“Soft Drinks” Like Methadone for Sugar Addicts?

That’s the conclusion reached by a series of studies discussed in this article by David Mendoza at HealthCentral. Examples:

Dieters who drank several non-sugar soft drinks a day, in a study at the University of Texas, were actually more likely to become overweight than those who drank the same number of sugared sodas.

Another study of diabetics found that those who drank diet sodas had substantially higher glucose levels (.7 HaIC) than those who did not.

And most damning of all, a researcher at Harvard Med School published a study linking diet sodas to an increased risk for contracting metabolic syndrome — a precursor of diabetes in many cases (such as mine).

How could these non-nutritive sweeteners possibly be associated with weight gain and the metabolic syndrome? [writes Mendoza] The authors of the Circulation study
led by Ravi Dhingra, MD, an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical
School, think that the high level of sweetness “may lead to
conditioning for a greater preference for intake of sweetened items.”

In other words, diet soda helps maintain a sugar addiction.

Worse yet, diet sodas may promote formation of "advanced glycation end products," or AGEs, also known as glycotoxins. These are believed to promote internal inflammation and oxidative stress, which may well be linked to diabetic heart and circulation problems.

Wow. Diet Soda means inflammation, stress, and possible weight gain. Why wasn’t I told?

Scientific Surrealism: Paleo-Nerd Edition

File this under books I just have to read. A distinguished museum paleotologist, Kirk Johnson, and a friend and an artist named Ray Troll, recount (and draw) nine years worth of adventure on the road in the West, searching for lost and found fossils. The book is called Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway. Sounds fascinating, and I love Troll’s style:. (His buddy calls him "the R. Crumb of the Cretaceous," fittingly.) Take a look:

Thefossilfreeway

Sugar is a Drug: Scientific American

Years ago, decades ago in fact, even before it was commonly thought that sugar made kids "bounce off the walls," my farsighted friend David Healy insisted that sugar was a drug. At the time (back in high school) I scoffed, being a skeptic of the quasi-traditional variety.

But according to the latest in brain research, David was right. Leading researcher Nora Volkow, the first scientist to study addiction via infrared detection in the brain, and currently the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said in a Q&A in the September issue:

In rats, it has been shown that, if you give them very high-sugar
diets and then make them give them an opioid antagonist (naloxone), you
can trigger a withdrawal that is similar to that you observe when you
give naloxone to an animal that has received repeated injections of
morphine. This indicated that chronic exposure to high sugar diets
generated physical dependence.

Gives this advertisement a bit of an edge, doesn’t it?

Missyousugar

BBC Poll: 4/5 Around World Ready to Make Change for Sake of Climate

According to a huge BBC poll of nearly 22,000 people around the world, four out of five of people are ready and willing to change their lives to preserve their traditional climate — even in China and the US.

Overall, 83% of respondents throughout the world agreed
that individuals would definitely or probably have to make lifestyle
changes to reduce the amount of climate-changing gases they produce.

In almost all countries in Europe, and in the US, most
people said they believed the cost of fuels that contribute most to
climate change would have to increase.

The world seems to be begging for leadership on this issue — doesn’t it seem? People around the world even indicated a real willingness to pay higher taxes for the sake of the climate. Although a narrow majority indicated a willingness to pay an energy tax, support jumped if people believed the money would go to solving the problem, and not just government coffers.

…when people opposed to energy taxes were asked
whether their opinion would change if the revenue from the taxes were
used to increase energy efficiency or develop cleaner fuel, large
majorities in every country were in favor of higher taxes.

And when those opposed to higher taxes were asked
whether they would change their minds if other taxes were reduced in
order to keep their total tax burden the same, the survey again
discovered large majorities in every country in favoured of higher
green taxes.

"This poll clearly shows that people are much more ready
to endure their share of the burden than most politicians grant," said
Doug Miller, director of Globescan, the polling company that conducted
the survey on behalf of the BBC.

The Fire This Time: Combing Through the Ashes

After burning nearly half a million acres, the devastating wildfires of this past week in Southern California have been brought under control. As the air clears, countless analysts, politicians and experts of all types  have come forward with their reactions — some to lead, some to offer insight, and some to smear.

The San Francisco Chronicle had uncharacteristically kind words for Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger.
Bill Whalen pointed out that:

Throughout the week, he stayed
optimistic, talked action and results, and resisted the media’s bait to
blame someone – anyone – for California’s misfortunes. It’s exactly
what you look for in a leader.

The governor won accolades, and the firefighters, working brutally hard while in danger, day and night against sixteen fires, fueled at the start by 100 degree temperatures and gale-force winds.

The Forest Service is given credit for winning one big battle in Lake Arrowhead, by insisting for years on fuel breaks and tree-thinning, a determined action that may have saved that pricey resort town.

Near a windy pass in northern L.A. county, a development named Stevenson Ranch, attacked by huge Santa Ana-backed fires in both 2003 and 2007, survived both infernos thanks to intelligent use of the idea of"defensible space."

Few others got off unscathed. For more, please see the rest of the post in Gristmill…

For now, here’s a picture from flickr’s pics from the San Diego fires. Often these fire photos look sci-fi-y, but this is reality: October 24, 2007, Rancho San Diego.

Askywithnoair

Save the Rain! Take Action Tomorrow

From about 12:00 to 2:00 tomorrow in Ventura on 1900 Spinnaker Drive near the harbor, Bill McKibben’s national Step It Up! campaign will demonstrate in support of action to preserve the loveliness of our climate. Lois Capps has been invited, and Supervisors Steve Bennett and John Flynn are expected, as well as Carol Miller, the Mayor of Ojai.

Come to the action, show your support for planetary health, and get a free green thumb. Or at least, a green finger. Plus, maybe you’ll get to meet an unusually literate polar bear.

Wakeuphumans

Bad Review of the Year

Wow. Robert Christgau, once the man who reviewed every record under the sun for the Village Voice, absolutely devastates Joni Mitchell’s new record in Rolling Stone.

Yet I’m sure he would agree that this in no way diminishes Joni Mitchell’s better songs. (Mitchell’s work continues to shine — just hear what Prince does with her classic "A Case of You," if you have any doubts — it’s available on iTunes, but not Amazon, as far as I can tell.)

And it’s not just the songs, not just the performances, not just the art, but now she has mastered an entirely new form of expression, the website. The clarity and depth of her site is the best of any performer that I have seen, with listings of every known appearance, hundreds of reviews, good, bad, and indifferent, her paintings, discussions — take a look.

Here’s a favorite painting of her’s, The Mountain Loves the Sea, in which she balanced these two great forces with whimsical power…

Thmtnlvthsea_2

7th Grade Dropout Reinvents Car Engine

It’s this kind of story that gives me faith in America — again. An innovative mechanic in Kansas named Jonathan Goodwin is inventing new ways to get double, triple, or quadruple the mileage that big cars (such as Hummers) can get out of fuels, using innovative methods but basic parts, usually made by GM.

He is a virtuoso of fuel economy. He takes the hugest American cars
on the road and rejiggers them to get up to quadruple their normal
mileage and burn low-emission renewable fuels grown on U.S. soil–all
while doubling their horsepower. The result thrills eco-evangelists and
red-meat Americans alike: a vehicle that’s simultaneously green and
mean. And word’s getting out. In the corner of his office sits Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s 1987 Jeep Wagoneer, which Goodwin is converting to
biodiesel; soon, Neil Young will be shipping him a 1960 Lincoln
Continental to transform into a biodiesel–electric hybrid.

His target for Young’s car? One hundred miles per gallon.

(h/t: Tyler Suchman)

1960_lincoln