Nutrition « Medical Biophysics GSU (@UofT)

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MBP Breakfast Of Champions

By MBPGSU, on February 18th, 2010

Don’t miss out on some hockey and yes, the food…. Go CANADA!

Did you come into the lab this morning to discover the -80C freezer with your precious samples inside beeping like crazy? Or that you’ve spent all morning ransacking all of your boxes for the one sample that you need and can’t find it? Or perhaps you came in super early to set up a big experiment, everything is ready to go and then you realize that you forgot to order the reagent necessary for the first step. I’m sure we’ve all had similar days in the lab where no matter how hard you try, everything goes horribly wrong. Murphy’s Law right? My solution? I retreat to the kitchen. The one thing we as budding young researchers can do is follow a protocol. Hopefully. So, I’ve decided to share some ‘protocols’ that consistently produce positive (and edible!) results, not to mention the pleasant aromas. Plus, you’ll have something around to snack on while your gel is running, and your labmates just might be more agreeable to come in on the weekend for you if you decide to share!
Below are two recipes I’ve recently tried with great success. I try to use healthier options when possible, such as replacing oil with applesauce and using whole wheat or unbleached all purpose flour when baking. You can also try some of these healthy, yummy snacks and more first hand by dropping by the Sidney Smith lobby (click here) on Tuesday, January 19, where the Heart & Stroke Foundation – UofT club is having a bake sale. Come by for some healthy treats in support of the HSFO!

See below for the actual recipes (!)

Soy - Good And Good For You.

By Greg Anderson, on January 10th, 2010

soyanddairy_2col

Soybeans. We’ve all seen it growing in the fields of Ontario, but soy-rich foods have traditionally been fairly absent from the Western diet. Asian diets, on the other hand, have typically been rich in soy products in the past, and it was always anecdotally noted that women from Asian countries suffered from much milder cases of menopause. The perceived reason behind this? Soy-based foods are rich in isoflavones, a major group of phytoestrogens. But can the addition of soy-rich foods to a woman’s diet help their health in any other important ways? According to Dr. Wei Lu’s research group from the Institute of Preventive Medicine in Shanghai, China, they most certainly can. Breast cancer recurrence and mortality, it would seem, are inversely associated with soy intake.

In research that was recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (302: 2437 – 2443), Dr. Lu and his colleagues undertook a massive population-based cohort study that followed 5042 female breast cancer survivors in China for a period of 4 years after their diagnosis. The numbers were quite staggering: the 4-year mortality rates were 10.3% versus 7.4% for women in the lowest versus the highest quartiles of soy protein intake, respectively. Similarly, the 4-year recurrence rates were 11.2% versus 8.0% for the same groups. These are not trivial differences.