Adulteration of herbal products is common and a threat to consumer safety.

Researchers from Canada and India are the latest to investigate the integrity of herbal products. (more…)

Dr. Claude Bouchard and colleagues from around the US and Finland tell us that people differ in their response to regular exercise.

Sometimes these differences contribute to adverse changes in cardiovascular and diabetes risk factors, according to this study. (more…)

The presence of the APOE epislon4 gene is a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, examined whether physical exercise alters the association between APOE gene and amyloid deposition in normal adults. (more…)

Evidence for the association between cannabis and depression is inconsistent.

Researchers at Radboud University Nijmegen, in The Netherlands, evaluated the potential influence of a person’s genetics on the cannabis/depression risk. (more…)

Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder studied whether religiosity moderated the genetic variance associated with problem alcohol use during adolescence and early adulthood. (more…)

Apparently, many people would, according to this study by researchers at Boston University School of Public Health, in Massachusetts. (more…)

The haptoglobin (Hp) 2-2 gene is dysfunctional in people with diabetes and increases their risk of cardiovascular disease.

Researchers at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel, tested the antioxidant vitamin E to protect diabetic patients with HP 2-2 from cardiovascular complications. (more…)

Researchers at INSERM (Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Medicale), in Montpellier, France, tell us lifestyle changes can more than offset the risk posed by genetics, which, of course, can’t be changed. (more…)

The SUNLIGHT (Study of Underlying Genetic Determinants of Vitamin D and Highly Related Traits) Consortium reports its results.

The abstract in The Lancet is poor, but here’s a summary of the details from Medical News Today. (more…)

The late physician/author of Jurassic Park, State of Fear, and ER was once asked by Scott Burgess if genetically modified food (GM) is a boon or threat to the world.

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 During the Alzheimer’s Association 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease, researchers from Oregon Health & Sciences University, in Portland reported that the benefits of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 essential fatty acid, were influenced by a patient’s genetic makeup. (more…)

Genetics appear to influence the risk of aggressive prostate cancer in men taking selenium supplements, according to collaborators at cancer centers across the US. (more…)

Dr. Andrew Levy from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa makes the case for a new pharmacogenomic blood test that can be used to identify diabetes patients at highest risk for cardiovascular disease.

Presently, medical costs of treating cardiovascular complications of diabetes are more than $100 billion per year in the US. (more…)

Researchers have cloned a gene from wild wheat that increases its protein, zinc, and iron content. The impact of this research could improve nutrition, worldwide.

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Here’s a list of research designed to allow grains to offset the effects of global warming. Thanks to genetic engineering, some are in development, while others are already being used.

Al Gore, take note.
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Northern California shoppers were divided into two groups: “regular organic shoppers” who buy organic produce on a typical grocery-shopping trip; and “nonregulars” who don’t. They were asked how much more they would pay for four different produce items.

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Here is an update to an earlier post that chronicled a problem with genetically engineered cotton in China where it was necessary to use pesticides to control new pests.

Skeptico reviews the problem, the possible reasons for it, and the fix being use in the U.S.

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Chinese cotton growers were among the first farmers to plant genetically modified (GM) cotton to resist bollworms (photo). Now, the substantial profits they reaped for several years by saving on pesticides have eroded.

The reason, according to Cornell University researchers is that other pests are attacking the GM cotton.

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The Washington Post reports, “U.S. commercial supplies of long-grain rice [were] inadvertently contaminated with a genetically engineered (GE) variety not approved for human consumption.” There’s nothing new here. The group, Californians for GE-Free Agriculture has chronicled a series of these events.

The problem is that those who plant GE crops are supposed to keep the stuff in their own fields and products and not let it mix with other non-GE foods.

What are the risks?

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Global biotech crop acreage grew to 222 million acres in 2005 from 7 million in 1996. Except for this, and the growth of anti-genetically modified (GM) foods websites, not much has changed pro or con.

The hyperbole continues. Last Sunday protesters damaged two GM maize testing fields in France. A few days earlier, Greenpeace activists chopped a giant cross through the maize. In case you don’t get the message, that’s the universal danger sign for “contamination.”

For some perspective, here is an article I wrote 6 years ago.

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