Long term vegetarianism can give rise to risk of heart disease and cancer

In a study, researchers from Cornell University in the US compared hundreds of genomes from a primarily vegetarian population in Pune, India to traditional meat-eating people in Kansas and concluded that there was a significant genetic difference. In their opinion, long term vegetarianism can lead to genetic mutations that, in turn, increases the risk of heart disease and cancer.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 30 March 2016.

The study has found that populations who have had a primarily vegetarian diet for generations were found to be far more likely to carry DNA that makes them susceptible to inflammation. Scientists in the US feel that the mutation took place to make it easier for vegetarians to absorb essential fatty acids from plants. However, the flip side is that it has the knock-on effect of boosting the production of arachidonic acid. This acid is known to increase inflammatory disease and cancer and, in conjunction with a diet high in vegetable oils - like sunflower oil - the mutated gene quickly turns fatty acids into dangerous arachidonic acid. The researchers expect the finding to help explain previous research which found vegetarian populations are nearly 40 per cent more likely to suffer colorectal cancer than meat eaters. This finding has puzzled doctors because the general perception was that eating red meat raises the risk.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

Some more interesting links -

Didi rolls out the red carpet (satire)

Moody’s cleanliness drive - free soap for all children (satire)

Lord Shiva cannot relate to today’s Shivaratri (satire)


Teenage girl jumps off moving bus in Mehsana to avoid molestation

Transgender candidate to contest against Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal polls

Japan kills 333 whales in its latest Antarctic hunt - the figure was 252 whales in 2014


ISIS claims responsibility for Brussels attack and warns Britain of more severe attacks

Tragedy in chicken eating contest in Indonesia - a competitor chokes to death

Terror attack in Ankara kills at least 37 - one suicide bomber was a 22-year-old woman

Star Wars Episode VIII to get delayed till December 2017

Antonio Banderas gifted a pair of monkeys to Salma Hayek on her birthday

Frieda Pinto talks about 'Jungle Book - Origins'

Fortune telling in the Bronze Age revealed through three Armenian shrines

#bronzeage #armenia #cornelluniversity #fortunetellers #Ephedra With the discovery of three Bronze Age shrines in a hilltop fortress at Gegharot, Armenia efforts have been launched to try and fathom out how they might have been used to predict the future – this has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 20 February 2015.
Each of the shrines is approximately 3,300-year-old and consists of a single room in which there is a clay bowl that is filled with smaller ash and ceramic artefacts. In the opinion of researchers, these could have been part of an ancient ritual where local rulers would reach an altered state of mind by drinking wine and burning substances.
Archaeologists of Cornell University have found evidence of animal bones, stone and flour in all the three shrines. The researchers had taken the pottery, washed them with distilled water and, after analysis of the run off found residues of grape, and something similar to Ephedra – this is a type of stimulant.
The artifacts in the shrine include clay idols, animal bones, stamp seals and containers in which substances used to have been burnt.
Moreover, the archaeologists at Cornell University are of the opinion that items like the knucklebones of cows, sheep and goat were used as a type of dice to predict the future.
In one of the shrines, they came across 18 pebbles which had been selected for their smooth, rounded shape and their color palette, which ranged from black and dark grey to white, green and red.