No Caffeine for Mum-To-Be

A new research in the US has found the link between miscarriage and caffeine. Women who drink two or more glasses of coffee (200 mg of caffeine or more) during their pregnancy double their risk of miscarriage. So if you are pregnant that's one more thing to add on the 'no drinking' list.

So you think I'm not just making it up, Herald Sun covers the story here and the researcher is Dr De-Kun Li of Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. This study will be published in American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Go Green: Eat More Kangaroo ?

Everybody wants to be green these days, which is good by the way. Anything to help sustain the earth is a good thing.

One way to do this is to eat less meat, beef to be exact. A research in UNSW has found that by cutting beef production 20% is equivalent to reduce 15 million tonnes of methane. Therefore, lowering Australia's greenhouse emissions.

This can be achieved by consuming more kangaroo meat (instead of beef) or by switching to a low-meat diet. It is said that beef production is the biggest contributor to methane emissions which is livestock related.

So what will you eat tonight ?

Bad News for Headphone Users

As you might know, listening to headphones for long period of time is not good as it might damage your hearing. However, with the increasing use of MP3 players nowadays, there are more and more people being in danger of losing their hearing.

A research was conducted by Griffith University found that 70% of people under 30s are showing early signs of permanent hearing damage. So by 50, they would experience hearing problem of that a 70 years old.

This is all because they listen to their iPod or music players for too long and too loud. I, myself never turn on up to full volume. I always try to limit myself to around halfway. Not just because I don't want to go deaf but I think it is a good idea to be able to hear your surroundings as well. So, you're not totally 'blinded' from the world.

Here are some interesting sound level facts. Apple iPods, the most popular MP3 device, has a maximum decibel level of 115, gunshot is 120, a jet taking off is 130 and lastly, disco is 105 decibel.

Some experts are now calling for warning labels to be put on MP3 players to show the 'healthy' time to use the device. The research suggest that you shouldn't listen to your music player for too long, 20 minutes is quite long enough.

An interesting and funny comment from the research Professor about teenager: "They're (teenagers) normally designed to think they're invulnerable to things like falling off balconies and loud music."

Danger of Melanoma

You might not know this girl. Her name is Clare Oliver. She was 26. A couple of weeks ago, a newspaper ran a story about her and her fight with skin cancer. She said that she had only days or weeks to live but she would like to spend the last of her days campaigning and making people aware of the danger of skin cancer and solarium.

Clare Oliver passed away this morning, losing her fight with the cancer. I would like to send my deepest condolences to her family.

Her story was a sad but it shows how the reality is at the momen. She frequently visit the solarium when she was young even though she knew the danger of UV lights. She got caught in "buy 10 sessions get 20" marketing. In the end, she was diagnosed with melanoma (a dangerous form of skin cancer) and that the cancer has spread to all over her.

Her message was simple, "is your tan worth dying ?". Because of her article, in Victoria, the health minister has reacted and promised some new regulations for solarium. Tighter control with age check and parental consent will be introduced.

To read her original article that she wrote for Herald Sun, click here. I encourage you to read her story and share it with you family and friends.

Finally, I would like to say thank you Clare for sharing your story and may you rest in peace.

picture from heraldsun.com.au

Five Second Rule

I'm sure everybody has heard of the 5-second rule. If you drop your food on the ground, you can still pick it up and eat it as long as it has not been on the ground for more than 5 seconds. True ?

Well, 2 American students went and put the rule to the test. The experiment is simple. The students used sliced apples and sweets/chocolates (like M&Ms). They dropped the food on the floor, leave it for a while (and time it of course), picked it up, use a swab to collect samples of the surface that touched the floor and check it under the microscope. Simple ?

The results were surprising. On the apple, it took about 30 seconds for bacteria to start growing and on the chocolate it took nearly a minute. Don't believe me ? See this video news report from ABC here.

Well, I was never a fond believer of the 5-second rule anyway. It has always been the 5-minute rule for me :)

picture taken from Yahoo

bring on the fat

I'd say thank God that I don't live in the States. Just have a look at what they've got on the menu.

This is from KFC. They called it the Famous Bowls. The content: a tub of mashed potatoes or rice, with yellow corn, fried chicken nuggets, gravy and three types of cheese.

This one belongs to Burger King (Hungry Jack's here in Oz). It's called a Quad Stacker. The content: four beef patties, cheese and bacon (NO vegetables or salad) squeezed into a bun.

Last but not least, who could resist two of your favourites....PANCAKES AND SAUSAGE ON A STICK. Very nice indeed and to top it all off, some cholocate chip. If you don't like the chocolate chip, I think they've got one with berries.