Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Alfalfa Sprouts Will Kill You







I always remember when I first left the East Coast for California for college so many years ago (How long ago? Let's just say that I brought an electric typewriter with me). I was a stranger in a strange land but I was pleased to see that the sandwich shop I had walked into offered Pastrami. In my religion, you eat Pastrami on rye (or marble rye if you're feeling a little crazy), put a little mustard on it, and have it either hot or cold, and have a nice kosher pickle on the side. This is what I was expecting. Imagine my shock, then, as I was served a Pastrami sandwich with more sprouts on it than meat. As Colonel Kurtz liked to say "The horror. The horror. It really gets to me sometimes!"

So I really wasn't surprised to read that the FDA has issued a warning against eating raw alfalfa sprouts because of a salmonella outbreak.

Raw sprouts have been linked to several outbreaks of salmonella over the past two decades, FDA says. There have been 31 cases in six states since mid-March, and another 100 or so since February.

Anyway, I'm back on the East Coast now. Not a sprout in sight.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Bad Piggies -- Track the Swine Flu In Real Time





Turns out that all the hype about bird flu and mad cows a few years back was just a huge plot to get us to ignore the danger of pigs. The swines have given us their flu, also known as H1N1. What started in Mexico has now spread to the US and Spain.

In another bad sign, Europe's health commissioner has urged that people avoid all non-essential travel to the US and Mexico. For those of us already here, the advice generally seems to be that the best way to stay healthy is to stop breathing.

Someone figured out how to track the whole thing on Google maps so you can watch the end of the world unfold with helpful color coded stickies. Click here for all the fun (zoom back to see the whole world).

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Meat Will Murder You





With the weather here in the Boston area having finally turned the corner, a carnivore's thoughts naturally turn to the backyard grill (please stay away from the flowers though).

Now we ponder the eternal question: How do you like your burger? If you said "rare" (and we likes 'em rare around here) then you are going to get sick from E. Coli, make the bathroom stinky, and possibly die.

So, just grill all the bad stuff out of it, right? Sure, unless you want to die of cancer. Turns out, people in white coats at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health have discovered that high consumption of carcinogens from overcooked meat is correlated to an increased risk of pancreatic cancer. Basically, you up your risk of getting cancer by 60% if you eat all the blackened stuff on your burgers.

A Straight Dope column from a few years back goes into a lot of the gory details, but it was written before the latest studies came out.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Your Garden Can Kill You And Your Kids






Spring has finally sprung in the greater Boston area. The perennials are popping their heads up, the fish in our little pond have thawed out, and I'm doing a truly half-assed job of growing plants from seeds (some plastic covers, seeds from last year's marigolds and sunflowers, plus some mystery packets that I've picked up somewhere, and two halogen bulbs in a table lamp).

But just when I thought it was safe to go back in the garden, I stumble across this headline from the Washington Post:

Behind Some Plants' Beauty Lurks Danger

When designing ornamental gardens, homeowners usually think about looking at the plants, not eating them. However, many plants can be poisonous. One of the most common ways young children are poisoned is by eating pretty berries or flowers that look like candy.


Offenders in our garden include azaleas, hollies, and daffodils. Plus we have some aloe in the house.

If you have children, take the safe approach indoors, too. Common houseplants that can have toxic effects include aloe, dieffenbachia, philodendron and calla lily. Also avoid these if you have pets that like to nibble on plants. Some houseplants that are safe to grow are African violets, begonias, spider plants, Swedish ivy, wandering Jew, snake plant, weeping figs, dracaenas and jade plants.


Has your kid ever claimed that rhubarb could kill them? They were right. Plus tomatoes and brussel sprouts (okay, I made that last one up, but it should be true).

And don't think your vegetable garden is exempt from poisonous plants. Eating potato and tomato plants can cause severe stomach and nervous system problems. Rhubarb is probably one of the most dangerous kitchen-garden plants. Its leaf has been responsible for many deaths because people think they can eat it. The only harmless part of rhubarb is the stalk of the leaf.


The article explains that roasting marshmallows will also kill you and all your loved ones--if you nibble the stick from the wrong tree (hint: George Washington was right).

Oleander is a very poisonous and common outdoor plant in the southern United States. Its branches are perfect for cooking hot dogs and marshmallows, and when limbs are pruned and used for this purpose, they kill or sicken people every year.


Happy gardening!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Many Kids' Multivitamins Have Too Much Vitamin A






According to a new report by Consumer Labs, several popular brands of children's chewable multivitamins have too much of a good thing -- namely Vitamin A (as retinol).

The culprits were: Hero Nutritionals Yummi Bears, L’il Critters Groovy Gummy Vites, and Trader Darwin’s Children’s Chewable Vitamins (my daughter Cinderella's faves).

The Institute of Medicine recommends an RDA of 1,300 IU of Vitamin A for a child 4-8 years old, and an upper tolerable limit (UL) of 3,000 IU. Some of the vitamins tested contained 5,000 IU.

According to Consumer Labs,

Excess vitamin A in the retinol form is of concern as it may, in the short term, cause nausea and blurred vision, and, long-term, lead to bone softening and liver problems. ULs for niacin and zinc were also exceeded by some of the products for young children. Excess niacin may cause skin tingling and flushing and high levels of zinc can cause immune deficiency and anemia.

In addition, many supplements like these generally provide an "overage" of ingredient, i.e., more than the listed amount of ingredient to make sure that the product maintains potency over its shelf-life. Although an accepted practice, actual levels may be up to 50% higher than on the label.

A reason why so many children's vitamins exceed the newer recommended levels is that they are designed to meet "100%" of the Daily Values (DVs) which were last updated in 1968 and have yet to be re-set by the FDA. The out-dated DVs for vitamin A on supplement labels are actually two to three times higher than the newer RDAs and exceed tolerable intake levels for young children.