2010-04-07

Climate change scepticism - its sources and strategies

Science in the news

The Science Show (ABC Radio National)
Saturday April, 3 2010
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2010/2859986.htm
podcast and transcript

As always, an excellent show. This show gives some reasoning why so many people seem to be rejecting science and scientific consensus in favor of climate change skepticism and Fox News.
The conclusion is that the same model and largely the same people who worked to discredit the science behind the dangers of smoking, acid rain and ozone are new being used to fight climate science.

March 26, 2010 Science Friday (NPR)

March 26, 2010 Science Friday (NPR)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125216841
audio stream and a transcript

Two food topics covered were from the American Chemical Society meeting in San Francisco.

The first is an interview with Navindra Seeram, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy, University of Rhode Island.
He talks about new antioxidants found in maple syrup. His conclusion is that maple syrup is better than other sugars.
Maybe so, but that doesn't make it a health food. I love maple syrup by the way. The research is funded by industry and the Canadian government.

The second is Frank Mitloehner, Professor, University of California, Davis.
His numbers conclude that dairy and meat does not contribute as much to climate change as other scientists have concluded, because the amount of roughage (which results in methane) in cattle feed has been overestimated.
Therefore transportation contributes more to greenhouse gasses than all agriculture (26 percent versus 5.8 percent).
Five percent of his funding comes from the agriculture industry.
The finger pointing will no doubt continue.

Dietary Calcium and Magnesium Intake and Mortality

Dairy Science in the literature

American Journal of Epidemiology 2010 171(7):801-807
Dietary Calcium and Magnesium Intake and Mortality: A Prospective Study of Men
http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/171/7/801

In this study on over 23,000 Swedish men, calcium was associated with a statistically significant lower rate of all-cause mortality, and a non-significant reduction in CVD mortality.
No relation was found between calcium and cancer, or with magnesium and any mortality measure.

The lower rate of all-cause mortality corresponds to a 25 percent lower rate of death over 10 years.

Obviously it is important to determine what exactly is happening here.

here is a Reuters article
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35824298/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/

Prospective association between milk intake and adiposity in preschool-aged children

Dairy Science in the literature

J Am Diet Assoc. 2010 Apr;110(4):563-70

Prospective association between milk intake and adiposity in preschool-aged children

This study on over 800 preschool-aged children finds that not only is milk consumption not related to obesity, but whole dairy (and not reduced-fat diary) was associated with a slightly lower BMI z score.

The take away message from this any a large number of related studies is that people who avoid dairy because they think it is related to overweight are mistaken.

Overall calorie intake needs to be kept in check, but excluding dairy would only reduce important nutrient intake.
Dairy as a weight loss strategy is something less clear. It is unlikely to be very effective without other measures.

Molecular mechanisms triggered by low-calcium diets

Dairy Science in the news

Molecular mechanisms triggered by low-calcium diets
Nutrition Research Reviews (2009), 22:163-174

Dietary Ca has been associated with lower BMI and lower colorectal cancer risk. This review discusses proposed molecular mechanisms for these effects.

This is considered dairy science because the best and most frequent source of calcium is dairy. The authors conclude by recommending doctors ensure proper dairy intake for their patients.