Finally! Scientific proof that greasy breakfasts are good for us!

Finally! Scientific proof that greasy breakfasts are good for us!: "

Ever wonder why eggs, bacon and fried potatoes are so popular at breakfast? A new study suggests our bodies are primed to eat high-fat meals upon waking, and that high-carbohydrate breakfasts (mmm, pancakes) set us up to be unable to process high-fat meals later in the day.

How on Earth did scientists scrounge up some kind of proof that we’re born to eat stuff like this when we wake up? By running experiments on mice, of course.

Researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Baylor College of Medicine kept two groups of mice. One group got a high-fat meal upon waking and a low-fat meal before bedtime; the other had the low-fat meal first and the high-fat meal for dinner. Both groups of mice consumed “identical” amounts of total calories and calories from fat. But the mice with high-fat breakfasts had “significantly lower body weights and body fat composition” than their counterparts who ate high-fat dinners, according to their study published this week in the International Journal of Obesity.

Those weren’t the only differences. The mice that began the day with more carbs developed insulin resistance, a condition that increases the risk for Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. They also wound up with more insulin, leptin and triglycerides circulating in their blood, which are also associated with diabetes and heart disease.

Why would it matter whether mice eat a high-fat meal for breakfast or for dinner? The researchers think it’s because that first meal of the day sets the body’s metabolism – those who eat a hearty breakfast are able to handle a regular meal at dinnertime, but those who start the day with carbs aren’t equipped to process a high-fat meal later on. Here’s how they put it:

“Consumption of a high-fat waking meal is associated with increased ability to respond appropriately to carbohydrate meals ingested later … whereas a high-carbohydrate morning meal seems to ‘fix’ the metabolism toward carbohydrate usage and impairs the ability to adjust metabolism toward fat usage later.”

However, they also point out that “a typical human diet consists of a high-carbohydrate morning meal, followed by higher fat and/or more calorie-dense meals later in the day.”

It seems we have it all backward. Perhaps the best way to tackle the obesity crisis is to start serving pancakes, waffles and cereal for dinner.

-- Karen Kaplan

Photos: It seems we should be eating eggs, bacon and fried potatoes for breakfast and saving high-carb dishes for dinner. Photo credit: Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times

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EPA Sets CO2 Accounting for Plug-in Electric Vehicles for Model Years 2012 to 2016

EPA Sets CO2 Accounting for Plug-in Electric Vehicles for Model Years 2012 to 2016: "

Today, EPA released the final rules for the historic new CO2 tailpipe standards for cars and light trucks. In the rule, the agency describes how it will account for emissions for plug-in electric vehicles that occur not at the tailpipe but at the power plant. Let’s take a quick walk through the approach, which applies only to vehicles produced in model years 2012 to 2016.

EPA is retaining their proposal to count vehicle emissions as zero grams per mile for plug-in electric vehicles when operating on grid electricity but the agency is limiting this scoring to the first 200,000 vehicles produced by each manufacturer. Zero g/mi scoring will also be applied to fuel cell electric vehicles that get their energy from hydrogen. The zero-emission scoring is intended to incentivize automakers to produce full electric vehicles (EV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) and the cap applies to each manufacturer’s cumulative MY2012-2016 EV+PHEV+FCV production. EPA is also providing an additional sweetener for manufacturers that act early. For automakers that produce 25,000 advanced technology vehicles in MY2012, EPA will expand their manufacturer production cap to 300,000. The zero emissions scoring, however, applies only to when the vehicle is operating on grid electricity—that’s all miles for EVs, but less than 100% for PHEVs—or hydrogen in the case of FCVs.

If a manufacturer exceeds their cumulative 200,000 or 300,000 vehicle production cap, the global warming emissions scoring for grid-electricity miles for EVs and PHEVs will include the power plant emissions associated with the electricity production and delivery to the vehicle. (Hydrogen production and delivery emissions will be included for FCVs.) A recent Wall Street Journal article indicated that the power plant emissions accounting would be phased in; in fact, however, the electricity production emissions are applied to an automaker’s EV and PHEVs as soon as they go over the cumulative production cap.

In the final rule, EPA establishes a national grid electricity production factor for greenhouse gases—including CO2, CH4 and N2O—and coverts it to CO2-equivalent. The national factor, 0.642 gCO2e/Wh, is based on 2005 data of the average mix of power plants producing electricity. (This is a short-term solution to the complex modeling of the power sector and the marginal emissions associated with vehicle charging today and into the future when these cars will still be on the road.) EPA’s upstream accounting also includes emissions associated with the extraction, processing and transportation of feedstocks (like coal and natural gas) to the power plant and the agency accounts for losses that occur in electricity transmission and during vehicle charging.

Two more steps are needed to get a complete EV emissions rating. First, the grid emissions factor is multiplied by the vehicle’s efficiency (in Wh/mi). Second, the resulting gCO2/mi value is adjusted to account for the fact that EPA tailpipe emissions compliance calculations for internal combustion engines do not account for the production of gasoline and this adjustment allows for an apples-to-apples comparison with petroleum-only vehicles.

After all the complicated math is done, the electric-drive scoring process provides a reasonable initial assessment of EV/PHEV greenhouse gas performance.

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Four in 10 babies born in L.A. County began as unplanned pregnancies, study finds

Four in 10 babies born in L.A. County began as unplanned pregnancies, study finds: "About 40% of births in Los Angeles County each year are the result of
unplanned pregnancies, which can endanger the health of babies, according to a study released Wednesday by the county’s Department of Public Health.

The figure was based primarily on a county survey completed in 2006 of
more than 5,200 women ages 13 to 56 who had recently delivered. The
percentage of unplanned pregnancies was about the same among women who
gave birth and those who suffered stillbirths and miscarriages,
according to Dr. Susie Baldwin, chief of the department’s health
assessment unit, which produced the study “Healthy Women, Healthy
Children.”

The study did not include women whose latest pregnancy ended in
abortion, who earlier studies show have a much higher percentage of
unplanned pregnancies, Baldwin said.

Although state
studies show that for the same time period as the county study about 43% of
births were unplanned statewide, the county numbers still trouble
public health experts because women who do not realize they are pregnant
are likely to delay prenatal care and may smoke or drink alcohol. Women
who have had another child within six months of an unplanned pregnancy
are at even greater risk, and are more likely to have a child born prematurely
with a low birth weight, researchers found.

Statewide and nationally, the number of unplanned pregnancies has
remained relatively unchanged in recent years experts said, despite
efforts
by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to reduce all
unplanned pregnancies to 30% by this year.

“All pregnancies should be planned. An unplanned pregnancy should be a
rare thing,” Baldwin said. “It goes back to education and access.”

A lack of health insurance and regular access to care may have
contributed to the number of unplanned pregnancies, Baldwin said.

Researchers found 23% of women of childbearing age lacked health
insurance, and 20% said they did not have a regular source of health
care. Those percentages were even higher among women who had recently
delivered babies — 36% lacked insurance, 33% lacked regular health care.

The lack of regular care may affect women’s ability to plan for
pregnancy.

About 80% of those at risk for pregnancy reported using a regular form
of birth control the last time they had sex, although that percentage
varied by ethnicity — 87% of whites compared with 81% of Asians, 80% of
Latinas and 67% of African Americans.

About 82% of women who had recently delivered a baby said they had
received information about the importance of prenatal vitamins
containing folic acid, but only 57% of them had taken the vitamins
before becoming pregnant.

Researchers proposed developing minimum preconception care requirements
and extending Medi-Cal benefits for mothers with high-risk pregnancies
for two years postpartum.

“The opportunity to impact the health of a baby starts before
conception, and the health of a potential mother should be a priority
long before pregnancy,” said Jonathan E. Fielding, the county’s public
health director.

Worldwide, the rate of unintended pregnancy declined by 20% between 1995
and 2008, from 69 to 55 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44. The decline was
greater in the more developed world, where the rate fell by 29% (from 59
to 42 per 1,000 women), than in the less developed world, where it fell
by 20% (from 71 to 57 per 1,000), according to a study by the
Guttmacher Institute.

-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske

Photo: Los Angeles Times

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Report: California’s foreign-born population has peaked

Native Californian's finally a majority?


Report: California’s foreign-born population has peaked: "

After decades on the rise, California's foreign-born population has peaked and in some large areas -- including Los Angeles County -- has even slightly declined, according to a new report.

This peaking of the foreign-born population has occurred earlier than previously forecast because of sharp declines in new immigrant arrivals, largely attributed to stepped-up border enforcement and the downturn in the economy, according to the report by USC demographer Dowell Myers. California has a population of roughly 34 million.

'In the last decade, homegrown residents have surpassed migrants and immigrants to become a majority of the California population for the first time since before the Gold Rush,' Myers said in his report.

Although the state's foreign-born population peaked in 2000, all Southern California counties have been experiencing the same trend over the past decade.

From 2000 to 2008, the foreign-born population in Los Angeles County declined from 36.2% of the total population in 2000 to 35.2% in 2008; neighboring Orange County leveled off during the same time period from 29.9% to 30%, according to the report. Overall, the state's foreign-born population went from 26.2% to 26.8% during this period.

In addition, the foreign-born population has not risen substantially since 2000 in any Southern California county except Riverside, which went from 19% at the beginning of this decade to 22.3% in 2008, according to the report.

Meanwhile, the California-born population in Los Angeles County increased from 45.2% of the total population to 48.8% during this same time period, while Orange County jumped from 46.5% to 50.1%. This mirrored a statewide trend, with the homegrown population increasing from 50.2% to 53.3%.

'The simplest way of describing the dramatic transition,' Myers said in his report, 'is that none of the Southern California counties had a homegrown majority in 1980.'

In 1990, only San Bernardino County had a homegrown majority. By 2000, Riverside and Ventura Counties had joined this category, followed by Orange County in 2008, according to the report. By 2010, it is projected that all counties – including Los Angeles and San Diego – will have acquired a homegrown majority.

What economic and political changes this demographic shift will have on a state that has been focused on migration-driven growth remains an open question, Myers concludes. But one thing is certain, Myers says, the state has transitioned into a new era that will increasingly be shaped by native Californians.

-- Teresa Watanabe

"

Most people can't talk on a cellphone and drive safely, study finds

We have all driven behind these people and been afraid!

---

Most people can't talk on a cellphone and drive safely, study finds: "

Only a talented few can simultaneously talk on a cellphone and drive safely, according to a study from researchers at the University of Utah. The danger of a study like this is, of course, that everyone will think they are in the 2.5% of all people whom the study found to be "supertaskers." The pertinent fact is that 97.5% of us can't drive safely while talking on the phone -- even a hands-free phone.

The researchers assessed the performance of 200 people using simulated freeway driving while conducting a conversation on a hands-free phone that involved memorizing words and solving some math problems. Performance was measured in braking, reaction time, following distance, memory and math execution.

For the vast majority of people, performance suffered in both driving and comprehension. Braking time increased by 20% while following distances increased by 30%. Memory performance declined 11% and math performance 3%. The deterioration in performance was comparable to the impairment seen in drunk drivers, the authors said.

A few individuals, however, were supertaskers -- they could successfully perform the two tasks at once with no deterioration in performance.

"There is clearly something special about supertaskers," said the authors, David Strayer and Jason Watson, in a news release. More studies are needed to examine the abilities of such people, since multi-tasking is now expected of adults in many circumstances, such as the workplace, they said. However, multi-tasking is not expected while operating a vehicle, nor should it be. "While we'd probably all like to think we are the exception to the rule, the odds are overwhelmingly against it," the authors note.

The study is published this week in the journal Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. You can read more about the topic on David Strayer's blog at CarTalk's Driver Distraction Center.

-- Shari Roan

Photo credit: Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times

"

Nissan’s electric car to cost under $32K in U.S.

Nissan’s electric car to cost under $32K in U.S.: "

Nissan says its Leaf electric car will cost $32,780 when it goes on sale in the U.S. at the end of the year, an amount that could drive down prices on similar cars made by competitors.

Electric car - Nissan Leaf - Nissan Motors - United States - Nissan"

Fatty Foods May Cause Cocaine-Like Addiction

Fatty Foods May Cause Cocaine-Like Addiction: "WrongSizeGlass writes 'A new study in rats suggests that high-fat, high-calorie foods affect the brain in much the same way as cocaine and heroin. The rats that gorged themselves on the human food quickly became obese.'

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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