CREME DE LA MILK

Sometimes stories pop up and you don't know if they're related or not. All you can do is post 'em. But right as the Center for Science in the Public Interest brings out their revelation that ice cream is overstuffed with saturated fat, people in Scandinavia - Europe's biggest milk fans - are finally abandoning milk in droves and turning instead to soymilk. The nondairy surge is credited to "the rising incidence of food allergies and the perceived benefits of dairy alternatives." Yeah, one of those preceived benefits being the option of no frickin' saturated fat, jack!

THOSE STEAK-EATING VEGETARIANS

When are we gonna get a "dangerous vegan parents" story involving actual veganism? The cod-liver-oil pushers in Brooklyn, that was one thing, but now there's the Florida raw-food father - a "vegetarian" who "occasionally ate a steak and potatoes meal," sez the Miami Herald. Hmmm, no, I don't think I'd call that "parent" material, just on the grounds of logic alone.

NOPE, NO MAD COW HERE. UNLESS...

"The federal government's monitoring system for cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease could be missing tens of thousands of victims, scientists and consumer advocates have told United Press International." Citing autopsy studies showing "3 percent to 13 percent of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's or dementia actually suffered from CJD," the story says this means "120,000 or more CJD victims going undetected and not included in official statistics."

WHO'S THE TERRORIST AGAIN?

"To ensure the nation's food supply is safe from terrorists, the Food and Drug Administration has announced it will increase inspections of imported food this year." Imported, huh? Maybe they should look around and see if, you know, the calls are coming from inside the house. Not only is the USDA still pro-actively passive in dealing with the meat industry's various abuses, but the meatpackers sometimes forget which form of mass-murder they're involved in, and slaughter the meddling inspectors. How can the government-approved food supply be "safe from terrorists" if not even the USDA themselves are?

SAY NO TO DRUGS

You don't need them to lower your cholesterol if you switch to a vegetarian diet, according to a small Canadian study (and one, I should point out, was partially funded with Almond money). The preliminary but dramatic results could have "far-reaching implications for a large number of patients" by enabling them to lower their cholesterol without drugs," as one scientist was quoted. The implications, however, could reach even further: Study leader David Jenkins "believes that humans may be evolutionarily adapted to the [vegetarian] diet, which is similar to that eaten by gorillas and orangutans." Ain't that a kicker! But wait, there's one more... "The patients generally found the ape diet acceptable, with the main complaint being the large quantity of food that had to be eaten in order not to lose weight." You read that right.

AWWWWW, NUTS!

Don't get it confused with this story* but the FDA said last week that a handful of nuts a day can be heart healthy - almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios, walnuts and peanuts - can make the claim. And this week more good reason to eat most of those nuts, as one of their chief benefits, Omega-3 fatty acids, are now seen to protect against Alzheimers. Amusingly, the USA Today version, like most stories of this type, focuses on fish as health food throughout, then has to add a HEALTH WARNING at the end that doesn't, of course, apply to the nuts.
UPDATE 7/23: Another warning that doesn't apply to nuts is that of flame-retardant that's now been found in fish.

[* Tip o'the hat to mr_crash_davis]

LAB ANIMALS ROUTINELY MISTREATED: SUIT

A veterinarian has fired by UM, Mount Sinai after speaking out on alleged animal cruelty, reports the Sun-Sentinel. "The staff mistreated mice, rabbits and sheep used for testing asthma drugs and other experiments. Mice were stuffed into cages so crowded that one scratched half its face off on the bars, she said in her lawsuit. In another incident, she said, a sheep was left unattended on a breathing machine that malfunctioned, preventing the animal from exhaling and blowing it up like a balloon."

"For a year I kept my mouth shut. I just tried to help. But it got worse and worse." Well... we can all rest easy in the knowledge that it's an isolated incident, right? I mean, animal testing wouldn't just be based on the routine abuse of animals, would it?

THIS JUST IN: TOMATOES!

Just one serving a day of tomato-based foods could lower your risk for heart disease by as much as 30 percent, says a new Harvard study published by the American Society for Nutritional Sciences. The tomatoes' protective power is equally strong in pasta sauces and on pizza. Now that's pretty damn strong.

BUY MORE BEEF OR WE'LL SHOOT THIS COW

Yes, it's come to that in Canada. Nuff said. (via Vegan Porn)