Communities all over the country will gather on or around Friday, October 24, for Food Day, an annual celebration to help draw attention to food justice issues, such as access to healthy food and the treatment of farm and food workers. This year’s theme, “Real Food, Just Food,” will be the focus of an array of events, from food festivals to film screenings. This is the fourth year that Center for … [Read more...]
With increasingly more food products coming onto the market boasting energy boosts with added caffeine, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Monday its intention to investigate the safety of added caffeine and its effect on children and adolescents. Sparking the investigation was Wrigley’s introduction of a new caffeinated product on Monday. Alert Energy Caffeine Gum contains … [Read more...]
On Thursday, The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) advised consumers to avoid Ginkgo biloba, based on a new government study that showed evidence of the extract causing liver cancer in mice and thyroid cancer in rats. On its Chemical Cuisine guide to food additives, CSPI downgraded ginkgo from “safe” to “avoid.” While extracts from the leaves of the Ginkgo biloba tree are legally … [Read more...]
Smartphone Apps and other mobile technology have proven to be powerful tools for tracking and managing health over the past few years. If my own explorations in the iPhone App Store in the last year are any indication, the number and variety of applications (and their scope of usability) will continue to grow exponentially in the years to come. Currently, there are apps that can take your blood … [Read more...]
by Renée Canada Some heads were spinning when Congress ruled in November that tomato paste on pizza would count as a vegetable, and many protested the refusal to limit weekly servings of starchy foods like potatoes. Yet the general consensus is praise for the new nutrition standards announced last Wednesday by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for school lunches. These proposed requirements … [Read more...]
by Renée Canada Yesterday I got that annoying, telltale reaction that tells me something’s off in my body: a rough rash and puffy sensation around my lips. I remember commenting on it but just chalking it up to my body’s reaction to decreasing my dose of prednisone again. Over the last several weeks as I’ve been weaning myself off the medication, I’ve been having infections and odd reactions in … [Read more...]