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Diet: Much ado about high-fructose corn syrup in beverages

Thu, 01 May 2008 22:28:54 GMT

clipped by: kmcolo

Over the past 35 y the prevalence of obesity has risen concurrentlywith an increased availability of added sugars in the food supply.

a 20% increase in the availability ofcaloric sweeteners (sugars) in the United States from 1970–1974to 2000

More recently, the intensity of the debate wasfueled by the hypothesis that introduction in the 1970s of high-fructosecorn syrup (HFCS) as a caloric sweetener in beverages was specificallyat fault (4). HFCS was proposed to lead to obesity because fructosebypasses food intake regulatory systems and favors lipogenesis.

HFCS has primarily been usedto substitute for sucrose as a caloric sweetener rather thanto be used in addition to sucrose.

There is no evidence that the ratio of fructose and glucoseconsumed from sugars has changed over the past 4 decades asa result of HFCS replacing sucrose in many applications.

Thus, thereis no evidence that sucrose—when consumed in its intactform—would confer any benefits over HFCS

Tags: diet, health, sugar, carbohydrates, hfcs

Diet: Carbohydrate: Type and Amount

Thu, 01 May 2008 22:15:58 GMT

clipped by: kmcolo

Clip Source: www.sciencedirect.com

Both the type and amount of carbohydrate found in foods influence postprandial glucose levels and can also affect overall glycemic control in individuals with diabetes.

This review

provides a description and interpretation of the clinical studies involving diabetes and type and amount of carbohydrate. Although the relationship between blood glucose and insulin is linear, not all types of carbohydrate are fully metabolized to blood glucose. Added sugars such as sucrose and high fructose corn syrup are digested, absorbed, and fully metabolized in a similar fashion to naturally occurring mono- and disaccharides. Only about half of the carbohydrate grams from sugar alcohols and half or less from dietary fiber are metabolized to glucose whereas almost all “other carbohydrate” (mainly starch such as amylose and amylopectin) becomes blood glucose.

Tags: diet, health, sugar, carbohydrate, hfcs

Coupled Human-Environment System & Vulnerability Analysis: Case Studies

Thu, 01 May 2008 19:18:09 GMT

clipped by: kmcolo
clipper's remarks: Illustrating the Coupled Human-Environment System for Vulnerability Analysis: Three Case Studies

B. L. Turner II, Pamela A. Matson, James J. McCarthy, Robert W. Corell, Lindsey Christensen, Noelle Eckley, Grete K. Hovelsrud-Broda, Jeanne X. Kasperson, Roger E. Kasperson, Amy Luers, Marybeth L. Martello, Svein Mathiesen, Rosamond Naylor, Colin Polsky, Alexander Pulsipher, Andrew Schiller, Henrik Selin and Nicholas Tyler

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 100, No. 14 (Jul. 8, 2003), pp. 8080-8085 (article consists of 6 pages)

Clip Source: www.jstor.org

The vulnerability framework of the Research and Assessment Systems for Sustainability Program explicitly recognizes the coupled human-environment system and accounts for interactions in the coupling affecting the system's responses to hazards and its vulnerability. This paper illustrates the usefulness of the vulnerability framework through three case studies: the tropical southern Yucatán, the arid Yaqui Valley of northwest Mexico, and the pan-Arctic. Together, these examples illustrate the role of external forces in reshaping the systems in question and their vulnerability to environmental hazards, as well as the different capacities of stakeholders, based on their access to social and biophysical capital, to respond to the changes and hazards. The framework proves useful in directing attention to the interacting parts of the coupled system and helps identify gaps in information and understanding relevant to reducing vulnerability in the systems as a whole.

Tags: hazards, climate change, global warming, adaptation, vulnerability

Assessing Vulnerabilities to Global Change

Thu, 01 May 2008 19:14:48 GMT

clipped by: kmcolo

Clip Source: www.sciencedirect.com

Terrestrial ecosystems provide a number of vital services for people and society, such as food, fibre, water resources, carbon sequestration, and recreation. The future capability of ecosystems to provide these services is determined by changes in socio-economic factors, land use, atmospheric composition, and climate. Most impact assessments do not quantify the vulnerability of ecosystems and ecosystem services under such environmental change. They cannot answer important policy-relevant questions such as ‘Which are the main regions or sectors that are most vulnerable to global change?’ ‘How do the vulnerabilities of two regions compare?’ ‘Which scenario is the least harmful for a sector?’

Each model gives insights into specific ecosystems, as in traditional impact assessments. Moreover, by integrating the results in a vulnerability assessment, the policy-relevant questions listed above can also be addressed.

Tags: science, climate change, global warming, vulnerability, adaptation, policy

Chernoff Faces

Thu, 01 May 2008 18:17:25 GMT

clipped by: kmcolo

Clip Source: kspark.kaist.ac.kr

All 0.

In 1973, Herman Chernoff introduced a visualization technique to illustrate trends in multidimensional data. His Chernoff Faces were especially effective because they related the data to facial features, something which we are used to differentiating between. Different data dimensions were mapped to different facial features, for example the face width, the level of the ears, the radius of the ears, the length or curvature of the mouth, the length of the nose, etc.

All 1.

Here, the faces are described by 10 facial characteristic parameters: 1. head eccentricity, 2. eye eccentricity, 3. pupil size, 4. eyebrow slant, 5. nose size, 6. mouth shape, 7. eye spacing, 8. eye size, 9. mouth length, and 10. degree of mouth opening. Each parameter is represented by a number between 0 and 1.

Herman Chernoff, "The use of faces to represent points in k-dimensional space graphically," J. Am. Stat. Assoc., v68, 361-368 (1973).

The power of Chernoff face is its high condensation of data

Tags: data, representation, graphics