"orange juice" news and stories

Researchers at the University of Buffalo recently found that drinking orange juice with high-fat, high-carb fare can actually reduce some of the damage that meal would do to your body. The antioxidants in a glass of OJ won't mitigate any weight gain (sadly), but they do appear to reduce inflammatory stress, which in turn can lead to a "cardiac event."

Husam Ghanim, a researcher at the University of Buffalo and lead author on the study, had already pinned down in previous research the fact that high-fat, high-carb food causes inflammatory, cardiovascular damage to the body. That, frankly, wasn't much of an attention-getter. But this recent study is more surprising.

Ghanim and the other researchers split their test subjects -- thirty healthy adults between ages 20 and 40 -- into three groups, and then had each group enjoy a fast-food breakfast (think egg-and-sausage breakfast sandwich with hash browns). Ten subjects drank water with their meal, the next ten drank orange juice, and the rest drank a glucose drink. (To keep things on an even playing field, the glucose drink and the orange juice both had the same amount of calories.) Test subjects' blood was sampled directly before the meals and three separate times afterward, and the results were stark: the water and glucose-drink groups showed significantly higher oxidative stress numbers than orange juice group's numbers.

I don't know where I've been. It appears that Tropicana has gotten a makeover, and it's one that was revealed a few months ago, but is finally hitting shelves this year, according to Serious Eats. (I haven't spotted them yet.)

How bland and terrible! As Brand New said, "This new packaging feels, at best, like a discount store brand with what looks like, again, at best, rights-managed stock photography if not outright royalty free." I understand that things get modernized. But really -- I don't think Tropicana's old logo was particularly old. But even if it was, they're about the only widespread brand where you have the chance of sometimes getting orange juice that almost tastes as it it was made that day. (It's rare, but when it happens, it's divine!) That should count for something.

Now ... It just looks terrible. It's hard to visually differentiate, but more importantly: It looks CHEAP! If I hadn't drank Tropicana most of my life, I'd never, ever pick that up over other brands with that packaging. Yet another reason why Pepsi is evil, although their re-do (also in the SE link above) looks a heck of a lot better than my beloved Tropicana.

What do you think?

If you're like me, you do your taxes at the last minute. I don't get any money back so I don't rush to do my taxes.

So a lot of you are either doing your taxes right now or will be doing them in the next couple of weeks, and that means you need to drink!* After the jump is the recipe for the Income Tax Cocktail, which is heavy on the vermouth and also includes gin and orange juice.

*Slashfood recommends that you don't drink and do your taxes at the same time. Thank you.

Here's the story (supposedly) about this drink made of orange juice, Galliano, and vodka. Harvey was a surfer in the 1950s who lost a surfing competition. He went to a bar to drown his sorrows, and drank several Screwdrivers with Galliano. He got up to leave but kept banging into things. And a drink name was born. That's one of the legends anyway.

The bar was owned by Duke Antone, and he not only came up with this drink but also The Rusty Nail. Get a Collins glass and fill it with ice. Pour 1 oz. vodka and 4 oz. orange juice into glass and stir, then float 1/2 oz. Galliano on top.

A variation on the drink is the Freddy Fudpucker. Just replace the vodka with tequila!

Do you eat breakfast?

I usually don't eat anything for breakfast. Yes, I know, that's bad. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" and all that, but I'm never in the mood to cook anything in the morning (and I'm trying not to eat as many muffins or breakfast bars), so I usually just grab a cup of hot tea. Even that's only in the fall and winter since I don't eat hot tea in the spring and summer, so I usually go breakfast-less.

However, because September is Better Breakfast Month, maybe this is the month that I actually start eating breakfast on a regular basis. Eating breakfast can actually help you lose weight and improve your mind, and the A View of America site has a ton of recipes you can try, including everything from Apple Omelettes and Eggs Benedict to Party Salmon Crepes and Swedish Pancakes.