This Week in Food, Health, and Fitness

This week, read about what’s lurking in your receipts, how to create effective practices, looking beyond beets for nitrates, and more.

receiptReceipts and Greasy Fingers, Is it a Problem? 

Thermal receipt paper from supermarkets, ATM machines, gas stations, and other settings is a source of BPA exposure. BPA is a hormone disruptor that might have adverse health effects. New research shows that certain conditions can dramatically increase BPA absorption. Scientists mimicked a food court scenario: people used hand sanitizer, held a cash register receipt, and then ate French fries: they found that these people were quickly exposed to high levels BPA (a hormone-disrupting chemical).  Study authors are calling for alternate technology for receipts. (Time, PLOS One October 22, 2014).

How much do you need to worry about the BPA in cash register receipts? Although this new study provides more data to advance the science of BPA exposure,  it is unlikely that the hand sanitizer and receipt-holding pattern used in the study is typical. Read a good review of this study and potential risk here.

A Quick Cure for Ineffective Practice

What causes a bad practice? It’s easy to say that players/athletes/children aren’t engaged, but more important to look at the practice design.  The video below presents a great visual of how an ineffective space can present challenges that zap enthusiasm and prompt learners to lose interest.  Seems this concept might be generalized to many situations beyond athletics.  (The Talent Code)

Beets Benefit Athletes and Heart Failure Patients

The research on beets continues to reveal the health-promoting properties of dietary nitrate, with one of the latest studies showing that beet juice can increase blood flow to fast-twitch muscle fibers.  These researchers also suggest that beet juice might improve the quality of life for heart failure patients by increasing oxygen delivery to muscles. (Nitric Oxide, October 2014).

I have written about earlier research on beets and endurance here.  Most of the studies use beet juice, likely because it’s consistent with other studies, has stable nitrate levels, and has a good placebo (nitrate-free beet juice). But other nitrate-containing vegetables might have similar benefits: One study found that a diet rich in traditional Japanese foods (plenty of leafy greens) increased plasma nitrite levels and lowered blood pressure, showing that high-nitrate vegetables other than beets may also increase nitric oxide levels.

Vegetables high in nitrates include rhubarb, arugula, spinach, celery, cress, chervil, lettuce, beets, chinese cabbage, endive, fennel, kohlrabi, leek, and parsley (levels vary depending on soil conditions and other variables, but the table below provides approximate nitrate content).

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bushel of applesIN SEASON: Apples

In most areas, it’s  a great time to enjoy apples at their peak. Find out more about the health benefits of this versatile fruit.

 

More links of interest this week:

  • Beware the Single-Study Story.  Nice article explaining why you need to be skeptical when reading research headlines. (Outside) Beyond single studies, also be aware of articles or books that “cherry pick” studies. That is, presenting only information that supports your ideas. Wheat Belly is a good example of a book with health recommendations based on cherry picked data (and many other pseudoscientific arguments).
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