nosh nook #63 - wednesday, june 10, 2009

junk food gives crow chicks a weight problem (link)
06.09.09 - new scientist - by macgregor campbell

i grew up a curious child who collected national geographic animal cards, a child fascinated by the earth's cornucopia of animals. since they were one of the animals i actually got to see on a regular basis, i came to like the crow. sure, i saw chickadees & sparrows & purple finches every day, but those birds were tiny & none of them had the rebellious jet black appearance of the crow. crows were clearly a far superior bird. now, as an "adult," i may have to rethink my childhood theories about them.

as macgregor campbell reports, a group of researchers at binghamton university learned that while suburban & urban crows have a more dependable, easily accessible food source, the "leftover french fries and donuts a crow would find at these sources may be fine for adults, they can have a detrimental effect on growing young crows." the researchers discovered that "not only were suburban nestlings smaller than their rural brethren, their levels of blood protein were also lower. the results suggest that their diets, while adequate in terms of calories, lack nutrients that nestlings need to grow to their full potential size."

it's mind-boggling.  according to kevin mcgowan, one of the study's co-authors, "if someone throws out trash, then the crows eat the trash instead of, say, a baby rabbit."  when i read that, i was floored.  what kind of being turns down a perfectly tasty baby rabbit?  while researchers believed it made sense that the crows would go for the food that was easiest to find, they didn't know why the crows would feed their young the less nutritious foods.  maybe they just want to be like us intelligent humans.  after all, if it wasn't for us, they never would have been able to experience the awesomeness of a hostess twinkie.  that would have been a crying shame.

nosh nook #26 - monday, april 20, 2009

gum chewing may cut craving for snacks (link)
04.19.09 - forbes

scientists have figured out a lot of crap & done lots of totally sweet things for society over the years--medical advances, rocket launches, particle discoveries & such. up until now, i've been pretty excited about the benefits of scientific research. i even listen to npr's science friday every single week & find wonder in stories of scientific finds. this time, however, scientists have gone too far...they're trying to discourage snacking.

as forbes reports, an evil study sponsored by the ivy league, world-renowned wrigley science institute recently discovered that by chewing gum, you can cut down on your snacking. why anyone would want to cut down on their snacking is beyond me, but that's what they figured out. they performed an experiment where on two days they offered people snacks three hours after lunch. on one of the days, the people chewed gum for fifteen minutes during the three hours before snack time. on the day where they chewed the gum, they ate fewer snacks & felt less hungry.  i can only assume they also felt less fulfilled, due to the snacking void.

in summary, chewing gum can help contribute to weight loss & positive health, but at the cost of less snacking.  if you must shun snacking & chew gum, you should definitely chew wrigleys. that's just smart science...& like wrigley's current slogan says, "gum is good!"