Reduce Caffeine’s Impact on Kidneys
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❝Avid coffee drinker so very interested in the results Also question Is there something that you could take or eat that would prevent the caffeine from stimulating the kidneys? I tried to drink decaf from morning to night not a good result! Thanks❞
That is a good question! The simple answer is “no” (but keep reading, because all is not lost)
There’s no way (that we yet know of) to proof the kidneys against the stimulating effect of caffeine. This is especially relevant because part of caffeine’s stimulating effect is noradrenergic, and that “ren” in the middle there? It’s about the kidneys. This is just because the adrenal gland is situated next to them (actually, it’s pretty much sitting on top of them), hence the name, but it does mean that the kidneys are about the hardest thing in the body to have not effected by caffeine.
However! The effects of caffeine in general can be softened a little with l-theanine (found in tea, or it can be taken as a supplement). It doesn’t stop it from working, but it makes the curve of the effect a little gentler, and so it can reduce some unwanted side effects.
You can read more about l-theanine here:
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Why you shouldn’t drink raw milk
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What you need to know
- Raw milk, also known as unpasteurized milk, is animal milk that has not gone through pasteurization—the heating process that kills harmful bacteria and other germs.
- Consuming raw milk and its products can expose you to dangerous germs that can cause food poisoning, severe illness, and even death.
- Children under 5 years, adults over 65, pregnant people, and people with weakened immune systems are most at risk for harmful effects from consuming raw milk.
On February 3, New Mexico health officials warned against consuming raw milk products following the death of a newborn from Listeria infection. Authorities said the baby’s infection was likely linked to the mother’s consumption of raw milk during pregnancy.
Then on March 15, the Food and Drug Administration announced it was investigating a multistate outbreak of E. coli infection in California, Florida, and Texas, linked to raw cheddar cheese from the Raw Farm brand. As of April 3, the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported nine cases of illness, more than half of them in children under 5 years. Three people were hospitalized, and one developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a condition that can cause life-threatening kidney failure.
Raw milk can carry dangerous germs that may lead to severe illnesses and even death. Studies have linked the increased sale of raw milk products to an increase in disease outbreaks. Despite these risks, raw milk consumption has grown in popularity in the U.S., promoted by influencers and high-profile politicians.
Read on to learn what raw milk is, its risks, and why pasteurization matters.
What is raw milk?
Raw milk is animal milk that has not gone through pasteurization—the process that kills harmful bacteria, viruses (like bird flu), and other germs. Developed by Louis Pasteur in the 1860s, pasteurization involves heating milk to a very high temperature to kill harmful germs without significantly affecting its nutritional value.
Raw milk isn’t just consumed on its own. It’s also used to make a range of dairy products, including certain cheeses (like queso fresco), yogurt, and butter. In some cases—especially with fresh, soft cheeses—people may not realize a product was made with unpasteurized milk.
What happens if you consume raw milk or raw milk products?
Because raw milk is not pasteurized, it can contain harmful bacteria such as Brucella, Campylobacter, E. coli, Listeria, and Salmonella. These can cause food poisoning and severe illness.
According to the American Medical Association, common symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach cramps. The CDC notes that infections can also lead to severe conditions such as Guillain-Barré and hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can result in stroke, paralysis, kidney failure, or death.
Those most at risk include:
- Children under 5 years
- Adults over 65
- Pregnant people
- People with weakened immune systems
“If you look at the statistics for outbreaks for people consuming raw dairy, whether it’s milk or cheese…a very high percentage of the people who get very sick and hospitalized tend to be children,” John Lucey, professor of food science and director of the Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, tells Public Good News.
He adds that infections like Listeria can be especially serious for pregnant people, potentially leading to stillbirth or infant loss.
Raw milk may also affect how your body responds to antibiotics. “A lot of raw milk contains high levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria because a lot of the cows are pumped with antibiotics,” Dr. Supriya Rao, a gastroenterologist, partner at Integrated Gastroenterology Consultants, and assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine, explains. “So bacteria is making it through. They’re already a highly resistant strain, and so that can lead to infections, and if you have an infection, it’s very difficult to treat if you’re already limited [in] the types of antibiotics you can use.”
Why is pasteurization so important?
Milk can be exposed to bacteria from soil, feed, manure, and infections in cows, such as mastitis. Even with careful farming practices, contamination risks remain.
“The farm has places that contain pathogens, that’s their environment, and so the farmer is always trying to reduce the risk of contamination by keeping the animals as healthy as possible,” Lucey adds. “It’s just a constant; they have to be very vigilant, but that means that it’s not foolproof.”
Pasteurization, which has been studied for over 150 years, Lucey adds, makes milk safer to consume by killing harmful pathogens. “This process is an important safeguard for the milk,” he says. “In raw milk production, they don’t have that additional safeguard.”
“Before pasteurization was introduced in the U.S. and around the world, consumption of milk was a major source of food contamination or foodborne illnesses,” Lucey explains. “Now, if you look at milk and dairy products, less than 1 percent of all the foodborne outbreaks are related to any dairy product, whether it’s raw or pasteurized…That’s an amazing change, [and] that change was due to pasteurization.”
What about raw milk products like cheese?
Raw milk products, including cheese, also carry risks—as shown by the recent outbreak linked to raw cheddar. Rao notes that while both milk and cheese can be risky, “the milk [has] higher risk because oftentimes pus and blood and other things present in the milk. [Meanwhile,] the cheese gets processed a bit, so the likelihood of it harboring that is less than of milk itself.”
It also can depend on the type of cheese. The FDA allows raw milk cheeses to be sold if they are aged for at least 60 days, a process intended to reduce bacterial levels. However, this does not guarantee that all pathogens are eliminated. Some cheeses, particularly soft or high-moisture varieties (like cottage and mozzarella), may carry higher risk.
Why are people consuming raw milk?
Some influencers and public figures, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have promoted raw milk as part of broader “natural health” trends.
Raw milk is often portrayed as more “natural” or less processed than pasteurized milk. Others believe it has added health benefits, such as improving digestion or preventing allergies—claims that circulate widely online but have been consistently debunked. There’s also a growing interest in buying food directly from farms or local producers, which can make raw milk feel like a more wholesome or trustworthy option.
Are there any benefits to drinking raw milk over pasteurized milk?
Public health experts say those perceived benefits aren’t supported by strong scientific evidence. According to the FDA, pasteurization does not significantly change the nutritional value of milk—meaning raw milk doesn’t offer a meaningful nutritional advantage.
What is well established, experts say, is the risk of consuming raw milk products. “The risk of dangerous illness far outweighs any alleged benefit,” says Rao.
For more information, talk to your health care provider.
This article first appeared on Public Good News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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How to spot and prevent a concussion
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What you need to know
- A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury that occurs when the brain jerks or twists in your skull, injuring nerves and blood vessels.
- Short-term symptoms may include headache, nausea and vomiting, memory problems, and more. Some people experience longer-term symptoms that may impact mental health.
- You can prevent a concussion by wearing a helmet during high-impact activities, buckling your seatbelt, and exercising to improve balance.
A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury that occurs when you hit your head or body, causing your brain to jerk or twist in your skull. While symptoms typically resolve on their own, some people may experience lingering problems that impact brain function, mental health, and more.
Experts estimate that 3.8 million people in the United States experience a concussion every year because of a sport or recreational activity, and up to 50 percent of those concussions are unreported.
Read on to learn the signs of a concussion, how they impact mental health, and how to prevent them.
What causes a concussion, and what are the signs?
Concussions can happen if you hit your head during a fall, car accident, or sports game. Sometimes a hit to the body that causes your head to jerk back and forth can also cause a concussion.
People at increased risk of a concussion include older adults, young children, teens, and people who work physically demanding jobs or play contact sports.
A concussion injures the nerves and blood vessels in your brain, which can lead to symptoms like:
- Headache
- Nausea and vomiting
- Ringing in the ears
- Drowsiness
- Blurry vision
- Confusion
- Dizziness
Concussions can also cause memory loss, so it’s important to watch for symptoms after any type of accident, even if you’re not sure if you hit your head.
Some symptoms may not appear for days after a concussion. Those may include:
- Difficulty concentrating
- Sensitivity to light and sound
- Insomnia
- Irritatability
- Depression
- Changes in taste and smell
If you experience any of these symptoms after a potential head injury or you notice them in someone else, consult a health care provider right away.
How is a concussion diagnosed?
A health care provider will first perform a physical exam and ask questions about your symptoms. However, there is “not one test that says this was definitely a concussion,” said Dr. Daniel Torres, a neurologist at Northwell Health in New York, in a 2023 CBS News article.
Some people may need brain imaging to see if there is bleeding or swelling in the skull, especially if they’re having severe symptoms.
How are concussions treated?
If your health care provider determines that you have a concussion, they’ll likely tell you to rest so your brain can recover on its own. Especially during the first two days after a concussion, you may need to avoid stimulating activities like:
- Using screens, including your phone, computer, and TV
- Reading
- Working
- Heavy exercising or all physical activity, depending on your health care provider’s recommendation
Your health provider will tell you how long you should plan to rest before resuming normal activities.
During your recovery, avoid taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen, since these medications can increase the risk of bleeding. If you need pain management, talk to your health care provider about which medications are safe for you to take.
If you’re caring for a young child who is recovering from a concussion, maintain their usual routine while avoiding high-impact activities that could lead to reinjury, plus any activities that seem to worsen the child’s symptoms.
About 80 percent of people who get a concussion recover within a month.
Is it safe to sleep when you’re recovering from a concussion?
Yes. The idea that you shouldn’t sleep while recovering from a concussion is a myth. In fact, sleep is an important part of the recovery process.
“Once your healthcare provider has ruled out serious injury, aim for eight to 10 hours of sleep in 24 hours,” said Dr. Beth McQuiston, a neuroscientist and medical director of Abbott’s diagnostics business, in a Women’s Health article.
Children recovering from a concussion should sleep as usual and maintain a consistent bedtime.
What long-term complications can concussions cause?
Concussions can sometimes cause symptoms that last for months after the injury, like headaches, dizziness, and trouble thinking. These prolonged symptoms can lead to depression and anxiety.
“Unlike a broken leg, for example, where you put a cast on it and it should typically heal in a certain amount of time, concussions often follow no specific timeline,” said Matthew Sacco, a health and sports performance psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, in a 2024 Cleveland Clinic article. “And it can be hard for people to maintain hope when every day starts to feel the same. A lot of emotions can bubble to the surface.”
Repeated concussions have been linked to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain disease that causes the brain’s nerve cells to die. CTE can lead to changes in mood and behavior that can increase the risk of suicide.
CTE can only be diagnosed with autopsy, and it has primarily been found in the brains of people who played football and other contact sports, like boxing.
How can I prevent concussions?
Accidents can happen any time, but you can reduce your risk of a concussion by:
- Wearing a well-fitting helmet while playing contact sports like football, biking, motorcycling, or participating in other higher-risk athletic or recreational activities, like skateboarding and horseback riding
- Buckling your seatbelt during car rides
- Ensuring that the floors in your home are free of anything that could cause you to trip
- Closely watching children in your home, blocking stairwells, and installing window guards
- Exercising regularly to improve balance and prevent falls
If you think you may have a concussion or are experiencing lingering concussion symptoms, talk to your health care provider.
If you or anyone you know is considering suicide or self-harm or is anxious, depressed, or upset or needs to talk, call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741. For international resources, here is a good place to begin.
This article first appeared on Public Good News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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Our ‘food environments’ affect what we eat. Here’s how you can change yours to support healthier eating
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In January, many people are setting new year’s resolutions around healthy eating. Achieving these is often challenging – it can be difficult to change our eating habits. But healthy diets can enhance physical and mental health, so improving what we eat is a worthwhile goal.
One reason it’s difficult to change our eating habits relates to our “food environments”. This term describes:
The collective physical, economic, policy and sociocultural surroundings, opportunities and conditions that influence people’s food and beverage choices and nutritional status.
Our current food environments are designed in ways that often make it easier to choose unhealthy foods than healthy ones. But it’s possible to change certain aspects of our personal food environments, making eating healthier a little easier.
Unhealthy food environments
It’s not difficult to find fast-food restaurants in Australian cities. Meanwhile, there are junk foods at supermarket checkouts, service stations and sporting venues. Takeaway and packaged foods and drinks routinely come in large portion sizes and are often considered tastier than healthy options.
Our food environments also provide us with various prompts to eat unhealthy foods via the media and advertising, alongside health and nutrition claims and appealing marketing images on food packaging.
At the supermarket, unhealthy foods are often promoted through prominent displays and price discounts.
We’re also exposed to various situations in our everyday lives that can make healthy eating challenging. For example, social occasions or work functions might see large amounts of unhealthy food on offer.
Not everyone is affected in the same way
People differ in the degree to which their food consumption is influenced by their food environments.
This can be due to biological factors (for example, genetics and hormones), psychological characteristics (such as decision making processes or personality traits) and prior experiences with food (for example, learned associations between foods and particular situations or emotions).
People who are more susceptible will likely eat more and eat more unhealthy foods than those who are more immune to the effects of food environments and situations.
Those who are more susceptible may pay greater attention to food cues such as advertisements and cooking smells, and feel a stronger desire to eat when exposed to these cues. Meanwhile, they may pay less attention to internal cues signalling hunger and fullness. These differences are due to a combination of biological and psychological characteristics.
These people might also be more likely to experience physiological reactions to food cues including changes in heart rate and increased salivation.
It’s common to eat junk food in front of the TV.
PR Image Factory/ShutterstockOther situational cues can also prompt eating for some people, depending on what they’ve learned about eating. Some of us tend to eat when we’re tired or in a bad mood, having learned over time eating provides comfort in these situations.
Other people will tend to eat in situations such as in the car during the commute home from work (possibly passing multiple fast-food outlets along the way), or at certain times of day such as after dinner, or when others around them are eating, having learned associations between these situations and eating.
Being in front of a TV or other screen can also prompt people to eat, eat unhealthy foods, or eat more than intended.
Making changes
While it’s not possible to change wider food environments or individual characteristics that affect susceptibility to food cues, you can try to tune into how and when you’re affected by food cues. Then you can restructure some aspects of your personal food environments, which can help if you’re working towards healthier eating goals.
Although both meals and snacks are important for overall diet quality, snacks are often unplanned, which means food environments and situations may have a greater impact on what we snack on.
Foods consumed as snacks are often sugary drinks, confectionery, chips and cakes. However, snacks can also be healthy (for example, fruits, nuts and seeds).
Try removing unhealthy foods, particularly packaged snacks, from the house, or not buying them in the first place. This means temptations are removed, which can be especially helpful for those who may be more susceptible to their food environment.
Planning social events around non-food activities can help reduce social influences on eating. For example, why not catch up with friends for a walk instead of lunch at a fast-food restaurant.
Creating certain rules and habits can reduce cues for eating. For example, not eating at your desk, in the car, or in front of the TV will, over time, lessen the effects of these situations as cues for eating.
You could also try keeping a food diary to identify what moods and emotions trigger eating. Once you’ve identified these triggers, develop a plan to help break these habits. Strategies may include doing another activity you enjoy such as going for a short walk or listening to music – anything that can help manage the mood or emotion where you would have typically reached for the fridge.
Write (and stick to) a grocery list and avoid shopping for food when hungry. Plan and prepare meals and snacks ahead of time so eating decisions are made in advance of situations where you might feel especially hungry or tired or be influenced by your food environment.
Georgie Russell, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN), Deakin University and Rebecca Leech, NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Apple vs Papaya – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing apple to papaya, we picked the papaya.
Why?
Both do have their merits, but ultimately, it wasn’t close:
In terms of macros, apples have more fiber and carbs, while papaya has more protein. Since the protein is negligible and the fiber difference is greatest, this means a marginal win for apples here.
In the category of vitamins, apples are not higher in any vitamin, while papayas have more of vitamins A, B1, B3, B5, B7, B9, C, E, and K, for a total win in this round.
Looking at minerals, apples have the tiniest bit more phosphorus (so close that simply using slightly different soil could swing it), while papayas have more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium, selenium, and zinc, winning easily.
Adding up the sections makes for an overall win for papaya, but by all means enjoy either or both, as diversity is good, and apple’s fiber content is great!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
What Do The Different Kinds Of Fiber Do? 30 Foods That Rank Highest
Enjoy!
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What happens if I eat too much protein?
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The hype around protein intake doesn’t seem to be going away.
Social media is full of people urging you to eat more protein, including via supplements such as protein shakes. Food companies have also started highlighting protein content on food packages to promote sales.
But is all the extra protein giving us any benefit – and can you have too much protein?
lakshmiprasad S/Getty Images Protein’s important – but many eat more than they need
Eating enough protein is important. It helps form muscle tissue, enzymes and hormones and it plays a role in immune function. It can also give you energy.
Australia’s healthy eating guidelines, penned by experts and backed by government, recommend we get 15–25% of our daily energy needs from protein.
The recommended daily intake of protein for adults is 0.84 grams per kilogram of body weight for men and 0.75 grams per kilogram of body weight for women
This is about 76 grams per day for a 90 kilogram man or 53 grams per day for a 70 kilogram woman. (It’s a bit more if you’re over 70 or a child, though).
Most Australian adults are already eating plenty of protein.
Even so, many people still go out of their way to add even more protein to their diet.
For people working to increase muscle mass through resistance training, such as lifting weights, a protein intake up to 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight per day (that’s 144 grams a day for a 90 kilogram person) can help with increasing muscle strength and size.
But research shows there is no additional muscle gain benefit from eating any more than that.
For most of us, there’s no benefit in consuming protein above the recommended level.
In fact, having too much protein can cause problems.
For most of us, there’s no benefit in consuming protein above the recommended level. Photo by Angela Roma/Pexels What happens when I eat too much protein?
Excess protein is not all simply excreted from the body in urine or faeces. It stays in the body and has various effects.
Protein is a source of energy, so eating more protein means taking in more energy.
When we consume more energy than we need, our body converts any excess into fatty tissue for storage.
There are some health conditions where excess protein intake should be avoided. For example, people with chronic kidney disease should closely monitor their protein intake, under the supervision of a dietitian, to avoid damage to the kidneys.
There is also a condition called protein poisoning, which is where you eat too many proteins without getting enough fats, carbohydrates and other nutrients.
It’s also known as “rabbit starvation”, a term often linked to early 20th century explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson, in reference to the fact that those who subsisted on a diet of mainly rabbits (which are famously lean) quickly fell dangerously ill.
Where you get your protein from matters
We can get protein in our diets from plant sources (such as beans, lentils, wholegrains) and animal sources (such as eggs, dairy, meat or fish).
A high intake of protein from animal sources has been associated with an increased risk of premature death among older Australians (especially death from cancer).
High animal protein intake is also associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes.
On the other hand, consuming more plant sources of protein is associated with:
- a lower risk of dying from cancer
- a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and
- improved blood cholesterol levels.
Many animal sources of protein are also relatively high in fat, particularly saturated fat.
A high intake of saturated fat contributes to increased risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease. Many Australians already eat more saturated fat than we need.
Many plant sources of protein, however, are also sources of dietary fibre, which most Australians don’t get enough of.
Having more dietary fibre helps reduce the risk of chronic diseases (such as heart disease) and supports gut health.
Striking a balance
Overall, where you get protein from – and having a balance between animal and plant sources – is more important than simply just trying to add ever more protein to your diet.
Protein, fats and carbohydrates all work together to keep your body healthy and the engine running smoothly.
We need all of these macro nutrients, along with vitamins and minerals, in the right proportions to support our health.
Margaret Murray, Senior Lecturer, Nutrition, Swinburne University of Technology
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Cucumber vs Eggplant – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing cucumber to eggplant, we picked the eggplant.
Why?
In terms of macros, eggplant has 6x the fiber, as well as slightly more carbs and protein, making it the clear winner in this category.
In the category of vitamins, cucumber has more of vitamins A, C, and K, while eggplant has more of vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, and E; an easy win for eggplant here.
When it comes to minerals, cucumber has more calcium, iron, and zinc, while eggplant has more copper, magnesium, manganese, and potassium; a marginal win for eggplant this time.
In other considerations, the two vegetables are about equal on polyphenols, here, with nothing especially noteworthy in their polyphenol profiles to set one ahead of the other. However, and it’s not yet known the mechanism of action for this one, but cucumber extract beats glucosamine and chondroitin for reducing joint inflammation, at 1/135th of the dose. So that is a point in its favor.
Still adding up the sections makes for a clear overall win for eggplant, but by all means enjoy either or both, as diversity is best!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Some Surprising Truths About Hunger And Satiety ← our main feature in which we examine the science of volumetrics, including a study that shows how water incorporated into a food (but not served with a food) decreases caloric intake. So, cucumbers are great for this.
Enjoy!
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