"minerals" news and stories

Last week results from a soil test came back to NASA from the Phoenix Lander, which is currently on Mars. Turns out that the soil is "slightly alkaline" with several different minerals (magnesium, sodium, potassium and chloride) already mixed in. Further test results will tell NASA whether the soil also has nitrogen or sulfates.

Do you know what that means? According to Scientific American, it means that Mars' soil could possibly grow vegetables that we have here on earth. Apparently, veggies like turnips, asparagus, and green beans make the best candidates. They'd have to be grown under the surface or in green houses due to the harsh ultra violet rays that penetrate to the surface of the planet, though.

Who knows, maybe in the next few decades you'll see vegetables indicating they're a product of Mars, right next to those from earthly locations.

My friends, I have a serious addiction. I gave up cigarettes almost two years ago. I finally quit chewing that nasty Nicorette gum to get over the cigarettes. I am gently weaning myself off the patch. (It's a long process, but worth it!)

No, no. I am not addicted to nicotine -- anymore, that is. I am addicted to vitamin C.

You know what Emergen-C is, right? It's that somewhat expensive powdered vitamin and mineral super-boost that you add to water (somewhat like Airborne) and drink. The thing is, it's not like I go through true withdrawal symptoms like getting jittery or twitching if I don't have my usual fix of Emergen-C three times a day. It's just that, well, for some reason, I can't stop drinking it. Most people drink it when they are sick, or when they can feel illnes coming on. I drink it everyday. In fact, I don't even "drink" the powder dissolved in the prescribed 8 oz of water. I add a tiny amount of water, stir it up, and shoot it. I am addicted to it, and I have to take it like a shot because it actually does taste pretty horrible. Then again, for a lot of people, this is considered "medicine."

I suppose there are worse things I could be drinking morning, noon, and night, that are far worse than a raspberry flavored fizzy vitamin booster!

What are you addicted to that you eat/drink it at least three times a day?! Come on. Don't make me feel like the only weirdo.

I haven't added salt to food in 15 years. I have high blood pressure and don't want to risk any possible increase. Besides, a lot of food we eat already has enough salt in it and I haven't missed it. If I add anything at all, it's pepper or one of the many flavors that Mrs. Dash gives us.

The Salt Institute has a large FAQ page about salt. You can find out what salt exactly is, how much is produced in the U.S., effects it has on the human body, how animals react to salt, how much salt an athlete needs. There's even a huge list of recipes that contain salt. Recipes that contain salt? Wouldn't that be too big a list to have even on the web? Actually, they're recipes for food where salt is a vital ingredient.

So here we start -- prepraing now for the aftermath that will ensue tomorrow. If you're looking for a quick fix, we think we might have found it, but unfortunately for those of us who will be ringing in the New Year in the four time zones from PST to EST, we're out of luck. Berocca, which is actually a multi-vitamin from Bayer, is also "known" as a powerful hangover anitdode by which boozers fom the UK and Australia swear. It's very handy, since it's a single tablet.

Why does it work? The tablets include vitamins B and C, magnesium, zinc, sugars and salts that were sucked out of your body by all that booze. Of course, since we can't get Berocca here, we can simply make sure we drink and eat foods with the same good vitamins and minerals.

In a bid to compete with Coca Cola's Odwalla line of smoothies and vitamin-fortified fruit drinks, which the company acquired in 2001, Pepsi has bought the company Naked Juice. Naked Juice offers a line of more than 20 different juices, juice blends and smoothies, all of which are 100% natural and free from added sugars, preservatives and artificial colorings. A privately held company, their annual revenue is about $150 million, which has led financial analysts to speculate Pepsi probably paid around $450 million for Naked Juice, although the terms of the sale were not disclosed. Naked Juice will benefit from this new partnership by gaining access to more retailers and a much bigger marketing department, which they will be able to take advantage of to promote their "super premium" juices, raising their brand awareness for health and wellness conscious consumers.

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