Friday, August 01, 2008
Eat and Drink and Grow (Plus: Mom was Wrong!)
My mom always insisted that we drink fruit juice instead of soda. Research suggests that, except for 100% orange and grapefruit juice, drinking fruit drinks or juices are at least as big a diabetes risk as soda. The grapefruit exception may have to do with this, but the orange juice, well, who knows. Still, the message is clear: drink water or unsweetened coffee/tea. Mostly tea.
Speaking of things we thought were good for us: soy. A correlational (read: probably unreliable) study linked even low levels of soy consumption to lowered sperm count in men. This is hilarious, but given the population of Asian nations where soy is a staple food, unlikely to be meaningful or real.
And speaking of dubious, we have much-hyped claims that researchers have developed "exercise pills." I'm not entirely clear on how these are even supposed to work, but apparently it's possible that in the (near) future, I may not have to bother with the treadmill at all. Which would make me very happy! It also seems that taking garlic in a pill may help lower your blood pressure, but I really fail to see the point: garlic is delicious. why not just eat the stuff? Anyone who thinks garlic breath is bad clearly shouldn't ever come to my house!
Speaking of things we thought were good for us: soy. A correlational (read: probably unreliable) study linked even low levels of soy consumption to lowered sperm count in men. This is hilarious, but given the population of Asian nations where soy is a staple food, unlikely to be meaningful or real.
And speaking of dubious, we have much-hyped claims that researchers have developed "exercise pills." I'm not entirely clear on how these are even supposed to work, but apparently it's possible that in the (near) future, I may not have to bother with the treadmill at all. Which would make me very happy! It also seems that taking garlic in a pill may help lower your blood pressure, but I really fail to see the point: garlic is delicious. why not just eat the stuff? Anyone who thinks garlic breath is bad clearly shouldn't ever come to my house!
Labels: blood pressure, diabetes, dubious, exercise, fertility, fitness, fruit juice, garlic, health, pharmacology, soda, soy, sperm
