Flavonoids found in many foods

Flavonoids are a group of plant metabolites thought to provide health benefits through cell signaling pathways and antioxidant effects. These molecules are found in a variety of fruits and vegetables. The abundance of flavonoids coupled with their low toxicity relative to other plant compounds means they can be ingested in large quantities by animals, including humans. Examples of foods that are rich in flavonoids include onions, parsley, blueberries, bananas, dark chocolate and red wine.

http://www.news-medical.net/health/What-are-Flavonoids.aspx

Quercetin and epicatechin are examples of flavonoids, essential pigments found in many fruits and vegetables.

Quercetin is the aglycone form of flavonoid glycosides such as rutin and quercitrin which are found in buckwheat, citrus fruit and onions. Quercetin is thought to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects and to protect against some forms of illness such as cancer. However, the clinical evidence to support this claim is not yet available, despite promising initial research findings. Quercetin is found in various types of fruits, vegetables, teas, wine and many other food items.

Catechins are important flavonoids abundant in the leaves of the tea plant.* Examples include epicatechin, epicatechin gallate, and epigallocatechin gallate. When oolong tea or black tea is prepared, the leaves are allowed to oxidize. This causes conversion of some or all of the catechins to larger molecules and reduces the flavonoid content. White tea is tea that has undergone even less processing than green tea and therefore provides the highest catechin content.

http://www.news-medical.net/health/Quercetin-and-Epicatechin.aspx

http://www.ihealthdirectory.com/flavonoids-rich-foods/

*All teas from the Camellia plant are rich in polyphenols, antioxidants that detoxify cell-damaging free radicals in the body. Tea has about eight to 10 times the polyphenols found in fruits and vegetables, and the longer you steep the tea, the more flavonoids you'll get in your brew. Some believe white tea can reduce cholesterol and blood pressure and acts as a blood thinner and contibutes to bone density, all because of the falconoids (there are thousands of falconoids, and it’s a great word for Scrabble).

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/health-benefits-tea
http://www.whiteteaguide.com/whiteteahealthbenefits.htm

DIY decaf white tea (because it can have a lot of caffeine): "Just brew a cup as normal, leaving the leaves in the hot water for about 30 seconds. Then drain the tea leaves and rebrew... The caffeine content is almost completely lost with the first brewing (in fact, just as much caffeine is equal to any commercial decaf!)." From a non-working website.

http://directorsblog.nih.gov/2014/11/04/could-flavanols-reverse-age-related-memory-decline/

Green tea extract and cognitive functions

Cocoa Sustainability—what is that?

This is Hershey’s statement about its farmers who grow the products:

Hershey’s 21st Century Cocoa Sustain ability Strategy seeks to modernize cocoa farming to increase farmer incomes, attract new farmers and improve cocoa growing communities. The 21st Century Cocoa Sustainability Strategy will also help accelerate Hershey’s commitment to purchase 100 percent certified cocoa by 2020 for all chocolate products around the world.

Hershey is currently focusing its initiatives in West Africa – Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana – because cocoa farmers there have the greatest need to improve their farms and raise living standards for themselves and their families. Hershey is working on similar farm improvement projects in Indonesia and Latin America, including an innovative project in Mexico to restore the disease-ravaged cocoa crop. . .

Hershey has already committed to source cocoa through three of the world’s most recognized cocoa certifying organizations: UTZ, Fairtrade USA and Rainforest Alliance. As Hershey’s buying volume increases, the company will be working with other well-established certification organizations to expand their capacity to certify more cocoa farmers globally.
Hershey-supported sustainability and certification programs will benefit more than 750,000 cocoa farmers by 2017.”  (statement originally reported in October 2012) http://www.thehersheycompany.com/pdfs/21st_Century-single_page_final.pdf

http://3blmedia.com/News/Campaign/Hersheys-21st-Century-Cocoa-Strategy

Some background: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/activists-protest-hershey-times-square-calling-chocolate-giant-stop-child-labor-article-1.127762

http://3blmedia.com/blog/Larry-Graham/CSR/History-Commitment-West-African-Cocoa-Communities

Watching Grease on a Saturday morning

I’m watching Grease (1978).  Hard to believe it’s been almost 40 years. Of course, the stars are all much older than the characters they portray—Stockard Channing was 34!  I’d forgotten how campy it was.  Goodness that dance scene was incredible.  Beautiful clothes too.  Not exactly 50s, but close. How about those pink socks on Travolta.

Last night I watched Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side, also a really good movie.

More brain volume shrinkage with aggressive blood pressure treatment

People with type 2 diabetes may lose more brain volume than is expected as they age, new research indicates, but treating for cholesterol and blood pressure didn’t benefit diabetics with cognitive problems, and the aggressive BP treatment actually is linked to more brain atrophy. This study suggests that chronic high levels of insulin and sugar may be directly toxic to brain cells.

“Both heart disease and diabetes are closely linked to cognitive problems (see Jan 2014 webinar; see AlzRisk analysis). To learn what is gained from treating these disorders, the ACCORD trial recruited more than 10,000 older people with Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors. Nearly 3,000 of them participated in the MIND substudy. Their average age was 62 and they had struggled with diabetes for about 10 years, with poor control of blood sugar and blood pressure. The researchers split the cohort in half to test two interventions, one targeting blood pressure and the other, cholesterol. In the hypertension study, half the participants received high-dose medication that dropped systolic pressure below 120 mm Hg, while the other half received standard treatment aiming for the 130-140 mm range. In the cholesterol study, the control group took statins while the rest took statins plus fenofibrate, a drug that further lowers cholesterol and other fats in the blood.

After 40 months of treatment, all participants performed worse on cognitive tests than they had at baseline. There were no significant differences between standard and treatment arms in either study.

More than 500 MIND participants volunteered for MRI as well. These scans showed that whole brain volume shrank over 40 months in all participants, but the intensive blood pressure-intervention group had significantly more atrophy. Although treatment has since ended, the researchers continue to follow the cohort to see if cognitive differences between arms will show up over time, and if such changes will reflect the alterations in brain volume. Participants recently completed 75-month follow-up cognitive tests and brain scans; those results may be available within the year, Williamson told Alzforum.”

http://www.alzforum.org/news/research-news/aggressive-hypertension-treatment-accelerates-brain-atrophy-diabetics

http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2085525

32,000 “lost” e-mails found

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20150227_Investigators__32_000_IRS_e-mails_found.html

Of course, the election she was trying to swing for Obama is over.

WASHINGTON - Investigators said Thursday that they have recovered 32,000 e-mails related to a former IRS official at the heart of the agency's tea party scandal.  But they don't know how many of them are new.

The e-mails were to and from Lois Lerner, who used to head the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt status. In June, the IRS told Congress it had lost an unknown number of Lerner's e-mails when her computer hard drive crashed in 2011.

At the time, IRS officials said the e-mails could not be recovered. But at a congressional hearing Thursday evening, Timothy Camus, IRS deputy inspector general, said investigators recovered thousands of e-mails from old computer tapes used to back up the agency's system.

I wonder is anyone will be prosecuted?  Probably not.  They are Democrats.  They get to lie with impunity.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2015/02/27/investigation-into-irs-scandal-now-a-criminal-probe-n1963260

Not surprisingly, in order to stonewall the congressional investigation into the targeting of conservative groups, IRS officials never asked IT professionals to look into gathering back-up tapes or recovering emails requested by Congress.

Despite IRS Commissioner John Koskinen repeatedly saying under oath in previous hearings that Lerner's emails could not be recovered, Camus and investigators have been successful in recovering nearly 33,000 emails relevant to the IRS investigation.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/lois-lerner-irs-emails-113124.html

It was actually reported in November. But I’m guessing it was known before the election, and news was put on the back burner by media.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/11/21/irs-inspector-general-finds-up-to-30000-of-lois-lerners-e-mails/

The GOP-controlled House oversight and ways and means committees have sought the e-mails as part of their investigations into the IRS targeting scandal, which involved screening nonprofit advocacy groups for deeper review based on their names and policy positions. Most of the affected groups were conservative, although a small number of them were left-leaning.

Republicans have alleged that the Obama administration used the IRS and other enforcement agencies to silence conservative critics during the 2010 and 2012 election cycles, when the targeting occurred.

And to this we add pot

I've had conversations with people whose brains were damaged by alcohol and those who have Alzheimer's, and trust me, there's very little difference. Why are people (usually liberals and libertarians) so eager to see the population further downgrade their intelligence?

http://www.biosciencetechnology.com/news/2014/11/long-term-marijuana-use-affects-brain-function-structure

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201403/heavy-marijuana-use-alters-teenage-brain-structure

The number one song the day I was born

What about you? http://playback.fm/birthday-song

Bad news for smokers—it’s worse than you thought

The study of more than 200,000 people, published this week in BMC medicine, found about 67 percent of smokers perished from smoking-related illness. That rate is higher than doctors previously estimated.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/02/26/the-terrifying-rate-at-which-smokers-die-from-smoking/

Besides lung cancer, smoking also increases the risk of at least 13 other cancers including cancers of the larynx (voice box), oesophagus (gullet), mouth and pharynx (throat), bladder, pancreas,  kidney,  liver,  stomach,  bowel,  cervix, ovary, nose and sinus, and some types of leukaemia. There is also some evidence that smoking could increase the risk of breast cancer.

Rudy was right

“There is very little that a man with Barack Obama’s views and proclivities should love about the country, beyond the fact that its people are so vulnerable to insipid sentimentality that they twice elected him president.”

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/414112/rudy-right-kevin-d-williamson

Pastor Buba (North American Lutheran Church evangelist)

https://vimeo.com/117041982

Always happy to find his program in English—he travels all over the world.

Just because it’s funny

Health benefits of decaffeinated coffee

Decaf coffee reduces the risk of incurring diabetes.

The high anti-oxidant levels of decaf will protect the cells from damage that can lead to diabetes. The decaffeination process will not eliminate chlorogenic acid which is the substance that helps regulate blood glucose levels

Cancer prevention.

Decaf still contains high levels of anti-oxidants that can prevent conditions associated with the aging process and cancer. Studies show that regular decaf drinkers have reduced risks of incurring colon cancer. For female drinkers, the risks of breast cancer are also reduced.

Decreased risk of heart problems.

Caffeine has been linked to heart conditions like irregular palpitations, heart attacks, and strokes. Since it has been removed, drinkers are less likely to develop any heart conditions

Prevention of mental decline due to old age and Alzheimer's disease.

The polyphenols found in coffee beans are not lost during the decaffeination process. These substances are responsible in boosting the brain's cognitive abilities, thus further improving memory.
These health benefits of decaf coffee cannot be dismissed as mere theories because proofs have been established with the studies that have been conducted. It may not be able to perk anyone up as effectively as regular coffee, but it will ensure good health and long life.

This article also cites sources. http://www.naturalnews.com/041333_decaffeinated_coffee_health_benefits_healthy_beverages.html#ixzz3SyMNOW6T

I resisted giving up regular coffee for years and would order half caf half decaf, but after my hospital stay in the fall of 2013, I gave up all caffeine. Also learned to brew my own, which I've gotten used to. My favorite decaf story: I ordered a cup of 1/2 regular coffee, 1/2 decaf, and the clerk asked if I wanted the decaf on the top or the bottom. This is why we have minimum wage jobs.

Habitual chocolate users perform better

“Cocoa products are particularly rich sources of flavonoids, although this is influenced by the processing during manufacture (19). Due to a high antioxidant capacity, cocoa products have been promoted as having several beneficial properties (mainly cardiovascular). Even very modest consumption of chocolate may significantly contribute to total polyphenol intake (38). However, a recent clinical trial (39) did not find any beneficial effects of short-term (6 wk) dark chocolate and cocoa consumption on cardiovascular outcomes or on neuropsychological tests. In our study, we found that habitual chocolate users performed better in all cognitive tests and had significantly reduced risk for poor test performance in most tests, whereas the mean intake of chocolate among users was as little as <8 g/d. Moreover, a maximum beneficial effect on cognitive performance was gained at a mean intake of chocolate of ∼10 g/d. The real effect of polyphenols in chocolate may be even stronger, because not all chocolates are equally good sources of flavonoids and the type of chocolate consumed was not specified in our study. In the US and Europe, milk chocolate is the most popular form, but this contains less cocoa mass than dark chocolate and therefore contains fewer polyphenols (40).”

http://jn.nutrition.org/content/139/1/120.full

http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Cocoa-flavanols-may-improve-elderly-cognitive-function-Mars-study

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2012/02/hot-chocolate.html

Must be dark chocolate, not milk chocolate. I use Hershey’s 100% cocoa with the brown label, not red.

American atheist blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh.

“Avijit Roy was a Bangladesh-born U.S. citizen who proved a prominent critic of ideological hatred in his native country. He and his wife, Rafida Ahmed, were attacked as they returned from a book fair at Dhaka University in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, as the Associated Press reported. Some outlets reported that the weapons used were machetes; others reported cleavers. Roy died at a hospital after the attack. His wife was seriously injured, losing a finger, but survived.” Washington Post.

No word if the killers were Islamic extremists, but the country is 90% Muslim and he urged a secular democracy.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/27/american-atheist-blogger-hacked-to-death-in-bangladesh

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/28/world/asia/bangladeshi-american-blogger-avijit-roy-killed.html?

http://heavy.com/news/2015/02/avijit-roy-dead-killed-murder-stabbed-islamic-critic-funeral-tribute-rip-wife-rafida-bonna/

Age can slow you down

Eugenie Clark, a marine biologist and prolific author credited with profoundly contributing to researchers’ understanding of sharks, has died at age 92.  When she was 85 she told a journalist that she could only dive once a day instead of the 4 or 5 when she was younger.

http://www.the-scientist.com//?articles.view/articleNo/42287/title/Prominent-Marine-Biologist-Dies/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WIe9FUMYwk

A 20 billion lawsuit against big media shutting out blacks

Sell out Al Sharpton is part of a law suit by blacks in media. http://josephcphillips.com/2015/02/the-future-of-black-media/

“Of course, some of us have known for a long time that Sharpton was a pawn and a sell out, offering his racial blessing for a price. We also knew that for all the appeals to race pride, this administration has been no friend to Black businesses or Black people. We knew that what Sharpton and others care most about is lining their own pockets. What is different is that right now, someone with some clout is speaking out. And speaking loudly. Right now, someone with a record of providing jobs and opportunity to Black people is speaking out. Right now someone who is self made and not a product of “the Right wing” is speaking truth to power. Maybe now someone will listen.”

Fake extra virgin olive oil?

From this health website with which I’m not familiar, comes this warning.  Many brands of olive oil are fake. http://eatlocalgrown.com/article/12300-is-your-olive-oil-lying-about-its-virginity.html  Where is the USDA which consumes billions of our tax dollars to promote safe food and accurate labeling?

Independent tests at the University of California found that 69% of all store-bought extra virgin olive oils in the US are probably fake.(3) This study reported that the following brands failed to meet extra virgin olive oil standards:

• Bertolli
• Carapelli
• Colavita
• Filippo Berio
• Mazzola
• Mezzetta
• Newman’s Own
• Safeway
• Star
• Whole Foods

The same University of California study listed the following brands as having met their standards for being true extra virgin olive oil.

• Corto Olive
• California Olive Ranch
• Kirkland Organic
• Lucero (Ascolano)
• McEvoy Ranch Organic
• Pompeii

Note: although I found the UC Davis Olive Center, I haven’t found the actual study so I can look at it.  It does produce its own olive oil for sale and is industry funded.  That’s not necessarily bad, but should be noted. So now I’m looking through the Olive Center’s FB page.

http://www.boomcalifornia.com/2015/01/new-missionaries/

The latest report on President’s Malaria Initiative

U.S. aid devoted to malaria increased from $149 million in 2000 to $1.2 billion in 2008.
In June 2005, President George W.Bush launched President’s Malaria Initiative PMI, “a major 5-year, $1.2 billion initiative to support a rapid scale-up of malaria prevention and treatment interventions in 15 high-burden countries in sub-Saharan Africa.The Initiative is led by the U.S.Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented together with the U.S.Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).When it was launched, the goal of PMI was to reduce malaria-related mortality by 50 percent across the 15 PMI-supported countries through a rapid scale-up of four proven and highly effective malaria prevention and treatment measures: ITNs; IRS; accurate diagnosis and prompt treatment with ACTs; and IPTp. [insect treated nets; indoor residual spraying; artemisinin-based combination therapies;  intermittent preventive treatment of pregnant women . ] http://www.pmi.gov/docs/default-source/default-document-library/pmi-reports/president's-malaria-initiative-strategy-2015-2020.pdf

But as you can see from this graph in 2012, the rates and deaths from malaria are still much higher than when DDT was allowed.  This chart starts with 1983, and DDT ended in the 1970s after Silent Sprint written by Rachel Carson, a non-scientist, became popular.     She may have killed more people than WWII.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/feb/03/malaria-deaths-research

 http://journalistsresource.org/studies/international/development/global-malaria-mortality-1980-2010-systematic-analysis#sthash.pTcujSy1.dpuf

• Global malaria deaths increased from 995,000 in 1980 to a peak of 1,817,000 in 2004, and then decreased to 1,238,000 in 2010.
• In Africa, malaria deaths increased from 493,000 in 1980 to 1,613,000 in 2004, and then decreased by about 30% in 2010 to 1,133,000. Outside of Africa, malaria deaths have steadily decreased, from 502,000 in 1980 to 104,000 in 2010.
• The majority (65%) of all malaria deaths occur in children under age 15. Individuals ages 15-49 years, 50-69 years, and 70 years or older accounted for 20%, 9% and 6%, respectively, of malaria deaths in 2010.
• Overall, 433,000 more deaths occurred worldwide in individuals aged 5 years or older in 2010 than was suggested by official WHO estimates In 2012 an important research report on malaria was published pointing out serious errors in the tracking of malaria deaths. (The Lancet, “Global Malaria Mortality Between 1980 and 2010: A Systematic Analysis,”) Their figure of 1.2 million deaths for 2010 is nearly double the 655,000 estimated in last year's World Malaria Report.

"You learn in medical school that people exposed to malaria as children develop immunity and rarely die from malaria as adults," said [Christopher] Murray, IHME director and the study's lead author. "What we have found in hospital records, death records, surveys and other sources shows that just is not the case."

Most deaths are still in children, but a fifth are among those aged 15 to 49, 9% are among 50- to 69-year-olds and 6% are in people over 70, so a third of all deaths are in adults. In countries outside sub-Saharan Africa, more than 40% of deaths were in adults.

In Africa, though, the contribution of malaria to children's deaths is higher than had been thought, causing 24% of their deaths in 2008 and not 16% as found by a report by Black and colleagues, whose methodology was used in the World Malaria Report.

The current PMI funding and goals ended with 2014.  The only budget information I found for post 2015 is a draft.  Don’t know if it was approved, but it does report a funding gap.  Since 2009 the funding definitely has not kept up with the initial push.

http://www.pmi.gov/docs/default-source/default-document-library/tools-curricula/pmi-strategy-2015-2020-draft-for-external-review.pdf?sfvrsn=6

http://reliefweb.int/report/world/president-s-malaria-initiative-strategy-2015-2020

http://www.fightingmalaria.org/

Plans to fight terrorism

The rule of law