Category Archives: Diet And Food

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Add improved brain power in your golden years to the laundry list of health benefits associated with eating like a Greek.

Tons of research has already shown that a traditional Mediterranean dietloaded with fresh fruits and veggies, healthy fats like olive oil, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and fish, with moderate amounts of red wine and limited red meatmay reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke, certain cancers, diabetes, and Parkinsons disease. For these reasons, the U.S. News & World Report recently named the Mediterranean diet the second best diet out there, up from fourth place last year.

The latest study, which appears online in the journal Neurology, showed that older people who closely followed a Mediterranean-style diet retained more brain volume during a three-year period than those who didnt follow the diet quite as closely. Our brains are known to shrink with advancing age, and this loss of volume and brain cells has been linked to memory and cognitive deficits. Adherence to a Mediterranean diet might slow down brain loss that normally occurs with age, says lead study author Michelle Luciano, PhD, a psychologist at of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

To arrive at their findings, researchers gathered dietary information from close to 1,000 Scottish people around age 70 who did not have dementia. Of these, 562 had an MRI brain scan around age 73 to measure overall brain volume, gray matter volume, and thickness of the cortex (the outer layer of the brain). Four hundred and one other participants returned for a second MRI at age 76. These measurements were compared to how closely participants followed the tenets of the Mediterranean diet.

Specifically, people who didnt follow the diet faithfully were more likely to have a higher loss of total brain volume over the three-year period than people who were more vigilant. The difference in diet explained 0.5 percent of the variation in total brain volume, which sound trivial, but it amounts to half the size of the variation thats due to normal aging, the researchers note. The results held when researchers adjusted for other factors that could affect brain volume, including age, education, and history of diabetes or high blood pressure.

Unfortunately, theres no one magic food or nutrient in the Mediterranean diet that researchers can say makes all the difference. We do not know what components of the diet might be beneficial for brain health, Dr. Luciano says. The study did test whether the specific intake of meat (red meat and poultry) and fish were associated with less brain loss over time, but neither was. It might be that the diet as a wholeis important for brain health rather than any individual component, she says, adding, Future research is needed to pinpoint which factors are important and how they affect brain volume.

Next the team wants to test whether the Mediterranean diet is linked to thinking skills, such as memory or information processing speed. Even without this additional evidence, the Alzheimers Association endorses the Mediterranean diet for preserving brain health. Traditional diets like the Mediterranean diet get us away from the harmful elements of the modern-day diet, says Cate Shanahan, MD, a family physician in Morrison, Colorado, author of several books including Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food. Modern diets have too many processed carbohydrates and unhealthy fats, she says.

The Mediterranean diet, by contrast, leans heavily on fresh fruits and vegetablesall of which contain antioxidants known to protect the brain as well as the heart, she adds. Its also a lifestyle. When people take the time to cook their own food and dont stop for fast food on a regular basis, they often prioritize health, so they will likely also go for regular walks and get more sleep, Dr. Shanahan says. Its a package deal. Heres how to make your daily diet more Mediterranean.

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The Science Is In! This Diet Lets You Eat Your Way to a Younger, Healthier Brain - Reader's Digest

Nothing seemed to work. So she pushed on, getting a place at Loughborough University to study communications, and then a job as social media manager for a corporate company. But all the while, her condition was making her feel isolated and anxious.

I felt panicky all the time, she says today, sipping mint tea in an east London restaurant. My palms would sweat and my heart would race. I didnt want to go to work or venture far from home. Id try to envisage how every day would pan out and was always anxious if i was going out for dinner, or staying at someone elses house.

IBS is a chronic condition affecting the large colon and requiring long-term management. It affects one in seven on a daily basis and for many, like Hatcher, can be utterly debilitating. In 2013, it was the largest cause of days off work in Britain, with sufferers staying at home for 22 days of the year.

For Hatcher, things culminated when she had to call in sick from her job after a restaurant meal had kept her up all night. After suffering in silence for years, she finally felt her symptoms had reached a point where they were interfering with her life too much.

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The FODMAP diet: a recipe for a healthy gut and a happier life? - Telegraph.co.uk

Its a common misconception that all cholesterol is bad for your health. Nuffield Health Professional Head of Physiology, Justin Jones, explains not only what good cholesterol is, but also how to increase the levels of it in your system.

The good cholesterol in question is often known as high-density lipoprotein, or HDL. This does the job of carrying bad cholesterol away from your cells and back to the liver. From there, the harmful cholesterol is processed, broken down or disposed of as a waste product. A build-up of bad cholesterol is a primary contributing factor to narrowing of your blood vessels, increasing your risk of heart and cardiovascular diseases.

Think of it this way: bad cholesterol is like rubbish. It clutters up the roads, causing blockages and real problems if theres too much in one place. But good cholesterol (HDL) is like a fleet of rubbish trucks, picking up and transporting the bad stuff to a place where it can be dealt with safely. The more HDL you have, the cleaner the highways and byways of your body, and the more smoothly things run.

Cardiovascular and heart disease are known to be caused by inflammation. There are many health indicators which contribute to inflammation including high blood sugar levels, elevated blood pressure and of course, too much bad cholesterol. HDL cholesterol has been shown to have key anti-inflammatory properties.

Here are a few positive steps you can take, which can help to increase levels of HDL and in turn lower your risk of cardiovascular disease:

Aerobic exercise, like swimming, cycling or jogging can increase HDL levels. If you manage to lose weight in the process, thats an added bonus, as reducing excess weight will increase levels too. We should be aiming for at least 150 minutes of this activity per week. Find out more about achieving a healthy weight here.

Along with increasing your risk for other diseases, smoking reduces the levels of HDL in your body. Simply, stopping smoking is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your overall health and wellbeing. Check out the first steps towards giving up smoking>

Not the stuff from the chip shop, but rather oily fish like salmon and mackerel, which are full of omega-3 and can, you guessed it, help to increase HDL levels. A good place to start is pepper-crusted salmon with chickpeas.

(Note: Fish intake should be limited to two portions of oily fish per week during pregnancy.)

The more variety of vegetables and fruit in your diet the better. That stands as a general rule, but if you want to increase HDL levels then look to the most colourful options. Increasing your fruit and vegetable consumption will also help tackle those risk factors for inflammation. Explore your options, try something new and get inventive with recipe ideas.

This content is provided by Nuffield Health and was originally published on NuffieldHealth.com

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In praise of good cholesterol - Private Healthcare UK

New year, new me is everyones favorite mantra right now, but actually living it can be pretty tough when you have no clue where to start. And especially for diets and eating, it can be a little overwhelming to keep up with whats a fad, whats realistic (see: baby food diet) and what actually works.US News and World Report used a panel of health experts toevaluate 38 of the most popular dietsto help make yourfood choices a little easier. Scroll on and let the healthy eating begin!

The panel of experts ranked the diets based on seven different factors: how easy it is to follow, short-term and long-term weight loss, nutritional completeness, safety and potential for preventing and managing diabetes and heart disease.

1. DASH Diet:Even though it has a gimmicky name DASH is short for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension you can think of this diet as the common sense diet. Yeah, that means lots of fruits and veggies, along with lean proteins and whole grains. Ditch the red meat, sweets and copious amounts of salt, and youve nailed this diet, which is designed to lower blood pressure.

2.MediterraneanDiet:This ancient diet promises weight loss and disease prevention, thanks to cutting out saturated fats. Followers not only eat plenty of plant-based foods, but they also incorporate whole grains, legumes and healthy fats into their meals.

3. MIND Diet:Theres no daydreaming involved in this healthy meal plan. Instead, this diet combinesthe best of the DASH and Mediterranean diets. MIND dieters also steer clear of cheeses, fried food and butter. While this diet is a relative newbie, research suggests that it could help lower participants risk of having Alzheimers disease.

36. Paleo Diet: Everybody knows somebody whos tried the paleo diet, but that doesnt make it the best one out there. Themeal plan, which requires cutting out carbs and dairy and eating like a cave person, earned low marks for its restrictive rules and limited research proving its weight loss or health benefits.

37. Dukan Diet: When a diet promises a 10-pound weight loss in the first week (eight pounds more than any doctor advises), it deserves the side eye. In short, the Dukan Diet is a high-protein, low-carb diet that cuts out large food groups: carbs and fruit. It also has more than its fair share of bad side effects, like lethargy and constipation. Yikes! Wed rather eat fruit.

38. Whole30: Heres proof that trendy doesnt always mean healthy.Thisdiet promises to cure nearly all of your ailments, but US News and World Reports experts argue that thisrestrictive diet can actually do more harm and set up participants for failure once no-no foods are reintroduced into the diets.

US News and World Reportslist also included a few diets that made us go, HUH?! The Abs Diet, which requires six meals a day and claims to target belly fat, came in at number 25, while the Engine 2 Diet, which requires going vegan and ditching vegetable oils, came in at number 20. Check out the full list here, and dont forget to consult your doctor before embarking on any major lifestyle changes.

Looking for healthy and easy meals?Follow us on Pinterest for yummy inspo,and check out ourideas and hacks for knocking out those New Years resolutions!

(Photos via Getty)

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These Are the Best and Worst Diets, According to the Pros - Brit + Co

Belleville News-Democrat

Be good to your heart and health with the Mediterranean diet Belleville News-Democrat I got a call recently from two readers, neither of whom was familiar with the Mediterranean diet. Both were interested in information about its health benefits. For anyone still not sure how to implement such a diet into his or her lifestyle, I assure ...

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Be good to your heart and health with the Mediterranean diet - Belleville News-Democrat

Charles Platkin 9:06 p.m. PT Feb. 12, 2017

Charles Platkin(Photo: Handout)

The other day, I noticed an interesting advertisement in a New York City subway. The ad showed an upside-down croissant with a sail inserted to make it look like a sailboat, along with the slogan, WIND IN YOUR SAILS! FREE. HEALTHY BREAKFAST IN THE CLASSROOM.

At first glance, I thought it was an advertisement for a bakery. I certainly didnt think it was going to be an ad for schoolchildren and their parents, put out by the New York City Department of Education and Share Our Strengths No Kid Hungry campaign. Both organizations offer wonderful programs and often have a positive impact on healthy eating.

Thats why I was surprised to see this ad, and wondered if it was a mistake. If they wanted to capture childrens attention with unhealthy food, wouldnt they have been better off showing an image of a doughnut? How many little kids (in the Breakfast in the Classroom program or not) actually know what a croissant is? This is one of three posters created for the program; both of the others show healthier images.

First, lets take a peek at the term healthy. Under Merriam-Websters definition of healthy youll see phrases such as free from disease or pain or beneficial to ones physical, mental or emotional state; conducive to health. Not sure a croissant fits in here.

Its not that you cant or shouldnt have the occasional croissant, but what kind of message does it send to tell children and parents that a croissant is a healthy breakfast? It can be hard enough for parents to get their kids to eat fruits, vegetables and other healthy foods. But when a croissant is defined as healthy by the New York City Department of Education, its essentially a stamp of approval saying that a croissant is OK to eat whenever. And while this particular croissant may meet NYC DOE standards, the photo doesnt tell us that. The reality is that a croissant can have as many as 500-600 calories much more than a kid should eat for breakfast.

There is a plethora of research demonstrating that images of unhealthy foods stimulate unhealthy eating. A meta-analysis in Obesity Reviews demonstrated that children exposed to unhealthy food images in marketing showed a significant increase in unhealthy food consumption. How many, for example, saw that ad and thought, Wow, I could really go for a croissant right now.

The good news is that there is also strong research demonstrating that images of healthy foods can increase the consumption of healthy foods.

We reached out to several experts to get their opinions on the poster.

Watch Out for the Nag Factor: Practice the art of saying NO to your kids when they ask for unhealthy foods at the supermarket, in restaurants or at home.

Warn Kids About Unhealthy Ads Ahead of Time: Warn your kids in advance that they may be targeted by food companies and others to eat unhealthy foods. This helps to offset the marketing impact. See: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4976102/

Photographs and Images of Healthy Foods Help: Try hanging images of fruits and vegetables in your kitchen. Change them often.

Keep Fruits and Veggies Handy: If you have lots of fruits and vegetables visible and ready to eat, you and your family will be more likely to choose them over other, less healthy foods.

Veggies First: Always offer your kids vegetables first, when theyre hungriest.

When Introducing New Foods to Your Kids, Use the Familiar Along with the New: Try to introduce new foods along with a familiar one.

Copying Behaviors: Kids mimic the eating behaviors of their parents, teachers, siblings, peers and people they see on TV and in advertisements. If you want them to eat healthier, model healthy eating.

Dont be the Diet Police: Instead of criticizing, try showing support when family members actually eat healthier foods.

Shape Your Food: Make the food look good by presenting it in familiar, fun shapes.

Eat Healthy Meals Together: Sitting down at a table (no TV) and eating meals as a family increases the likelihood that your family will eat more fruits and vegetables and decreases the consumption of unhealthy foods (e.g., soda).

Charles Platkin is a nutrition and public health advocate and founder of DietDetective.com.

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Diet Detective: What a NYC breakfast ad can teach parents - Reno Gazette Journal

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) - Studied for years for its ability to improve overall physical health, a recent study found that the Mediterranean diet can help prevent brain decline in elderly people.

"The Mediterranean diet really focuses on getting back to whole foods. That's whole fruits and vegetables, whole grains, olive oils, legumes, nuts and seeds, herbs and spices," said registered dietitian, Melissa Sleight.

Animal protein in this diet comes from fish, but the study found, that wasn't a game changer to prevent brain loss.

"This specific study actually found no association between brain atrophy and fish intake, but it has been shown in other areas to be very beneficial," Sleight said.

Giving up alcohol isn't necessary. This diet actually encourages drinking red wine for its antioxidant properties.

"Including that in moderation, one drink for women and up to three drinks for men was associated with the decrease in brain loss," the dietitian explained.

Your brain isn't the only thing that can benefit from eating this way.

"It's very protective against diseases later in life, it's protective against cancers, it's protective against heart health, diabetes, chronic inflammatory conditions like joint diseases and things like that," she said.

Sleight told KMVT that anyone can follow this diet.

On Wednesday, Feb. 22, Dr. Joseph Rosenblum, a cardiologist with St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Center, will speak about the Mediterranean diet for heart health month. The seminar will take place at 801 Pole Line Road W., Oak Rooms, from 6 to 7pm. Pre-registration is recommended, so call (208) 814-0095 to RSVP.

There is also an upcoming class on the Mediterranean diet on Tuesday, Feb. 28, from 4:30 to 5pm. This class is located at St. Lukes Clinic Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation in Twin Falls at 2550 Addison Ave. E, Suite C. Registration is not required.

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Benefits of a Mediterranean diet - KMVT

MARVIN JOSEPH | The Washington Post

Five Washington Post staffers plan to try five diets in January to see how they work. From left: Food and Dining Editor Joe Yonan, Local Living Editor Kendra Nichols, food critic Tom Sietsema, Deputy Food Editor Bonnie S. Benwick and sportswriter Adam Kilgore.

A month ago, five Washington Post staffers embarked on a 30-day diet, each looking for a way to reset their eating habits. Now, theyre turning the page, but this is much more than a tidy endpoint: Its the beginning of making their new, healthy habits stick.

This month-long challenge wasnt a contest per se, and there is no one winner; all the staffers made their chosen plans work for them, and each has good results to show for it. Collectively theyve freed themselves from unhealthy habits and adopted positive ones; they have been enjoying more nutritious foods and less hyper-processed, sugary stuff; they have been eating more sensible amounts more mindfully; and they feel better and have lost weight.

But, predictably, life also got in the way of some of the goals they set with house moves, IRS audits, traffic jams, travel and irresistible parties interfering with their best intentions. I spoke with each of them to get their main take-aways from this diet experiment, and help them strategize all-important next steps. I also managed to convince them to let me check in with them next January to see how they have fared a year later.

If you started a diet on Jan. 1 like they did, or otherwise made resolutions to live healthier, this is an invitation to pause, reflect on your successes and, perhaps, dreams dashed over the past month and recalibrate your plan so you can keep moving forward. Hopefully, the insights shared here will inspire and inform your own next steps.

Kendras wise words to those thinking about the Whole30 diet is to be smart about planning when to start. For her, this challenge was smack in the middle of a move, making it more stressful and difficult than it otherwise would have been.

Being between homes and unable to locate the right cookware amid all the boxes, she found it nearly impossible to achieve one of her main personal goals: trying an array of new recipes. She also told me she was crankier than usual, to the point where her co-workers dubbed her diet persona Whole30 Kendra.

But she admirably stuck it out, and lost 9 pounds in the process. Along the way she learned, among other things, that it suits her to eat a hearty breakfast so she isnt hungry again until lunchtime, and that she can live happily without a vending-machine sugar fix or the 20-ounce diet soda she had been drinking daily.

Kendra has done Whole30 before, and does well with a strict set of rules to follow. The downside has been that when the diet is over, she is left rudderless and winds up returning to her old habits. Last time she did Whole30 she skipped the reintroduction phase (in which you gradually add back the forbidden foods) and went straight to cake.

This time she is thinking more long-term. Shes going to view the suggested reintroduction as an extension of the rules, following the specific 10-day transition the book offers. Even more, Im going to make myself a little rule book to follow thereafter.

This personal, formalized structure will go a long way toward helping Kendra achieve what she called her ultimate goal: making moderation the new normal.

Tom sees food though a somewhat different lens after following the Weight Watchers program for the past month. The plan makes you aware of the consequences of different choices, he said.

Having been allotted 36 points a day, Tom quickly learned that some foods, like what became his go-to snack, almonds and clementines, offer more satisfaction for fewer points than, say, peanut butter-filled pretzels. And that sometimes you have to choose between a cupcake and a second glass of wine.

While he wont continue to track his points, he says, Doing it a full month, it gets drilled into you. ... Now I know what to do. Besides making smarter choices, he also knows that exercise is a key component, and he is committed to keeping it up regularly.

He also knows its okay to go off the rails a bit once in a while. Confronted with some fabulous restaurant meals (as he frequently will be as the Posts food critic) and a once-in-a-lifetime charity event, he indulged, but even did that mindfully, choosing oysters instead of prosciutto and staying conscientious about portions.

In alignment with the Weight Watchers philosophy, he says: You can splurge just get back on track right after. Enjoy it, mindfully, then forget about it. Dont feel guilty.

Sure, Tom could have lost even more than 7 pounds this month without those splurges, but I believe the experience of being able to get back on track, and the knowledge that you can continue toward your goal weight and indulge, is an even more valuable achievement in the long run.

Joe is the only one of the five who plans to continue his diet indefinitely, a testament both to the flexibility of Buddhas Diet with its only limitation a nine-hour time window for eating and Joes balanced approach to it.

I worried he would be weak from hunger at his morning workout (so he could eat a later dinner) or eat a 5 p.m. dinner alone at his desk rather than with his significant other, or get pulled over for speeding and try to explain to the officer that he had to rush home to eat on time.

But although Joe did skip eating before his workouts, he felt fine doing it, and although he had to pass on grabbing a late bowl of ramen with friends one night, he found it easy enough to plan ahead so as not to sacrifice the social pleasures of mealtime.

His sage advice: The overarching philosophy is to have a mindful relationship with food, so dont get too anxious about a few minutes here or there. The worst thing would be to let the deadline make you scarf your food down.

In the past 30 days, he has broken the habit of mindlessly munching after dinner, has realized he doesnt have to grab for food at the slightest twinge of hunger and has lost 5 pounds.

I couldnt have done this without tea, he said. Tea helped slow his pace and calm him as he sipped, and because it is allowed outside the nine-hour window as long as it doesnt have sweeteners or milk.

Another key strategy was preparing food ahead, stocking his refrigerator on the weekends with building-block ingredients such as blanched and roasted vegetables, so he could quickly pull meals together on the weekdays.

Once Joe reaches his goal weight (he has another 25 or so pounds to go), his maintenance plan is to add a second cheat day. From what I can tell, Joe has landed on a sustainable way of life that fits him perfectly.

Bonnie is officially sold on soup. The words soup diet sound a little crazy, she said, but its a food that everyone should eat every week its a good go-to.

This month has helped Bonnie reach her main goals of eating more vegetables and getting portions in check. At first she worried the soups wouldnt be enough, but found the opposite to be true. (The volume of vegetable-based soups and the fact that their heat slows you down make them especially filling.)

The big takeaway is her realization that she can be satisfied without overeating, and she now is more in touch with how food makes her feel. She also has stopped eating past 9 p.m.

Her long-range plan is to make soup every week so she always has it on hand. She is also going to pay attention to how she feels as she eats, savoring slowly, and tuning into her level of satiety rather than continuing to eat just because her mouth wants more.

Bonnie wasnt weighing herself this month, but she recently bought a scale so she can track her weight as an incentive and an indicator and if she gets off track, she will do another week of the SouperGirl Cleanse to reorient her. She also has an exciting event to inspire her to maintain these healthy changes: her sons wedding in October.

The notion that you can slip up and then move on gives Adams plan the potential for longevity. He did that a few times this month, with restaurant meals and vacations that drove him off-plan. But his core changes focusing on healthful whole foods, limiting alcohol and exercising more still led the way, and he has dropped 16 pounds as a result.

His positive attitude of embracing the good choices you are making rather than yearning for what you are missing also goes a long way toward his success.

Adam told me the realization that it doesnt have to be all or nothing that he can see results even if he dips off his plan here and there gives him a good template for how to keep this going after April, when he typically returns to his weight-gaining spiral.

I pressed him to come up with specific strategies to put into place at that time, and he outlined this sensible three-pronged approach: 1) weigh in at least once a week; 2) exercise at least twice a week; 3) avoid alcohol for at least two days a week.

Adams overall advice to those embarking on a healthier way of life is simple but profound. Its something we could all make our mantra year-round: Whatever choice you are making, make it a good choice. Then do it again.

Ellie Krieger writes a healthful-eating column for Local Living and a weekly Nourish recipe for Food. She is a registered dietitian, nutritionist and author and hosts public televisions Ellies Real Good Food. Her most recent cookbook is You Have It Made: Delicious, Healthy, Do-Ahead Meals.

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The 5 Diets Project: Everyone lost, and everyone gained - Charleston Gazette-Mail (subscription)

The Forage and Ruminant Nutrition Lab at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Stephenville explores ways to improve ruminant diets and mitigate negative environmental impacts for researchers around the state, nation and globe, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Research expert.

The lab is used by researchers throughout Texas, the southeastern U.S. and as far away as South Africa, Brazil and Argentina, said Jim Muir, AgriLife Research grassland ecologist, Stephenville.

The lab analyzes soils and manure to determine mineral content and forages to measure digestibility and nutritional quality of what livestock are consuming or might consume, Muir said.

Nichole Cherry, an AgriLife Research associate, is the person who makes the lab run, Muir said.

Cherry has performed more than 100,000 assays in her 13 years in the lab on samples to determine various aspects of forage and soil composition, from digestibility of forages to condensed tannin levels to identifying elements and compounds within samples.

For example, Cherry uses a machine that emulates an animals digestive system, Muir said. In hours it can predict digestibility that would take up to six weeks by testing animals in pastures or feedlots. The machine can analyze 50 samples in 48 hours.

We can predict the effects and digestibility of anything the animal might ingest, he said.

The majority of the labs work is on small ruminants, such as sheep and goats, which are more popular globally, and some white-tailed deer, Muir said. About 60 to 70 percent of samples sent in by researchers serving producers are small ruminants.

Cherrys work with condensed tannins has put the lab on the global map because it focuses on vegetation, such as forbs and dicots, that naturally address internal parasites that can be deadly to ruminants, Muir said.

Parasites are especially rampant in tropical regions where rainfall and warm temperatures are prevalent, he said. In Texas, springtime and over-grazed pastures present parasite challenges for producers.

Muir said condensed tannins are a natural tool for producers who hope to mitigate losses to parasites.

Condensed tannins evolved in plants as a way to protect themselves, he said. It usually makes them bitter and less palatable or poisonous to animals or insects, but some animals have harnessed their protective features in a co-evolutionary relationship.

Tannins can be good and bad for animals, so the lab tries to identify ratios to help producers decide whether to increase or reduce certain browse, such as woody plants and shrubs, in diets, especially for browsers such as goats and white-tailed deer, Muir said.

Tests can determine the level of condensed tannins, where they are in the plant cell, how it is delivered and breaks down in the animals digestive tract, or how biologically aggressive it is in fighting gastro-intestinal parasites.

Condensed tannin assays take about two weeks, Muir said.

Cherry has trained nearly 40 graduate students, many of who came to the lab from other countries like Colombia and Kenya, to assay condensed tannins and return home with the knowledge.

She was recently awarded the Texas A&M Soil and Crop Sciences Departmental Research Support-Lab Award for her work.

Without Nichole and her lab, our research program on small ruminant gastro-intestinal parasites, such as barberpole worm, would not exist, Muir said.Producers in Texas, the southeastern U.S. and many corners of the world depend on her assays to keep their animals healthy and increase their profits.

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Forage and Ruminant Lab helps researchers, producers improve animal diets - High Plains Journal

Montana is No. 1 in something; yeah! But we shouldn't cheer. A Missoulian article (Feb. 1), page A7, reviews a pending Montana bill about the dating of milk. Admittedly not a very exciting topic, unless you consider that the current Montana rule was recently selected as a national poster child for how state laws force extravagant waste of food.

The current Montana rule requires milk to be labeled with a "sell by" date that is 12 days after pasteurization. This is the shortest such sale date in the country; most states have no "sell by" date at all. After reaching the "sell by" date Montana retailers must throw out unsold milk; it can't even be donated, even though studies have shown that milk is good much, much longer. And Montana consumers, not understanding this "dating game," may also throw out good milk. Not only is good milk wasted, but reports have shown that milk costs more in Montana. So the 12-day rule, promulgated by the Board of Livestock, causes good milk to be thrown out and consumers to pay more for milk. Great to be No. 1!

A 2015 legislative proposal to dump the 12-day rule was voted down in a House committee. Now, the 2017 proposal mentioned in the Missoulian article proposes a smaller step of keeping the 12-day "sell by" date but adding a "best by" or "use by" date indicating the number of days after pasteurization that the milk should be fresh and safe for consumers. Thanks to Rep. Greg Hertz, Polson, for his continuing efforts to help out the average Montanan. Unfortunately, keeping the 12-day rule will likely keep Montana the No. 1 national example for food waste.

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Montana No. 1 for wasting milk - The Missoulian