Category Archives: Health & Medicine

Food, Government, Health & Medicine

CITING CANCER LINK, USDA BANS CURED BACON

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imageWASHINGTON, D.C. (The Adobo Chronicles) – Imagine breakfast without bacon. Now you don’t have to. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has banned the production and sale of cured bacon in the country because of its link to cancer.

Bacon is either cured or uncured while all bacon is soaked in brine to give it flavor and prevent botulism. It is traditionally cured using a mixture of salt, water and synthetic sodium nitrite that acts as a preservative and made by mixing Nitrates, a naturally occurring compound in plants, with certain bacteria.

The USDA ban does not cover uncured bacon. Uncured bacon uses natural nitrates found in juice, sea salt and celery powder to achieve a similar taste, so uncured bacon does not have potentially harmful chemicals akin to sodium nitrite.

Soon after the  surprising USDA announcement, the National Association of American Chefs (NAAC) filed papers in court seeking an injunction to stop USDA from implementing the ban.

“This will end the culinary career,” a spokesperson for NAAC said. “Bacon is to hotels and restaurants just like butter is to Julia Child and Paula Deen!”

Consumers nationwide are joining the NAAC in supporting the injunction.

In fact, a million march is being planned in Washington, D.C. the Sunday before Thanksgiving to demand the reinstatement of cured bacon as the beloved miracle ingredient in home cooking and holiday meals.

Meanwhile, big box stores like Costco and large supermaket chains like Safeway have reported that their freezers have practically been emptied in the last 24 hours by customers panicking about the soon-to-disappear cured bacon.

 

Health & Medicine

AMONG AMERICANS AND FILIPINOS, HYPERTENSION RATES DROP TO A NEW LOW AND YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHY

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200489720-001BETHESDA, Maryland (The Adobo Chronicles® ) – Declaring they had “potentially lifesaving information,” federal health officials said on Friday that they were ending a major study early because it has already conclusively answered a question cardiologists have puzzled over for decades: how low should blood pressure go?

The answer: way lower than the current guidelines.

This announcement seems to complement two separate studies on hypertension conducted in the U.S. and the Philippines showing that the rates of hypertension among the population have gone done significantly, although not because of medication.

In the U.S. study, participants showed an average systolic blood pressure reading (the upper number) of 120, far lower than the current guidelines of 140 and 150 for people over 60, effectively reducing their risk of heart attacks, heart failure and strokes by a third and their risk of death reduced by nearly a quarter.

Similar results were seen in the Philippine study.

What was amazing was that none of the study participants in the U.S. and the Philippines were taking any blood cholesterol-lowering drugs.

In the U.S. study, the overwhelming reason for the drop in blood pressure was daily exposure to entertaining political news involving the Republican presidential candidates, especially Donald Trump, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush and Bobby Jindal — proof that humor and ridiculousness significantly contribute to less stress and healthier outlook in life.

In the Philippine study, three factors contributed to the overall drop in hypertension rates:

  1. Entertaining political news involving Filipino politicians like 2016 presidential candidates VP Jejomar Binay and former Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas. Not to mention President NoyNoy Aquino and his legion of apologists and spokespersons.
  2. The growing popularity of satirical news on social media.
  3. Filipinos, especially in Metro Manila, have been getting a lot of daily physical exercise qeueing for kilometers and walking up and down the stairs leading to the crowded  ticket booths and platforms of MRT, the light railway system. Many of the study participants also reported that they now walk to work instead of lining up for hours to board the trains and sitting in buses or jeepneys stuck in nightmarish traffic.
Health & Medicine, Travel

PHILIPPINES: AN ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS CONVENTION LIKE NO OTHER

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imageDUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles® ) –  In the U.S., popular conventions happen all the time — from the Comic Con to the Furry Con.  In the Philippines, the Alcoholics Anonymous National Convention is something that many Filipinos look forward to.

The 34th Alcoholics Anonymous Philippines Convention will be held in the wonderful City of Dumaguete, Negros Oriental from February 5-7, 2016.

Organizers have chosen an unconventional theme of “Just for Today.”

There will be a lot of skills-building workshops, counseling sessions and group therapy, not to mention invited popular celebrities who will be speaking about their journey towards being alcohol-free.

In keeping with the convention theme, organizers have scheduled an elaborate closing reception sponsored by Tanduay Rhum and San Miguel Corporation.  The evening will feature free-flowing alcohol at no cost to the attendees — just for the day.

It will be a litmus test of how successful AA programs have been in the Philippines in the past 34 years.

The Adobo Chronicles®  will be covering the convention live from Dumaguete City.