Samantha Bonar

One of the USDA's healthful new school lunches; Credit: Flickr/

School Districts Bailing On More Healthful Lunch Program

It's back to school time, and that means those healthful new school lunches, rolled out to great fanfare by the Obama administration last fall ... are being pitched directly into the trash! The waste is leading some school districts to drop out of the well-meaning more healthful National School Lunch......
Broccoli with leeks and manchego; Credit: Flickr/

Broccoli May Help Fight Arthritis

Eating lots of broccoli may slow down the progression of arthritis or even prevent it altogether, according to a new study by British researchers. Lab tests showed that a compound in broccoli, which is also found in Brussels sprouts and cabbage, blocked a destructive enzyme that damages cartilage, the BBC......
Peppercorn steak; Credit: Flickr/

Spices a Potent Source of Food Poisoning

"Would you care for a little ground Salmonella on your salad?" Food safety experts have been keeping a lid on a surprising source of food poisoning -- your spice cabinet, according to the New York Times. Pepper poses a particular danger. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will "soon" release......
raw chicken; Credit: Flickr/

Don't Wash Your Chicken!

Why did the chicken cross the road? So you wouldn't give it a bath. Drexel University professors are on a mission to get people to stop washing their chicken. It is a commonly held illusion that washing raw chicken prior to cooking prevents foodborne illness, they say. In fact, the......
Credit: A. Scattergood

Coffee Study of the Week: It Could Fight Prostate Cancer

It's good for you, it's going to kill you, it'll cure whatever ails you, it'll make you go insane. In the latest submission to the coffee conundrum catalog, a new study says that excessive coffee consumption might help men with prostate cancer, according to U.S. News & World Report. The......
Grilled swordfish; Credit: Flickr/ral

Mercury From China Contaminating Pacific Ocean Fish

Mercury levels in fish, particularly deep-sea varieties, are only going to get higher, and for that you can thank power polluters such as China and India. According to a study published August 25 in the journal Nature Geoscience, mercury pollution from power plants in China and India is making its......
Soda; Credit: Flickr/

Soda Makes Children Attack!

Kids who drink soda are more violent than children who don't, according to a new study. Those who imbibe the fizzy stuff tend to score slightly higher on scales that measure aggressive behavior than children who refrain. And the more soda they drink, the higher they score, according to Reuters......
Good? Bad? Indifferent?; Credit: Flickr/

Coffee, Tea May Fight Liver Disease

Last week's disturbing coffee story wasn't even cold when we got hit with a jolt of positive java news: Four cups or more a day could be good for your liver. That actually applies to four cups of tea, too. Good news for you Brits (and Anglophiles). Researchers from the......
A shot of coffee; Credit: Flickr/

Excess Coffee Linked to Higher Death Rate in Young

Coffee ... the silent killer of today's youth? A new study says that people under the age of 55 who drink four or more cups of coffee a day die younger -- of all causes. The study, from Mayo Clinic Proceedings, followed 44,000 people of both sexes for almost two......