Heat, not coffee, may cause cancer

Switch to an iced latte then.

Coffee poses no cancer risk; it’s the extreme heat of the beverage, or any other drink for that matter, that may be dangerous when drank, according to an international working group of scientists convened by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The scientists concluded that coffee should no longer be considered a carcinogen. It however found limited evidence that drinking very hot beverages could cause esophageal cancer.

“[It is suggested] that drinking very hot beverages is one probable cause of esophageal cancer, and that it is the temperature rather than the drinks that appears to be responsible,” said Christopher Wild, director of WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Wild said the working group found no conclusive evidence of a carcinogenic effect from drinking coffee.

The WHO cited studies conducted in places like China, Iran, Turkey and South America, where coffee and tea are traditionally drank very hot.

The findings suggested that the risk of esophageal cancer increased with the temperature at which the beverage was drunk.

“Smoking and alcohol drinking are major causes of esophageal cancer, particularly in many high-income countries,” according to Wild.

High incidence

“However, the majority of esophageal cancers occur in parts of Asia, South America and East Africa, where regularly drinking very hot beverages is common and where the reasons for the high incidence of this cancer are not as well understood,” he said.

The WHO said esophageal cancer is the eighth most common cause of cancer worldwide and one of the main causes of cancer deaths, with 400,000, nearly five percent of all cancer deaths, recorded in 2012.

The WHO said the number of esophageal cancer cases that could be linked to drinking very hot beverages was not known.

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

2 die after drinking milk tea in Manila

Two people died on Thursday after drinking milk tea from a tea house in Sampaloc, Manila, Radyo Inquirer 990AM said.

The report said one of the victims, Suzaine Dagohoy, and her boyfriend Arnold Aydalla complained to the owner of the ErgoCha store that the Hokkaido-flavored milk tea they bought tasted different.

The owner of the tea house, Wiliam Abrigo denied the claim and even tasted the milk tea to prove that there was nothing wrong.

However, both Abrigo and Dagohoy fainted. All three were rushed to a nearby hospital but the two were declared dead on arrival.

Meanwhile, Aydalla is still confined in the hospital and in critical condition. IDL

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

The truth behind hydrating naturally

MANILA, Philippines – It’s never enough to stress the impact of proper hydration on our overall health. While it is true that drinking plenty of fluids is vital to those who are working out and engaged in active lifestyles, hydrating properly is an important thing to keep in mind every day, regardless of one’s level of physical activity.

Proper hydration has many benefits, one of which is regulating our appetites. A lot of times we think we are hungry when actually we are just thirsty. Drinking enough fluids can help you lose weight, because it satiates you and will keep you from overeating. Hydration also has a direct impact on the aging process, as it prevents the drying up of the connective tissues around the muscles and joints caused by dehydration.

With the many options available in the market nowadays, from your favorite soft drinks, flavored coffee and teas, to the increasingly popular vegetable and fruit juices, there really is no lack of sources for hydration. And of course, there’s always water as a natural choice. But while drinking water is ideal, it is also important to hydrate with products that can replenish electrolytes. A lack of electrolytes causes lower blood sodium level, which can throw you off your heartbeat and response systems.

And then there’s coconut water—the not so obvious choice because our contemporary taste buds would go for the more flavorful but mostly high-in-sugar drink options. But the thing with coconut water is that it offers best of both worlds, not lacking in taste and functionality.



Naturally refreshing, coconut water is dubbed as Mother Nature’s sports drink, pervaded with more potassium and lesser calories and inherent sodium. With its sweet and nutty taste, coconut water has lesser sugar content than some sodas and fruit juices, and with its clear, light and refreshing taste, it is the best beverage choice after water. The only dilemma you now have is choosing the best coconut drink available in the market.

In a tropical country like the Philippines where we experience drastic changes in the weather, we need a drink that offers the right hydration property and will help maintain our natural fluid levels. Vita Coco Coconut Water is the newest IT drink in the country that is your convenient source of natural hydration. Never from concentrate and tapped from fresh green coconuts, Vita Coco is low in calories (60cal in a 330ml pack) and high in 5 essential electrolytes, making it a healthier option than your usual coconut water. It also offers immunity boosting benefits because it is high in Vitamin C and rich in potassium—it is like eating two bananas in one pack. “Born on a Brazilian Beach,” Vita Coco also captures the vibrant, active, life-loving, and fun spirit of the Brazilian people, who imbibe living a healthy lifestyle as part of their culture.

Staying hydrated is staying on the path to a healthier life. Keep your body well-hydrated and go all-natural with Vita Coco coconut water and let nature do its thing.


For more updates on Vita Coco Coconut Water, please visit their official Facebook page (www.facebook.com/vitacocoph) or follow them on Twitter and Instagram (@vitacocoph).

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

Iced black tea and cold drip coffee

Until I visited its Makati branch, I thought Wine Depot was just a wine shop. Turns out, it’s a restaurant as well. The menu lists tempting dishes not ordinarily found in other dining places.

There’s pan-seared barramundi (apahap), a large white fish abundant in the waters of Australia, as well as chicken roasted with dukkah, a crunchy mixture of nuts, herbs and spices. Very interesting are the platters of European cheeses, hams and sausages, which one can order with homemade bread.

Coffee connoisseurs also visit Wine Depot for the rich Vittoria coffee, made from 100-percent Arabica beans that are roasted, blended and packed in Australia.   








Health benefits 


Tea is now likewise on the menu, due to growing interest in its health benefits. In keeping with its policy of sticking to premium brands, Wine Depot serves La Maison du Thé. Blended and packed in France, these delicate, handcrafted teas come in both loose leaf form and in tea bags of fine silk mesh.

Not only does the silk mesh allow for maximum infusion of the tea, it also acts as a kind of showcase for the tea leaves that had been patiently hand-torn (rather than being machine-cut).

To highlight this luxurious tea brand, Wine Depot now serves high tea on Wednesday afternoons. But in typical Australian laid-back style, there’s no fuss or formality. “Our high tea is very casual,” says marketing and communications manager Monette Atilano. “It’s more of a fun ritual.”

Classic flavors 


Between 3 to 5 p.m., diners can choose from among La Maison du Thé’s seven classic flavors: green tea, English Breakfast, Darjeeling, Earl Grey, chamomile, peppermint, and lemon and ginger. Each order comes with a generous spread of sweets and savories: meat and seafood rolls, fruit tarts, as well as classic Australian meat pies and lamington cake—a sponge cake with a layer of chocolate coating dusted with desiccated coconut.

Best of all, on sunny afternoons, customers can choose to dine at the outdoor garden.

Though the current rainy weather seems to call for hot brews, tea and coffee don’t always have to be served hot, says Atilano. Iced citrus tea and cold-drip coffee can be just as comforting. Here, Wine Depot shares its recipes for these cold brews.

Iced black citrus tea

    3 tsp La Maison du Thé English Breakfast tea (loose leaf tea) or 3 tea bags of same
    3 c hot water
    ¾ c white sugar (175 g)
    1 c unsweetened orange juice
    2 tbsp grenadine syrup
    Ice cubes
    Slices of fresh orange (optional)

Brew the tea in hot water for 30 minutes. If using tea bags, remove the tea bags after 30 minutes. If using loose leaf tea, strain the tea into a large bowl or pitcher. Let cool. Pour into a glass pitcher, then stir in the sugar, orange juice and grenadine.

Put ice cubes into individual drinking glasses, then pour the tea into the glasses. Serve with drinking straws and, if desired, garnish with slices of fresh orange. Makes 4 servings.

Cold drip coffee



Since it takes 18 hours to brew this coffee, be sure to prepare it the day before you are to serve it. If you intend to serve it for breakfast, for example, make the coffee drip at around 1 p.m. of the previous day. With 18 hours of dripping time, the coffee will be ready by 7 a.m. the next day.

    200 g Vittoria Cappuccino/Latte Ground Coffee (see tips)
    Cheesecloth
    6 c cold water
    Cold milk, as needed
    Simple syrup, as needed (see recipe below)

Pour the ground coffee inside a cheesecloth bag. Tie the top of the bag with a rubber band or a twist tie. Pour the cold water into a tall pitcher. Leave the cheesecloth bag in the cold water for 18 hours. As the hours pass and the water gets infused with the coffee, the liquid will become darker.

Pour the coffee into a clear wine bottle or a pitcher. Serve with a carafe of cold milk and simple syrup. (Each person can just add his/her own desired amount of milk and syrup.)

To make simple syrup: Bring 1 c water to a boil in a medium saucepan. When the water starts boiling, stir in 1 c white sugar. Let boil while stirring constantly, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the liquid becomes clear. Remove from the heat and let cool completely. Transfer to a bottle with a pouring lip. (Note: If syrup is to be stored, transfer to a bottle with a tight-fitting lid. Close the lid and keep in refrigerator until ready to use.)

Wine Depot is at: 217 N. Garcia St. (formerly Reposo), Bel Air, Makati; 6 Missouri St., Northeast Greenhills, San Juan; Westgate Corporate Center, Commerce Ave., Alabang, tel. 8894889 or 8973220.

For more tips, recipes and stories, visit the author’s blog www.normachikiamco.com, and Facebook fan page www.facebook.com/normachikiamco. Follow on Twitter @NormaChikiamco.

Cook’s tips: 



When brewing the tea, be sure to use a heat-proof container since you’ll be pouring hot water into it.

Aside from English Breakfast tea, you can use Earl Grey.

So as not to dilute the strength of the tea, put the ice cubes in individual drinking glasses (not in the pitcher), then pour the tea into the glasses, says Wine Warehouse head barista Michelle Perez.

Grenadine is a non-alcoholic cordial made from pomegranate fruits and available in wine shops.

For the cold drip coffee, Wine Depot uses Vittoria Cappuccino/Latte Ground coffee (available in its store), but you can also use ground barako coffee and decaffeinated ground coffee.

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

How juicing saved his life

Joe Cross, a financially successful Australian in his early 40s, was burdened with a serious health problem: he was overweight by 100 pounds, and for nine years had been taking medication for an autoimmune disease.

Tired of swallowing pills and worried that he’d soon end up dead, most probably from a heart attack, Joe challenged himself to lose weight the natural way—by drinking a juice recipe of vegetables and fruits for 60 days and documented it on film.

The result, as captured in the documentary “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead,” is so inspiring that viewers are likely to follow Joe’s lead. First released in 2010, the film won the Best Documentary Feature in the Iowa Independent Film Festival, the Turning Point Award and the Audience Choice Award in the Sonoma International Film Festival, all in the same year.

Although it got mixed reviews—the negative ones saying it’s simply self-promotion—the main message of Joe’s film is not just about juice diets, but maintaining a balanced lifestyle to achieve good health.

Joe is in Manila to help promote “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead,” which will be shown starting today in several Metro Manila theaters. Recently, he granted Inquirer Lifestyle an exclusive e-mail interview.

In the film, you said you used to eat two whole pizzas. What other foods did you indulge in before you decided enough was enough?

From the time I was a boy, I had a serious sweet tooth and would eat more than my fill of lollies, breakfast cereal and baked treats, and wash it all down with Coca-Cola. But I also loved fast-food hamburgers and fries, and basically anything fried. What I never indulged in were fruits and vegetables—and happily, now I can’t get enough of them.

Your parents also said that you ate a lot even as a child, but you started gaining weight only when you were working in the stock market. How do you explain that?

Principally, I was on my own as an adult, and even though I had always been prone to overeating, I no longer had any mechanism to regulate what I ate—so the brakes were really off the car at that point!

Second, I didn’t have the institutionalized, organized exercise that you get as an active kid who plays rugby or footie at school—and the absence of exercise didn’t help.

Third, I was under lots of pressure in a high-stakes job, and I probably turned to food as support. And finally, like everyone, my metabolism started to slow down after my teenage years.

You used to get into a fruit and veggie diet but eventually went back to your old ways. Was it because your willpower to lose weight was not strong enough?

I think it was because I didn’t realize how high the stakes were. When I turned 40 and looked in the mirror, I really understood that I had spent decades making choices that were going to end my life prematurely. And that scared the dickens  out of me—let me tell you, fear is a powerful motivator!

How did you learn about the juice diet?

I had tried it before in a limited way, but I worked with several doctors to create the plan I followed. The premise was less about “juicing” and more about getting massive amounts of fruits and vegetables into my system as quickly as possible while cutting off the supply of processed food—and there’s no better way to do that than juicing, in my opinion!

Was there a detailed plan (daily menu, specific fruits and veggies) before you started doing it?

I created one with Dr. Joel Fuhrman, director of research of the US Nutritional Research Foundation. But after a few days and as I got more comfortable with juicing, I started to experiment and get creative.

Was doing a documentary on your 60-day juice diet the primary motivator for you to succeed?

The motivation for my success was literally to save my life. But I reckon having a camera crew around will keep you honest!

In your website, it is mentioned that it is not required of everyone to do a 60-day juice fast. Why did you go to the extreme?

I had an extreme problem—an excess 100 lbs, an autoimmune disease and daily doses of powerful and debilitating drugs—so I chose a pretty extreme solution. But I now “reboot” every few months or so for five to 15 days and that is enough to keep me on track, now that I have restored my baseline health.

In the film, it is noted that you started losing weight as early as the first or second week of your juice fast. What difficulties or challenges did you encounter as the days went on?

The first few days were tough, since my system was detoxing and my brain was grappling with letting go of so many habits and “crutches” that I relied on during times of stress. Since then, I’ve learned more about how to prepare for a period of juicing, and I provide people doing a reboot with lots of information—like weaning yourself off processed foods and animal products before you begin.

But truly, after the first five days, which were tough, everything became very effortless, and the results were so positive that I was motivated to continue.

You have gone back to a solid food diet and only do a juice fast every three months for 10-15 days. Does that mean you’re back to eating meat again?

Very sparingly—every few months, I might get a hankering for a bit of steak and if I do, I will eat it. What is great is that I no longer really want it. The cravings I was afraid of when I started this journey just simply aren’t there.

Would you recommend juice fasting even for children?

No, children have special dietary needs and require a very balanced diet to grow and be strong! However, I think that adding a fresh juice of vegetables and fruits to their diet is a great way to enhance their nutrient intake.

What’s the greatest thing you learned from your juice fast, aside from the insight that the body can heal itself?

The power of community and communication. The help and encouragement I received from friends and family was so crucial to my success, and I have been trying to pass that along to people around the world. I get hundreds of stories of personal triumphs every day and one of the key factors that people cite is that they had a friend, or family member, or were on our online community and received encouragement. I believe, with the right information and a healthy amount of support, incredible change is possible. I’m living proof!

“Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” will be screened today at Newport Cinema 3 of Resorts World Manila; tomorrow at Cinema 3, Gateway Mall; and May 31, Cinema 3, Shangri-La Plaza. All screenings are at 6:30 p.m. For free tickets, log on to breville.com.ph/joe-cross-in-manila

Everything in moderation

I USED TO be skinny, but gained weight in recent years due to an increased appetite, coupled with drinking alcohol regularly, especially after work assignments. I used to do brisk walking for exercise, but it got rare due to the long nights out (going to bed at 4 a.m. was the norm), which made waking up early an arduous task.

The sight of a bulging tummy bothered me, and the sharp, creeping pain in my chest that I occasionally felt gave me the creeps.

After watching a DVD copy of “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead,” I thought of trying the juice diet, which consists of three kinds of vegetables and two fruits to be put in a juicer and drunk the whole day, without any solid food.

With a blender, which used to mash my son’s food when he was a baby, I started taking only juice for meals last May 6. I would “cheat” once in a while with the soup of sinigang na bangus or a serving of pinakbet. But generally, it was just juice that I had for breakfast and which I also brought to the office in two one-liter jugs, kept in the ref and drunk for lunch and dinner or every time I felt hungry.

In the first few days, I lost 10 lbs, followed by another five pounds within a 12-day period. The most wondrous thing was that I never felt weak; on the contrary, my energy was at an all-time high during those 12 days, my mind very much alert to the demands of editing and writing stories late into the night.

Now I like what I see in the mirror: no more puffy face and no protruding tummy, either. My waistline shrunk by at least two inches, so I have to tighten my belt. Also, I got back to brisk walking and noticed that I don’t get tired at all.

It doesn’t mean, however, that I’m turning vegetarian. I had a few slices of beef steak a few days ago, and I’m looking forward to having a bite of the roast pork belly at Resorts World. I’m just following Joe Cross’ dictum, which is actually the universal maxim to living well: everything in moderation. Pocholo Concepcion

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

Coca-Cola, Pepsi to reduce 'cancer-causing' caramel coloring content of their softdrinks

WASHINGTON - Coca-Cola said Friday it will lower levels of a chemical in caramel coloring to comply with a California law, but insisted the beverage's recipe will not change and poses no health risks.

Pepsi is making similar changes in order to avoid having to label products with a cancer warning due to what California has ruled are high levels of 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI), shown to cause cancer in lab animals, consumer advocates said.

The changes do not amount to a change to Coke's formula, spokesman Ben Sheidler told AFP.

"We are NOT changing our recipe; or our formula," he said in an email.

"What we did do is direct our caramel suppliers to make a manufacturing process modification in order to reduce the level of 4-MEI in our caramel so as to meet the requirement set by the State of California's Proposition 65."

California voters passed Proposition 65 in 1986, and the law aims to protect state residents from "chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm, and to inform citizens about exposures to such chemicals."

California has a 29-microgram benchmark for 4-MEI. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a recent sampling of Coke and Pepsi drink cans in the Washington area showed levels ranging between 103 mcg and 153 mcg.

But beverage industry leaders including the American Beverage Association (ABA) argued the evidence of a cancer link is limited to one study in mice and is not recognized by major US, European and Canadian health agencies.

The ABA added that a person would need to drink massive amounts of cola to reach a risk level similar to the dosing in mice -- 2,900 cans of cola every day for 70 years -- upon which California based its decision.

"The science simply does not show that 4-MEI in foods or beverages is a threat to human health," the ABA said.

"In fact, findings of regulatory agencies worldwide, including the US Food and Drug Administration, European Food Safety Authority and Health Canada, consider caramel coloring safe for use in foods and beverages."

Executive director Michael Jacobson of the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest, applauded the move, saying the caramel coloring chemical levels would be cut by 90 percent.

"The question is, when will Coke and Pepsi make these changes around the world, not just in California?" he said.

Sheidler said Coca-Cola would begin enacting the same changes to beverages nationwide and globally "in order to streamline and simplify our supply chain, manufacturing, and distribution systems," though no timeline has been set. — Agence France Presse

source: gmanetwork.com