"disease" news and stories

If you're an Indian food freak like me, then you're probably already familiar with the bright yellow, woodsy, pungent spice, turmeric, a relative of ginger. And if you've been reading slashfood, you already know that turmeric is now being studied for its medicinal value, possibly preventing and treating diseases like Alzheimer's, arthritis, cystic fibrosis, and various forms of cancer.

Turmeric's active ingredient, curcurin, is what reserachers believe fights disease by disabling a protein that promotes an abnormal inflammatory response in the body. In addition, turmeric is believed to have antioxidant properties as well as the ability to lower cholesterol. It is abnormal inflammation and oxidation that contribute to diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, arthritis and cancer.

To take advantage of what could possibly be a great disease-fighting ingredient, check out some of these favorite food blogs that spotlight Indian foods: Mahanandi, Mental Masala, My Dhaba, and The Cook's Cottage, In Praise of Sardines, and Hooked on Heat.

A study was done recently that concluded that obesity might be contagious. This conclusion was extrapolated from data that showed an increase in the weight of chickens who had been exposed to the human adenovirus Ad-37. Adenoviruses can cause colds and other illnesses in humans. The reasoning seems to follow this line of thought: Chickens, when exposed to a particular, contagious human virus, got fat . Since it is a human virus, humans who catch this virus will get fat. Since the virus is contagious, it follows that obesity is contagious.

So is obesity only contagious when the carrier of the virus has a cold? Can you catch it from sitting next to someone on an airplane? To say that this line of reasoning is flawed is an understatement. It is simply incorrect.

Simply because a cold can cause a chicken (or a human, for that matter) to gain weight does not mean that all weight gain is caused by colds in general or this virus in particular. Nor does it mean that because colds are contagious, so is weight gain. Someone needs to retake their deductive reasoning courses.

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Global health authorities say that there is currently no bird flu in the Western Hemisphere and the most likely way for it to enter the United States would be through birds smuggled in as pets or for cockfighting, or else from migratory birds, particularly ducks and geese. Nearly every chicken consumed in the US is raised here. Commercially bred chickens, including many "free range" birds, are raised inside giant airplane-hangar sized complexes and almost never see the light of day. Outdoor-raised chickens are usually kept away from wild birds with netting. The birds that are most at risk are unconfined birds and home raised birds, which may mingle with wild or migratory birds that carry the disease.

Almost all US chicken farmers have joined a program to test chicken flocks for the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, which has already killed millions of birds in Asia and 76 humans. The producers who have joined the USDA's program - under which chickens from every flock will be tested approximately two weeks before slaughter - account for 90% of the US chicken production. Should an infection be detected, the flock will be destroyed and all flocks in a two mile radius will be held for further testing. State and national officials strongly recommend that even privately raised birds be brought in for testing on a regular basis.

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