Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Food’ Category

Dogma vs. data: Rethinking linoleic acid

Posted in Food, Nutrition and Health on 11/03/2022|

Humans have evolved to eat a variety of foods. No one component is entirely bad or entirely good. Many diets popular today, approach nutrition through a narrow, simplified lens. Every decade one component of our diet is placed center stage as the villain that is responsible for all of our woes. In recent decades, the spotlight has been turned on fats.

Fat is essential, providing a source of energy and a feeling of satiety. There are essential fatty acids that humans cannot produce, including linoleic acid (omega- 6) and alpha-linolenic acid (omega-3). Both fatty acids are obtained from the food we eat and play a critical role in major cellular events, including metabolism, inflammation, cell differentiation, and cell death. Some dietitians and nutritionists have advocated for eating an equal amount of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, resulting in a 1:1 ratio. This diet is presumed to mimic the ancient human diet, though no definitive data supports what early humans actually ate consistently. The modern American diet ranges from a value of 10:1 to 15:1.

The overarching nutritional message has been that the modern diet suffers from an “omega imbalance.” The imbalance is a ‘concern,’ because omega-6 fatty acids, which skews the index to higher numbers, have been assumed to promote poor health outcomes and disease, including increased ‘bad’ cholesterol (LDL), inflammation, and coronary heart disease. Surprisingly, no randomized controlled clinical trials actually support any of these claims.

The concept of the omega-6:omega-3 ratio is “flawed and unhelpful,” says William Harris, professor of basic biomedical sciences at the University of South Dakota, in Vermillion, South Dakota, USA.

Harris is the founder and president of the Fatty Acid Research Institute, a non-profit research and education organization created to further the study of fatty acids and disease. To expand on Harris’s point, measuring the ratio is difficult because each fatty acid appears as various species in different ratios in different reservoirs in the body. According to Harris, this simple metric has “both theoretical and practical complications” that create fundamental misunderstandings that have cascaded through the field. He has published numerous articles describing the lack of scientific validation to support using this ratio as an indicator of healthful diet.

Martha Belury, Carol S. Kennedy professor of human nutrition in the Department of Human Sciences at the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA, concurs with Harris’s assessment. She believes it is time to move away from the omega-6:omega-3 ratio and re-evaluate the benefits of the much maligned omega-6 fat.

“Science and health are short-changed if we oversimplify,” said Belury. “While omega-3 has an important role in health, omega-6 has a pivotal role to play as well. This is an important message for consumers and practitioners.”

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Fish Heads, Fish Heads: For Biosurfactant Production

Posted in Blinding People with Science, Food on 09/19/2022|

Photo by Stephen Ausmus.
  • Biosurfactants are compounds produced by some bacteria that replicate the properties of petroleum-based surfactants.
  • While many research studies have explored different bacteria grown on different medium, fish waste is proving to be a viable option to grow microbes for industrial-scale biosurfactant production.
  • The Scottish start-up company, Eco Clean Team, has partnered with a researcher at the University of St. Andrews to develop a pilot project for scaling biosurfactant production with fish oil from the local aquaculture industry.
  • While many hurdles remain, the biosurfactant industry and fish peptone industry are both on the upswing.

In 2010, Deep Water Horizon released over 130 million gallons of oil, the equivalent to 200 Olympic-sized swimming pools, into the Gulf of Mexico. Twenty years earlier, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground in Alaska, releasing 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound. 

Oil spills harm marine plants and animals, and render seafood unsafe to eat. Environmental remediators apply different techniques, including skimming and burning, to remove oil pollution from the water’s surface; however, synthetic dispersants created using petrochemicals, paradoxically, are the best means of clean-up. They reduce the opportunity for the contaminant to reach the shoreline by dispersing the oil and breaking it up into smaller droplets that are easier for microbes to consume. However, research shows synthetic surfactants are often toxic to marine organisms, changing their behavior, physiology, and reproduction patterns. These adverse effects raise concerns about which is worse for the environment — the dispersants applied to break up an oil slick or the oil itself. 

Synthetic surfactants are a common class of molecules found in laundry and dishwashing detergents, among other household products. They are ubiquitous in our lives, yet they rarely garner the negative attention of an oil spill, because they are typically unseen. Although, in many instances synthetic surfactants are more pervasive and insidious to the environment. 

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Exploring a Future with Perennial Rye

Posted in Food, Plants on 08/10/2022|

Monoculture dominates modern agriculture, but many agronomists are looking to the past to explore the environmental and economic benefits of perennial crops with the aim of creating more sustainable farming systems.

For thousands of years, farmers have reaped the benefits of perennial crops, from fruit trees to alfalfa to grapes. Today, farmers and researchers are looking for other perennial crops that require less water and nutrient input than annuals and provide a reliable and economically sustainable food source for their farming enterprises. Perennials do not require reseeding every year, which is an enticing prospect in the face of changing climate, rising energy costs, and land degradation. These plants also allow farmers to disengage from the economic instability of annual planting that require costly inputs and operational expenses.

Recent studies have begun to explore the potential of perennial grains to support new agricultural systems that can meet global caloric requirements on the current footprint of cultivated agricultural land.

The Pros and Cons of Perennial Crops

Most grain crops require annual replanting. To give the new growth a leg up in the competitive world, pesticides and fertilizers kickstart the new growth. This annual production process emits significant greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change that can in turn have adverse effects on agricultural productivity. 

Perennial grains offer an opportunity to get off the annual planting cycle and provide additional benefits to the land for future cultivation. These crops have greater access to resources over a longer growing season and maintain the health and fertility of soil. Because perennials do not need to be reseeded every year, annual plowing and soil disruption is limited, which reduces erosion and the loss of topsoil from wind and rainfall. The more stable soil structure also holds onto moisture more efficiently and filters pollutants, like nitrogen from synthetic fertilizers, from traveling to groundwater systems. Because the soil can hold onto the nutrients, fertilizer application is lower. Perennials also invest more carbon reserves below ground to establish their deeper, denser root systems. The extensive root systems also allow these plants to grow on marginal lands. Perennials can also compete against weeds and do not require annual herbicide application.

But perennials are a conundrum.

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Global Warming Could Rob Liquors of Their Flavor

Posted in Climate, Food, Geology, Plants on 03/05/2021|

Ranunculus glacialis at the toe of the Pasquale glacier. Credit: Marco Caccianiga

A new study examines the impact of glacial extinction on biodiversity in alpine regions.

Many of the botanicals used in traditional medicines and to flavor spirits, from absinthe to eau de vie, grow in alpine regions near the toes of glacial ice. As the planet warms and glacial ice retreats, this unique environment is changing and altering the diversity of the plant community.

An Italian team of researchers explored the physical and biological factors that cascade through an ecosystem as glaciers retreat. The results, published in the January issue of Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, are not promising for your favorite flavored liquors.

“Glacial retreat is a double-edged sword,” said Gianalberto Losapio, a postdoctoral research fellow in ecology at Stanford University and first author on the study. “Habitat opens as a direct consequence of losing the glacier, but diversity decreases as competition increases from the species that persist.”

The researchers examined published data sets on plant species distribution and leaf traits along with unpublished, original data on environmental conditions at four locations—Vedretta d’Amola glacier, Western Trobio glacier, Rutor glacier, and the Vedretta di Cedec glacier forelands—within the Italian Alps.

(more…)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »