Monday Math Fun

Quincunx, from Mathisfun.

Light posting today.

Bush Flatlines Medical Sciences Spending

Bush is looking to double spending in the physical sciences and leave biomedical research spending at current levels, again. I guess he likes laser beams more than cancer and diabetes research. From Science:

President George W. Bush today proposed a flat budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2009 while asking for double-digit increases at the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy's Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The numbers, part of his request to Congress for the 2009 fiscal year that begins 1 October, mirror previous budgets by emphasizing the physical sciences at the expense of the biomedical sciences.

The dichotomy has drawn a convoluted response from the scientific community, encapsulated by this comment from Robert Berdahl, president of the 62-member Association of American Universities. "Question: Is the President's budget good or bad for the vital research and education that is performed by America's research universities? Answer: Yes."

Presidential science adviser John Marburger says the increases for the physical sciences reflect the Administration's belief that a previous 5-year doubling of the NIH budget, which ended in 2003, threw the federal government's science portfolio out of whack. That's why, he noted, the Administration's request for a doubling of the physical sciences in its American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) would occur over 10 years. But Marburger also thinks that the biomedical community should be able to do more research with the same amount of money. "Frankly, I think that an argument can be made that better management [of NIH] can bring about much better productivity even with flat resources," he told reporters at a budget briefing. "The private sector does it all the time." [Seriously? Did I really just read that? The private sector is FOR PROFIT. My god.]

Predictably, that view doesn't sit well with biomedical scientists. "We reject the premise that funding science in one area or at one agency must come at the expense of another," says Bob Palazzo, president of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology in Bethesda, Maryland. "There is no doubt that NSF and DOE merit the significant increases the president has proposed. But neglecting NIH at the same time is failing to grasp the interconnectedness of science."

Science lobbyists are counting on Congress to sustain the president's ACI request while pumping up NIH's flat budget. Last year, the community got the worst of both worlds with a last-minute cut in the DOE science and NSF budgets, whereas NIH's budget failed to keep up with inflation for the fifth straight year.

The amount of money proposed for the NIH is $29.5 billion. To put that in perspective, Bush's war on "terrah" costs taxpayers $15 billion... PER MONTH (with many more details in this PDF report from the Congressional Research Service).

Artificial Heart Maker Goes Artificial Rowing

You've probably seen the Lipitor ads that include Dr. Robert Jarvik, inventor of an artificial heart, endorsing the drug and rowing off on a pristine lake. The NYTimes has an interesting piece this morning about the ads.

It turns out that it's not Dr. Jarvik doing the rowing in the ads that hock the world's largest-selling drug. From the Times:

The ads have depicted him, among other outdoorsy pursuits, rowing a one-man racing shell swiftly across a mountain lake. “When diet and exercise aren’t enough, adding Lipitor significantly lowers cholesterol,” Dr. Jarvik says in the ad.

Celebrity advertising endorsements are nothing new, of course. But the Lipitor campaign is a rare instance of a well-known doctor’s endorsing a drug in advertising — and it has helped rekindle a smoldering debate over whether it is appropriate to aim ads for prescription drugs directly at consumers.

A Congressional committee, concerned that the Lipitor ads could be misleading, has said it wants to interview Dr. Jarvik about his role as the drug’s pitchman.

Some of the questions may involve his credentials. Even though Dr. Jarvik holds a medical degree, for example, he is not a cardiologist and is not licensed to practice medicine. So what, critics ask, qualifies him to recommend Lipitor on television — even if, as he says in some of the ads, he takes the drug himself?

And, for that matter, what qualifies him to pose as a rowing enthusiast? As it turns out, Dr. Jarvik, 61, does not actually practice the sport. The ad agency hired a stunt double for the sculling scenes.

“He’s about as much an outdoorsman as Woody Allen,” said a longtime collaborator, Dr. O. H. Frazier of the Texas Heart Institute. “He can’t row.”

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce is looking into when and why Dr. Jarvik began taking Lipitor and whether the advertisements give the public a false impression, according to John D. Dingell, the Michigan Democrat who is the committee’s chairman.

“It seems that Pfizer’s No. 1 priority is to sell lots of Lipitor, by whatever means necessary, including misleading the American people,” Mr. Dingell said.

Lipitor, the world’s single best-selling drug, is Pfizer’s biggest product, generating sales of $12.7 billion last year. But as it has come under competition from cheaper generic alternatives, Pfizer has used the Jarvik campaign, introduced in early 2006, to help protect its Lipitor franchise.

Pfizer spent $258 million from January 2006 to September 2007 advertising Lipitor, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Much of that went for the Jarvik campaign. ...

Criticism of consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals flared as an issue back in 2004, when Merck withdrew Vioxx, a heavily advertised painkiller, after a clinical trial showed that it sharply increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes. The pharmaceutical industry adopted voluntary guidelines the next year suggesting that companies delay advertising new products for an unspecified period after they first reach the market.

Despite the efforts by industry and government to curb drug advertising, spending on consumer drug ads increased more than 300 percent from 1997 to 2007, when it reached about $4.8 billion.

That last bit is more evidence for dispersing the pipe dream that conservatives sell about market regulation. The industry will not police itself when billions are up for grabs. It's that simple and simply the nature of business (the scorpion and the fox and all that).

Even if Dr. Jarvik did the ads for free, which the Times article doesn't discuss, they would still be dishonest and amount to little more than Pfizer scrambling to keep people from switching to cheaper generics by using, and tarnishing, a trusted name in medical science.

Western US Drying

Researchers have found that areas in the western US, including places like Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Diego, are drying due to human activity. From NatureNews:

Human activity is largely to blame for the worsening water shortages in the western United States over the past half-century, a new study shows. The analysis of climate trends that influence the availability of freshwater shows that humans are responsible for 60% of the observed changes. ...

Snowpack in mountain ranges such as the Rockies is diminishing, average minimum temperatures are rising, and spring run-off in major rivers such as the Colorado river is happening earlier. All of these changes look set to make dry summers even harsher for residents of thirsty cities such as Las Vegas in Nevada, and Los Angeles and San Diego in California.

Research led by Tim Barnett of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, now shows that these changes cannot be explained without taking human activities — which have raised greenhouse-gas levels — into account. Barnett is so worried by the situation that he says development in these regions should be capped. "We're using all the water there is right now, and people still want to build bigger cities," he says. ...

Barnett and his team used computer models to simulate the natural behaviour of the water cycle in the region. They compared this to the trends seen over the past 50 years, to see whether they can be attributed to natural causes. The answer, they report in this week's Science, is no.

Barnett and his colleagues then factored in the global warming that has occurred as a result of burning fossil fuels over the past half-century, using figures calculated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This time, the models matched more closely the weather trends experienced in the western US states.

Overall, says Barnett, human greenhouse emissions explain around 60% of the trends in freshwater behaviour. He puts the odds of natural causes being responsible at "somewhere between 1 in 100 and 1 in 1,000".

Old Exercise

There's an interesting piece in the NYTimes right now on aging and exercise. It sounds like pushing yourself to exercise might be even more worthwhile than previously thought:

Dr. Wright, a 40-year-old runner, decided to study people who kept training as they got older or began competing in middle age. She wanted to know what happens to them and at what age does performance start to decline.

Their results are surprising, even to many of the researchers themselves. The investigators find that while you will slow down as you age, you may be able to stave off more of the deterioration than you thought. Researchers also report that people can start later in life — one man took up running at 62 and ran his first marathon, a year later, in 3 hours 25 minutes.

It’s a testament to how adaptable the human body is, researchers said, that people can start serious training at an older age and become highly competitive. It also is testament to their findings that some physiological factors needed for a good performance are not much affected by age.

Researchers say that you should be able to maintain your muscles as you age, including the muscle enzymes needed for good athletic performance, and you should be able to maintain your ability to exercise for long periods near your so-called lactic threshold, meaning you are near maximum effort.

But you have to know how to train, doing the right sort of exercise, and you must keep it up.

“Train hard and train often,” said Hirofumi Tanaka, a 41-year-old soccer player and exercise physiologist at the University of Texas.

Dr. Tanaka said he means doing things like regular interval training, repeatedly going all out, easing up, then going all out again. These workouts train your body to increase its oxygen consumption by allowing you to maintain an intense effort.

“One of the major determinants of endurance performance is oxygen consumption,” Dr. Tanaka said. “You have to make training as intense as you can.”

Now I just need to force myself to do it.

Friday Misc

It's Friday. What a week. Some heavy rest and lots of reading are in order for the weekend.

The South Carolina primary for Democrats is tomorrow. MSNBC will start their coverage at 7:30am. I hope to still be in bed.

There's a bunch of interesting science stuff at Nature and Science this week. Some highlights:

Human embryos are cloned from male skin and female egg cells.

Researchers have synthesized an entire genome, paving the way for the first artificial life.

Obstruction of pancreatic ducts results in regeneration of insulin producing beta-cells.

Also, I've been working on a list of NYC tidbits. I'll eventually write an entire piece, complete with hyperlinks, but here's a glimpse of what's coming:

• Don't wear flip-flops or sandals in NYC. It's gross. Really it is, for you and for me.
• NYC has the largest underground mass transit system in the country. That doesn't mean it's the greatest. Expect long delays, a lack of displayed and audibly announced information, and to fly unexpectedly by your stop when the local you're on spontaneously converts to an express. The transit authority never gets a good rating from riders.
• Courtesy, professionalism, and respect (CPR) is on the sides of a huge number of NYPD vehicles. You can definitely expect that kind of treatment if you're a straight, white, and affluent Manhattanite.
• If you're over 20, please give up the push-scooter or skateboard, and for Christ-sake get off the sidewalk.
• Pick up after your dog. I pick up after mine and I will yell at you if I see you leaving poop in your wake.
• Do not, I repeat, do not walk in a zig-zag pattern on a busy sidewalk. Keep to one side and try walking as if you hadn't had a breakfast of tic-tacs and wine.
  
• Don't expect to eat good food here. Yes, yes capital of the world and all, but if you're not shelling out at least $50/plate, you're likely to get some bad food without heavy research. Stay at home and eat. There are some exceptions to this, Southwest has a good chicken caeser for about $14. Pizza joints tend to be another cheap exception.
  
• If you are a tourist, please go to Times Square. Stay there for the duration of your visit. It's great there and you won't find anything more interesting if you stray to other parts of the city (where people live).
  
• If you are a tourist and find yourself outside of Times Square, don't be afraid to ask a resident for help. Most people living here will be happy to direct you. Just don't believe the flags that picture celebrities, such as NYC's beloved Bobby D, inviting you to "Ask me!" You won't get within four hip nightclub waiting line distances to any of NYC's beautiful people. We guard our treasured gaunt figures in finely kept Soho lofts.

I guess I'm a bit grouchy about NYC after a few consecutive days of horrible subway rides.

That's it for this Friday. :)

Reading

Why not read some science today? Nature News has some cool articles on its front page today, including articles about research finding that antihistamines can make allergic reactions more severe and increasing Antarctic ice loss.

Friday Roundup

Some things I read this morning:

- Very stupid people in Texas are playing tug of war with lions and tigers in a zoo-sponsored event that places people on one end of a rope and raw meat for the giant cats on the other end. Video is here.

- The law student who filed a federal lawsuit against the MA Board of Bar Examiners over a gay marriage question on the bar exam (and eventually withdrew the suit) has issued an apology to the LGBT community. Good for him if it's earnest, but I wouldn't recommend going to him for advice on matters LGBT (once he passes the bar exam). He did call marriage for us, "patently offensive and morally repugnant."

- The Gay City News warns that we should fear the distinct possibility of a Huckabee presidency. I wouldn't dispute that Huckabee and that prospect are frightening. However, given that some pillars of the fundamentalist community aren't exactly with him and that the GOP beltway crowd sees him as a member of base that they want votes from but not in their country clubs, he has a real fight ahead if he's going to mobilize the base responsible for putting Bush in the White House.

- The National Academy of Sciences has released an 88-page booklet (under the 'read the book' link, or directly here) explaining why evolution is science and creationism isn't. Yes!

- And finally, it seems that gay people are just fine with the military when bodies are needed for war.

Hack Science Writing

Note that the title is "Hack Science Writing," not "Hack Science." I have no problems with the science being performed. My problem is with New York Times' columnist John Tierney. Strong backed libertarian male that he is, John frames (and here) a recent discovery about fruit flies expressing bisexual behavior under direct or pharmacological genetic manipulation as a rallying point for keeping government out of decisions about sexual orientation.

It's an incorrect frame for a few reasons and the two columns are more evidence that Tierney has as much business writing about science or its ethics as Newt Gingrich has running a charity for children.

First, as with most libertarian ideals, keeping the government out of personal situations sounds good on the surface. But what to do with parents who want to force a sexual orientation on their children? Some fundamentalist Christians already go to great lengths to remove 'teh gay' from their children. However, getting into that discussion is exactly the heated debate the Tierney wants at his blog, which brings me to the second reason that his frame is off.

John writes as is if, or at least his tone assumes that, the drugs for switching humans to a bisexual orientation currently exist. They don't. He seems to badly want to stir a controversial pot. Beyond attracting reader to his blog, why do this?

Third, the behavior expressed by the fruit flies was bisexual, not homosexual. Both the Nature Neuroscience abstract and the university press release that John link use 'bisexual' and 'homosexual' interchangeably, but describe bisexual behavior. I'm not sure why the researchers chose to do that, but John either needs some help with prefixes, or is being misleading. He very well knows there is a difference between the two in everyday discussions of sexuality. He probably figured the title 'Turning Bisexuality On and Off' wasn't as sexy (read traffic generating) as 'Turning Homosexuality On and Off.'

The bottom line is this: avoid traffic-hungry Tierney for all things science. Instead, check out Nature's top five science blogs. There are some interesting, and controversial should you need that, sources of information there.

Bonobos Chase Ghosts And Play The Xylophone!

Yesterday, I found, and was captivated by, this pop-science talk and video presented by Susan Savage-Rumbaugh. It's 17-minutes, but oh so worth watching. Once the stars of the video, the bonobos, take the screen, it's hard not to watch.


It's always comforting to realize that humans might not be as special as our intensely self-centered mythologies state. Oh, and on the title of this post, you'll need to watch the video.

Friday Dump

- Anthony Fortunato has been found guilty of manslaughter as a hate crime in the death of Michael Sandy. Sandy was targeted for being gay. Fortunato came out of the closet during his trial, claiming that a gay person wouldn't target another gay person for a crime. Right, closeted gay people don't ever attack their own. Closeted gay on gay violence is one of the ugly products of a homophobic culture and the closet.

- Congrats to Al Gore and the UN Panel on Climate Change for winning the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. That was nice news to wake up to. Speaking of the environment, glaciers as disappearing from Glacier National Park.

- Europe starts to get it right on creationism.

- News findings indicate that a) abortion has dropped worldwide due to increased birth control and b) women in countries that outlaw abortion are just as likely to have the procedure as women in countries where it's legal.

- Expensive running shoes aren't better than lower priced ones. It's the fit that counts. Interestingly, this story is all over the UK and Australian press but, so far, getting skimpy coverage here. Maybe that will change as the day goes on.

- Biotech company Genentech makes two drugs that doctors are using to treat macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, Avastin (~$38/dose) and the more expensive Lucentis ($1,950/dose). Doctors have been using Avastin "off label," it's a cancer drug and not approved for ocular disorders. But, the drugs are very similar chemically and doctors have reported promising anecdotal results with Avastin after two years of use. Genentech has decided to cut off the supply chain for Avastin. Gee, I wonder why?

- Oh, and Ann Coulter would like Jews to perfected by becoming xtians. She also thinks that heaven is NYC during the 2004 RNC. Very odd.

Another Coconut Crab Pic

Sorry, but my last post on coconut crabs, aka robber crabs, wasn't enough to satisfy my curiosity about these amazing animals. This one is from Christmas Island via the Australian Department of Transport and Regional Services:

Coconut Crabs

These are coconut crabs, the largest terrestrial arthropods (click for larger):

(ugly overload)
(General Manager's Blog)

Can these pictures be real? Wow. Imagine taking a vacation in an exotic location (they live in areas throughout the Indian and western Pacific Oceans) and waking up to one of these in your room!

They can grow to up to 9lbs and 3 feet long. Their olfactory organs are similar to those of insects and are examples of convergent evolution.

PostBlog: I have another cool picture of these amazing animals at a new post.

Maze Generator

It's just what it sounds like, a page that generates mazes. It has a setting for maze anfractuosity, or how twisty the output maze will be. It would be great if it spit out embeddable code.

He's Going The Distance

I so want this mutation!

Make A Glowing Tomato

Just be careful! I'm not sure of the reaction specifics, but since the bleach and phosphorus match-head mixture glows before adding peroxide, I'm guessing the peroxide is acting as a catalyst.

Make A GLOWING TOMATO !

Tommy Thompson Isn't Microchipped

But, he's been on the board of the company that makes them, is a partner in a law firm that provided $1.2 million in legal services to the company that makes them, and was the head of the department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA, as the FDA approved medical microchipping for humans. Oh, and microchipping had been linked to cancers in rodents well before the FDA approval process. AP articles are here and here, in case one of them disappears. I've archived one version of the article. If either link above gets broken or loses information, I'll publish a link. The article is long, but oh so worth a read. Some long excerpts:

But neither the company nor the regulators publicly mentioned this: A series of veterinary and toxicology studies, dating to the mid-1990s, stated that chip implants had "induced" malignant tumors in some lab mice and rats. ...

Did the agency know of the tumor findings before approving the chip implants? The FDA declined repeated AP requests to specify what studies it reviewed.

The FDA is overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services, which, at the time of VeriChip's approval, was headed by Tommy Thompson. Two weeks after the device's approval took effect on Jan. 10, 2005, Thompson left his Cabinet post, and within five months was a board member of VeriChip Corp. and Applied Digital Solutions. He was compensated in cash and stock options.

Thompson, until recently a candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, says he had no personal relationship with the company as the VeriChip was being evaluated, nor did he play any role in FDA's approval process of the RFID tag. ...

"There's no way in the world, having read this information, that I would have one of those chips implanted in my skin, or in one of my family members," said Dr. Robert Benezra, head of the Cancer Biology Genetics Program at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Before microchips are implanted on a large scale in humans, he said, testing should be done on larger animals, such as dogs or monkeys. "I mean, these are bad diseases. They are life-threatening. And given the preliminary animal data, it looks to me that there's definitely cause for concern." ...

Dr. Cheryl London, a veterinarian oncologist at Ohio State University, noted: "It's much easier to cause cancer in mice than it is in people. So it may be that what you're seeing in mice represents an exaggerated phenomenon of what may occur in people."

Tens of thousands of dogs have been chipped, she said, and veterinary pathologists haven't reported outbreaks of related sarcomas in the area of the neck, where canine implants are often done. (Published reports detailing malignant tumors in two chipped dogs turned up in AP's four-month examination of research on chips and health. In one dog, the researchers said cancer appeared linked to the presence of the embedded chip; in the other, the cancer's cause was uncertain.)

Nonetheless, London saw a need for a 20-year study of chipped canines "to see if you have a biological effect." Dr. Chand Khanna, a veterinary oncologist at the National Cancer Institute, also backed such a study, saying current evidence "does suggest some reason to be concerned about tumor formations."

Meanwhile, the animal study findings should be disclosed to anyone considering a chip implant, the cancer specialists agreed.

To date, however, that hasn't happened. ...

And what of former HHS secretary Thompson?

When asked what role, if any, he played in VeriChip's approval, Thompson replied: "I had nothing to do with it. And if you look back at my record, you will find that there has never been any improprieties whatsoever."

FDA's Watson said: "I have no recollection of him being involved in it at all." VeriChip Corp. declined comment.

Thompson vigorously campaigned for electronic medical records and healthcare technology both as governor of Wisconsin and at HHS. While in President Bush's Cabinet, he formed a "medical innovation" task force that worked to partner FDA with companies developing medical information technologies.

At a "Medical Innovation Summit" on Oct. 20, 2004, Lester Crawford, the FDA's acting commissioner, thanked the secretary for getting the agency "deeply involved in the use of new information technology to help prevent medication error." One notable example he cited: "the implantable chips and scanners of the VeriChip system our agency approved last week."

After leaving the Cabinet and joining the company board, Thompson received options on 166,667 shares of VeriChip Corp. stock, and options on an additional 100,000 shares of stock from its parent company, Applied Digital Solutions, according to SEC records. He also received $40,000 in cash in 2005 and again in 2006, the filings show.

The Project on Government Oversight called Thompson's actions "unacceptable" even though they did not violate what the independent watchdog group calls weak conflict-of-interest laws.

"A decade ago, people would be embarrassed to cash in on their government connections. But now it's like the Wild West," said the group's executive director, Danielle Brian.

Thompson is a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, a Washington law firm that was paid $1.2 million for legal services it provided the chip maker in 2005 and 2006, according to SEC filings.

He stepped down as a VeriChip Corp. director in March to seek the GOP presidential nomination, and records show that the company gave his campaign $7,400 before he bowed out of the race in August.

In a TV interview while still on the board, Thompson was explaining the benefits — and the ease — of being chipped when an interviewer interrupted:

"I'm sorry, sir. Did you just say you would get one implanted in your arm?"

"Absolutely," Thompson replied. "Without a doubt."

"No concerns at all?"

"No."

But to date, Thompson has yet to be chipped himself.

It's worth noting that cancer researchers were concerned about microchipping when they learned about the rodent research. It's also worth noting that tens of thousands of dogs have been microchipped. Until a fully controlled, or even extensive retrospective study has been performed, any cancers, or lack of cancers (that the company points to) are anecdotal. Case studies do not make for good statistics.

Cinnamania!

I'd attributed most of what I've heard about the health benefits of cinnamon to superstition. So much of what people believe about what they eat is. But, there appears to be some real research examining cinnamon:

Cinnamon may significantly help people with type 2 diabetes improve their ability to respond to insulin, thus normalizing their blood sugar levels. Both test tube and animal studies have shown that compounds in cinnamon not only stimulate insulin receptors, but also inhibit an enzyme that inactivates them, thus significantly increasing cells' ability to use glucose. Studies to confirm cinnamon's beneficial actions in humans are currently underway with the most recent report coming from researchers from the US Agricultural Research Service, who have shown that less than half a teaspoon per day of cinnamon reduces blood sugar levels in persons with type 2 diabetes. Their study included 60 Pakistani volunteers with type 2 diabetes who were not taking insulin. Subjects were divided into six groups. For 40 days, groups 1, 2 and 3 were given 1, 3, or 6 grams per day of cinnamon while groups 4, 5 and 6 received placebo capsules. Even the lowest amount of cinnamon, 1 gram per day (approximately ¼ to ½ teaspoon), produced an approximately 20% drop in blood sugar; cholesterol and triglycerides were lowered as well. When daily cinnamon was stopped, blood sugar levels began to increase. (December 30, 2003)

Test tube, animal and human studies have all recently investigated cinnamon's ability to improve insulin activity, and thus our cells' ability to absorb and use glucose from the blood.

On going in vitro or test tube research conducted by Richard Anderson and his colleagues at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center is providing new understanding of the mechanisms through which cinnamon enhances insulin activity. In their latest paper, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Anderson et al. characterize the insulin-enhancing complexes in cinnamon-a collection of catechin/epicatechin oligomers that increase the body's insulin-dependent ability to use glucose roughly 20-fold.. Some scientists had been concerned about potentially toxic effects of regularly consuming cinnamon. This new research shows that the potentially toxic compounds in cinnamon bark are found primarily in the lipid (fat) soluble fractions and are present only at very low levels in water soluble cinnamon extracts, which are the ones with the insulin-enhancing compounds.

A recent animal study demonstrating cinnamon's beneficial effects on insulin activity appeared in the December 2003 issue of Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice. In this study, when rats were given a daily dose of cinnamon (300 mg per kilogram of body weight) for a 3 week period, their skeletal muscle was able to absorb 17% more blood sugar per minute compared to that of control rats, which had not received cinnamon, an increase researchers attributed to cinnamon's enhancement of the muscle cells' insulin-signaling pathway. In humans with type 2 diabetes, consuming as little as 1 gram of cinnamon per day was found to reduce blood sugar, triglycerides, LDL (bad) cholesterol, and total cholesterol, in a study published in the December 2003 issue of Diabetes Care. The placebo-controlled study evaluated 60 people with type 2 diabetes (30 men and 30 women ranging in age from 44 to 58 years) who were divided into 6 groups. Groups 1, 2, and 3 were given 1, 3, or 6 grams of cinnamon daily, while groups 4, 5, and 6 received 1, 3 or 6 grams of placebo. After 40 days, all three levels of cinnamon reduced blood sugar levels by 18-29%, triglycerides 23-30%, LDL cholesterol 7-27%, and total cholesterol 12-26%, while no significant changes were seen in those groups receiving placebo. The researchers' conclusion: including cinnamon in the diet of people with type 2 diabetes will reduce risk factors associated with diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.(January 28, 2004)

The latest research on cinnamon shows that by enhancing insulin signaling, cinnamon can prevent insulin resistance even in animals fed a high-fructose diet! A study published in the February 2004 issue of Hormone Metabolism Research showed that when rats fed a high-fructose diet were also given cinnamon extract, their ability to respond to and utilize glucose (blood sugar) was improved so much that it was the same as that of rats on a normal (control) diet.

Cinnamon is so powerful an antioxidant that, when compared to six other antioxidant spices (anise, ginger, licorice, mint, nutmeg and vanilla) and the chemical food preservatives (BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole), BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene), and propyl gallate), cinnamon prevented oxidation more effectively than all the other spices (except mint) and the chemical antioxidants. (May 6, 2004)

More about a particular study here. It's interesting anyway.

Oh, BTW, that last post, about the animals, was post 666. Bwahahahaha.

Also, I've just passed 11,000 visits. Whatever that's worth.

Better Off Till The Sun Goes Out

A world without us.

Beautiful Things We Don't Understand

Getting negative on exponential imaginary pi. :)