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Wednesday, May 3, 2006

What to Read

Posted by on May 3 at 11:39 AM

Marion Nestle’s hefty but very readable new book, “What to Eat,” tackles the current nutritional scene, including health claims of various foods and supplements, with hard research and level-headed reason (she’s a professor of nutrition at at NYU). The skeptic in me loves this book.

Nestle investigates dubious health claims found on the labels of soy products, green tea, and yogurt; looks at the many dilemmas surrounding seafood consumption; explains the difference between conventional, natural, and organic meats; and calls bottled water “liquid gold” (for the beverage industry).

Here’s a tidbit I learned about eggs: Shell color is simply a genetic trait; some chickens lay brown eggs while others lay white. The nutritional contents are exactly the same. Nonetheless, some stores charge more for brown eggs; some charge more for white.


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What does she say about grass-fed vs. grain-fed meat? Or rather, grass-finished vs. grain-finished (like almost all American beef, "natural" or otherwise)? I'd like to hear her take on the claim that the reason they have to use so many antibiotics is not because of general unsanitariness but because cows can't digest corn properly and thus are bloated and sick from it. Have you read Michael Pollan's new book? Does she talk about "free range" eggs (mostly a marketing term) vs. "pastured" eggs? Or how "organic" nowadays mostly means "industrial"? This subject is my new obsession. Sounds like I've got a new book for my list.

And here's a very important song about eggs!
http://61.107.1.124/home.asp#
(Click on "Egg Song.")

Does she address the epidemic of people who are convinced that they are allergic to everything? I can't wait for this annoying health fad to fade away.

You can tell what color egg a hen will lay by looking at its earlobes: white earlobes = white eggs, red earlobes = brown eggs.

What color earlobes do Martha Stewart's famous pink and blue egg laying chickens have?

Answered my own question at http://www.spca.bc.ca/news/May2003_AnimalsNews.asp

The earlobe thing isn't 100%; there are a few varieties with red earlobes that lay white eggs, and the funky colored eggs come from a particular variety called Araucana or Ameraucana -- I don't know what color earlobes they have, but it's not pink, green or blue. Fascinating. Chicken lovers should visit
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKPoultryPage.html#Chickens
and browse for hours.

I am annoyed by the "bottled water is 'liquid gold' for soft drink companies" argument. Yes, it's just tap water. But it is at the convenience store near the park in a handy container and it's cold. Maybe it should be a cheaper than soda because it doesn't have a couple of cents worth of sugar and some carbonation. But I think it's worth it to have a cold drink on the go that I like and is not full of sugar and caffine.

The 'liquid gold' label is illustrated by a price table: Store-brand spring water costs on average $2.52 a gallon (if you buy it by the pint), Coca-Cola's Dasani (purified tap water) is $5.28 a gallon, and Saratoga brand (spring water) is $10.57 a gallon. Water from your tap is likely way less than half a cent per gallon.

Nestle also points out that under current FDA regulations, bottled waters don't have to be tested as rigorously or disinfected to the same extent as municipal water supplies.

It pays to refill your Nalgene bottle, especially if you live in a city like Seattle with high-quality drinking water.

Her conclusion on the topic: "If you need the convenience of bottled water, enjoy its taste, revel in the status it conveys, and do not care about its cost, by all means buy it... Bottled water is just water. You might as well buy the cheapest kinds, as they are no worse."

Fnarf, do read this book--I don't have time to summarize it all! Michael Pollan's looks only semi-interesting to me. Have you read it?

or you can get all cancer-phobic and follow the studies that say nalgenes and their plastics make you ill...

My wife is reading Pollack now, I'm on the wait list. The other part of the bottled water story is the environmental cost -- all those stupid bottles made, discarded, recycled for no reason. There used to be drinking fountains everywhere for free. Nice and cold. Also, bottling companies tend to monopolize precious water resources in places that don't have a lot of them. In the third world, you can get your bottles, but the bulk of the population is drinking filth because they can't afford to buy them, and their water supplies are all diverted.

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