or the hunting of meat from wild animals may be transforming the rain forests in Africa. When hunters kill gorillas
and other primates for their meat the primates no longer disperse the seeds of some fruit
what they do today The hunting could also impact the people who rely on fruits from the trees for food Olsson added.
Protein-rich food is often scarce and there are few taboos against eating nonhuman primates. New roads guns and cars also enable people to hunt gorillas
and bring carcasses to city markets where they fetch a handsome sum Olsson said. Hunted and protected To find out how primate hunting affected the forest Olsson
and gorillas while nearby hunted areas were full of rodents such as rats and porcupines. Whereas similar large trees dominated both types of forest the seedlings looked very different.
And whereas gorilla and monkey meat does provide protein for local people the fruit trees the primates maintain may be an even bigger economic benefit to people Olsson said.
Increasing fines and enforcement could help as would improving local populations'access to other protein-rich foods Lambert told Livescience.
#Butter-Cow Prank Does Nothing to Help the Cause of Animals (Op-Ed) Wayne Pacelle is the president and chief executive officer of The Humane Society of the United states (HSUS.
or the quality of their lives hanging in the balance some fool (who claims to be an animal advocate) defaced the Butter Cow at the Iowa State Fair.
This article was adapted from A Brain That Might As well Be made of Butter which first appeared as on the HSUS blog A Humane Nation.
and run out of food sources for the bees. It takes one million flowers to produce enough nectar for one pound of honey said Andrew Cote founder of the New york city Beekeepers Association.
Each hive needs hundreds of pounds of honey to survive. To supplement what the bees forage from parks
and cracks in sidewalks many beekeepers provide their hives with bowls of sugar water. But Cote said he would rather see bees feed on wild more nutritious sources of nectar
and the burgeoning number of hives worries him. We have the same amount of flowers
Howes who took beekeeping lessons from Cote regularly changes his bees'bucket of drinking water a requirement of the health department
The Waldorf Astoria hotel for example uses its rooftop-made honey in cocktails salad dressing and even wild mushroom chowder.
Honey is such a versatile thing that you can use in so many dishes. And it has a story behind it that we can share with guests many of whom can't believe that there are beehives in Manhattan.
Caffeine occurs naturally in the nectar of coffee and citrus flowers. Bees that fed on caffeinated nectar were three times more likely to remember a flower's scent than bees fed sugar alone.
The findings detailed today (March 7) in the journal Science show how plants can manipulate animals'memories to improve their odds of pollination.
In their study Wright and colleagues measured how much caffeine was in the nectar of three different species of the Coffea plant including the robusta plant used to make freeze-dried coffee
and the arabica plant used to make espresso and filter coffee. They also measured the amount of caffeine in four species of the Citrus plant:
in order to receive a reward of sugar alone or sugar containing different levels of added caffeine Caffeine had a strong effect on the bees'memory.
Even 24 hours later three times as many bees remembered the scent that was paired with a caffeine reward as the plain sugar.
Twice as many bees remembered the flowers'scent after three days. I think it's the first example of nature manipulating memory in an animal neuroscientist Serena Dudek of the National institutes of health who was involved not in the study told Livescience.
#Calorie Labels Inaccurate, Experts Say People who meticulously check the calorie counts on nutrition labels
and restaurant menus are in for some bad news: the tallies may be wrong experts say. Recent studies show that the amount of pounding slicing mashing
and eating food affects the number of calories people get. For some foods a proportion of the calories in them remains locked up during digestion
and isn't used by the body. People also expend some of the energy from food just digesting it;
and even theâ bacteria in people's gutsâ steal a fraction of food's calories.
None of these factors are accounted for in our current system for calculating calories which dates back more than 100 years.
Now researchers are again shining a spotlight on the issue saying an overhaul of the calorie count system is needed so consumers have a better idea of exactly how many calories they get from the food they eat.
If we're going to put the information out there on the food label it would be nice that it's accurate said David Baer a research physiologist at the U s. Department of agriculture's Human Nutrition Research center in Beltsville Md.
considering retesting other foods including some types of whole grains and legumes. For the most part the inaccuracies are small
but some foods may have actual caloric values that differ from the estimated values by as much as 50 percent experts say.
Counting calories One way to measure a food's energy or caloric content is by burning it in a device called a bomb calorimeter.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s a man named Wilbur Atwater conducted experiments in which he calculated the number of calories in various diets
and alcohol has 7 calories per gram. These values are used still today. Their existence means food manufacturers
and restaurants can use a simple formula to calculate the calories in their foods. However these values are rough estimates.
Certain foods such as thoseâ high in fiber are digested not as well meaning the calories we get from them would be lower than those calculated using the formula.
In the 1970s researchers introduced modified Atwater values that were intended for specific foods such as fruits vegetables and beans.
More changes needed While these changes are a good start some experts say we should do more.
Research by Rachel Carmody a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard university's FAS Center for Systems Biology in Cambridge Mass. and colleagues shows that food processing eating a carrot that's pureed rather than whole for example changes the calories we get from it.
 Food processing takes some of the work out ofâ digestion Carmody said meaning that generally a processed food will have more calories than an unprocessed food.
Calories in processed foods are likely close to the values that the Atwater system estimates. For example if you eat a mashed potato that's been calculated by the Atwater system to contain 300 calories you're likelygetting most of those calories Carmody said.
The difference is biggest forâ starchy foods like potatoes and is lowest for meats Carmody said The calories from unprocessed
versus processed meats only differ by 5 to 10 percent she said.)The Atwater system also fails to account for structural differences in food that make some calories inaccessible to our bodies.
For example the almond study which also accounted for calories lost in feces suggested that some of the fat in whole almonds is locked away in a structure our bodies can't digest.
While the Atwater system says a serving of whole almonds has about 170 calories the almond study found it actually has about 130.
Given that the Atwater system is treating essentially all foods the same we aren t getting a good perspective
When we digest food we also give off energy as heat. The amount of heat we radiate depends upon the exact components of the food.
For proteins it's about 20 to 30 percent of the food's calories so if we eat 100 calories worth of protein we get about 80 calories from it Carmody said.
For fats it's much less about 0 to 3 percent she said. So if we eat 100 calories worth of fat we'd get 97 of those calories.
For most uses I think they're good enough said Malden Nesheim professor of nutrition emeritus at Cornell University in Ithaca N y
People tend to eat a variety of foods not just almonds or starches. So overestimating or underestimating the calories in one particular food will likely not have a huge impact on a person's daily calorie intake Nesheim said.
And generally the omissions in the Atwater system tend to result in overestimates meaning they likely wouldn't interfere withâ weight loss.
It would only be a problem for people who want to gain weight said Mary Ellen Camire a professor at the University of Maine's Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition in Orono.
But other researchers say the goal of a revision would be to give people as much accurate information as possible to help them make informed choices about food Carmody said Such a process could result in broad changes such as new numbers for the total
By getting a better understating of the effective calories in food we'll get a better sense of human energy requirement Carmody said.
But researchers may be able to fill in some of the system's biggest gaps such as the effects of food processing
 An overhaul of the system we use to calculate calories is needed so people can better gauge how many calories they get from food.
#Calories Count Only when Accurately Counted (ISNS)--Calories are the most basic nutrition information. They're on every cereal box.
A recent study by scientists at the U s. Department of agriculture indicates that the common calorie counts of two tree nuts pistachios
and the scientists involved say that may be true of other foods as well. Another study suggests that the satiating effect of calories could be more mental than chemical.
Calories are not just calories said Rick Mattes professor of foods and nutrition at Purdue University in West Lafayette Ind.
Blowing up your food A calorie is a measurement of heat a concept originating with the 19th century French scientist Nicolas Clã ment in 1824.
The term calorie when used with food usually refers to the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of a kilogram of water one Degree celsius.
American scientist Wilbur Atwater used calories as a unit to measure the energy in food in the 1890s according to David Baer of the USDA's Agricultural research service.
A small pellet of the food being measured is placed in a device that looks like a pressure cooker.
and then the food is ignited. Thermometers measure the heat given off and that is the calorie count.
because you literally explode the food and capture the heat and measure it said Susan Roberts professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Boston Mass.
Calories are heat. All you are doing is measuring how much heat the food converts to
when you burn it. They wouldn't blow up an entire pizza just a small piece of it
and extrapolate the calorie measurement from there. What goes in versus what comes out Just because the pizza box says the pizza has 800 calories doesn't mean your body will metabolize 800 calories.
 Not all food is digested. What is digested not is excreted out of the body in feces and urine.
Some of the food provides the energy required to eat or drink--chewing for example. This is called metabolized energy.
Estimating the metabolized energy in food gets complicated. It involves mathematical calculations of proteins carbohydrates
and fats multiplied by algorithms developed by Atwater so-called Atwater factors. Â But the calculations may not give the right answer.
 They took 18 volunteers and fed them a base diet for three weeks. After they adapted to the diet--about 10 days--the nuts were added to their diets
and samples of feces and urine were taken regularly. By knowing what food went in and
what came out the researchers were able to measure the metabolic energy of the individual nuts.
The numbers used on food packaging is the metabolizing energy using the Atwater factor. What the USDA experiment did was actually measure the unused calories as opposed to doing the calculation.
Baer found the usual calorie count given for pistachios was probably too high about 5 percent more than the actual energy in the nuts.
 Baer thinks that the discrepancy happens because of the indigestible fiber in the nut cell walls traps the fat.
Caloric minds games Scientists have known for a while that the form of food makes a difference. People think solid food is more filling than liquids despite the calorie count.
The Purdue researchers wanted to know if that was true We think our hunger drops less
They published their work in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Both Baer and Mattes will present papers at the Institute for Food Technologists meeting in Chicago on July 14.
 Tufts'Roberts thinks calories still count The environment is so full of junk food and excess portions that the only way many people can keep their weight healthy is to watch what they eat she said.
And for that you need numbers because even if you have a Ph d in nutrition it is impossible to accurately tell how many calories are in most of the foods out there.
Inside Science News Service is supported by the American Institute of Physics. Joel Shurkin is a freelance writer based in Baltimore.
and also for meat and milk so there are different types of contact of humans with these animals that could lead to transmission of a virus the researchers said.
And since the most severe tornadoes in recorded history have reached only wind speeds of 205 mph (330 km h) it's unlikely that a twister could ever re-create this damage.
and then crying crocodile tears when the wolves show up for a free meal. The people who want to kill wolves don't want to admit that their agenda is driven by an irrational hatred and a lack of understanding of wolves.
At the study's start food in Norway was fortified not with folic acid A b vitamin so supplements were the women's only source of the nutrient.)
In 2002 43 percent of the women participating in the Moba study took folic acid supplements;
Folate the naturally occurring form of folic acid is found in green leafy vegetables peas lentils beans eggs yeast and liver.
 In the United states grain products such as cereal bread and flour are fortified with folic acid. Since it can be hard to obtain enough folate from food the March of Dimes recommends that all women of childbearing age get 400 micrograms of folic acid daily from a multivitamin.
Pregnant women should continue taking 400 mcg of folic acid through early pregnancy. Typically the neural tube closes 28 days after conception (gestational week six) according to the study researchers
#Can High-protein diets Help You Lose weight? The Healthy Geezer answers questions about health and aging in his weekly column.
High-protein diets can bring a quick drop in weight because eliminating carbohydrates causes a loss of body fluids.
And high-protein diets cause substances called ketones to be released into the bloodstream. The ketones make dieting easier by lowering appetite.
I tried one of these diets and it worked. But I didn't feel quite right eating so many high-protein dishes
while avoiding carb foods such as my favorite bread. I noticed a diminished appetite. However I also got constipated.
I quit and went back to watching calories. I've always been skeptical about any diet that is unbalanced.
Logic tells me that I must be doing something bad to my body. I don't think it's safe to lean in one direction at the diningroom table. 7 Foods You Can Overdose On For most healthy people a high-protein diet generally isn't harmful
if followed for a short time such as three to four months and may help with weight loss according to Katherine Zeratsky a dietitian at the Mayo Clinic.
if a high-protein diet is followed for an extended time. Here are some problems that can happen to people on a high-protein diet:
Some high-protein diets don't provide enough fiber. This can cause constipation and intestinal inflammation. This may also increase the risk for cancer.
Many of these diets include a lot of red meat and fat which can increase your risk of heart disease.
A protein-packed diet may cause liver or kidney problems. If you want to follow a high-protein diet do so only as a short-term weight-loss aid.
She recommended eating fish skinless chicken lean beef pork and low-fat dairy products and carbohydrates that are high in fiber such as whole grains vegetables and fruit.
The American Heart Association doesn't recommend high-protein diets for weight loss because people who stay on these diets very long may not get enough vitamins
and minerals and face other potential health risks according to the organization's website. The AHA also asserts that more research is needed on the effectiveness of these diets for long-term weight loss.
Most Americans already eat more protein than their bodies need. The AHA urges dieting adults to eat no more than 35 percent of total daily calories from fat less than 7 percent of total daily calories from saturated fat and less than 1 percent of total
On most high-protein diets meeting these AHA goals is impossible. The American Heart Association urges people to use safe and proven methods for losing
and enjoy healthy nutritionally balanced meals. The AHA says a healthy diet includes a variety of foods
and is rich in fresh fruits and vegetables. In my next column I'll detail the role of protein in the body.
Around the world industrial factory farms now account for approximately two-thirds of egg and poultry-meat production and more than half of pig-meat production.
The majority of pregnant sows egg-laying hens and other farm animals are housed in barren crowded cages and crates barely larger than their bodies.
Globally meat and milk demand are anticipated to grow 73 and 58 percent respectively between 2010 and 2050 according to the FAO report.
Moreover simple even weekly changes in diet can help. According to a study from 2008 in the United states an average household shifting from a red meat and dairy diet to one based on vegetables just one day per week would reduce greenhouse-gas emissions equivalent to the people
of that household driving about 1000 fewer miles per year. People can become more compassionate eaters by following three Rs:
reducing or replacing consumption of animal products and refining diets by choosing products from sources that adhere to higher animal-welfare standards.
In 2003 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public health re-launched the effort with The Monday Campaigns to promote replacing meat one day per week for human health and the health of the planet.
By choosing to adopt a meat-free menu one day a week you can help animals the planet and your health.
Animal advocates have long cast a suspicious eye on the practices of the pet food industry with talk over decades about hidden ingredients in canned and dried goods containing horse meat so-called 4-D meat (dead downed dying
Today the nutritional content and safety of pet food is a mainstream concern given growing consciousness about nutrition
and healthy foods and the view that pets are family members. The pet-food market has grown dramatically with some pet food companies even marketing organic food for dogs and cats.
But concern over pet food safety may now be at an all-time high with a series of scandals that have claimed the lives of thousands of animals in recent years
Recently the U s. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued new proposed standards governing oversight over the pet-food industry calling for makers of animal food sold in the United states to develop written plans to prevent food
This latest food safety scare while substantial is small in comparison to the 2007 scandal that ultimately claimed the lives of thousands of dogs and cats.
A company called Menu Foods headquartered in Canada then blended and packaged pet food under dozens of different labels that sickened
It was that case that provided impetus to the U s. Congress to update food safety laws for the first time in decades enacting the Food safety Modernization Act
and revamping portions of the Food Cosmetic and Drug Act. The FDA's recent proposal amounts to a rule-making a partial follow up to the 2010 law that the Congress passed.
The FDA and U s. Department of agriculture (USDA) haven't overcome food safety risks for people either with the U s. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimating that 50 million Americans contract food-borne illnesses each year.
And the recent efforts are preliminary steps to try to deal with pet-food safety issues.
Those challenges are compounded by the difficulty of monitoring production practices in other countries. China is the biggest exporter of pet food consumed in the American market.
and Animal Food The new rule will be open for public comment for just a few months
They can start with the HSUS pet-food safety webpage and sign up to receive our pet-of-the-week newsletter
not only to assure safe foods but also more humanely produced animal products. Given the concerns about pet treats you might consider baking your own healthy dog treats as a precaution.
When British farmers are struggling to increase their yields of wheat should they rely on genetically modified foods or imported (gasp!
and food manufacturers heralded the announcement. Wet weather in 2012 lowered crop yields and forced The british to import wheat for the first time in decades.
Though genetically modified foods have been touted as a potential solution to feeding a hungry world NIAB researchers didn't use genetic engineering to create their superwheat.
  Predicting twisters The Moore Okla. tornado touched down at 2: 56 p m. CDT (3: 56 p m. EDT) on May 20
In countries like France or Ethiopia where raw food is common the incidence of infections is much higher Torrey told Livescience.
#Celebrity Endorsements May Spur Kids'Unhealthy Eating Kids eat more of a food product that has been endorsed by a celebrity researchers report in a new study.
If celebrity endorsement of foods high in fat and sugar continues and their appearances in other contexts leads to unhealthy eating then this would mean that the more prominent the celebrity the more detrimental the effects on children's diets the researchers wrote in their study
which will be published in a future issue of the Journal of Pediatrics. Researchers at the University of Liverpool in England looked at 181 children between ages 8 and 11.
The researchers found that those who had watched the commercial with the celebrity ate more of the chips labeled with the brand name compared with the kids who watched a commercial for a different food
Celebrity endorsements may contribute to unhealthy eating in kids. Follow Karen Rowan@karenjrowan. Followmyhealthnewsdaily@Myhealth mhnd Facebookâ &â Google+Â
or gluten-sensitive enteropathy cannot eat gluten. Gluten is a protein found in foods processed from wheat and other grains.
Exposure to gluten damages the lining of the small intestine interfering with the absorption of nutrients from food and often causing abdominal pain.
The word celiac sometimes spelled coeliac or cåiac is derived from the Greek koiliakã s abdomen.
and many food companies and restaurants now offer menus that cater to those with celiac disease. Studies show that men
When a person with celiac disease consumes gluten the immune system overreacts and targets the body s small intestine.
Patients with celiac disease who do not follow a gluten-free diet often suffer from malnutrition.
It s important that the patient continue to consume gluten before the blood tests to properly measure the immune system s response to that diet.
a lifelong gluten-free diet. This diet must be strict as even the smallest amount of gluten can trigger damage to the small intestines and reverse the healing process.
Full healing in children usually takes six months while full healing can take much longer for adults.
However the gluten-free diet will ease many symptoms significantly once implemented. Â Removing gluten from your diet completely is a difficult transition.
Wheat rye and barley are common in many foods like bread pasta baked goods and pizza.
But even small amounts can cause a reaction and this can be found in products like candies chocolates and many snack foods.
It s also important for those with celiac disease to avoid cross-contamination in their own kitchens or at restaurants.
For example if a restaurant serves battered chicken fingers and have only one fryer everything cooked in that fryer will be contaminated with the batter.
So even French fries which do not normally contain wheat as an ingredient would not be cooked safe
if in this oil. As awareness of celiac disease has grown so have options for those with celiac disease.
Many gluten-free alternatives are available like gluten-free bread gluten-free pasta and gluten-free baked goods.
The gluten-free food industry is booming and is expected to exceed more than $5 billion by 2015.
They are made with potato rice soy or bean flour. Relief for many celiac disease sufferers can happen almost immediately after starting the strictly gluten-free diet.
Celiac disease should not be confused with a gluten sensitivity intolerance or allergy. Though gluten sensitivity often has the same symptoms as celiac disease it does not cause the same damage
and risks that celiac disease does. Food allergies occur when a body s immune system overreacts to a food and produces Ige antibodies as a reaction producing histamines
and causing skin breathing and heart problems. This process is very different from what happens when a celiac sufferer consumes gluten.
Though they both are overreactions of the immune system food allergies are characterized often by anaphylactic reactions
and hives whereas celiac disease is characterized by the reaction in the small intestine and other listed symptoms.
Food allergy exposures can be immediately life threatening and can also be treated with an Epipen
whereas gluten exposures for celiac sufferers cannot. Living with celiac disease can be daunting and cause anxiety.
There are a number of support groups including the Celiac Sprue Association and Healthy Villi. These support groups help people with Celiac disease express their frustrations about the diagnosis share recipes and try new food items together e
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