Virus Linked to Chronic Fatigue

A virus has been linked to chronic fatigue. I hope this results in better treatments for CFS.

Cyber Diagnosis?

I found an interesting article on diagnosing yourself on the internet. Amanda Stevens concludes in it that WebMD's Symptom Checker and the Mayo Clinic Symptom Checker are reliable sites for finding information on your condition. Sounds like solid advice.

Excessive tea drinking linked to skeletal fluorosis

Excessive tea drinking linked to skeletal fluorosis: "New research conducted on four advanced skeletal fluorosis patients suggests that the fluoride in their tea could have been responsible for the condition."

The people studied were drinking a gallon or more of tea daily!

Interesting Article on Pseudomonas Infections

Research could lead to non-antibiotic treatments for hospital infections tells how "Lack of an adequate amount of the mineral phosphate can turn a common bacterium into a killer, according to research to be published in the April 14, 2009, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science... Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of ...hundreds of bacteria that colonize the human intestinal tract, usually causing no apparent harm. However once its host is weakened by an illness, surgical procedure, or immunosuppressive drugs P. aeruginosa can cause infection, inflammation, sepsis and death."

Read the article here.

Not Much of a Vacation

I just got back from a week-long trip. I'm not going to call it a vacation because we only had short periods of fun surrounded by stress and fatigue. My spouse broke our no-yelling-in-the-car rule so many times that I've come up with a new policy: separate vacations!

Eating Meat an Evolutionary Advantage

There was an interesting story on NPR about how a Meat-based Diet Made Us Smarter. It tells how eating calorie-packed meat freed our ancestors from having to eat all day long. It also required tools (like stone knives).

Another point: cooking made food more digestible. (Raw-food faddists will find this as objectionable as vegans find the main point of the article.)

Cocoa and Coffee Can Cause Bloating

Just saw this on AOL Health:

As a high-acid food, cocoa can cause bloating in sensitive individuals... Alcohol, fruit juice, coffee and tea are additional high-acid culprits, but the reaction may not be immediate: "It may take up to 48 hours for a sensitivity to appear," says Weatherwax. To find out if one of these foods is causing your bloating, cut out the suspected problem food or drink. Then consume it and wait 48 hours to see if you have a reaction.

The Solution: Limit cocoa-based beverages and foods if it causes bloating within 48 hours of consuming them.

Gluten Found in Foods Considered Gluten-free

A lot of us have suspected this: Many foods that are considered gluten-free are actually contaminated with gluten. Researchers found that "seven of the 22 foods would fail the FDA's test" for being free of gluten. "One of the products they analyzed, a flour made with soy, contained 3,000 parts per million of gluten, they said. They also identified a millet grain and flour, a buckwheat flour and a sorghum flour that weren't completely gluten-free."

Note that these were NOT labeled "gluten-free" but were simply products normally considered to be free of gluten.