Couple slips though security to crash state dinner + list of state dinner guests

The Secret Service says it’s looking into its own security procedures after determining that two people crashed Tuesday night’s state dinner at the White House.

Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan says that President Barack Obama was never in any danger. Donovan says the party crashers went through the same security screening as the 300-plus people actually invited to the dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Donovan says the Secret Service first learned about the security breach Wednesday morning after media inquiries prompted by the crashers’ online boasts about having attended the private event.

The Washington Post reports that photos from the state dinner appear on the Facebook page of one of the dinner crashers.

via Couple slips though security to crash state dinner – Yahoo! News.

The hottest ticket in the free world is to the first White House State Dinner of the Obama presidency.

The Obamas are honoring visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, but in their own way — unlike prior state dinners in the high-ceilinged State Dining Room, the Obamas will gather a few hundred VIPs in a heated tent on the South Lawn. …  – nbc

Here are all of the several hundred attendees who should have been there. After seeing 2010 this is sort of like the list of people who might be invited to survive the apocalypse. Nice to see Steven Spielberg made it.  I added some links. Kind of fun to research who these people are.

1. The President & First Lady Michelle Obama
2. Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, India & Ms. Gursharan Kaur
3. The Honorable (Rep) Gary Ackerman, United States Representative Mr. Sant Singh Chatwal (Guest)
4. His Excellency Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of the Republic of India, Indian Delegation
5. Mr. Mukesh D Ambani
6. Mr. Tim Dutta (Spouse of Ms. Pia Awal)
7. The Honorable (Mr.) David Axelrod, White House Communications Mrs. Susan Axelrod
8. Ms. Preeta Bansal, OMB – General Counsel
9. The Honorable (Ms.) Melody Barnes, Domestic Policy Council Mr. Marland E. Buckner
10. The Honorable (Rep.) Howard Berman, United States Representative (D/California) Mrs. Jane Berman, Spouse of United States Representative (D/California)
11. Mr. Om Prakash Bhatt
12. Mr. Hunter Biden Mrs. Kathleen Biden
13. The Honorable (Vice President) Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice President of the United States Dr. Jill Biden
14. Mr. Robert O Blake, Jr., Assistant Sec for South and Central Asian Affairs, State Department Mrs. Sofia Blake
15. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York, NY Ms. Diana Taylor
16. The Honorable (Mr.) John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Deputy National Security Advisor for Counterterrorism, Homeland Security Council Mrs. Katherine Brennan
17. The Honorable (Ms.) Lisa Brown, Office of Staff Secretary Mr. Kevin Cullen
18. Mr. Donald Browne Ms. Maria Junqera
19. The Honorable (Ms.) Carol Browner, Energy and Climate Change The Honorable (Mr.) Tom Downey
20. Mr. William Burns, Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Department of State Ms. Lisa Cart
21. General James E Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mrs. Sandee Cartwright
22. The Honorable (Senator) Bob Casey, United States Senator (D/Pennsylvania) Mrs. Terese Casey, United States Senate Spouse (D/Pennsylvania)
23. Mr. Rajiv Chandrasekaran Mrs. Julie Chandrasekaran
24. Mr. I.S. Chaturvedi, Personal Secretary to the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, Indian Delegation
25. Senator Satveer Chaudhry, State Senator Colonel Ravi Chaudhry (Guest)
26. Ms. Rohini Chopra
27. Mr. Deepak Chopra Mrs. Rita Chopra
28. The Honorable (Secretary) Steven Chu, Secretary of the Department of Energy Mrs. Jean Chu
29. The Honorable (Secretary) Hillary R. Clinton, Secretary of State
30. The Honorable (Rep.) James E. Clyburn, United States Representative (D/South Carolina) Mrs. Emily Clyburn
31. The Honorable (Senator) Kent Conrad, United States Senator (D/North Dakota) Ms. Lucy Calutti, United States Senate Spouse (D/North Dakota)
32. Mr. David Cote
33. Ms. Katie Couric Mr. Brooks L Perlin
34. Mr. Greg Craig, Assistant to the President and Counsel to the President Mrs. Margaret D Craig
35. Mrs. Paula Crown Mr. Jim Crown
36. The Honorable (Rep.) Elijah Cummings, United States Representative (D/Maryland) Mrs. Maya Rockeymoore
37. Senator Swati Dandekar, State Senator Mr. Arvind Dandekar
38. Mr. Rajesh De, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice
39. Nancy Ann DeParle, Office of Health Reform Mr. Jason P DeParle
40. Ms. Bhairavi Desai Javaid Tari
41. Dr. Vishakha N. Desai Robert Oxman
42. The Honorable (Senator) Chris Dodd, United States Senator (D/Connecticut) Mrs. Jackie Clegg Dodd
43. Mr. John Doerr
44. The Honorable (Mr.) Thomas Donilon, Assistant to the President, Deputy National Security Advisor, NSC Ms. Cathy Russell
45. The Honorable Anita Dunn, White House Communications Director Mr. Bob Bauer
46. Mr. Ari Emanuel Mrs. Sarah Emanuel
47. The Honorable (Mr.) Rahm Emanuel, Chief of Staff to the President Ms. Amy Rule
48. The Honorable (Mr.) Jon Favreau, Assistant to the President and Director of Speechwriting
49. Ms. Sarah Feinberg, Office of the Chief of Staff
50. The Honorable (Mayor) Adrian Fenty, Mayor of the District of Columbia Mrs. Michelle Fenty
51. Ms. Michelle Flournoy ( Under Secretary of Defense for Policy of the United States.)
52. Mr. Thomas Friedman Mrs. Ann Friedman
53. The Honorable (Mr.) Mike Froman, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs, NSC
54. Dr. Ashok S Ganguly
55. The Honorable (Mr.) Patrick Gaspard, Office of Political Affairs Mrs. Raina Washington
56. The Honorable Robert Gates
57. Ms. Charlene Gaynor Mr. Richard Heiss
58. Mr. David Geffen Mr. Jeremy Lingvall
59. The Honorable (Secretary) Timothy F. Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury Ms. Carole Sonnenfeld
60. The Honorable (Mr.) Robert Gibbs, White House Press Secretar
61. Mr. Anish Goel, Acting Senior Director, South Asia Affairs, NSC
62. Mr. Senapathy Gopalakrishnan
63. Mr. Mark Gorenberg Ms. Wendy Wanderman
64. Mr. John Gorman Mrs. Tamra Gorman
65. Representative Jay Goyal, State Representative Kiran Goyal
66. Representative Raj Goyle, State Representative Mrs. Monica Arora
67. The Honorable (Governor) Jennifer Granholm, Governor of Michigan (D) Mr. Daniel Mulhern, First Gentleman of Michigan
68. Mr. Earl G. Graves Mrs. Barbara Graves
69. Ms. Geeta Rao Gupta Mr. Arvind Gupta
70. Mr. Raj Gupta
71. Mr. Rajat Gupta Mrs. Anita M Gupta
72. Dr. Sanjay Gupta Mrs. Rebecca Olson Gupta
73. Mr. Lee Hamilton Mrs. Nancy Hamilton
74. The Honorable (Ms.) Kamala Harris Ms. Maya Harris
75. Mr. Kamil Hassan Mrs. Talat Hassan
76. Mr. George Haywood Mrs. Cheryl J Haywood
77. The Honorable Fred Hochberg, Export-Import Bank Thomas P Healy
78. The Honorable (Rep.) Paul Hodes, United States Representative (D/New Hampshire) Mrs. Margaret Hodes
79. The Honorable (Attorney General) Eric Holder, United States Attorney General, Department of Justice Dr. Sharon Malone, MD
80. Dr. John P. Holdren Dr. Cheryl E Holdren
81. The Honorable (Rep.) Eleanor Holmes-Norton, United States of Representative (D/DC) Mr. John Norton
82. Mr. Robert D Hormats, Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Agricultural Affairs, State Department Ms. Camille Massey
83. The Honorable (Rep) Steny Hoyer, United States Representative (D/Maryland) Ms. Kathleen May
84. Mr. Chris Hughes Mr. Sean S Eldridge
85. Mr. Jeff Immelt
86. The Honorable (Senator) Daniel Inouye, United States Senator (D/Hawaii) Ms. Irene Hirano, United States Senate Spouse (D/Hawaii)
87. Mrs. Deepa Iyer Mr. Parag Khandhar Mr. Vasudeva Iyer
88. The Honorable (Administrator) Lisa Jackson, Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency Mr. Kenneth Jackson
89. The Honorable (Ms.) Valerie Jarrett, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor
90. The Honorable (Governor) Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana Mrs. Supriya Jindal, First Lady of Louisiana
91. The Honorable (General) James Jones, Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor Mrs. Diane Jones
92. Mrs. Ann Jordan Mr. Vernon Jordan
93. Mr. Anil Kakani
94. Mr. Farooq Kathwari Mrs. Farida Kathwari
95. Mr. Neal Katyal, Principal Deputy Solicitor General, Office of the Solicitor General
96. Mr. Jeffrey Katzenberg Mrs. Marilyn Katzenberg
97. Ms. Maneesha Kelkar, Manavi Vinay Vaishampayan
98. The Honorable (Senator) John Kerry, United States Senator (D/Massachusetts)
99. Dr. Harish Khare, Media Advisor to the Prime Minister of India, Indian Delegation
100. The Honorable (Mr.) Bradley Kiley, Office of Management and Administration Mr. James Coley, Jr
101. Ms. Gayle King
102. The Honorable (Ambassador) Ron Kirk, USTR Mrs. Matrice Ellis-Kirk
103. The Honorable (Mr.) Ronald Klain, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the Vice President, Office of the Vice President
104. Mrs. Chanda D Kochhar
105. His Excellency S.M. Krishna, Minister of External Affairs of the Republic of India, Indian Delegation
106. Ms. Gaitri Kumar, Joint Secretary (Americas), Ministry of External Affairs of the Republic of India, Indian Delegation
107. Mr. Vivek Kundra
108. Mrs. Jhumpa Lahiri Mr. Alberto Vourvoulias
109. Mr. Marc Lasry Cathy Lasry
110. Mr. Jacob Lew, Deputy Secretary, Department of State
111. The Honorable Gary Locke, Secretary of Commerce Mrs. Mona Locke
112. The Honorable (Mr.) Christopher Lu, Cabinet Affairs Ms. Kathryn Thomson
113. The Honorable (Senator) Richard Lugar, United States Senator (R/Indiana) Mrs. Char Lugar, United States Senate Spouse (R/Indiana)
114. Mr. Michael Lynton Ms. Elizabeth Jamie Alter
115. Mr. Surinder Malhotra
116. The Honorable (Chief of Protocol) Capricia Marshall
117. The Honorable (Ms.) Alyssa Mastromonaco, White House Office of Scheduling
118. Mr. Brian Mathis Mrs. Tracey Kemble
119. Ms. Kiran Mazumda-Shaw
120. The Honorable (Senator) Claire McCaskill, United States Senator (D/Missouri) Mr. Joseph Shepard, United States Senate Spous
121. The Honorable (Rep) Jim McDermott, United States Representative (D/Washington) Mrs. Therese Marie Hansen
122. Mr. Zarin Mehta Ms. Carmen Lasky
123. The Honorable (Mr.) Jim Messina, Office of Chief of Staff
124. Mr. Judd Miner Mrs. Linda Miner
125. Mr. Newt Minow Mrs. Josephine Minow
126. Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal
127. Kalpen Modi, Associate Director, Office of Public Engagement
128. Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mrs. Deborah Mullen
129. The Honorable (Secretary) Janet Napolitano, Secretary, Department of Homeland Security
130. His Excellency M.K. Narayanan, National Security Adviser of the Republic of India, Indian Delegation
131. Mr. Shantanu Narayen Mrs. Reni Narayen
132. Mr. Raju Narisetti Durga Raghunath
133. Mr. Martin Nesbitt Ms. Anita Blanchard
134. Mr. Konrad Ng Dr. Maya Soetoro-Ng
135. Ms. Indra Nooyi
136. The Honorable (Rep) David Obey, United States Representative (D/Wisconsin) Mrs. Joan Obey
137. The Honorable (Mr.) Peter Orszag, Director, Office of Management & Budget
138. Mr. Jim Owens Ms. Katie Owens
139. Mr. Deepak Parekh
140. Mr. Eboo Patel Ms. Shehnez Mansuri
141. Mrs. Diane Patrick, First Lady of Massachusetts
142. The Honorable (Speaker) Nancy Pelosi, United States Representative (D/California) and Speaker of the House Mr. Paul Pelosi
143. Mr. Dan Pfeiffer, White House Office of Communications
144. Mr. Sam Pitroda Mrs. Anjana Pitroda
145. General Colin Powell Ms. Alma Powell
146. Dr. Rachakonda D Prabhu Dr. Lata Shete Prabhu
147. Mrs. Penny Pritzker Dr. Brian Traubert
148. Ms. Kavita Ramdas
149. Her Excellency Nirupama Rao, Foreign Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs of the Republic of India, Indian Delegation
150. Ms. Preetha Reddy
151. The Honorable (Governor) Edward Rendell, Governor of Pennsylvania (D) The Honorable (Judge) Marjorie Rendell, First Lady of Pennsylvania
152. Mr. Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting
153. The Honorable (Ambassador) Susan Rice, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Mr. Ian Cameron
154. The Honorable (Governor) Bill Richardson, Governor of New Mexico (D)
155. Mrs. Barbara Richardson, First Lady of New Mexico
156. Ms. Robin Roberts
157. Mrs. Marian Robinson
158. Ambassador Timothy Roemer, US Ambassador to India Mrs. Mary Johnston
159. Ms. Desiree Rogers, Special Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary
160. Mr. John Rogers
161. The Honorable (Dr.) Christina Romer, Chair, Council of Economic Advisers
162. Mr. Dennis Ross, NSC
163. The Honorable (Rep) Edward Randall Royce, United States Representative Marie Therese Royce
164. Mr. Michael Sacks Mrs. Cari Sacks
165. The Honorable (Rep.) Linda Sanchez, United States Representative (D/California) Mr. James Sullivan, Guest of Then Honorable Linda Sanchez
166. Mr. Pankaj Saran, Joint Secretary to the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, Indian Delegation
167. His Excellency Shyam Saran, Special Envoy to the Prime Minister on Climate Change, Indian Delegation
168. Mr. Jaideep Sarkar, Personal Secretary to the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, Indian Delegation
169. Mr. Parag Saxena
170. The Honorable (Rep.) Jan Schakowsky, United States Representative (D/Illinois) Mr. Robert Creamer
171. The Honorable (Mr.) Phil Schiliro, Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs Mrs. Jody Schiliro
172. Ms. Annetta Seecharran Seema Agnani
173. Mr. Stuart Seldowitz, Acting Director for South Asia, NSC
174. Dr. Amartya Sen Ms. Emma Georgina Rothschild
175. Under Secretary Rajiv J Shah, Under Secretary for Research, Education & Economics, Department of Agriculture
176. The Honorable Sonal Shah, Deputy Assist to the President, Director Office of SICP, Domestic Policy Council
177. Mr. Vinod Shah
178. Her Excellency Meera SHANKAR, Ambassador, India
179. The Honorable Susan Sher, Assistant to the President/Chief of Staff to the First Lady The Honorable (Mr.) Neil Cohen
180. Mr. M. Night Shyamalan Mrs. Bhavna Shyamala
181. Ms. Amrit Singh Mr. Analjit Singh
182. Mr. Arun K. Singh, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of the Republic of India, Indian Delegation
183. Mr. Balvinder Singh Mr. Mohinder Singh
184. Mr. Lakhwinder Singh Mrs. Sukhbir Kaur
185. Ms. Upinder Singh
186. Mr. Steven Spielberg
187. Mr. Sri Srinivasan Ms. Carla Garrett
188. Ms. Srinija Srinivasan
189. The Honorable (Mr.) Jim Steinberg, Deputy Secretary of State Ms. Sherburne Bradstreet
190. Mrs. Semonti Stephens, Deputy Press Secretary, Office of the First Lady
191. Mr. Andy Stern Ms. Anna Burger
192. Mrs. Jane Stetson Mr. Bill Stetson
193. Honorable (Dr.) Larry Summers, Director, National Economic Council Dr. Elisa New
194. The Honorable (Ms.) Mona Sutphen, Office of Chief of Staff Mr. Clyde Williams
195. Mr. Ratan Tata
196. The Honorable (Ms.) Tina Tchen, Office of Public Liaison
197. Ambassador Vinai Thummalapally, Ambassador, Embassy of Belize Mrs. Barbara Thummalapally
198. Mr. Jim Torrey Ms. Rose P Lynch
199. Mr. Richard Trumka Mr. Paul H Lemmon
200. Ms. Urvashi Vaid Ms. Kate Clinton
201. Mr. Kirk Wagar Ms. Crystal Connor
202. Dr. Eric E. Whitaker Dr. Cheryl Whitaker
203. Mr. Brian Williams Mrs. Jane Williams
204. Mr. Wellington Wilson Mrs. Wilson
205. Mr. Neal Wolin, Deputy Secretary, Department of Treasury
206. Ms. Alfre Woodard Mr. Blair E Underwood
207. Mr. Fareed Zakaria Ms. Paula Throckmorton Zakaria

 

Cup of mint tea is an effective painkiller

A cup of Brazilian mint tea has pain relieving qualities to match those of commercially available analgesics, a study suggests.

Hyptis crenata has been prescribed by Brazilian healers for millennia to treat ailments from headaches and stomach pain to fever and flu.

Working on mice, a Newcastle University team has proved scientifically that the ancient medicine men were right.

The study is published in the journal Acta Horticulturae.

In order to mimic the traditional treatment as closely as possible, the Newcastle team carried out a survey in Brazil to find out how the medicine is typically prepared and how much should be consumed.

The most common method was to produce a decoction. This involves boiling the dried leaves in water for 30 minutes and allowing the liquid to cool before drinking it as a tea.

via BBC News – Cup of mint tea is an effective painkiller.

Growing Meat without Animals, and the Dark Side thereof

Winston Churchill once predicted that it would be possible to grow chicken breasts and wings more efficiently without having to keep an actual chicken. And in fact scientists have since figured out how to grow tiny nuggets of lab meat and say it will one day be possible to produce steaks in vats, sans any livestock.Pork chops or burgers cultivated in labs could eliminate contamination problems that regularly generate headlines these days, as well as address environmental concerns that come with industrial livestock farms.

However, such research opens up strange and perhaps even disturbing possibilities once considered only the realm of science fiction. After all, who knows what kind of meat people might want to grow to eat?

Story continues below ↓

---

advertisement | your ad here

 

//

---

Advantages touted
Increasingly, bioengineers are growing nerve, heart and other tissues in labs. Recently, scientists even reported developing artificial penis tissue in rabbits. Although such research is meant to help treat patients, biomedical engineer Mark Post at Maastricht University in the Netherlands and his colleagues suggest it could also help feed the rising demand for meat worldwide.

The researchers noted that growing skeletal muscle in labs — the kind people typically think of as the meat they eat — could help tackle a number of problems:

• Avoiding animal suffering by reducing the farming and killing of livestock.
• Dramatically cutting down on food-borne ailments such as mad cow disease and salmonella or germs such as swine flu, by monitoring the growth of meat in labs.
• Livestock currently take up 70 percent of all agricultural land, corresponding to 30 percent of the world’s land surface, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Labs would presumably require much less space.
• Livestock generate 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, more than all of the vehicles on Earth, the FAO added. Since the animals themselves are mostly responsible for these gases, reducing livestock numbers could help alleviate global warming.

Need to scale up
Stem cells are considered the most promising source for such meat, retaining as they do the capacity to transform into the required tissues, and the scientists pointed to satellite cells, which are the natural muscle stem cells responsible for regeneration and repair in adults. Embryonic stem cells could also be used, but they are obviously plagued by ethical concerns, and they could grow into tissues besides the desired muscles.

To grow meat in labs from satellite cells, the researchers suggested current tissue-engineering techniques, where stem cells are often embedded in synthetic three-dimensional biodegradable matrixes that can present the chemical and physical environments that cells need to develop properly. Other key factors would involve electrically stimulating and mechanically stretching the muscles to exercise them, helping them mature properly, and perhaps growing other cells alongside the satellite cells to provide necessary molecular cues.

So far past scientists have grown only small nuggets of skeletal muscle, about half the size of a thumbnail. Such tidbits could be used in sauces or pizzas, Post and colleagues explained recently in the online edition of the journal Trends in Food Science & Technology, but creating a steak would demand larger-scale production.

Dark thoughts
The expectation is that if such meat is ever made, scientists will opt for beef, pork, chicken or fish. However, science fiction has long toyed with the darker possibilities that cloned meat presents.

In Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson’s epic sci-fi satire “Transmetropolitan,” supermarkets and fast food joints sell dolphin, manatee, whale, baby seal, monkey and reindeer, while the Long Pig franchise sells “cloned human meat at prices you like.”

“In principle, we could harvest the meat progenitor cells from fresh human cadavers and grow meat from them,” Post said. “Once taken out of its disease and animalistic, cannibalistic context — you are not killing fellow citizens for it, they are already dead — there is no reason why not.”

- via msnbc

We also may be able to sample things like T-rex meat one day.  Probably tastes like chicken.

Scientists find molecular trigger that helps prevent aging and disease

“We discovered that CBP predicts lifespan and accounts for 80 percent of lifespan variation in mammals,” said Dr. Mobbs. “Finding the right balance is key; only a 10 percent restriction will produce a small increase in lifespan, whereas an 80 percent restriction will lead to a shorter life due to starvation.”

The team found an optimal dietary restriction, estimated to be equivalent to a 30 percent caloric reduction in mammals, increased lifespan over 50 percent while slowing the development of an age-related pathology similar to Alzheimer’s disease….

researchers found that when dietary restriction was maintained throughout the worms' adulthood, lifespan increased by 65 percent and the Alzheimer's disease-related paralysis decreased by about 50 percent.

“We showed that dietary restriction activates CBP in a roundworm model, and when we blocked this activation, we blocked all the protective effects of dietary restriction,” said Dr. Mobbs. “It was the result of blocking CBP activation, which inhibited all the protective effects of dietary restriction, that confirmed to us that CBP plays a key role in mediating the protective effects of dietary restriction on lifespan and age-related disease. “

In the second part of study, Dr. Mobbs and his team looked at the other end of this process: What happens to CBP in a high-calorie diet that has led to diabetes, a disease in which glucose metabolism is impaired? Researchers examined mice and found that diabetes reduces activation of CBP, leading Dr. Mobbs to conclude that a high-calorie diet that leads to diabetes would have the opposite effect of dietary restriction and would accelerate aging.

Dr. Mobbs hypothesizes that dietary restriction induces CBP by blocking glucose metabolism, which produces oxidative stress, a cellular process that leads to tissue damage and also promotes cancer cell growth. Interestingly, dietary restriction triggers CBP for as long as the restriction is maintained, suggesting that the protective effects may wear off if higher dietary intake resumes. CBP responds to changes in glucose within hours, indicating genetic communications respond quickly to fluctuations in dietary intake.

“Our next step is to understand the exact interactions of CBP with other transcription factors that mediate its protective effects with age,” said Dr. Mobbs. “If we can map out these interactions, we could then begin to produce more targeted drugs that mimic the protective effects of CBP.”

via Scientists find molecular trigger that helps prevent aging and disease.

One in seven Americans short of food. Shorted by the Americans who are fat of food?

More than 49 million Americans — one in seven — struggled to get enough to eat in 2008, the highest total in 14 years of a federal survey on “food insecurity,” the U.S. government said Monday.

While Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said programs such as food stamps softened the impact of an economic recession, anti-hunger groups pointed to the huge increase from the preceding year when 36.2 million people had trouble getting enough food and a third of them occasionally went hungry.

“The survey suggested that things could be much worse but for the fact that we have extensive food assistance programs,” Vilsack told reporters. “This is a great opportunity to put a spotlight on this problem.”

About 14.6 percent of U.S. households, equal to 49.1 million people, “had difficulty obtaining food for all their members due to a lack of resources” during 2008, up 3.5 percentage points from 2007 when 11.1 percent of households were classified as food insecure.

About 5.7 percent of households, or 17.3 million people, had “very low food security,” meaning some members of the household had to eat less. Typically, food runs short in those households for a few days in seven or eight months of the year, USDA said.

President Barack Obama called the USDA report “unsettling” and vowed to reverse the trend of rising hunger.

“Our children’s ability to grow, learn, and meet their full potential — and therefore our future competitiveness as a nation — depends on regular access to healthy meals,” Obama said in a statement.

USDA’s annual report was based on a survey conducted in December 2008, soon after financial markets slumped and when the jobless rate was marching toward its current 10.2 percent.

“The numbers are even worse than people otherwise believed,” said Jim Weill of the Food Research and Action Center, an anti-hunger group. “We all know we have the worst downturn since the Depression.”

via One in seven Americans short of food | Reuters.

I found some of the food: Obesity Prevalence Among Low-Income, Preschool-Aged Children — United States, 1998–2008

Chart of obesity prevalence – cdc

 

New evidence that dark chocolate helps ease emotional stress

The “chocolate cure” for emotional stress is getting new support from a clinical trial published online in ACS’ Journal of Proteome Research. It found that eating about an ounce and a half of dark chocolate a day for two weeks reduced levels of stress hormones in the bodies of people feeling highly stressed. Everyone’s favorite treat also partially corrected other stress-related biochemical imbalances.

Sunil Kochhar and colleagues note growing scientific evidence that antioxidants and other beneficial substances in dark chocolate may reduce risk factors for heart disease and other physical conditions. Studies also suggest that chocolate may ease emotional stress. Until now, however, there was little evidence from research in humans on exactly how chocolate might have those stress-busting effects.

In the study, scientists identified reductions in stress hormones and other stress-related biochemical changes in volunteers who rated themselves as highly stressed and ate dark chocolate for two weeks. “The study provides strong evidence that a daily consumption of 40 grams [1.4 ounces] during a period of 2 weeks is sufficient to modify the metabolism of healthy human volunteers,” the scientists say.

via New evidence that dark chocolate helps ease emotional stress.

I eat organic powdered unsweetened dark chocolate in my morning shake almost every day.

Scientists discover how fish oil helps arthritis

A new discovery about the health benefits of fish oil could pave the way to new treatments for life-threatening conditions such as arthritis and strokes, claim scientists. Researchers found that the body converts a fatty acid in fish oils into a powerful anti-inflammatory chemical called resolvin D2. It was this compound that accounted for the ability of the oil found in fish such as salmon and mackeral to combat diseases.

Britons spend £60 million a year on fish oil supplements after research suggesting they are good for the brain, bones and heart and can even protect against cancer, eye problems and back pain.

But the mechanism for this “elixir of health” had not been known until British and US researchers showed how the body makes Resolvin D2 from DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and discovered its exact chemical structure

The British and American scientists believe resolvin D2 could provide the basis of new treatments for a range of serious diseases which involve inflammation.

The list includes sepsis – a potentially deadly reaction to infection which causes inflammation to rage through the body – stroke, and arthritis.

Laboratory experiments showed how the body converts the fish oil fatty acid DHA into resolvin D2, and revealed the chemical’s structure.

Professor Mauro Perretti, from Queen Mary, University of London, who led the UK team, said: “We have known for some time that fish oils can help with conditions like arthritis which are linked to inflammation. What we’ve shown here is how the body processes a particular ingredient of fish oils into resolvin D2. …

Inflammation, caused when the immune system goes into “overdrive”, is known to play a role in many health problems ranging from heart disease and stroke to arthritis and cancer.

Previous research has shown that a key step in the inflammatory process occurs when white blood cells stick to the inner lining of blood vessels.

via How fish oil helps arthritis – Telegraph.

Flax oil, in my experience, has even more powerful anti-inflammatory properties. I’ve been taking 2 tablespoons of cold pressed organic flax seed oil every morning for several years in my morning milk shake. I like fish, but I just don’t like the taste of fish oil.

Scientists: curry compound kills cancer cells

A molecule found in a curry ingredient can kill esophageal cancer cells in the laboratory, suggesting it might be developed as an anti-cancer treatment, scientists said on Wednesday.

Researchers at the Cork Cancer Research Center in Ireland treated esophageal cancer cells with curcumin — a chemical found in the spice turmeric, which gives curries a distinctive yellow color — and found it started to kill cancer cells within 24 hours.

The cells also began to digest themselves, they said in a study published in the British Journal of Cancer.

Previous scientific studies have suggested curcumin can suppress tumors and that people who eat lots of curry may be less prone to the disease, although curcumin loses its anti-cancer attributes quickly when ingested.

But Sharon McKenna, lead author of the Irish study, said her study suggested a potential for scientists to develop curcumin as an anti-cancer drug to treat esophageal cancer.

Cancers of the esophagus kill more than 500,000 people across the world each year. The tumors are especially deadly, with five-year survival rates of just 12 to 31 percent.

McKenna said the study showed curcumin caused the cancer cells to die “using an unexpected system of cell messages.”

Normally, faulty cells die by committing programed suicide, or apoptosis, which occurs when proteins called caspases are ’switched on’ in cells, the researchers said.

But these cells showed no evidence of suicide, and the addition of a molecule that inhibits caspases and stops this “switch being flicked’ made no difference to the number of cells that died, suggesting curcumin attacked the cancer cells using an alternative cell signaling system.

U.S. researchers said in 2007 they had found curcumin may help stimulate immune system cells in the Alzheimer’s disease.

via NewsDaily: Scientists say curry compound kills cancer cells.

People may have to go vegetarian to save planet says Lord

Eating meat could become as socially unacceptable as drink-driving because of the impact it has on global warming, according to a senior authority on climate change.

Lord Stern of Brentford, former adviser to the government on the economics of climate change, said people will have to consider turning vegetarian to help reduce global carbon emissions.

“Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world’s resources. A vegetarian diet is better,” Stern said.

Farmed ruminant animals, including cattle and sheep, are thought to be responsible for up to a quarter of “man-made” methane emissions worldwide.

Stern, whose 2006 Stern Review warned that countries needed to spend 1% of their GDP to stop greenhouse gases rising to dangerous levels, said a successful deal at the climate change conference in Copenhagen in December would massively increase the cost of producing meat.

People’s concerns about climate change would lead to meat eating becoming unacceptable, he predicted.

“I think it’s important that people think about what they are doing and that includes what they are eating,” he told the Times. “I am 61 now and attitudes towards drinking and driving have changed radically since I was a student. People change their notion of what is responsible. They will increasingly ask about the carbon content of their food.”

Stern, a former chief economist at the World Bank and now IG Patel Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, also warned that helping developing countries to cope with the adverse effects of global warming would cost British taxpayers about £3bn a year by 2015. …

via People may have to go vegetarian to save planet says Lord Stern | Environment | The Guardian.

Artificial Sweeteners: How Bad Are Saccharin, Aspartame?

Claire Suddath, writing for Time claims that “fear-mongering and misinformation plaguing the faux-sweetener market”. Claire describes a real banned cancer causing artificial sweetener, then, it seems to me, sets up and knocks down a straw man to make the chemical sweeteners currently on the market seem safe, claiming that those who oppose artificial sweeteners do so because we say it causes obesity. Obesity is not one of the symptoms reported to the FDA attributed to aspartame.

Too much sugar will make you fat, but too much artificial sweetener will … do what exactly? Kill you? Make you thinner? Or have absolutely no effect at all? This week marks the 40th anniversary of the Food and Drug Administration’s decision to ban cyclamate, the first artificial sweetener prohibited in the U.S., and yet scientists still haven’t reached a consensus about how safe (or harmful) artificial sweeteners may be. Shouldn’t we have figured this out by now?

… when cyclamate came on the market in 1951, food and beverage companies jumped at the chance to sweeten their products with something that tasted more natural. By 1968, Americans were consuming more than 17 million pounds of the calorie-free substance a year in snack foods, canned fruit and soft drinks like Tab and Diet Pepsi. (See nine kid foods to avoid.) But in the late 1960s, studies began linking cyclamate to cancer. One noted that chicken embryos injected with the chemical developed extreme deformities, leading scientists to wonder if unborn humans could be similarly damaged by their cola-drinking mothers. Another study linked the sweetener to malignant bladder tumors in rats. Because a 1958 congressional amendment required the FDA to ban any food additive shown to cause cancer in humans or animals, on Oct. 18, 1969, the government ordered cyclamate removed from all food products. …

The fear-mongering and misinformation plaguing the faux-sweetener market seems to be rooted in a common misconception. No evidence indicates that sweeteners cause obesity … The general consensus in the scientific community is that saccharin, aspartame and sucralose are harmless when consumed in moderation. And while cyclamate is still banned in the U.S., many other countries still allow it; it can even be found in the Canadian version of Sweet’n Low.

via Artificial Sweeteners: How Bad Are Saccharin, Aspartame? – Yahoo! News.

Scientific studies require funding. Because industry pays only for scientific results that increase profits, I believe people are suffering and dying needlessly due to misleading claims and false-sense-of-safety-mongering. There are doctors and informed scientists who say, “avoid artificial sweeteners!”  That’s good enough for me.

There are over 92 different health side effects associated with aspartame consumption. – sweetpoison.com

Aspartame use has been reported to trigger symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. According to researchers and physicians studying the adverse effects of aspartame, chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia among other conditions can be triggered or worsened by ingesting aspartame.Aspartame use has been reported to trigger or mimic symptoms of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. Aspartame use has been reported to trigger or mimic symptoms of Post-Polio Syndrome. … Aspartame use has been reported to trigger or mimic symptoms of Meniere’s Disease.

A double blind study on the effects of aspartame on persons with mood disorders was conducted by Dr. Ralph G. Walton. Since the study wasn’t funded/controlled by the makers of aspartame, The Nutrasweet Company refused to sell him the aspartame. Walton was forced to obtain and certify it from an outside source. The study showed a large increase in serious symptoms for persons taking aspartame. Since some of the symptoms were so serious, the Institutional Review Board had to stop the study. Three of the participants had said that they had been “poisoned” by aspartame. Walton concludes that “individuals with mood disorders are particularly sensitive to this artificial sweetener; its use in this population should be discouraged.” …

According to researchers and physicians studying the adverse effects of aspartame, brain tumors can be triggered or worsened by ingesting aspartame. …

In 1981 Satya Dubey, an FDA statistician, stated that the brain tumor data on aspartame was so “worrisome” that he could not recommend approval of NutraSweet. In a two-year study conducted by the manufacturer of aspartame, twelve of the 320 rats fed a normal diet and aspartame developed brain tumors while none of the control rats had tumors. Five of the twelve tumors were in rats given a low dose of aspartame. The approval of aspartame was a violation of the Delaney Amendment which was supposed to prevent cancer-causing substances such as methanol (formaldehyde) and DKP from entering our food supply.

The late Dr Adrian Gross, an FDA toxicologist, testified before the US Congress that aspartame was capable of producing brain tumors. This made it illegal for the FDA to set an allowable daily intake at any level. He stated in his testimony that Searle’s studies were “to a large extent unreliable” and that “at least one of those studies has established beyond any reasonable doubt that aspartame is capable of inducing brain tumors in experimental animals…” He concluded his testimony by asking, “What is the reason for the apparent refusal by the FDA to invoke for this food additive the so-called Delaney Amendment to the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act? … And if the FDA itself elects to violate the law, who is left to protect the health of the public?”

In the mid-1970s it was discovered that the manufacturer of aspartame falsified studies in several ways. One of the techniques used was to cut tumors out of test animals and put them back in the study. Another technique used to falsify the studies was to list animals that had actually died as surviving the study. Thus, the data on brain tumors was likely worse than discussed above. In addition, a former employee of the manufacturer of aspartame, Raymond Schroeder, told the FDA on July 13, 1977 that the particles of DKP were so large that the rats could discriminate between the DKP and their normal diet.

It is interesting to note that the incidence of brain tumors in persons over 65 years of age has increased 67% between the years 1973 and 1990. Brain tumors in all age groups has jumped 10%. The greatest increase has come during the years 1985-1987.

In his book, Aspartame (NutraSweet). Is it Safe?, Roberts gives evidence that aspartame can cause a particularly dangerous form of cancer – primary lymphoma of the brain. – diagnoseme

… everyone should hear James Turner, Atty, explain how Don Rumsfeld called in his markers to get aspartame, a deadly chemical poison approved when the FDA said no:
http://www.soundandfury.tv/pages.Rumsfeld2.html - rense

“Aspartame was a Cold War drug, intended to affect Russian food supply’s (i’m not 100% certain, but i think it was to poison them). The US made sh*t loads of it and at the end of the war didn’t know what to do with it. Since Aspartame is sweet but has no sugar, they decided to sell it as a sweetner to the public. …” – incrysis