, chemists, neuroscientists and brewers offer Buchen a complex web of reasons, ranging from our craving to be considered connoisseurs to a basic love of carbs ("bitter, hoppy beers often have a higher content of sugar-releasing malts, making for a more intense carbohydrate fix"). And, of course, there's the old "benign masochism" that University of Pennsylvania psychologist Paul Rozin speaks about: pure and simple thrill-seeking, pushing ourselves to the limits of pain, for pure pleasure.

Read the full story at New Scientist (Note that you have to register with the site for access, but it's worth it: This is one of the best science mags on the market.)

And for our resident beer expert Joshua Bernstein's take on a high-hops brew see his post "Hoppin' Frog B.O.R.I.S. the Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout.

Filed under: Science, Drinks

Food Fantasies Equal Weight Loss

COMMENTS 5

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Dec 14th 2010 @ 3:00PM

chocolate truffles Photo: tlboyd05, Flickr

In your mind you're downing a pint of dulce de leche ice cream, or, if you're a savory fanatic, maybe you're daydreaming of lacing into a bowl of gooey mac and cheese. You do this often. Before too long, miracle of miracles, your waistline gets smaller.

According to a recent study published in the journal Science, it all makes sense. When it comes to weight loss, suppressing cravings doesn't work. Visualization does. Remember "inner tennis," where sports psychologists determined that concentration and thinking through a game improved play? Apparently, indulging in food fantasies leads to diet success.

Maybe it's time to concentrate on chocolate. Find out more about this study, and the psychology of eating, by reading the whole story at AOL Health.

And, while we're on the subject, check out today's chocolate giveaway from Chocri. Just in case you want to put the daydreams on hold.

Filed under: Science, Health & Medical

Robots to the Rescue

COMMENTS 1

by Jason Best, Posted Dec 7th 2010 @ 1:00PM

robot to debone a ham Photo: YouTube

We may still be a long way from the kind of future where C3PO is on hand to decant your favorite wine for you, but it seems we're inching ever closer to the age of the robot.

To wit, the recent Fourth Robot Awards, in Japan, where two industrial food-processing robots took top prizes. The first is a machine that looks downright terrifying -- just a long, sleek robot arm with a gleaming knife welded to one end. It's the HAMDAS-R, developed by Mayekawa Electric, and it's designed to remove ham bones -- a lot of them. Five hundred in an hour, which is twice as fast as a human's capability to debone a ham.

As Popular Science reports, what's previously kept robots out of the gruesome business of meat processing is that they generally haven't been so good at telling the difference between meat and bone, leaving results that we're guessing looked something like tossing a pork chop into a blender. The HAMDAS-R, however, "is able to consistently distinguish meat from bone," which garnered it the top prize in the Small Business and Venture category.

Filed under: Science, Gadgets

Introducing the Frankenapple

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by Jessie Cacciola, Posted Nov 29th 2010 @ 1:00PM

sliced apples Photo: Just Karen, Flickr

Hold up, frankenfish. While the USDA is still hung up on whether to approve genetically modified salmon, it appears there's a new mutant on the table: a genetically modified apple that won't brown.

Designed by British Columbia-based Okanagan Specialty Fruits, the new "Arctic" apple -- or what critics are calling the "botox apple," reports Gawker -- is said to have "silencing" enzymes, which would prevent it from looking old, no matter how old it gets. While this may be arguably okay for foreheads, we take it most people would rather know when their food is past its prime. Just like waxing fruit and piping nitrogen into fish to make it look younger, preventing fruit to brown would no longer allow us to know when it's gone bad.

According to the Associated Press, the company "licensed the non-browning technology from Australian researchers who pioneered it in potatoes." Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety, tells the AP that this technology "appears to benefit apple growers and shippers more than consumers." He's predicting failure.

The president of Okanagan Specialty Fruits, Neal Carter, happens to agree: "Some people won't like it just because of what it is." Yep, seems reason enough, we think. But, he adds, "people will see the process used to get it had very sound science." Excuse us, Mr. Carter, but so did the atomic bomb.

Filed under: Science, Food Politics

Pumpkin Pie Scent Is a Turn-on For Men

COMMENTS 18

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Nov 24th 2010 @ 12:00PM

pumpkin pie for thanksgiving Photo: Getty Images

Hold the spritz of Calvin Klein Obsession, ladies and gentlemen. If you want to arouse your man, get a pumpkin pie baking in the oven. And, no, that is not a metaphor. According to a new study conducted by Chicago's Smell and Taste Treatment Research Center, the smell of pumpkin pie turns men on. Of the 40 scents tested (including strawberry, lavender, and vanilla), the odor of the spiced squash in a crust "increased the men's penile blood flow by an average of 40 percent" by reducing anxiety, and thus eliminating inhibitions. Get the whole story (and a lot more dish) at our sister site, Lemondrop.com.

And get baking! Here's Curtis Stone's recipe for Homemade Pumpkin Pie with Caramelized Walnuts to get the party started.

Filed under: Science, On the Blogs, Recipes

Gourmets in Orbit: A New Generation of Space Food

COMMENTS 1

by Jason Best, Posted Nov 8th 2010 @ 4:00PM

space food Photo: Kaptain Kobold, Flickr

Split-pea soup, grilled pork chop, peach ambrosia -- doesn't exactly sound like the sort of meal you'd expect orbiting some 200 miles above the earth.

Manned space flight may not have progressed much beyond the moon, but astronaut grub has come a long way. Since the 2009 release of The Astronaut's Cookbook: Tales, Recipes, and More by two veterans of NASA's food technology program, Americans who had long thought that our men and women in space were still subsisting on rations of Tang and chicken-in-tubes have been surprised to learn the truth: As a matter of fact, what's being eat up there among the stars doesn't sound that different from what you might see being served up on the Food Network.

To wit, Emeril Lagasse's spicy green beans have become an out-of-this-world favorite, while NASA is working to convert Top Chef contestant Angelo Sosa's ginger-lacquered short ribs with pea purée, pickled mushrooms and horseradish crème fraiche into space-worthy fare.

Sheesh, and it's hard to even get a bag of pretzels on an airplane anymore.

Filed under: Science, News

"Magic" Diet Crystals to Go Global

COMMENTS 18

by Jason Best, Posted Nov 8th 2010 @ 2:00PM

sensa crystals Photo: TrySensa.com

It sounds like a New Age spin on the timeworn promises of diet aids everywhere: Sprinkle crystals on your food and -- abracadabra! -- start shedding weight.

The makers of Sensa, of course, claim that there's more science than hocus-pocus behind their product. Much of the rest of the scientific community, including U.K. neuropsychologist Dominic Dwyer, isn't so sure. Nevertheless, the magic-seeming crystals that two years ago promised dieters in America that they could lose weight without having to exercise or change what they eat are getting ready to take the world by storm.

Filed under: Science, Health & Medical