foodmuseumblog

"Blood" from Rice in China

"Researchers in China believe they have found a way to produce and harvest large quantities of human serum albumin (HSA) -- a blood protein that is widely used in drug and vaccine production -- from ordinary grains of rice.

"It looks like an interesting technological step forward," Dr. Richard J. Benjamin, chief medical officer for the American National Red Cross, told FoxNews.com. "It could potentially produce large quantities in a reasonable time."

Via Discovery News

ps   For travel to rice paddies, have a look here.

 

Update: Can't Read Harvard's New Diet Study.....

I have to either subscribe to the New England Journal of Medicine, or sign up and pay  $15 to access the full article connecting potatoes and yogurt to diet, pro and con-ly. In order to read how they describe "eating potatoes," and what constitutes "yogurt."

$15 for 24 hour access to the study. !!!??

 

Rice is China's Gift After All: The DNA Says So

Japonica and indica, two rice strains, apparently had been duking it out as to which came first and from where. Were they both from one single origin? Or had each developed separately in different places. Gene researchers published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences but fortunately I stumbled across this via Futurity.

It seems they both share some of the glory, but derive from one common ancestor in China. The world today benefits from about 10,000 varieties of rice, incidentally.

"As rice was brought in from China to India by traders and migrant farmers, it likely hybridized extensively with local wild rice,” explains Michael Purugganan, professor of genomics and biology at New York University and one of the study’s co-authors. “So domesticated rice that we may have once thought originated in India actually has its beginnings in China.”

Researchers also examined the phylogeny of domesticated rice by re-sequencing 630 gene fragments on selected chromosomes from a diverse set of wild and domesticated rice varieties. Using new modeling techniques, which had previously been used to look at genomic data in human evolution, those results also show that the gene sequence data is more consistent with a single origin of rice.

Using a molecular clock to see when rice evolved, the researchers pinpointed the origin of rice at possibly 8,200 years ago, while japonica and indica split apart from each other about 3,900 years ago, dates consistent with archaeological studies.

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence in the last decade for rice domestication in the Yangtze Valley beginning approximately 8,000 to 9,000 years ago while domestication of rice in the India’s Ganges region was around about 4,000 years ago."

( Chinese Rice Terraces, Guangxi, via Pictures of China.)

 

Urban/Suburban Food Production: "The Vertical Farm," by Dickson Despommier

About this book: 

Big ideas---Stacked greenhouse food-growing, with recycled water, passive and active solar, and use of aeroponics and hydroponics, soil-free.

Excellent graphics, fine use of sub-heads, clear language, loads of white space.

But---Despommier refers to "nutrients" that will both nurture the plants, and provide the consumer with what she/he needs for health, but there is no definition of these. What are they and from what are they derived? Are they or are they not "chemicals?"

 

Cans Nixed: Further Proof That Fresh ( Or Frozen?) Is Better

The self-described "food politics" website Civil Eats has posted this by Naomi Starkman:

"Consumer Reports’ latest tests of canned foods, including soups, juice, tuna, and green beans, have found that almost all of the 19 name-brand foods tested contain measurable levels of Bisphenol A (BPA). The results are reported in the December 2009 issue and also available online. BPA, which has been used for years in clear plastic bottles and food-can liners, has been restricted in Canada and some U.S. states and municipalities because it has been linked to a wide array of health effects including reproductive abnormalities, heightened risk of breast and prostate cancers, diabetes, and heart disease. I’ve reported on BPA here, here, and here."

My pantry, which I just checked, contains a few cans--tomatoes, white beans, black beans, and pumpkin. I stared hard at them just now. A can of green beans never has entered my larder but, yes, tuna has, sardines have, along with the odd cans of beans. As a spontaneous, non recipe-based cook, those beans are vital and always ready to go.  Soaking dry beans overnight-- of course I have done that, but usually when I know that I am preparing a massive portion of black bean soup the next day.

I am sure many of you soak and cook beans ahead, and then freeze them in handy sized amounts, right?  But in what? Plastic bins! Baggies?  Chemical-laden somethings?

Help!

( Tks to http://www.thehungrymouse.com/home/2008/10/24/white-beans-two-ways-garlicky-dip-creamy-soup/ for can pix. It's a site that looks lively and informative, BTW.)

Britain to Test GMO Spuds--No, Not for Eating

Potatoes developed by the German company BASF  to have resistance to blight will be grown in trials in Britain next year.The GMO spuds will not be grown for human or animal consumption but rather for industrial use. ( The potato's starch is used in degradable plastics, cosmetics, medicines and more.)

Those in favor of GMO altered foods point out that  modifying the potato in this manner may well be preferable to the heavy spraying of chemical fungicides necessary to combat "late blight."  The fungus-like pathogen that wiped out potato harvests in Ireland in the mid 1800's continues to exist today in potato-growing areas around the world.

Many in Britain are opposed to the growing of any GMO food plants for any purpose.

According to today's Reuter's piece, " Britain's largest organic certification body, the Soil Asssociation, said, however, it was dismayed by the decision, adding there would be no market for GMO potatoes in Britain.

"The government is ignoring what consumers want to eat and their health and safety...The chances of anyone in the UK willingly buying GM potato crisps or chips are zero. This trial is a monumental waste of time and money," Soil Association policy director Peter Melchett said."

For an overview of GM, take a look at this report from NewScientist.com.

Americans Will Eat Roofing Paper Happily In Their Snacks As Long as Snacks Are Fat-Free Dept: Olestra

Remember olestra? It's a fake fat, with no calories, approved by the FDA but linked to many cases of stomach cramps and diarrhea. Olestra also appears to deplete the body's fat-soluble vitamins. First used by Frito-Lay in its line of  Wow! chip products, olestra is still there, but since 2004 "Wow" has been called "Light,"  thus confusing snackers who thought they were avoiding olestra. Apparently, for many, frequent bathroom runs continued.

Over the long run, diarrhea can be a fairly effective weight loss tool, of course.  Just ask anyone with cholera.

(Above: Olestra molecule--a cry for help? The finger? Diagram from Elmhurst College, http://www.elmhurst.edu/)

The Center for Science in the Public Interest threatened to sue Frito-Lay unless it clearly labeled front and back the Tostitos, Lay's and Ruffles containing olestra. ( Olestra was listed as an ingredient, and Olean, the brand name of olestra, was on the front.)  Frito-Lay has agreed, according to yesterday's AP Story, and also made an unrestricted grant of $150,000 to Harvard Medical School's nutrition division.

Back in 2003, the FDA changed the labeling requirement for olestra, stating:

" The FDA concluded that the label statement was no longer warranted because:

"Real-life" consumption studies of products containing olestra showed olestra caused only infrequent, mild gastrointestinal (GI) effects. In fact, a 6-week study with more than 3,000 people showed that the group consuming olestra-containing chips experienced only a minor increase in bowel movement frequency compared to those people who consumed only full-fat chips.

• Post-market studies showed consumers are aware of olestra and its potential GI effects. "

Naturally the labeling change caused snack giants to introduce new lines of items containing the fake fat.

Here's Proctor & Gamble's pr output on Olean, developed by P&G and appropved by the FDA in 1996.  In the website's FAQ section, there's this:

"Olean is made from ingredients found in common foods like vegetable oil and sugar. Then, it’s processed in a way that adds zero fat to the snacks you love. Since Olean is not digested, it’s similar to eating foods like apples, corn and bran, where the insoluble fiber is not broken down by the body. So, when you eat Olean snacks, the Olean passes through the digestive tract without adding any dietary fat or calories. And, because Olean molecules are much larger than those of ordinary fats, the body's digestive enzymes cannot break them down. " ( Foodie is trying for the jaundiced effect up there, just for emphasis.)

Here's how the Center for Science in the Public Interest reports on olestra.

Beans Are GO!--Shuttle Discovery Launched On 13-Day Mission

Commanded by U. S. Air Force  Col. Eileen Collins, the shuttle Discovery took off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida today, and minutes afterwards, space launch team members dove into what has become a traditional celebratory meal of beans and cornbread---60 gallons worth of beans, cooked in 12  18-quart cookers.
The custom began back on April 12, 1981 when NASA Test Director Norm Carlson brought from home a crockpot of beans and some cornbread to feed hungry staffers. With each launch he brought in larger quantities of food and kept doling out beans until his retirement. At some point in the past 20 years the cry "Beans are go!" became  code for "a successful launch, let's rip into some chow."
These days NASA official food providers supply the bean and cornbread feast.

The recipe that follows might well suit anyone having an enormous family reunion this summer. Foodie did wonder about the  paucity of celery in the recipe,  went tsk tsk over the liquid smoke, and asked, "Where are the chiles??"   

Successful Launch Beans ( Courtesy Nancy Holland, King5.com)

   Put 6 lbs. dried Great Northern Beans in an 18-quart electric cooker
   Cut 10 lbs of smoked ham into cubes
   Add ham and ham bones to beans
   Add ½ shaker of lemon pepper
   Add 3 lbs chopped onions
   Add 2 stalks chopped celery
   Add 1 tsp. liquid smoke
   Cover with water and cook for at least eight hours.

Water Wars Next?

The next big thing may well be lack of water, according to World Water Week scientists. Increasing population means more food and that means more water use, and more environmental degradation.

Here's a portion of a Reuters article on this subject today.

By Patrick McLoughlin

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The risk of wars being fought over water is rising because of explosive global population growth and widespread complacency, scientists said on Friday.
"We have had oil wars," said Professor William Mitsch. "That's happened in our lifetime. Water wars are possible."
Scientists at the World Water Week conference which began on Sunday in Stockholm said that ignorance and complacency were widespread in wealthier countries.
"I don't know what will shake these regions out of complacency other than the fact there will be droughts, pestilence and wars that break out over water rights," said Mitsch, professor of natural resources at Ohio State University.
Mitsch told Reuters potential flashpoints included the Middle East.

Click here to read another article on this.