"stomach" news and stories

To most Americans, the thought of haggis, the national dish of Scotland, is stomach turning. In fact, that is what it's made of: specifically sheep stomach stuffed with minced sheep organs and onion. There has been a ban on importing haggis into the U.S. since 1989, when the BSE threat first appeared.

Now the Scottish government is thinking of asking the U.S. to drop the ban at the request of Scottish haggis maker Macsween. The Macsween company thinks they can sell a lot of haggis here, due to all of the Scottish ex-patriots. A company spokesman also claims that "once Americans try a good quality haggis, they can't get enough of it". (Er, maybe.) Officials say that haggis is perfectly safe as long as hygiene procedures are followed correctly which would make haggis safe to import into the U.S.

I have a personal rule that I have to try everything once. I won't lie, haggis is one thing that makes me nervous. Once I found out what it involved I was a little alarmed. However, if I did have the chance to try some high quality haggis I would not pass it up. What's the point in living if you don't take a chance from time to time?

[Via ColdMud.com]

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Looking for new ways to get some perspective on how our bodies process food, some UK scientists have built an artificial stomach that simulates digestion. The machine is made from plastics and metals, all strong enough to withstand the acids that are part of digestion, and is controlled by computers, able to mimic all the physical and chemical reactions associated with eating. It is even capable of vomiting.

The designer, Dr Martin Wickham, is hopeful that "his model will help scientists understand more about how food gets processed in the gut, and which nutrients get absorbed." This knowledge could lead to new definitions of superfoods, which are supposedly the healthiest of foods, determining which nutrients are absorbed the fastest and how to get the most from what we eat. There are commercial applications, as well, and companies have already shown an interest in borrowing the machine to test out some of their new food products (health-type products) release a specified nutrient to the stomach that the company claims it does.

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In search of "something to ease my mind back into the day," and "something to tighten up the valves downstairs," Fraser at blogjam combined his two favorite hangover remedies-Pepto-Bismol and ice cream. It looks like a pretty standard vanilla ice cream recipe, plus the addition of a bottle of Pepto. The color apparently wasn't what Fraser hoped for, so some red dye had to be added as well. The results? Fraser says the ice cream tasted similar to black cherry, and that the vanilla tamed the Pepto taste a bit. Its medicinal properties are still questionable, however.

A family of cousins went under the knife to have their stomachs removed. The procedure wasn't done to cause them to lose weight, as it is in gastric bypass surgery, but to prevent them from developing what would most likely have been fatal stomach cancer. The particular cancer that runs in their family is very rare and, due to a genetic mutation that they all inherited from a common grandmother, there was a 70% chance that they would develop it. After seeing parents, aunts and uncles die at young ages from the cancer, the decision was one that all the cousins wanted to make.

The surgery involved the removal of not only the stomach, but the surrounding lymph nodes. The esophagus was attached to the intestine directly. Because digestion and nutrient absorption occurs in the intestine, the cousins can still eat and live healthy lives, but they must eat very small amounts, very frequently and often have difficulty putting weight on. There are some foods that no longer agree with them, like ice cream, while other foods are easier to digest, such as small pieces of meat. Even with eating challenges to face, they have all been much happier since their surgeries at the end of 2004, which gave them piece of mind even as it took their stomachs.

As one of the family members, Bill Bradfield, put it: "We're all going to die of something, but I know I won't die of stomach cancer."

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