Anybody who's smoked marijuana knows about "the munchies," that desire to eat everything within reach. But a study from France has found that, surprisingly, pot smokers are actually less likely than non-smokers to pack on weight. Using data covering more than 50,000 U.S. adults, researchers headed by Yann Le Strat, a psychiatrist at the Louis-Mourier Hospital in Colombes, France, found that roughly 14 percent to 17 percent of the people reporting that they smoked pot at least three days per week were obese.
That compared with a 22 to 25 percent obesity rate among people who said they had not used pot in the past 12 months.
"Initially, we thought we made a mistake," said Le Strat, adding that he and co-author Bernard Le Foll checked the results several times to make sure they were correct.
"This is only a preliminary result. It doesn't mean that marijuana does actually help you lose weight, but perhaps there is a component that does."
The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, included two surveys of U.S. adults -- one covering 43,000 people, the other about 9,300 respondents. Both had been conducted by branches of the U.S. National Institutes of Health between 2001 and 2009.
The larger of the surveys found that 14 percent of pot smokers were obese compared to 22 percent who didn't smoke pot. Similarly, the smaller survey found 17 percent of pot smokers to be obese compared to 25 percent of non-smokers.
Of all respondents to both surveys, between four percent and seven percent said they smoked pot at least three times a week.
Whether or not they smoked cigarettes as well had no influence on the obesity findings, though the researchers did not look at whether diet and exercise habits were different in pot smokers and non-smokers.
According to another recent survey, from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, pot use is on the rise in the United States. Almost 16 million U.S. residents used marijuana in 2010, an increase from about 15 million in 2007.
Scientists have researched the role of various molecules within marijuana smoke that produce the high feeling, block pain, and may underlie the hunger for food typically provoked by pot use.
Cannabinoids, molecules similar to natural signaling chemicals in the body, are believed to be key to stimulating appetite -- so much so that in 2006, a drug called Rimonabant, designed to work against cannabinoids, was developed.
Rimonabant was approved in more than 30 countries, but not in the United States, for the treatment of obesity. But the drug was pulled off shelves two years later because of an increased risk of suicide among its users.
Whether cannabinoids are the only appetite stimulants in pot smoke, or whether other chemicals might account for the effect, remains to be seen, the researchers say.
Other experts said the results didn't surprise them.
"There's no evidence that repeated marijuana use can increase body weight," said Vincenzo Di Marzo, professor at the Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry in Pozzuoli, Italy, who was not part of the study.
He warned that the study does not show that smoking pot helps you lose weight, but that it could be a starting point for future research.
Le Strat echoed this view and warned against experimenting with pot as a diet aid.
"I see people living with marijuana dependence. I hope people don't interpret the results to mean that if they use marijuana, they'll lose weight," he added. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/mQOCXt
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Saturday, September 10, 2011
POP QUIZ (TELETHON'S YEARS OF SENDING IN THE CLOWN)
This year is the first since 1966 that comedian Jerry Lewis, 85, is not the host of the Labor Day telethon to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
See what you remember from Lewis' 45 years with the effort.
1. Since the show began, its opening theme has been "Smile," from this Charlie Chaplin film.
a) City Lights
b) The Gold Rush
c) Modern Times
d) The Kid
2. The 1966 telethon was held at this hotel in New York City.
a) Chelsea
b) Americana
c) Plaza
d) Algonquin
3. The informal group of hundreds of TV stations that carried the event is known as this.
a) The Love Network
b) The Love Connection
c) The Love Boat
d) Jerry's Kids
4. What year did the telethon move to Los Vegas?
a) 1968
b) 1973
c) 1982
d) 1990
5. A highlight of the 1976 show was the reunion of Lewis and his former partner, Dean Martin.
Who arranged the reunion?
a) Sammy Davis Jr.
b) Henry Kissinger
c) Bob Hope
d) Frank Sinatra
6. Who was the cohost for the first five years, before Ed McMahon took on the job?
a) Ryan Seacrest
b) Larry King
c) Johnny Olson
d) John Tesh
7. In what year did the telethon first break the million-dollar mark?
a) 1966
b) 1970
c) 1975
d) 1978
8. Who was the first corporate sponsor?
a) Esso
b) Coca-Cola
c) 7-Eleven
d) 7Up
9. This song was played regularly from 1970 for tote-board updates.
a) "All You Need Is Love"
b) "What the World Needs Now Is Love"
c) "Let Your Love Flow"
d) "Love Will Keep Us Together"
10. And finally ---a drum roll, please ---- the closing theme sung by Lewis each year, "You'll Never Walk Alone," is from this Broadway Musical.
a) My Fair Lady
b) Fiddler on the Roof
c) Carousel
d) Man of La Mancha
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. c ; 2. b ; 3. a ; 4. b ; 5. d ; 6. c ; 7. a ; 8. d ; 9. b ; 10. c
See what you remember from Lewis' 45 years with the effort.
1. Since the show began, its opening theme has been "Smile," from this Charlie Chaplin film.
a) City Lights
b) The Gold Rush
c) Modern Times
d) The Kid
2. The 1966 telethon was held at this hotel in New York City.
a) Chelsea
b) Americana
c) Plaza
d) Algonquin
3. The informal group of hundreds of TV stations that carried the event is known as this.
a) The Love Network
b) The Love Connection
c) The Love Boat
d) Jerry's Kids
4. What year did the telethon move to Los Vegas?
a) 1968
b) 1973
c) 1982
d) 1990
5. A highlight of the 1976 show was the reunion of Lewis and his former partner, Dean Martin.
Who arranged the reunion?
a) Sammy Davis Jr.
b) Henry Kissinger
c) Bob Hope
d) Frank Sinatra
6. Who was the cohost for the first five years, before Ed McMahon took on the job?
a) Ryan Seacrest
b) Larry King
c) Johnny Olson
d) John Tesh
7. In what year did the telethon first break the million-dollar mark?
a) 1966
b) 1970
c) 1975
d) 1978
8. Who was the first corporate sponsor?
a) Esso
b) Coca-Cola
c) 7-Eleven
d) 7Up
9. This song was played regularly from 1970 for tote-board updates.
a) "All You Need Is Love"
b) "What the World Needs Now Is Love"
c) "Let Your Love Flow"
d) "Love Will Keep Us Together"
10. And finally ---a drum roll, please ---- the closing theme sung by Lewis each year, "You'll Never Walk Alone," is from this Broadway Musical.
a) My Fair Lady
b) Fiddler on the Roof
c) Carousel
d) Man of La Mancha
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. c ; 2. b ; 3. a ; 4. b ; 5. d ; 6. c ; 7. a ; 8. d ; 9. b ; 10. c
F. Y. I.
Long Shot
Archer fish can squirt 6-to 15-foot long jets of water from their mouths, knocking down their mouths, knocking down their insect prey usually on the first shot.
Table Tidbits
Carrots, which originated in present-day Afghanistan, were originally purple.
Actually Said
by basketball player Shaquille O'Neal, on whether he had visited the Parthenon during his visit to Greece
"I can't really remember the names of the clubs that we went to."
Growth Spurt
Lizards can regrow their tails if they become damaged.
Still on the Books
In Tennessee, whales are the only game allowed to be shot from a moving automobile.
Snooze Fans
Armadillos, sloths and opossums spend 80 percent of their lives sleeping or dozing.
Archer fish can squirt 6-to 15-foot long jets of water from their mouths, knocking down their mouths, knocking down their insect prey usually on the first shot.
Table Tidbits
Carrots, which originated in present-day Afghanistan, were originally purple.
Actually Said
by basketball player Shaquille O'Neal, on whether he had visited the Parthenon during his visit to Greece
"I can't really remember the names of the clubs that we went to."
Growth Spurt
Lizards can regrow their tails if they become damaged.
Still on the Books
In Tennessee, whales are the only game allowed to be shot from a moving automobile.
Snooze Fans
Armadillos, sloths and opossums spend 80 percent of their lives sleeping or dozing.
Vampire fans to sail off Alaska coast next year
Hundreds of vampire enthusiasts will sail Alaska's fabled Inside Passage in a summer 2012 cruise tailored to their interests that combines gazing at glaciers with a late-night costume ball, organizers said on Thursday.
The "Vamps at Sea" cruise is scheduled for late June, which is a time of near-constant daylight in the far north.
"They've got curtains and they can block everything out -- so it can be as dark as we want it," said organizer Linda Wolf, president of Los Angeles-based agency Cruises Cruises Cruises Inc, who is herself a fan of the vampire genre.
Cruise groups have been organized around myriad interests, with everyone from bird lovers to marathon runners getting their own boat trips.
Still, the Vamps at Sea cruise promises to be special, said Buckwheat Donahue, executive director of the convention and visitors bureau in Skagway, a historic gold rush town that is on most cruise itineraries.
"This is going to be fun," Donahue said. "I can't imagine what people are going to be dressed like coming off the boat."
The group will sail on a Holland America ship, the Zuiderdam, and will hit the usual ports of call such as Juneau, Glacier Bay and Ketchikan.
But there will be other special features, including a late-night costume ball, a scavenger hunt and a vampire talent show, Wolf said. There is also a literary angle to the cruise, with vampire-genre authors scheduled to speak, including a relative of the late "Dracula" writer Bram Stoker, according to the cruise website.
Themed cruises and organized cruise groups are becoming increasingly popular, Donahue said.
The "Vamps at Sea" cruise is scheduled for late June, which is a time of near-constant daylight in the far north.
"They've got curtains and they can block everything out -- so it can be as dark as we want it," said organizer Linda Wolf, president of Los Angeles-based agency Cruises Cruises Cruises Inc, who is herself a fan of the vampire genre.
Cruise groups have been organized around myriad interests, with everyone from bird lovers to marathon runners getting their own boat trips.
Still, the Vamps at Sea cruise promises to be special, said Buckwheat Donahue, executive director of the convention and visitors bureau in Skagway, a historic gold rush town that is on most cruise itineraries.
"This is going to be fun," Donahue said. "I can't imagine what people are going to be dressed like coming off the boat."
The group will sail on a Holland America ship, the Zuiderdam, and will hit the usual ports of call such as Juneau, Glacier Bay and Ketchikan.
But there will be other special features, including a late-night costume ball, a scavenger hunt and a vampire talent show, Wolf said. There is also a literary angle to the cruise, with vampire-genre authors scheduled to speak, including a relative of the late "Dracula" writer Bram Stoker, according to the cruise website.
Themed cruises and organized cruise groups are becoming increasingly popular, Donahue said.
Forgotten mooncakes spark bomb scare
Police in the southern Taiwan city of Kaohsiung mobilized the bomb squad after a suspicious package was found in a subway station toilet, only to find it contained nothing more dangerous than mooncakes. A cleaner called police to report the package left on top of a waste bin Saturday. Part of the station, known for its stained glass ceiling, was cordoned off and explosives experts were called in.
TV pictures showed a police officer in a full protective suit entering the toilet carrying specialist equipment while other officers waited outside with more gear.
The officer then emerged carrying a bright blue cardboard box full of mooncakes, pastries with sweet fillings traditionally eaten at the Mid-Autumn Festival.
"It was x-rayed first to see what it was and whether there was any chemical or electrical reaction," local police station chief Cheng Ming-chung told TV.
"Someone must have put it down to use the toilet and forgotten it when they left," he said, adding that the police would continue to investigate.
TV pictures showed a police officer in a full protective suit entering the toilet carrying specialist equipment while other officers waited outside with more gear.
The officer then emerged carrying a bright blue cardboard box full of mooncakes, pastries with sweet fillings traditionally eaten at the Mid-Autumn Festival.
"It was x-rayed first to see what it was and whether there was any chemical or electrical reaction," local police station chief Cheng Ming-chung told TV.
"Someone must have put it down to use the toilet and forgotten it when they left," he said, adding that the police would continue to investigate.
The world still thinks Americans are "coolest": poll
They may be witnessing their global superpower influence decline in the face of challenges from other emerging players on the world stage, but Americans have been voted the world's "coolest nationality" in an international poll. Social networking site Badoo.com (http://www.badoo.com/) asked 30,000 people across 15 countries to name the coolest nationality and also found that the Spanish were considered the coolest Europeans, Brazilians the coolest Latin Americans and Belgians the globe's least cool nationality.
"We hear a lot in the media about anti-Americanism," says Lloyd Price, Badoo's Director of Marketing. "But we sometimes forget how many people across the world consider Americans seriously cool."
Of course, not all Americans are cool far from it. Some like Snoop Dogg, Lady Gaga, Samuel L. Jackson, Johnny Depp and Quentin Tarantino are way cooler than others.
Americans, however, are the dudes who invented cool and who still embody it in many fields from music to movies and TV to technology.
"America," says Price, "boasts the world's coolest leader, Obama; the coolest rappers, Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg; and the coolest man in technology, Steve Jobs of Apple, the man who even made geeks cool."
Brazilians are ranked the second coolest nationality in the Badoo poll and the coolest Latin Americans, ahead of Mexicans and Argentinians. The Spanish, in third place, are the coolest Europeans.
The French are voted cooler than the British, and Canadians cooler than the Belgians. This may come as a relief for Canadians, who are sometimes viewed as chronically uncool.
Or, as Michael Ignatieff, the Canadian politician, once put it: "Paris, Texas stands as a metaphor for broken dreams; Paris, Saskatchewan just sounds ridiculous."
THE 10 COOLEST NATIONALITIES FIVE LEAST COOLEST
1. Americans 1. Belgians
2. Brazilians 2. Poles
3. Spanish 3. Turks
4. Italians 4. Canadians
5. French 5. Germans
6. British
7. Dutch
8. Mexicans
9. Argentinians
10. Russians
"We hear a lot in the media about anti-Americanism," says Lloyd Price, Badoo's Director of Marketing. "But we sometimes forget how many people across the world consider Americans seriously cool."
Of course, not all Americans are cool far from it. Some like Snoop Dogg, Lady Gaga, Samuel L. Jackson, Johnny Depp and Quentin Tarantino are way cooler than others.
Americans, however, are the dudes who invented cool and who still embody it in many fields from music to movies and TV to technology.
"America," says Price, "boasts the world's coolest leader, Obama; the coolest rappers, Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg; and the coolest man in technology, Steve Jobs of Apple, the man who even made geeks cool."
Brazilians are ranked the second coolest nationality in the Badoo poll and the coolest Latin Americans, ahead of Mexicans and Argentinians. The Spanish, in third place, are the coolest Europeans.
The French are voted cooler than the British, and Canadians cooler than the Belgians. This may come as a relief for Canadians, who are sometimes viewed as chronically uncool.
Or, as Michael Ignatieff, the Canadian politician, once put it: "Paris, Texas stands as a metaphor for broken dreams; Paris, Saskatchewan just sounds ridiculous."
THE 10 COOLEST NATIONALITIES FIVE LEAST COOLEST
1. Americans 1. Belgians
2. Brazilians 2. Poles
3. Spanish 3. Turks
4. Italians 4. Canadians
5. French 5. Germans
6. British
7. Dutch
8. Mexicans
9. Argentinians
10. Russians
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