Food for Thought
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Agriculture
Cloned Meat and Milk Are Safe, but They Won’t Hit Stores Soon
A Food and Drug Administration analysis concludes that food from cloned animals is safe, but the effort and expense involved in creating these animals means that products from them won't be in markets anytime soon.
- Health & Medicine
Drinking During Pregnancy Emerges As a Possible Male-Infertility Factor
Alcohol consumption during pregnancy increases the risk of undescended testicles in boy babies, and it may contribute to later fertility problems even in boys born without the defect.
- Health & Medicine
Now This Is Depressing . . .
People who increased their fish consumption to shed a brooding disposition may want to consider alternative strategies.
- Health & Medicine
Trans Fats Are Bad, Aren’t They?
As New York moves to ban trans fats from fried and baked restaurant fare, little attention has been given to the potentially beneficial trans fats in dairy products and meats.
- Health & Medicine
Red Heat Might Improve Green Tea
Roasting green-tea leaves using infrared heat boosts the concentration of various beneficial chemicals in tea brewed from the leaves.
- Agriculture
Organic Dairying Is on Upswing, But No Panacea
Some small dairy farms are making the switch to organic operations to increase profits and distinguish their products from undifferentiated commodities.
- Health & Medicine
Birds Don’t Have to Be So Hot
The U.S. Department of Agriculture revised downward, by 15°F, the internal temperature that a cooked turkey must reach in order to be safe to eat. Whether consumers find the meat palatable or rubbery at 165°F is another issue.
- Agriculture
Cow Power
To improve the dire economics of dairying, some farmers are looking to generate commercial quantities of electric power.
- Health & Medicine
Iron Deficiency, Poverty, and Cognitive Troubles
Children with iron deficiency and low socioeconomic status can slip even lower in mental ability, compared with their better-nourished peers.
- Earth
New Estimates of the Shark-Fin Trade
A new study of the Asian fish market yields a disturbing estimate of how many sharks are killed each year to satisfy demand for a pricy Asian soup.
- Health & Medicine
Cola May Weaken Women’s Bones
New research indicates that, in postmenopausal women, regular consumption of cola-flavored soft drinks may weaken bones.
- Health & Medicine
A Salty Controversy over Sodium-and-Health Papers
A public-interest group has raised a ruckus over salt-industry payments to the authors of a nutrition journal's package of articles on salt's influence on health.
