Wellness and Nutrition

Sustainable Growth: The Edible Kind

Posted on by Michele Arduengo
community-garden-thumb

From time to time, we use the Promega Connections blog to tell you a little bit more about life here at Promega Corporation. For more than 40 years Promega has consistently integrated the values of corporate responsibility and sustainable business practices in all aspects of our corporate culture and activity; one of those aspects can be found in the Promega cafeterias. As an employee of Promega, one of the things I have considered a key perk is the wonderful menu offerings we have here at the Madison campus. The kitchens offer a varied and fun menu full of healthy choices, using local, seasonal foods as much as possible. The Promega Culinary Garden was covers more than an acre and allows us to grow many of our own vegetables and herbs as well as compost food waste.

Below is a short video highlighting the Culinary Garden Program

For information on other corporate responsibility and sustainable business practices at Promega Corporation, explore our Corporate Responsibility Web site.

Cholesterol Management and the Importance of Diversity in Clinical Trials

Posted on by Karen Reece
Source: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
Source: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute

According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (1), 50% of women in the US have high or border line cholesterol levels and cholesterol level tends to increase as we age. Most of you are probably aware that cholesterol levels are important for health. Cholesterol is a waxy, sticky molecule that is a very important part of your cellular make up, so cholesterol is essential for life. However, if we have too much cholesterol circulating in our blood, it can build up along artery walls and create blockages (plaques) leading to heart attacks or strokes.

Continue reading “Cholesterol Management and the Importance of Diversity in Clinical Trials”

Hepatitis C: A Promising Animal Model, and Reasons to Get Tested

Posted on by Kari Kenefick

Hepatitis C virus infection by source, in the U.S. From Wikipedia.
Hepatitis C virus infection by source, in the U.S. From Wikipedia.

During graduate studies in Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the University of WI-Madison, a favorite class was an infectious disease course that included an exercise in designing the perfect pathogen. This was a thought experiment, a writing exercise. No laboratory experimentation was involved.

You might initially think of a perfect pathogen as one that produces the most spores, allowing the pathogen to spread or seed itself in many locations. Copious slime and mucus production and projectile vomiting and diarrhea were frequently suggested during discussions of the perfect pathogen. And it’s true that these features really get the attention of the infected person and her/his caregiver. There are some pretty scary microbial buggers out there, for instance those that cause hemolytic anemia and/or raging fevers; these are the attention getters of the infectious disease world. Continue reading “Hepatitis C: A Promising Animal Model, and Reasons to Get Tested”

Epigenetics and Exercise

Posted on by Isobel Maciver

Turning on some genes
Turning on some genes

If, like me, you sometimes need more motivation to exercise consistently—even though you know that it is good for you—you may be interested in the findings of a paper published recently in PLOS Genetics. The paper showed that consistent exercise over a 6-month period caused potentially beneficial changes in gene expression. In short, regular exercise caused expression of some “good” genes, and repression of “bad” ones, and these changes appeared to be controlled by epigenetic mechanisms.

Epigenetic changes are modifications to DNA that affect gene expression but don’t alter the underlying sequence. Perhaps the best understood example of an epigenetic change is DNA methylation—where methyl groups bind to the DNA at specific sites and alter expression, often by preventing transcription. Epigenetic changes have been shown to occur throughout all stages of development and in response to environmental factors such as diet, toxin exposure, or stress. The study of epigenetics is revealing more and more about how the information stored in our DNA is expressed in different tissues at different times and under different environmental circumstances. Continue reading “Epigenetics and Exercise”

Vegetable Gardening for Beginners

Posted on by Karen Reece

raised bedYou may have read several posts on this blog relating to the non-spring-like weather we have been experiencing here in the Midwest. Well, it’s still cold, but the weather has to break sooner or later and that concept has me so excited to get my garden going! Have you ever considered gardening? Are you new to gardening? You may have considered it and gotten overwhelmed by the details- What class should I take? What books should I read? What do I do?

I am here to tell you to Just Do It! There is nothing like watching your own food grow and then eating it. Things have been growing in the dirt since the beginning of time with no help from humans, so if you approach your garden project with this in mind and just aim to take it lightly, gardening can be really fun! I got started about four years ago only because someone at work left a flat full of different seedlings and a sign that said help yourself. I waited until the end of the day and only a few disappeared, so I carried the whole flat home on the bus and got started with just a 4´ × 4´ plot. Here are some beginner tips; just things I’ve learned over the last few years, that may help you get started. All these tips will be from a Madison, WI, perspective, but should be applicable anywhere in the midwest. Continue reading “Vegetable Gardening for Beginners”

Science Confirms What We’ve Always Suspected: Potato Chips are Irresistible

Posted on by Terri Sundquist

RatI love potato chips. There’s something very satisfying about the crunch of a good chip. The problem with chips, other than the obvious effect they have on my waistline, is that I can’t eat just one. Neither can my husband, who loves to open a bag of potato chips while I’m preparing dinner! To explain the disappearance of the potato chips, we joke that the chip-eating culprit in our house is not my husband but a giant mouse that has developed a taste for salty snacks.

Recent research presented by Tobias Hoch at a meeting of the American Chemical Society shows that not only do rodents love potato chips but that this attraction may not be due solely to the high ratio of fats and carbohydrates, which is one proposed explanation for the “bet you can’t eat just one” phenomenon. There is something else that makes potato chips irresistible. Continue reading “Science Confirms What We’ve Always Suspected: Potato Chips are Irresistible”

For the Love of Squash

Posted on by Becca McKnight

The weather is getting colder, and the leaves are changing color; fall is upon us. It’s time to pull out your sweaters and scarves and cozy up under a blanket. It’s time to pick apples, carve pumpkins and eat one of my favorite comfort foods—winter squash.

Here at Promega our culinary team tends a garden onsite, filling our menus and plates with amazingly fresh and local produce. Our constantly changing breakfast and lunch menus are just as good of an indicator of the season as the calendar. This time of year dishes with tomatoes, beans and eggplant are disappearing and are being replaced winter squash, potatoes and root veggie dishes. Winter Squash Soup is starting to show up on the menu and Nate Herndon, our head chef, has been kind enough to share one of his favorite recipes with us. Continue reading “For the Love of Squash”

Happy Birthday to You: Are Your Hands Clean?

Posted on by Kelly Grooms

My daughter has been actively planning her birthday for about three weeks now (and she still has almost two months to wait). At the top of her wish list this year? Hand sanitizer. As my kids headed back to school this week, I noticed that one of the most popular pieces of backpack “bling” among her little friends was little bottles of: you guessed it, hand sanitizer. In bright colored silicone covers, with yummy sounding scents, little bottles of hand sanitizer bounced along on the backpacks of a lot of the youngsters walking into the school.

The first thought that might come into your head is “Wow. Those kids are going to be so healthy. All those nasty germs might as well look elsewhere for victims.” And you would be at least partially right. Proper hand hygiene can decrease the transmission of cold viruses as well as other germs, and hand sanitizer can play a part in good hand hygiene when it is used properly and in the right quantity.

What hand sanitizer can not do is take the place of washing hands. It does not, for instance, remove dirt or other contaminants. (Although it can help smear the dirt around so that it forms a more evenly dispersed layer, prompting your child to claim their hands have been cleaned). Hand sanitizers also will not effectively eliminate nonenveloped viruses such as the norovirus. These are the nasty little things that are responsible for the majority of acute gastrointestinal illnesses. (1,2,3). In fact, using hand sanitizers may actually increase the spread of these viruses if it results in a decrease of hand washing with soap and water.

Hand sanitizers that are most effective contain ethyl alcohol (62% to 95% concentration), benzalkonium chloride, salicylic acid, pyroglutamic acid, and triclosan. These ingredients, while making the sanitizers effective against some germs, also dry out the skin and destroy some to the naturally existing fauna on the skin, which gives other germs a chance to take hold. An example is Clostridium difficile. This gram-positive, spore-forming bacteria can cause severe intestinal upset and diarrhea when competing bacteria in the digestive track have been wiped out by antibiotics. A 2010 study found that some people who were over reliant on sanitizers had C. difficile spores colonizing on their hands (4).

C. difficile infections are probably not a big risk for the average school-age child, but the example highlights the fact that hand sanitizers are not the silver bullet of hand hygiene that they are sometimes portrayed to be. The center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the U.S. lists the following guidelines for hand washing:

  • Wet your hands with clean running water (warm or cold) and apply soap.
  • Rub your hands together to make a lather and scrub them well; be sure to scrub the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
  • Continue rubbing your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice.
  • Rinse your hands well under running water.
  • Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry.

Washing hands with soap and water is the best way to reduce the number of germs on them. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can quickly reduce the number of germs on hands in some situations, but sanitizers do not eliminate all types of germs. (5).

My daughter’s birthday is still two months away, but I am going to suggest to her that she start practicing for it now. I am going to suggest she sing “Happy Birthday” to herself twice while washing her hands, and leave the hand sanitizer on her backpack for those times when soap and water are not available.

References

  1. Liu P, Yuen Y, Hsiao HM, Jaykus LA, Moe C. (2010) Appl Environ Microbiol. 76, :394–9.
  2. Hand sanitizers may actually cause outbreaks of norovirus. Medical New Today website. ww.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/232708.php. Accessed August 29, 2012.
  3. Hall AJ, Vinjé J, Lopman B, et al. Updated norovirus outbreak management and disease prevention guidelines. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr6003a1.htm. Accessed August 29, 2012.
  4. Jabbar, U., Leischner, J., Kasper, D., et al. (2010) Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 31, 56–70.
  5. CDC website http://www.cdc.gov/features/handwashing/ Accessed August 29, 2012.

Awwww, Ain’t That Sweet?

Posted on by admin

There are many things that I love about summer…being out on the water,  puttering around in my garden, and local festivals top the list.  But the best, the absolute best, is the produce.  I could (and have!) spent hours at the farmer’s market, admiring the myriad of colors and varietals laid out under crisp white tents, fresh lemonade in hand and son in tow.  I love to cook, and this time of bounty makes me a bit crazy.  I want it all; the crisp asparagus of late spring, the early sweet peas, the summer squash.  The ultimate goal, however, for my husband and I, is to eat roughly our weight in fresh summer tomatoes.  I love every kind I can get my hands on, and I relish the flavor of each and everyone.

For 90% of the year in Wisconsin, we are left to deal with greenhouse, grocery store variety tomatoes whose slices are roughly equivalent to placing a piece of wet bread atop your sandwich.  They are mushy, mealy, and lack any semblance of flavor.  Every great while, you get one that is almost reminiscent of a real tomato, and it makes me long for the dog days of summer.

I know I’m not alone.  As a foodie, I try to eat in season with my brethren.  It’s November?  We eat winter squash!  Of course, that’s what in season, but every once in a while in the doldrums of winter, I’d like a proper BLT.  So what makes those summer tomatoes taste so much better?  Their environment?  Their origin?  Sure.  Grown locally outdoors , picked ripe, and eaten within a day or two of being plucked from the vine ensures the best flavor.  But, what’s inside those sweet tomatoes that makes them so good? Continue reading “Awwww, Ain’t That Sweet?”

Forgot Something? Maybe Your Diet, not Your Age, is to Blame

Posted on by Terri Sundquist

Ribbon tied around a finger as a reminderHave trouble finding your car keys this morning because you forgot where you left them? Or maybe you can’t remember the name of the new person who just joined the department down the hall? Before you blame age for your faulty memory, take a look at your diet. New research suggests that low levels of omega-3 fatty acids in your diet could be disrupting biochemical signaling in your brain and impairing your ability to learn and remember. And, consumption of high levels of fructose, often found in sugary beverages, could be making it worse. So, put down that soda and keep reading to learn how those empty calories might be sabotaging your memory and what you can do about it.

Continue reading “Forgot Something? Maybe Your Diet, not Your Age, is to Blame”