Wellness and Nutrition

Want Your Kids to Eat Their Vegetables? Start Them Early and Give Them Water

Posted on by Kelly Grooms

As I write this, a can of diet soda sits open on my desk (where I am eating my lunch) and I am fighting the urge to supplement my lunch with a bag of chips out of the vending machine. The reusable, BPA-free glass I keep at my desk for ice water sits neglected, as does the apple I brought in my lunch. So why, if I have an apple sitting right there, am I tempted to visit the vending machine for chips? New research suggests that the blame could lie with that can of diet soda.

The study, made available online ahead of publication (1), found that from a very early age, people associate sweeten drinks with salty and higher fat foods such as pizza and French fries (or chips). Perhaps partly as a result of this association, young people (ages 19–23 years) viewed unfavorably the pairing of a sweetened drink with raw or cooked vegetables. The test subjects showed strong reactions (either positive or negative) to the pairing of sweetened drinks with certain foods. In contrast, water didn’t evoke strong any reactions indicating that it was viewed as reasonable complement to most food. Continue reading “Want Your Kids to Eat Their Vegetables? Start Them Early and Give Them Water”

Want to Look More Attractive? Eat More Fruits and Vegetables.

Posted on by Terri Sundquist

Face made of vegetablesFruits and vegetables are an important dietary source of nutrients, including antioxidants that help stave off cellular damage due to oxidative stress and could protect us against a variety of age-related diseases, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and perhaps some forms of cancer. Nutrition experts advise us to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day, but many of us don’t. Furthermore, the health benefits of a vegetable-rich diet aren’t necessarily enough motivation for us to change our diets, even though we know we should. A recent finding reported in PLoS ONE gives us an extra reason to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into our menus: We might just improve our skin color and look more attractive.

Continue reading “Want to Look More Attractive? Eat More Fruits and Vegetables.”

Targeted Medicine: Using Bacteria as Navigators

Posted on by Terri Sundquist

Badwater Basin in Death Valley, California
Recently, a new strain of bacteria was isolated from brackish water at the Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park in California and characterized as a novel species of magnetotactic bacteria (1), a type of bacterium that synthesizes nanocrystals of magnetite (Fe3O4) and greigite (FeS4). These bacteria orient themselves and navigate along geomagnetic fields using intracellular, membrane-bound magnetic nanocrystals, collectively named the magnetosome.

[Yawn] Another bacterial strain in a world where bacteria are one of the most abundant life forms. Ho hum, right? Not so fast! Wait until you see what these bacteria—or more specifically, the magnetosomes—can do. Magnetotactic bacteria might provide us with a great new tool to target delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs, recombinant proteins and medically relevant antibodies, ligands and nucleic acids to treat a wide range of diseases. Continue reading “Targeted Medicine: Using Bacteria as Navigators”

Therapeutic Manipulation of N-glycan Branching: Promise in the Fight against MS?

Posted on by Kelly Grooms
Multiple Sclerosis is characterized by inflammatory demyelination and degeneration of the nervous system.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a horrible, debilitating disease that affects an estimated 3 million people world wide. My friend “Liz” is one of those 3 million. When I first met Liz, she was a bright bubbly young woman who loved crafts and entertaining. She had a huge room in her basement filled with rubber stamps, paper and other craft supplies. The first Christmas I knew her, she and her husband had four Christmas trees in their house. Liz decorated each tree with a different theme. Then abruptly she stopped appearing at the social functions she never missed. A year or so later came the news that she had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Continue reading “Therapeutic Manipulation of N-glycan Branching: Promise in the Fight against MS?”

The Healing Power of Milk

Posted on by Traci Martinez

Part 2 of 2 – The Recipient

The Healing Power of Milk

In last month’s blog I shared my experience donating milk.  If you haven’t read Part 1 – click here to read the backstory.  I promised a happier ending to my story. As life would have it, there were some bumps in the road on my way to that happy ending.  It’s all about the journey, right?! 

After giving ourselves some time to heal – both emotionally and physically – we decided to try again. I was afraid, but for some reason, I had faith that things would work out better this time.  In September of last year we had our second child. This time it was a boy. My attempts at a VBAC failed, but our son was born healthy and we were overjoyed. Getting a baby to latch on and nurse after surgery was a little more challenging than just using a pump. With help and support from lactation experts we eventually figured it out. 

By the time I returned from maternity leave, breastfeeding was well established and I had a stash of milk in the freezer.  My pump and I were ready to return to work.   Since each of our buildings has a dedicated “Mother’s Room” there was always a place to pump while at work.  Other than the usual sleep deprivation that every parent faces, everything seemed to be falling into place. 

Then bam!  I was blindsided. Continue reading “The Healing Power of Milk”

Paying it Forward: Pour a Pint at Work With the American Red Cross

Posted on by Karen Reece

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had several people close to me- friends and family, that have fallen ill, had surgery or car accidents and needed blood transfusions to stay alive. The reason my friends and family were able to overcome those situations was plain and simple: other people took time out of their busy schedules to donate blood. Your body holds about 10 pints of blood, and the typical donation is one pint. Your body will replenish the lost blood in about two months. If you give only one hour of your time every 56 days, your donation can save up to three lives!

If you choose to donate, Red Cross staff will collect personal information like your name and social security number. You will be asked to answer a series of questions about your health and lifestyle to determine if you are eligible to donate. Collection of information is done in private and is kept highly confidential. Once your blood is collected, there is no personal information on the label. Your blood will be screened to ensure safety and will be labeled with a tracking number that can be used only if you need to be contacted regarding test results.

What if you don’t qualify to give blood? After all, only 38% of the population is eligible to give blood.  You may have travelled or gotten a tattoo and been deferred from donation for a year.  Maybe you have an illness or engaged in risky behavior that prevents you from donating.  Maybe you just hate needles. You can still help! The Red Cross always needs volunteers to help coordinate drives or to serve refreshments to donors after they have finished. If you’re not sure if you should give blood, you can find the information on the Red Cross website, call and speak to a Red Cross representative, or ask one of the nurses at a blood drive.

At Promega, we have quarterly drives organized faithfully by the women we call “The Marys.” Mary Doers, Mary Sobol, and Mary Upshaw have been coordinating these drives for years.  Mary S. and Mary U. share their thoughts. Continue reading “Paying it Forward: Pour a Pint at Work With the American Red Cross”

Does Your Daily Cup of Coffee Affect Your Risk of Cancer?

Posted on by Terri Sundquist

Coffee beansIs there an association between coffee consumption and incidence of cancer? The answer seems to depend on whom you ask, the study group involved, how much and what type of coffee the study participants drank and a host of other factors. Many research studies have found no link or only a weak link between the two, but recently a new study that showed a stronger association between coffee consumption and a lower risk of prostate cancer was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (1). Why should we believe this new study when so many other studies have been unable to show a strong link?
Continue reading “Does Your Daily Cup of Coffee Affect Your Risk of Cancer?”

The Link Between Childhood Adversity and Cellular Aging

Posted on by Terri Sundquist

Neglected childAdversity and stress are known risk factors for psychiatric disorders, cardiovascular and immune disease, cognitive decline and other health problems. The long-term negative effects of adversity seem to be greatest if the traumatic events were experienced during childhood, when the brain and other biological systems are developing and maturing. Researchers are working to identify the mechanisms involved and have identified telomere shortening as one possible mechanism by which adversity increases morbidity and mortality. Continue reading “The Link Between Childhood Adversity and Cellular Aging”

Spring Cleaning Our Lives

Posted on by Becca McKnight

During spring cleaning we open up the windows, get rid of the junk we no longer need (or never needed in the first place) and give our carpets a much needed deep clean. When we are done we feel energized, organized, and focused—ready to take on the world again. What if we could apply this principle to our lives? Hear me out ….a big area of discussion these days is how to achieve a work-life balance. Sort of like spring cleaning for your life, getting better at organizing your time and taking more time for things that are important to you and rejuvenate your spirit instead of just your home. Something tells me we would all be happily surprised with the results. Guess what, The Executive Office of the President, Council of Economic Advisers, agrees.

Continue reading “Spring Cleaning Our Lives”