You may not be healthy by eating fatty foods, but you may boost your memory in the process. A team of researchers at the University of California, Irvine has discovered that oleic acids from fats are converted into a memory-enhancing agent in the gut.
This doesn’t mean experts will recommend fatty foods. But it could lead to a new way to treat memory-related problems. Drugs that could mimic the action of the compound are in trials.
In addition, there’s evidence that shows high levels of oleoylethanolamide (OEA) can reduce appetite, produce weight loss, and lower blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
A Duke University researcher has coined the phrase “vicarious goal fulfillment.” That mouthful from Gavan Fitzsimons, PhD, a professor of psychology and marketing at Duke University, refers to his theory that people make bad food choices by just observing healthy food on a menu. Not only that, apparently people in the study picked the worst item on the menu.
“We’ve found that the presence of a healthy item leads people to choose the one that is the least healthy on the menu,” says Fitzsimons. “Just seeing the healthy item and considering it makes you feel you’ve done your duty. It’s crazy, but it’s human.”
Are you stocking up your cabinet with canned goods, prepping for the impending world economic apocalypse? Well, if the doom doesn’t come, you’ll still need to eat the food that’s taking up all that space. Just don’t think you can sit on canned goods until the end of time. Contrary to popular belief, they don’t last forever.
Commercially prepared canned food has a long shelf life. But like all good things, they eventually come to an end. The ending date just depends on the kind of food you’re talking about. This is how it works, according to the Department of Agriculture:
There has been research in recent years showing that being fat can be tied to a genetic predisposition. And I’m sure it’s made many an overweight person throw their hands up and say, “hey, there’s nothing I can do about it, may as well enjoy myself.”
But this isn’t a life sentence for those who inherit a variant version of the FTO gene. The “obesity gene” predisposes people to being fat, but it’s not an unchangeable fate.
“We know that genes affect our body weight set point. But so does our environment and our diet,” says child obesity expert David S. Ludwig, MD, PhD. “We can’t change our genes, but we can change our diet, and by doing so in a sophisticated way, we may be able to adjust that body weight set point in our favor.”
If superstition has its way to day, it will be a bad one for us all. The number 13 and Friday are both considered “bad luck,” and when they come together to create Friday the 13th, trouble is bound to find us. So we all know to avoid black cats, broken mirrors and walking under ladders, and to keep an eye out for horseshoes, four-leaf clovers and to make wishes on stars, but did you know that there are some food superstitions that have kept many of the world’s cultures in and out of luck for centuries?
Here are 13 food superstitions… if you’re into that sort of thing.
- The Chinese believe a single set of chopsticks lying across an empty rice bowl is a symbol of death.
- Americans believe snagging the long-end of a wishbone brings good luck.
- Greeks believe bread is a gift from God, and always mark a fresh loaf with a cross. They do not let bread go to waste, as it’s considered a sin.
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