Beer and Bones

I had to drop some paperwork off at the paying job this morning. It was still quite early, but a few of our local homeless guys were already sitting in the weak Maine winter sun, on a porch a few doors down from the shelter where I work, drinking beer from tallboys--sort of concealed in paper bags. Now, it turns out, those guys must be making themselves some really strong bones. Read on.

LiveScience has a piece covering a study of the silicon content of various beers. The study, by researchers from UC Davis, was published in the February issue of the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. Here's the good news for beer drinkers: dietary intake of silicon is apparently necessary for the development and maintenance of healthy bones--and beer is a great source of bioavailable silicon.

From the LiveScience article:

...a new analysis of 100 commercial beers shows the hoppy beverage is a significant source of dietary silicon, a key ingredient for bone health.

Though past research has suggested beer is chockfull of silicon, little was known about how silicon levels varied with the type of beer and malting process used. So a pair of researchers took one for the team and ran chemical analyses on beer's raw ingredients. They also picked up 100 commercial beers from the grocery store and measured the silicon content.

The silicon content of the beers ranged from 6.4 mg/L to 56.5 mg/L, with an average of 30 mg/L. Two beers are the equivalent of just under a half liter, so a person could get 30 mg of the nutrient from two beers. And while there is no official recommendation for daily silicon uptake, the researchers say, in the United States, individuals consume between 20 and 50 mg of silicon each day.

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"Beers containing high levels of malted barley and hops are richest in silicon," Bamforth said. "Wheat contains less silicon than barley because it is the husk of the barley that is rich in this element. While most of the silicon remains in the husk during brewing, significant quantities of silicon nonetheless are extracted into wort and much of this survives into beer."

The silicon levels of beer types, on average:

• India Pale Ale (IPA): 41.2 mg/L
• Ales: 32.8 mg/L
• Pale Ale: 36.5 mg/L
• Sorghum: 27.3 mg/L
• Lagers: 23.7 mg/L
• Wheat: 18.9 mg/L
• Light lagers: 17.2 mg/L
• Non Alcoholic: 16.3 mg/L

Read the rest of the LiveScience article.

Photo credit: Kozzmo via Wikimedia.

SNL on Fox on DADT

New Orleans, Jazz, Cocktails, and Rachel

I unexpectedly got called into work at the paying job early this morning. Been there all day. Haven't had any time to blog or read much of any news. Too burned out to do it now.

This video caught my eye while doing a perfunctory scan of what's new in my Google Reader. It contains four of the very best things this country has to offer the rest of the world (see post title). Also, it made me want to try a properly made Sazerac.

So many cocktails, so little time.

Now, I'm off to make a martini or two for me and Ms. Bic.

"That's Like What Happens Behind the Turkey Leg Stand at an Alabama Renaissance Fair"

Jackie and Dunlap discuss the alleged existence of a John Edwards and Rielle Hunter sex tape, as well as the alleged size of John Edwards' penis as it allegedly appears on the alleged tape. From Red State Update:

DEFINITELY NOT SAFE FOR WORK

A little more background on the matter of the tape, if you want.

A Pre-9/11 Mindset?

Apparently we followed some silly Constitution or something back then.

Another "Other War" In Pakistan

The NYT reports three US Special Operations troops were killed Wednesday in Pakistan by a suicide bomber who managed to penetrate Pakistani military vehicles protecting the Americans.

The three soldiers were killed, and two other service members wounded, in the region of Lower Dir, which is close to the tribal areas. According to police officials in the region, the armored vehicle in which they were traveling was hit by a suicide bomber driving a car. Earlier reports from Pakistani security officials said the soldiers had been killed by a roadside explosive device.

To disguise themselves in a way that is common for Western men in Pakistan, the American soldiers were dressed in traditional Pakistani garb of baggy trousers and long tunic, known as shalwar kameez, according to a Frontier Corps officer. They also wore local caps that helped cover their hair, he said.

 Their armored vehicle was equipped with electronic jammers sufficient to block remotely controlled devices and mines, the officer said. Vehicles driven by the Frontier Corps were placed in front and behind the Americans as protection, he said.

Still, the Taliban bomber was able to penetrate their cordon. In all 131 people were wounded, most of them girls who were students at a high school adjacent to the site of the suicide attack, the Lower Dir police said.

Pretty soon we're going to have to start calling this a war.


Rachel Maddow reviewed the story on MSNBC Wednesday evening.




Update 2:15 PM 2/4/10: Juan Cole has posted a thorough review of the story, including English-language Aljazeera video.

Best Observation on Repealing DADT

Ever. Anywhere.

Thoreau, over at Unqualified Offerings, tells it like it is.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Secretary of Defense Support Repealing DADT, Republicans Worry Repeal Would Lead to More Body Art

Another Blow to the Anti-Vaccination Hysterics

In what's sure to be a blow to the widely held, but thoroughly debunked belief that childhood vaccines in general, and the MMR vaccine in particular, somehow cause autism, the highly regarded British medical journal, The Lancet, has just officially retracted the 1998 study that first suggested autism might be caused by the MMR vaccine. From MedPage Today:

In the 1998 paper, Wakefield and colleagues reported on findings in 12 children who, they said, had developed intestinal inflammation and autistic symptoms following MMR vaccination. They suggested that the inflammation released gut proteins into the circulation that eventually migrated to the brain, causing permanent damage reflected in autism symptoms.

Editors of The Lancet have retracted the 1998 study that first suggested autism might be caused by the MMR vaccine, less than a week after an official rebuke to the paper's lead author, Andrew Wakefield, MBBS, and two co-authors.

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The report and the ensuing mass-media publicity sparked consternation among parents and the medical community. Vaccination rates in Britain and the U.S. dropped sharply, and measles rates spiked in consequence.

Although subsequent population-based research and other studies have failed to confirm a causal link between MMR vaccines and autism, a vocal group of parents of autistic children continues to insist that it is real. They call Wakefield a hero.

However, a nearly decade-long investigation by a British journalist, Brian Deer, uncovered discrepancies between the Lancet paper and hospital records and other sources.

Whereas the Lancet paper indicated that, in most cases, symptoms developed within days of vaccination, the records indicated that this was true only for one child, according to Deer's account in the Times of London.

The patients' records also indicated that five of the children had psychosocial problems before vaccination, said the Times, but the Lancet paper described them as "developmentally normal."

In addition, the Lancet paper described abnormal intestinal pathology results in the children, but the hospital pathology reports showed no findings of inflammation, the Times report said.

At last week's hearing, the U.K.'s General Medical Council panel heard evidence that Wakefield had taken blood samples from children attending his son's birthday party and performed spinal taps on other children in a hospital without due regard for their safety.

The panel found Wakefield guilty of more than 30 charges that he had acted unethically in conducting the study. He could be stripped of his license to practice in Britain, but no ruling has been made yet.

Continue reading the MedPage Today article.

Photo credit: USDHHS via Wikimedia

Two Words: Liquid Glass

It sounds like this stuff is going to become a part of all of our everyday lives. From The Telegraph:

The spray, which is harmless to the environment, can be used to protect against disease, guard vineyards against fungal threats and coat the nose cones of high-speed trains, it has been claimed.

The versatile spray, which forms an easy-clean coating one millionth of a millimetre thick – 500 times thinner than a human hair – can be applied to virtually any surface to protect it against water, dirt, bacteria, heat and UV radiation.

The spray forms a water-resistant layer, meaning it can be cleaned using only water. Trials by food-processing companies showed that sterile surfaces covered with a film of liquid glass were equally clean after a rinse with hot water as after their usual treatment with strong bleach.

 Key to the product's versatility is the fact it can be sold in a solution of either alcohol or water, depending on what surface needs to be coated. The layer formed by the liquid glass is said to be flexible and breathable.

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