Is Gluten Making Us Fat?

Turkey and tomato on wheat. Whole-grain pasta. Healthy, right? Maybe. But more and more people believe these foods are parts of a potentially disastrous trap. They claim that sluggishness and weight gain can be blamed on an insidious substance hiding in wheat and many other common grains: gluten.
Avoiding gluten has become big business. Sales of gluten-free products grew about 30 percent a year from 2006 to 2010, and will hit $3.9 billion by next year, according to the market research company Packaged Facts. Supermarket shelves are filled with gluten-free breads, soups, and cake mixes—even gluten-free ketchup and soy sauce. According to market research firm Mintel, 10 percent of new foods launched in 2010 featured a "gluten-free" claim, up from only 2 percent 5 years earlier.
NFL quarterback Drew Brees won a Super Bowl while on a gluten-free diet. Cyclist Tom Danielson, a record-breaking member of the Garmin-Transitions team, says his training and racing have improved since he and his teammates went gluten-free over a year ago.
Have most common whole grains been acting as insidious nutritional double agents all these years? Or are they essential components of a healthy diet? Let's separate the wheat from the chaff.


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What is gluten, anyway? How does it affect the body?
Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye, as well as in many common food additives. It's what gives dough its elasticity and baked goods their satisfying chewiness. But for people with celiac disease—a type of autoimmune disorder—eating foods that contain gluten can lead to a cascade of nasty reactions, including damage to the small intestine, poor nutrient absorption, diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloating, anemia, and fatigue. Celiac disease is surprisingly common, affecting about one in every 133 people, according to an often-cited 2003 study from the University of Maryland center for celiac research. There is no cure for celiac disease and no drugs that can treat it; you can only manage the condition, by sticking to a gluten-free diet for the rest of your life.
Even if you don't have celiac disease, gluten may still be bad for you, says Lara Field, M.S., R.D., a dietitian at the University of Chicago's celiac disease center. A rising percentage of people in the United States consider themselves "gluten-sensitive." "These people may have a food intolerance or experience many celiac-type symptoms after consuming foods that contain gluten," says Field. Some may have a form of wheat allergy. If you think you may have symptoms of a gluten intolerance, ask your doctor about scheduling a blood test to find out for sure. 

The best and healthiest beers for you.

I need to drop pounds. Is a gluten-free diet worth a shot?
A gluten-free diet can work, but dealing with the diet's restrictions can be daunting. "You have to commit to a true lifestyle change, and that can be tough," says Edward Abramson, Ph.D., a professor emeritus at California State University at Chico and the author of Emotional Eating. "Men might be able to follow gluten-free for a short time," he says, "but without a real medical need, they might have a rough time sticking to it."
But the notion of a panacea for excess weight remains seductive, and that may be part of the appeal of the gluten-free movement, says Michael R. Lowe, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Drexel University who specializes in nutritional approaches to weight loss. It sounds simple: If I do this one thing, then I will see the results I'm after. "That's the driving appeal of elimination diets," Lowe says.
Ironically, the boom in gluten-free products isn't necessarily helpful to those looking to lose weight. "You can buy gluten-free versions of practically every type of wheat-based food— pizza, pasta, cookies, you name it," Thompson says. But here's the catch: Healthy-sounding gluten-free items often contain just as many calories as the originals. People might overindulge in gluten-free options because they seem like "safe" foods, says Field. "People see 'gluten- free' and think they can down an entire box of gluten-free cookies with no repercussions."
So even if you stick to a gluten-free diet, it can actually lead to weight gain. A 2006 study in the American Journal of Gastroenterology followed 188 people with celiac disease (half of whom were overweight or obese) on a gluten-free diet for 2 years and discovered that 81 percent of them gained weight.
If you do give up gluten, use your new eating plan as a lens to reexamine your diet—and your life. Cyclist Danielson says, "I don't know if it was directly tied to the food, but I found that by having to pay more attention to my daily diet, I became more focused on my cycling."
Avoiding gluten takes constant monitoring— the same attention to detail you need to excel in your workouts. "I became more dedicated and took a more professional approach to my training when I went gluten-free," Danielson says. "I couldn't get lazy and down whole pizzas and bowls of pasta. I had to focus on putting better food in my body, and this made me realize how much my eating habits off the bike affected my performance on it." Mindful eating is key. After all, "you don't need to go gluten-free to avoid refined processed carbs," says Thompson.

15 Foods that help burn calories.

The New Power Grains
Even if you don't need to avoid gluten, it's a good idea to explore the world of gluten-free grains. All of them are rich in belly-filling fiber, and each offers unique benefits.
Quinoa
Once an energy booster for Inca warriors, this superfood of the Andes provides complete protein, with all nine essential amino acids. It's also low on the glycemic index, so it won't spike your blood sugar.
Try it: Ancient Harvest Quinoa Shells are made from just two ingredients: quinoa and corn. Toss with chicken sausage for even more protein. quinoa.net
Buckwheat
Buckwheat is rich in rutin, a flavonoid that has potent antioxidant properties. It's also rich in heart-healthy magnesium.
Try it: Arrowhead Mills Maple Buckwheat Flakes have a light, crispy texture. Buckwheat also makes a hearty substitute for rice. arrowheadmills.com
Amaranth
A grain the size of a poppy seed, amaranth has more protein than wheat and twice that of white rice. Initial studies in rodents suggest that amaranth's high protein content can help lower cholesterol.
Try it: Health Valley Amaranth Graham Crackers have only 120 calories per serving. Try them with squares of antioxidant-rich dark chocolate. healthvalley.com

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Gadgets You Should Get Rid Of (or Not)

The common rap against technology is that it leads to an accumulation of devices. But the nature of technology is changing. Fewer products are doing more tasks — all accomplished by countless lines of massless software code.
And so we no longer need to accumulate products. If anything, we can cut down. The question is, Which can be replaced and which are fine, or even preferable, to keep? It is plain as day that paper maps and Rolodexes have given way to their digital counterparts. But what else can you get rid of? Here is a list of common consumer technologies and products and a somewhat opinionated judgment on whether to keep or pitch it.
DESKTOP COMPUTER Lose it. You may have one now, but are you really going to replace that deskbound PC when it becomes out of date? Assuming you are not a hardcore gamer or a video editor, laptops have all the necessary computing power the average user needs. If you want to replicate that desktop experience, you can always connect your laptop to a larger display and keyboard.
HIGH-SPEED INTERNET AT HOME Keep it. With the advent of devices like the MiFi, which converts a 3G mobile signal into a Wi-Fi cloud for multiple devices to share, you might be thinking about giving your Internet service provider the boot and using your cellphone as your Internet connection, even when at home. That would work — provided that you get a strong data signal where you live; that you never intend to stream video from Netflix, YouTube or Hulu; and that you have an unlimited data plan from your wireless provider. Given all these caveats, it probably makes more sense to stick with your I.S.P.
CABLE TV Depends. While you may and should hold on to a good broadband connection at home, it is debatable whether you need to pay for cable TV. Sports fans probably will want to keep it, as many leagues restrict online content, but casual viewers who mainly want some shows and movies to watch could get by with a good Internet connection and some low-cost subscriptions to services like Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant Video.
POINT-AND-SHOOT CAMERA Lose it. Yes, a dedicated camera will probably take a better picture than the small lens and image sensor of a smartphone, but it will not be that much better. And a point-and-shoot has limitations of its own. It is hard to share photos until you have transferred them to your computer, and there are no apps for cameras, as there are for smartphones, that allow you to quickly apply cool filters and treatments to the shots you took. Perhaps most important, a camera may or may not be close by when a photo-worthy moment arises, but it’s very likely that your phone will.
CAMCORDER Lose it. Camcorders get squeezed at both ends of the video spectrum. On the low end, smartphones can capture video, and while it may not be Imax quality, many people do not care. At the high end, new digital S.L.R. cameras (like Canon’s EOS Rebel T1i, which costs around $750 with a lens) can shoot full-HD video while taking advantage of all the interchangeable lenses that were created for still photography. That camcorder you have now is probably the last one you will own.
USB THUMB DRIVE Lose it. File sharing does not require hardware anymore. In almost any case you can think of, you can move files around digitally via the Internet. That could mean signing up for a service like Dropbox, which creates a private, shareable hard drive in the cloud, or by simply e-mailing yourself attachments and storing them in the drafts folder of Gmail, Yahoo Mail, etc. A USB drive is just something to misplace or break.
DIGITAL MUSIC PLAYER Lose it (probably). Do you have a smartphone? Then you have a music player. Why load yourself down with an extra gadget? Apple popularized the music player with its iPod, but when was the last time you saw that iconic white box with the dial on the front? Music is data, and many multifunction devices can handle it along with many other kinds of data (like video, e-mail and apps). The one exception may be if you enjoy music while exercising. In that case, a tiny player like the $49 iPod Shuffle might be a better accessory than a larger, heavier smartphone.
ALARM CLOCK Keep it. Smartphones can be terrific alarm clocks. They can ramp up the volume gradually, display weather information and awaken you to your favorite song. And when on the road, they are still light-years ahead of the incomprehensible alarm clocks in hotel rooms. But a recent daylight time glitch in iPhones that fouled up the clock could give some early risers pause. Furthermore, setting and resetting smartphone alarms may require a dive into one submenu too many; turning a little knob on the back of a clock and flipping a switch is still simplicity itself.
GPS UNIT Lose it. The least expensive GPS units cost around $80. But your smartphone can do the same thing, if not more, for half that price, or even free. Android smartphones already have Google’s turn-by-turn navigation app built in. And earlier this month, Google announced that the company would be including live and historical traffic data in route planning, so you hopefully get to where you are going faster.
If you have an iPhone, you have several options for GPS apps, including Navigon’s MobileNavigator (which starts at $30) and ALK’s CoPilot Live ($20). Renting a car? Decline the optional GPS; if you have a smartphone, you already have one with you.
BOOKS Keep them (with one exception). Yes, e-readers are amazing, and yes, they will probably become a more dominant reading platform over time, but consider this about a book: It has a terrific, high-resolution display. It is pretty durable; you could get it a little wet and all would not be lost. It has tremendous battery life. It is often inexpensive enough that, if you misplaced it, you would not be too upset. You can even borrow them free at sites called libraries.
But there is one area where printed matter is going to give way to digital content: cookbooks. Martha Stewart Makes Cookies a $5 app for the iPad, is the wave of the future. Every recipe has a photo of the dish (something far too expensive for many printed cookbooks).
Complicated procedures can be explained by an embedded video. When something needs to be timed, there’s a digital timer built right into the recipe. You can e-mail yourself the ingredients list to take to the grocery store. The app does what cookbooks cannot, providing a better version of everything that came before it.
Now all Martha has to do is make a decorative splashguard for a tablet and you will be all set.
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World in 2000 as Predicted in Illustrations by French artist Villemard in 1910

Illustrations by French artist Villemard in 1910 of how he imagined the future to be in the year 2000.

 

In the 21st century, in order to control traffic jams in the air,
there will be more and more flying policemen.

 

Firemen will be equipped with “bat wings” to be able to easily access top floors and roofs.

 

Just one for the road…

 

Wars will be fought by “combat cars”.

 

Schools will be equipped with audio books.

 

Horses will be so rare that people will pay to see them.

 

You’ll be able to send mail just by dictating it into loudspeaker.

 

Heating with Radium.

 

Building sites will be equipped with automatic devices and machines.

 

Makeup will be applied just by pressing few buttons.

 

Hair salon.

 

Electric train from Paris to Beijing.

 

Rescue plane.

 

Tailor.

 

Airship. Literally.

 

Motorized roller skates.

 

Video-telegraph.

 

Police will use armored bicycles (motorcycles?) to chase down criminals.

 

Listening to an audio-newspaper.

 

Spy helicopters.

 

The avenue of the Opera, Paris. Year 2000.

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Our Sun is on a Collision Course with a Red Dwarf

 

Photo: NASA

 

 Extimundi.com states that our sun is on a collision course with a Red Dwarf labeled Gliese 710, traveling at nearly 50 times the speed of sound! Fortunately, Earth inhabitants won’t likely have to worry about it for at least the next million years since it would take about that long to get a half a light year away from us. Perhaps in the future of our species some highly evolved Tom Cruise type will somehow save the day and get the girl just in time. More than likely, by the time the Red Dwarf is any real threat we will all have long ago been doused in liquid nitrogen and smashed by sound waves.
Gleise 710 isn't the only star headed our way either. In fact, there are at least 8 other stars moving towards our solar system. Sure, most are only expected to come a little closer than the 4.3 light years away our current neighbor, Proxima Centauri waits; but there is always the possibility that these stars have planets orbiting them. Further, these planets may even have life on them! So perhaps these otherworldly stars aren't on a collision course with us, but rather we are on a collision course with them! It is even a possibility that on one of these planets right now, some alien science geek is writing an article about a star named "Sol" and its expected arrival in the future! A possibility that may sound way more like a sci-fi plot than an actual hypothesis, but as scientist and writer Isaac Asimov once wrote, "Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today — but the core of science fiction, its essence, the concept around which it revolves, has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all."
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Inside Secret Government Warehouses

Alien body parts… powerful religious artifacts… UFO wreckage… what exactly is hidden behind heavily guarded doors?

Inspired by Syfy’s hit series Warehouse 13, NBC News award-winning journalist Lester Holt goes on a global expedition to uncover the truth behind the world’s top secret, mysterious warehouses where super-classified objects are kept.

In Inside Secret Government Warehouses: Shocking Revelations, Holt capitalizes on exclusive access to restricted sites, traveling from Area 51 in Nevada to deep inside the Vatican secret archives – the centerpiece of Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons – interviewing informants, Washington decision-makers, former top military personnel and leading experts.

Among his findings: A high-level informant who describes huge underground tunnels beneath military installations, victims of unauthorized government experimentation, and a former US Air Force pilot ordered to shoot down a UFO in England.

With input from world renowned theoretical physicists, Vatican officials, anthropologists and experts on Area 51, Holt will explore the darkest corners of the places where the world’s secrets hide. What will he discover? Tune in to find out.
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Hangar 18: The UFO Warehouse

What happens when a UFO crashes? Some experts claim that the UFO wreckage and even the pilots are transported to a top-secret facility in Dayton, Ohio called “Hangar 18″ located on Wright Patterson Air Force Base.

Declassified Government documents prove that the “disk” from the famous Roswell event and fragments of other mysterious crashes were shipped to Wright Patterson. Hear stories involving elected officials, UFO researchers, and former base employees, some of whom are going on the record regarding “Hangar 18.”

They spin a tale of flying saucer debris, alien bodies, cryogenic chambers and a vast underground network that may hold the secrets to the UFO mystery. Is there a conspiracy to hide UFO evidence from the highest branches in the U.S. Government, or is it all just a myth?
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Here are some I made earlier (Image: Susumu Nishinaga)

FOR the first time viable mouse sperm have been grown outside the testes. If the technique can be repeated with human sperm, it could lead to new ways of treating infertile men.

Takuya Sato at Yokohama City University in Japan and colleagues extracted germ cells from the testes of newborn mice that had not yet begun producing sperm. They placed the cells in agarose gel soaked in nourishing chemicals and hormones such as fetal bovine serum and testosterone. The team had first engineered the mice so that a protein only present in fully grown sperm would fluoresce green. Sure enough, around one month later, the team spotted the glowing protein in nearly half of their samples.

Sato's team then fused the sperm with eggs from female mice and created healthy embryos. When these embryos were implanted into females they produced healthy offspring which were able to mate and give birth to their own pups.

The team also confirmed that the testes tissue could be frozen and thawed without damage (Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature09850).

"People have been trying to do this for years, but it takes an awful lot of trial and error," says Erwin Goldberg, a cell biologist at Northwestern University in Chicago, who was not involved in the study. The key to the team's success, Goldberg says, was patience: they kept mixing chemicals in the lab until they found exactly the right recipe to keep testes cells alive in a petri dish and satisfy all their nutritional requirements.

Earlier studies using different methods achieved similar, but less promising results. In 2006, Karim Nayernia at the University of Newcastle, UK, transformed stem cells from mouse embryos into sperm cells but most of the offspring died prematurely.

If researchers could convert germ cells from an infertile man into sperm cells, they might be able to pinpoint exactly where something goes wrong in the sperm's development and fix it, says Martin Dym, a reproductive biologist at Georgetown University in Washington DC.

The technique could also help prepubescent boys with cancer, who are not yet producing mature sperm, by growing sperm cells that can be frozen before radiation therapy.

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