And we say we can't do it..

I was searching for good music when I stumbled upon this one. I can't help but post this. 

I was reminded of this passage from Genesis 18:14.

"Is anything too hard for the Lord?"

Also, Philippians 4:13

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Food poisoning caused by egg sandwich

I read a news a week ago about 112 young students in Manila being poisoned because of the egg sandwich. As of this time, most of them were already discharged from the hospital where they were confined. The news report goes

---

Qoute:

Manila, Philippines - The Health department last Tuesday said that egg sandwich could be the likely cause of the illnesses which downed 112 pupils in Manila's Tondo district last week.

A GMA News report qouted DOH National Epidemiology Center head Erik Tayag as saying that the sandwichs consumed by students from Corazon de Jesus Elementary School could have been contaminated with the Salmonella bacteria usually found in eggs.

---

Salmonella (Image Source)

 Yep. I remembered reading that salmonella bacteria found in eggs. According to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Arizona

---

Qoute:

A potential food safety concern with eggs is Salmonella Bacteria. Eggs are perishable and must be handled with care. One can not tell if an egg contains salmonella bacteria just by looking at it because it has been found inside even clean, unbroken eggs. Avoid eating  undercooked eggs or food dishes containing raw eggs and remember thorough cooking kills Salmonella bacteria.

Although the risk of getting sick from salmonella is relatively small, the infection can be very dangerous, especially for the very young, the lederly and those weakened by illness. Do not leave eggs and foods that contain eggs at room temperature for more than two hours, because rapid bacterial growth can occur.

---

Here's that report. It's not only in this article that I read about storing raw eggs in the door of the refrigerator as being a bad idea. Eggs must be stored in the carton in the section of the refrigerator where the temperature is coolest to prevent bacterial growth.

Could it be that cyanuric acid was added to milk?

I also looked 'melamine' up in Wikipedia and went to its Toxicity section.

---

Qoute:

Melamine by itself is non-toxic in low doses, but when combined with cyanuric acid it can cause fatal kidney stones due to the formation of an insoluble melamine cyanurate.

---

I think I had come across that 'cyanuric' thing earlier. I went back to the articles I had read. Ah, yes. It's in the report from the University of Maine Food Science and Human Nutrition Department. 

---

Qoute:

He (Brian Perkin) noted that the toxicity may be related to the addition of cyanuric acid or by the addition of a melamine cyanuric acid complex, such as fire retardant.

---

According to (A.A. Babayan, A.V.Aleksandryan, "Toxicological characteristics of melamine cyanurate, melamine and cyanuric acid", Zhurnal Eksperimental'noi i Klinicheskoi Meditsiny, Vol.25, 345-9 (1985). Original article in Russian.), melamine cyanurate is considered to be more toxic than either melamine or cyanuric acid alone.

Could it be that melamine is wrongfully accused?

I did a further reading to do justice to this case in my mind. I also read a United Nations Environment Programme report that shows the low toxicity nature of melamine in foods. I am not a chemist and I will not pretend and interpret the data there. However, the Conclusions and Recommendations says

---

Quote:

Environment:

The toxicity of the chemical to aquatic organisms is low. PEC/PNEC ratios are below 1 when based on realistic worst case conditions and on monitored concentrations. Therefore, melamine is currently considered of low potential risk and low priority for further work.

Health:

The toxicity of melamine is low. Repeated exposure resulted in urinary bladder stones and other lesions of the urinary tract. Bladder tumours occured only in male rats after prolonged irritation of the epithelium by the bladder stones. Melamine is not genotoxic. The exposure of workers and consumers is low. Therefore, melamine is currently considered of low potential risk and low priority for further work.

---

I went to section 4.2.2 of that report that dealt with repeated dose toxicity and it goes,

---

Qoute:

Six studies with rats, oral administration of melamine with the feed and dosing periods of 14 days to 3 months are available. Additional studies with mice and also rather old studies with intraperitoneal administration, and rabbits and dogs were also reported. Summarised findings of the different studies are: Depression of body weight gain and elevated water intake were observed at higher doses of   ca. 500 mg.kg-1.d-1. The target organ system is the urinary tract. Melamine has a diuretic effect, it produces urinary bladder stones (urolithiasis), hyperplastic epithelial changes of the urinary bladder and calcerous deposits in the proximal kidney tubules. In mice ulceration as well as hyperplasias of the bladder occurred. Changes in the urinary bladder were noted in the studies depending on the dose and the species used. A GLP 28 days study in rats ( 19 ) to evaluate urolithiasis indicated a dose dependent incidence of urinary bladder calculi and hyperplasia.The rat and especially the male rat is more susceptible than the mouse.

---

If this is the case, does it mean that the guilty companies could have added such a large amount of melamine in our milk that it has become toxic?

Why put melamine in milk

How did melamine find its way in infants' milk? This story of sick Chinese infants isn't the first fatal health issue in China. If you can remember about a year ago, United States had a pet food scare when it was found out that dogs and cats' food contained melamine. It was told that this chemical is to be blamed for the death of some and sickness of thousands of pets. The FDA has identified some of the ingredients were made in China (Source).

According to New York Times Beijing, melamine was added to foods to make them appear higher in protein and have more nutritional value. 

---

Qoute:

Producers trying to cut costs often dilute milk with water, which lowers the nutrition level. But the addition of melamine, which is high in nitrogen, helps the milk appear to meet nutrition standards by artificially raising its protein count.

---

The University of Maine Food Science and Human Nutrition Department's Brian Perkins said that 

---

Qoute

“In the late 1970's, Italian researches completed a study that showed that 70 percent of fish and meat meal contained melamine,” Perkins explained. “By 1988 these researchers showed the number of melamine-positive fish and meat meals was reduced to about 5 percent. This indicates that melamine may have been in our animal feeds for some time, but hopefully not in food for human consumption.”

---

I am quite confused. If melamine in food is nothing new, then, relatively, it might not be toxic or else, these fatalities could have occured during the last three decades that the tainting is being done. There are a lot of newspapers that identified (directly or indirectly) melamine to be the culprit in these deaths and illness but I have never read any report that actually identified the actual concentration of melamine in any these food products. 

Image from University of Guelph

The electron microscope image above shows crystals of the type found in the urinary tracts of cats affected by pet food contaminants. The report I read in an article from Cornell University, there was no direct link between melamine and what happened to the pets.

---

Qoute:

Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine Dean Donald Smith joined a panel of experts at a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) March 30 press conference in Washington, D.C., to announce that both Cornell and the FDA had independently identified a contaminant called melamine in samples of recalled pet food and in suspect wheat gluten used in its manufacture. Melamine is a chemical used in plastics.

During the press conference, which was shown on CNN, Smith displayed photographs of the urinary tract crystals from affected animals that have been seen by clinicians and pathologists in many parts of the country, and he also showed a microscopic image of an affected kidney. However, Smith emphasized, Cornell researchers have not been able to match the known toxic effects of melamine with all of the clinical and pathologic signs observed in affected cats and dogs. He specifically referred to signs of acute damage to the tubules and the characteristic pattern of cellular inflammation that have been seen in affected kidneys.

---

The Chinese dairy companies knew for months the melamine contamination

I love milk even if I am lactose intolerant. Lately, I have been hearing about this melamine thing in milk products, another dairy thing and news about this exploded like a bomb. I had just read the report from the Associated Press that the number of sick children in China had already jumped to nearly 53, 000 (May-August records). 

AP Photo

I do not know what melamine is. The report explained it to me:

Melamine, used to make plastics and fertilizer, has been found in infant formula and other milk products from 22 of China's dairy companies. Suppliers trying to cut costs are believed to have added it to watered-down milk because its high nitrogen content masks the resulting protein deficiency.

Li Changjiang, head of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine since 2001, had resigned a year after he and the government promised to overhaul the system in response to a series of product safety scares. He stepped down when investigators revealed that the Sanlu Group Co., the biggest producer of powdered milk in China, had received complaints regarding the illnesses in babies being blamed on its infant formula as early as December 2007! Months later, tests show that the milk was indeed tainted with the industrial chemical melamine which causes kidney stones and can lead to kidney failure. The report also read

Even then, Sanlu delayed ordering a product recall until Sept. 11, after the close of the Beijing Summer Olympics and in the face of rising concern from New Zealand partner Fonterra, which owns a 43 percent share in Sanlu.

Note that Sanlu received complaints since December 2007 but it won an industry award in January and featured on state TV last fall as a domestic company with tight quality controls!

According to The Huffington Post, there are at least 3 children who have died and more than 1,300 are in hospitals dozens of them are suffering from acute kidney failure.

Where can I get those good fats?

I find it not surprising that fruits are excellent sources of good fats. There are other foods the article Fats and Cholesterol: Out with the Bad, In with the Good has enumerated but I am looking for something that I could easily get my hands on. I settled with fish. Fishes high in omega-3 fats have become a charmer because of its good taste. I don't know why omega-3 is so essential until I read another of their article Omega-3 Fats: An Essential Contribution that says my body cannot make them and so I have to get them from food. According to that (latter) article, omega-3 fats are needed by  my cell membranes and influence the function of those membrane's cell receptors. They actually provide the starting point for creating hormones that regulate blood clotting, contraction and relaxation of the artery walls and inflammation. I can now see how they help reduce the risk of heart diseases and strokes, cancer and so on. Salmon is a good source of omega-3 fats. 

Click here for the image source.

They even posted a recipe for that. See here.  I sometimes love fresh fishes like salmon and tuna cooked in vinegar. Well, I don't really cook it because there is no heat involved. Just soaked in vinegar with onions and ginger then I let it stay in the refrigerator for hours. But sometimes I love to fry fish. So another question sprouted in my mind. Will omega-3 fats be destroyed if I fry the fish? Fortunately, Harvard University's School of Public Health is very kind they had another article Ask the Expert: Omega-3 Fatty Acids which gives a direct answer to my question. Dr. Frank Sacks said, "Not if the oil is fresh. In fact, even in frying oil that is used for days, you can still find ALA (alpha-linoleic acid, one major type of omega-3 fatty acids) in it. Hmmm..I'm craving for fish :).

Where can I get those bad fats?

I find fatty foods delicious but eversince I had read about cholesterol clogging heart veins, I feel guilty everytime I would eat something especially if I tasted something oily in it. It was a good thing that the Harvard University's School of Public Health has given a very good list of both good and bad fats sources. The 'Bad Fats' category in their e-article surprised me when I read that saturated fats are considered bad because my body can make all the saturated fat I need. Sources of saturated fats are meat, seafood, and whole-milk dairy products like cheese, ice cream and milk. It's hard for me to avoid this because most of the basic needs for cooking like vegetable oils, though it is mainly unsaturated fats, still contains saturated fats. Since I cannot avoid this, the best way that I can do is to keep my daily intake of these bad fats as low as possible. Another bad fats, the trans fats, are created by heating liquid vegetable oils in the presence of hydrogen gas (hydrogenation). Most trans fats come from commercially baked goods (like bread?), margarines, snack foods and processed foods and other fried foods served in restaurants and fast foods. Oh, it includes the delicious french fries :(. 

Click here for the image source.

According to that article entitled Fats and Cholesterol, Out with the Bad, In with the Good, trans fats are worse than saturated fats, and so the risk of having diabetes, heart disease, stroke and other fatal conditions is much greater. Visit their site for more details on bad fats.

What's the difference between fats and cholesterol?

When I read about eggs having significant amount of cholesterol relative to daily dietary cholesterol intake, I asked myself what is cholesterol? Can I use the terms 'fats' and 'cholesterol' interchangeably? I am used to eating cheeseburgers and fries (which I find so greasy) because they are 'fast foods', able to keep up with my time. So I got so concerned on this one. I tried searching for a reliable site which could explain to me what cholesterol is. And here's what I found. According to the KidsHealth site of Nemours Foundation, cholesterol is a waxy substance created by the liver and found in certain foods. Cholesterol is actually helping my body to make vitamin D and some hormones, build cell walls and produce bile salts needed to help digest fat! This is my first time to read a thing known to be bad as cholesterol doing me good. So the body produces just enough cholesterol to do these functions even if I don't take foods with cholesterol.

I searched again for academic sites that can help me in this. According to Harvard University School of Public Health, it is not the amount of fat I eat that causes certain fatal disease(s) but the type of fat I eat. This brought me back to that saturated and trans-fats I mentioned in my previous post. These two are actually bad fats, meaning they increase the risk of getting such diseases as atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries because cholesterol is deposited on the walls of arteries and forms a hard substance called plaque. Now over time this plaque narrows the arteries. That will cause complications that eventually lead to having a heart attack or a stroke (grabbed that one from KidsHealth). On the other hand, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are good fats which are fats that lower the chances of getting diseases.

This image is from ABC Health and Wellbeing site.

So where's the connection between fats and cholesterol? I went back to that Harvard University's article and it said that the biggest thing that could influence the cholesterol level in my blood is the mix of fats in my diet and not the amount of cholesterol I take. Their recommendation is to substitute good fats for bad fats. Also, avoid trans fats. Those are the keys to a healthy diet!

What really is the truth about eggs?

Click here for the image source

I got so baffled by this 'egg' thing. All the while I thought eating lots of eggs can do you good. I have a friend undergoing body building whose trainor adviced him to take 7 eggs a day to help him build muscles. So I tried googling for 'truth about eggs'  from university sites and one article hit the nail right on the head. I come across a pdf version of the August 2004 issue of NOAHNET Wellness (Nutrition for Older Adults' Health) from The University of Georgia, Athens.  It directly answered my question 'What is the truth about eggs?' I learned that eggs are excellent sources of B vitamins, iron, protein and other nutrients. Egg yolks are very high cholesterol! Well, eggs are not the only source of cholesterol. There are foods without cholesterol that can increase our blood cholesterol like those with saturated and trans-fats. The American Heart Association recommends a daily dietary cholesterol intake to 300mg. Here's the big blow: one large egg has approximately 213mg of cholesterol! This means that if I eat an egg in a day, I must skip meats in other meals and go for a vegan dish. This way, I could keep my intake of cholesterol in a day well below 300mg. I can also constrain myself to 3 to 4 eggs per week.