Energy drinks erode tooth enamel
Sports and energy drinks cause between three and 11 times more damage to tooth enamel than carbonated beverages, dental researchers have found. They immersed healthy teeth for two weeks in various beverages-the equivalent of 13 years of beverage consumption. Their results were as follows, from the most to the least damaging: lemonade, energy drinks, sports drinks, iced tea, and cola. Carbonated drinks damage teeth due to the phosphoric and citric acids they contain, which break down the calcium, which gives teeth their strength. But energy drinks contain other acids and additives as well, causing even more damage. Water and low-fat milk, however, can help protect teeth from decay.
-M.G.
Source: General Dentistry
Refrigeration reduces nutrients in spinach
The nutritional benefits of fresh produce may be less than meets the eye. Spinach refrigerated at 4°C loses much of its nutritional value after eight days, according to Luke LaBorde, a food scientist a Penn State. He has shown the amount of folate-a vitamin B compound important for human health and found in spinach-decreases by about 47 per cent when spinach is stored in the fridge. This is significant, said LaBorde, because demand for fresh products has forced suppliers to fly or ship them across great distances. So the fresh-looking spinach from the supermarket may actually contain fewer nutrients than canned spinach.
-Mike Ghenu
Source: Journal of Food Science
Giant iceberg slips past ice tongue
In the Antarctic equivalent of a close call at the supermarket parking lot, a bottle-shaped piece of ice half the size of Prince Edward Island narrowly scraped past a floating ice pier. The ice, called B-15A, is a smaller piece of an iceberg the size of Jamaica that snapped off the Ross Ice Shelf five years ago. Scientists had been monitoring its progress since last month, when it started drifting towards the Drygalski ice tongue-a 70-kilometre-long outcropping of ice. A fleet of European Space Agency (ESA) satellites were on hand to observe whether there would be a collision. They are monitoring polar ice sheets and floating sea ice to determine whether iceberg break-off is becoming more common.
-M.G.
Source: ESA
