Guatemala declares calamity as food crisis grows

Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom has declared a state of national calamity because so many citizens do not have food or proper nutrition. Speaking in a nationally televised address late Tuesday, Colom said his declaration will make it easier to get food to the thousands of Guatemalan families who are in dire need

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What Do Astronauts Eat in Space?

You have a degree in astrophysics and you know how to fly a jet. You’ve endured years of preparation and training, logged thousands of hours of flight time and even survived NASA’s terrifying “vomit comet” weightlessness test. Now you’re up in space for the very first time, floating around the shuttle’s cabin, and as you look out of the window, you realize something: you’re hungry.

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As nation gains, ‘overweight’ is relative

The little number on the tag on a pair of pants that indicates size can mean a lot to a person, and retailers know it. That’s why, in recent years, as the American population has become generally more overweight, brands from the luxury names to the mass retail chains have scaled down the size labels on their clothing. “You may actually be a size 14 and, according to whatever particular store you’re in, you come out a size 10,” said Natalie Nixon, associate professor of fashion industry management at Philadelphia University

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All Sugars Aren’t the Same: Glucose Is Better, Study Says

Correction Appended: April 21, 2009 Think that all sugars are the same They may all taste sweet to the tongue, but it turns out your body can tell the difference between glucose, fructose and sucrose, and that one of these sugars is worse for your health than the others. In the first detailed analysis comparing how our systems respond to glucose and fructose, , researchers at the University of California Davis report in the Journal of Clinical Investigation that consuming too much fructose can actually put you at greater risk of developing heart disease and diabetes than ingesting similar amounts of glucose. In the study, 32 overweight or obese men and women were randomly assigned to drink 25% of their daily energy requirements in either fructose- or glucose-sweetened drinks

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Cows With Gas: India’s Contribution to Global Warming

Indolent cows languidly chewing their cud while befuddled motorists honk and maneuver their vehicles around them are images as stereotypically Indian as saffron-clad holy men and the Taj Mahal. Now, however, India’s ubiquitous cows — of which there are 283 million, more than anywhere else in the world — have assumed a more menacing role as they become part of the climate change debate.

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