Cooking skills, soda taxes and enlarged spleens: interesting science news
Image source: Fooyoh
Cooking skills correlated with long-term health benefits
As less people prefer to cook at home, more people are bearing the expense of eating out. This, however, could have a negative impact on health trends.
- Studies have shown that eating home cooked meals more frequently promotes better dietary quality and a greater likelihood of maintaining a normal range BMI.
- Now a new study contends that developing and building one’s confidence in cooking skills at a young age is important for long-term health and nutrition as it leads people to cook healthy food more frequently.
- This recent study compliments the conclusions drawn from a previous study that found that learning cooking skills at an early age is important for skill retention.
Takeaway: People tend to eat healthier at home. However, one’s ability and willingness to cook is based on one’s knowledge and experience in cooking. If one doesn’t know how to cook, it makes sense that one will eat out or buy processed food, which are both usually less healthy than home-cooked options. Learning how to cook at an early age is crucial for skill retention and confidence, and leads one to cook at home more in adulthood which promotes long-term health and nutritional well-being. Our ability to educate and popularize nutritious cooking habits among children may be vital to public health going forward.
Image source: Freaking News
Philadelphians 40% less likely to drink soda every day after tax
The Philadelphia City Council created a "soda tax" effective January 1, 2017. A new study by Drexel University comparing Philadelphia residents' purchasing habits to those from nearby cities found that Philadelphians responded as some might expect - Philadelphia residents became:
- 40% less likely than those from nearby municipalities to drink sugary soda each day
- 60% less likely to drink an energy drink each day
- 58% more likely to drink bottled water
Thoughts: While a "soda tax" may promote health benefits, should it be part of the government's job function to levy such a tax? Are they going to start adding taxes to other unhealthy products? Where do you draw the line on what is taxable? Why is medical marijuana taxed so highly in some states when it has been linked to health benefits? Should we increase taxes on corporations that create burdens and costs paid by society?
Image source: Daily Mail
Bigger spleens, freediving ability among the Bajau people attributed to natural selection
The Bajau people of Southeast Asia may provide an interesting, uncommon example of natural selection amongst modern society. Researchers believe their uncanny freediving ability may be attributable to their unusually large spleens, an evolutionary trait formed from spending the entirety of their lives at sea, working eight-hour diving shifts with short breaks. The Bajau are a fascinating culture and I highly recommend you read the Wiki article here for more info.
Takeaway: It's interesting to see the adaptations created from performing a task repetitively over time. This research is really cool because it's on a generational scale, but it could also be a metaphor or comparable to some of the changes we experience when doing something we enjoy over the course of our lives - or the negative adaptations physically and mentally from unhealthy behaviors.
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