Eat dirt, get worms, be healthy

That's the conclusion from students of "the hygiene hypothesis," currently being tested by scientists as an explanation for the increase in autoimmune disorders (e.g. allergies) in Western countries. 

One leading researcher, Dr. Joel V. Weinstock, the director of gastroenterology and hepatology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, said in an interview that the immune system at birth “is like an unprogrammed computer. It needs instruction.”
...“Children raised in an ultraclean environment,” he added, “are not being exposed to organisms that help them develop appropriate immune regulatory circuits.”

Do wash hands after using the restroom or handling dirty diapers, the scientists say, but that old mantra to "wash up before dinner"? 

Maybe not.

Cleaning blog house - #1

I came to the realization that America is in the grips of a nefarious chicken-finger pandemic, in which a blandly tasty foodstuff has somehow become the de facto official nibble of our young.

This essay bemoans the children's menu at restaurants, noting that instead of downsizing adult portions, the kids menu often simply offers a few marginally nutritious comfort meals to quite the children while the adults eat. At a Chinese place, how about chicken fingers for the kids? Italian, chicken fingers! Thai, chicken fingers!

She notes that some restaurants are trying to adapt, reverting to the tradition of simply shrinking big people portions (and prices) for kids. But I found it interesting that restaurants have been catering to the parents' desire to have a good dining experience by catering to kids' comfort food (and waistlines).

Marketing American food

There's nothing like a good caustic look at what Americans eat, and this essay is no exception:

Remember how it used to be so difficult to transport yogurt? When yogurt only came in 50-pound reinforced steel containers that had to be moved using federally regulated yogurt transportation vehicles? Well, they've fixed that. Now you can get yogurt in an easy-to-transport package with a dumb pun for a name: Go-Gurt!

The article also delves into the inanity of the "100 Calorie Snack Pack," and other new ways to market old food:

This is because extensive scientific evidence shows that round numbers lead to weight loss. Eating an entire box of Cheese Nips is unquestionably unhealthy, unless it's really easy to do math afterward. This is why people in countries that use the metric system -- which is to say pretty much any country except the United States -- are much slimmer.

I was particularly entertained by this article's cynical assessment of food marketing given these recent findings: food - any food - wrapped in a McDonald's wrapper tastes better to kids.

The study had youngsters [ages 3-5] sample identical McDonald's foods in name-brand and unmarked wrappers. The unmarked foods always lost the taste test...

Even [store bought] carrots, milk and apple juice tasted better to the kids when they were wrapped in the familiar packaging of the Golden Arches.

GOP likes higher cost, less coverage health care

The U.S. House will consider a bill on children's health insurance soon, but the politics are getting far ahead of the actual debate. With new rules requiring offsets for new spending, the children's health care proposal asks for higher tobacco taxes and less money for Medicare patients in the private health care plans. The latter is actually a cost savings, since the government-run Medicare health plans are cheaper than the private ones.

That doesn't stop Republican opponents from political posturing:

“Dragging people out of private health insurance to put them into a government-run program is ‘Hillary care’ come back,” [House Republican leader] Mr. Boehner said.

If "Hillary care" means less expensive but more expansive medical care for Americans, let me know where to sign up.

Note: This post was titled in the spirit of the Republican opponents to children's health insurance. It's inflammatory and misleading and I approved this message.