If the project is being developed by a company called Modern Meadow is specified, you may not need humanity to raise animals for food. Indeed, the company has allocated $ 300,000 to combine the technology that enables three-dimensional printing techniques used for tissue culture in what will be a 3D printer capable of printing edible meat. The final product, they say, will be completely digestible and provide the same proteins as the real meat. Will the food of the future?
We've all seen (and want) the "3D printers" devices capable of creating three-dimensional objects. Its operation is relatively simple to explain, and closely resemble a CNC milling machine with the difference that instead of making cuts or holes, have a head which is deposited plastic-material layer by layer, on the basis thereof. Objects to "print" are created on the computer using a CAD program, and sent to the printer in the same way you print a text in a common printer. The cost of these devices is decreasing, and the time it takes to print objects is becoming shorter. But it seems that the best is yet to come: a company called Modern Meadow has combined this technology with the techniques used to grow tissues "in vitro", so that the printer is capable of printing "meat" perfectly edible.
While the idea of building a machine capable of "building" food straight out of some science fiction novel (in fact, it is a topic that has been used repeatedly in these stories), the fact is that Modern Meadow plans possibly come true. So far they have spent more than 250 thousand euros in the development of this "3D printer meat" and while not yet been printed or even a burger, it appears that achieve their goal. The meat created by this technique, although "artificial" in the sense that it comes from an animal raised and slaughtered for the purpose, shall possess the same protein and that meat looks real, and can be digested and used by the body without problems . Behind this initiative is the philanthropist Peter Thiel, who has made the contribution of seed money to start the project. It is clear that initially the cost of each kilogram of meat produced in this way will be astronomically high, but surely over time will lower enough to compete with the meat we consume regularly. This is a project that has the potential to become the food of the future, just have to wait and see if it comes to fruition. The inevitable question is: Would you eat meat created artificially?
In a study that followed older French adults for five years, researchers found that those who regularly used olive oil were 41 percent less likely to have a stroke than those who never used the oil.
The findings, reported in the journal Neurology, hint that the well-known connection between olive oil and heart disease might extend to stroke as well. Olive oil is a key ingredient in the so-called Mediterranean diet. And some clinical trials have suggested that the diet helps control risk factors for heart disease, like high blood pressure, abdominal obesity and elevated levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol.
High olive oil intake is also linked to a lower risk of heart attack, and a longer lifespan among heart attack survivors. These latest findings support the general advice that people replace dubious dietary fats -- namely, saturated fats and "trans" fats -- with olive oil and other unsaturated fats, according to an expert not involved in the study. But he also stressed that the study does not prove that olive oil, per se, helps prevent strokes.
"We need to remember that this is an observational study," said Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas, a neurologist at Columbia University Medical Center in New York who wrote an editorial published with the study.
The study found a correlation between people's olive oil use and their stroke risk, he told Reuters Health -- but that doesn't necessarily translate into cause-and-effect.
"People who use a lot of olive oil may be very different from people who don't," Scarmeas said.
Olive oil users may, for example, have higher incomes, eat better overall or exercise more often than people who never use the oil. The researchers on the new study, led by Cécilia Samieri of the French national research institute INSERM, tried to account for those differences. And after they did, olive oil was still linked to a lower stroke risk.
But it's impossible to fully account for all those variables, Scarmeas noted. What's needed, he said, are clinical trials where people are randomly assigned to use olive oil or not, then followed over time to see who suffers a stroke. Such clinical trials are considered the "gold standard" of medical evidence.
The current study included 7,625 French adults age 65 and older who reported on their diets and other lifestyle factors. People who said they used olive oil for both cooking and as a dressing were considered "intensive users."
Over the next five to six years, those intensive users suffered strokes at a rate of 0.3 percent per year. That compared with just over 0.5 percent among non-users, and 0.4 percent among moderate users.
When the researchers factored in other diet habits, exercise levels and major risk factors for stroke -- like high blood pressure and diabetes -- heavy olive oil use was tied to 41 percent reduction in the odds of stroke.
Samieri's team also took blood samples from another 1,245 older adults, measuring their levels of oleic acid -- a monounsaturated fat that accounts for most of the fatty acids in olive oil. The one-third of participants with the highest oleic acid levels were 73 percent less likely to suffer a stroke than the one-third with the lowest levels.
The findings, according to Scarmeas, argue for more research into olive oil's potential benefits against not only heart disease, but stroke and other neurological diseases as well.
For now, he suggested that people choose olive oil and other unsaturated fats over saturated fats (found largely in meat and dairy) and trans fats (found in some processed foods, like crackers, cookies and chips).
"It's better to rely on this type of fat for your overall health," Scarmeas said.
That said, no single food is consumed in isolation, he points out in his editorial. Olive oil is one part of the Mediterranean diet that has been tied to heart benefits. The diet also boasts plenty of fruits and vegetables, legumes, whole grains, fish and moderate amounts of red wine.
