The FDA has issued draft guidance on the matter and the guidance is based on two principles:

• Antibiotics should only be given to food animals if it’s to protect their health,
• All antibiotic use by animals should be overseen by veterinarians.

“We are seeing the emergence of multidrug-resistant pathogens,” FDA Deputy Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein, MD, said at a news conference. “FDA believes overall weight of evidence supports the conclusion that using medically important antimicrobial drugs for production purposes is not appropriate.”

This is scary stuff.

The Death of High Fructose Corn Syrup [BNet]

So what are these goodies? It’s been known to have had several anti-oxidants before the study but they discovered phenolics, which is the class of anti-oxidants found in berries, were produced as a defense mechanism. When the sugar maple is tapped for sap, the tree produces a small amount of phenolics, which is magnified when the sap is boiled down into syrup. The heating process also creates other bioactive compounds.

That being said, you probably should chug maple syrup a la Super Troopers but splashing a bit on your pancakes in the morning does have benefits!

Some of the tips are obvious ones – go for the salad minus fried toppings, skip the cheese (the cheese at McDonalds has 50 calories and 2 grams of sat. fat!), ask for extra veggies. Some others are not as obvious such as:

7. Use hot sauce, not ketchup, on your french fries. Hot sauce is low in calories, has a big, adventurous flavor, and contains nutrients that are particularly good for your body. Plus, it gets you drinking lots of water, which reduces your appetite.

While they don’t quantify the difference, as I suspect it’s not much, but the idea that it gets you to drink lots of water is a clever one.

14. Get skinless chicken. This is particularly important when you’re hitting KFC, home of the finger-lickin’ good fried chicken. Ditch the skin — and much of the batter — and you’ll save 240 calories and 16 grams of fat on a typical serving.

I guess skin isn’t in anymore.

Well, probiotics are good. The FAO/WHO defines probiotics as: “Live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host.”

Practically, probiotics are foods or dietary supplement that contain “good” bacteria, which are normally found in your body. If you’re familiar with Dannon’s Activia yogurt, then you’re familiar with a probiotic food (ignoring the Dannon lawsuit settlement). Yogurt, fermented and unfermented milk, juices, and other products are probiotics.

There’s research that probiotic supplements and foods can help with digestive issues like diarrhea after antibiotics, irritable bowel syndrome, and other problems of the digestive tract.

Are they a cureall? No and the research is still preliminary so time will tell how helpful probiotics are.

(Photo: mjecker)

This is a guest post from my wife. She’s a big fan of POM Wonderful so she was especially thrilled to try out their new line of super teas. A PR firm sent us a few bottles and here is what she thoughts of them.

I had the pleasure of trying the new Pom Antioxidant Super Teas this past week. I’m a big fan of Pom Wonderful with its super delicious, not too sweet, taste so I was really excited to try four of the Pom Tea flavors. I tried two of the regular Pomx Teas: Pomegranate Lychee Green Tea Pomegranate Peach Passion White Tea and two of the Pomx Light Teas: Pomegranate Hibiscus Green Tea and and Pomegranate Wildberry Light White Tea.

All four were really yummy however of the light teas the Pomegranate Hibiscus was my favorite and the Pomegranate Peach Passion White Tea was my favorite of the regular teas. The flavors of the peach came through clearly and the tea was not as sweet as some other peach teas. Also, it only has 80 calories per serving so 160 for the whole bottle. The light teas, including the Hibiscus Green Tea only have 35 calories, or 70 for a whole bottle. I was surprised after opening the Hibiscus Green Tea that the flavors were delicate and subtle while still providing a yummy and refreshing drink. It also did not have a “light” drinks aftertaste, a big plus in my book!

My favorite thing about these teas is that they provide you with more antioxidant potency than “red wine, green tea, grape and acai extracts” but with all the taste of a refreshing tea drink. They are all sweet but not too sweet when drinking by themselves or accompanying a meal. Another plus is that all of the teas that I tried contain between 1mg – 3mg of caffeine per serving or 2mg – 6mg of caffeine for a whole bottle.

A few notes: they are perishable and need to be kept refrigerated.

(Photo: absolutely_loverly)

They learned about it in a New York Times article about the fantastic stuff. Turns out bartenders are playing with it, people are having flavor-tripping parties, and just having a grand old time.

How crazy?

CARRIE DASHOW dropped a large dollop of lemon sorbet into a glass of Guinness, stirred, drank and proclaimed that it tasted like a “chocolate shake.”

Nearby, Yuka Yoneda tilted her head back as her boyfriend, Albert Yuen, drizzled Tabasco sauce onto her tongue. She swallowed and considered the flavor: “Doughnut glaze, hot doughnut glaze!”

Someone should try Dave’s Insanity Sauce!

Ruby Tuesdays scored a D+ and you’ll be surprised to learn that their burgers average seventy-five grams of fat a piece, which exceed the limit set out by the USDA! Baja Fresh scored a D- because a third of their menu choices had more than a thousand calories and too much sodium… the only safe option are the tacos.

Applebee’s, IHOP, Outback, and TGI Fridays alls cored an F because they don’t offer caloric information on their menu items.

However, if you’re one of the many thousands who pay $40 a bottle of acai berry products, consider buying something you can get at your local grocery store instead.

1. Fried rice
2. Lo mein
3. Chow fun
4. Crispy (orange) beef
5. Lemon chicken
6. General Tso’s chicken
7. Barbequed spare ribs

Why were some of those foods bad? Fat, sodium, and calories. All pack more than you think but those are the worst offenders. What are good choices? “Stir-fried dishes, such as shrimp with garlic sauce, Szechuan shrimp, moo goo gai pan and chicken with black bean sauce all contain less than 1,000 calories a plate, she says, and vegetarian dishes such as Buddha’s Delight, stir-fried mixed vegetables, ma po tofu and Szechuan string beans also are healthier. Still, she cautions that these alternatives are all still heavy on the salt, so think about ordering the sauce on the side.”