Japan to study safety of cloned animals for food

Japan will study the safety of cloned animals for food, after a report
concluded there is no biological difference in the meat and milk of cloned
and non-cloned cattle, officials said on Wednesday.

"The safety commission has been asked to deliberate on the matter," an
Agriculture Ministry official said.

It was not immediately clear how long it would take for the Food Safety
Commission, Japan's food safety watchdog which will be looking into the
issue, to reach a conclusion.

"There is no prior case that we can compare it with," an official with the
commission said. He said the safety of cloned cattle and also pigs would be
studied.

Many Japanese consumers, notoriously sensitive to food safety, are likely to
oppose moves to introduce meat or milk from cloned animals into the human
food supply, however.

The farm ministry official said Japan has been breeding cloned cattle since
1998. As of September last year, a cumulative total 535 cloned cattle had
been bred in Japan, all for research purposes.

The United States is ahead of Japan as it has already made a final risk
assessment.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled in January that food from cloned
cattle, hogs and goats and their offspring is as safe as other food, opening
the door to bringing the meat and milk from cloned animals into the food
supply chain.

Preventing Alzheimer's - Exercise still best

A report last week from the Alzheimer's Association predicts that 10 million baby boomers will develop Alzheimer's disease in the United States — that translates to one out of every eight. For us "baby boomers," this is frightening to say the least.

There are new treatments on the horizon, but we all wonder whether or not they will be available in time for us or even our children. Let's keep hoping for a cure or prevention model by supporting research in whatever way we can. Meanwhile, studies continue to point to physical exercise as the most effective therapy today to prevent Alzheimer's.

Mounting evidence suggests that physical activity may have benefits beyond a healthy heart and body weight. Through the past several years, population studies have suggested that exercise which raises your heart rate for at least 30 minutes several times a week can lower your risk of Alzheimer's. Physical activity appears to inhibit Alzheimer's-like brain changes in mice, slowing the development of a key feature of the disease.

In one observational study, investigators looked at the relationship of physical activity and mental function in about 6,000 women age 65 and older, over an 8 year period. They found that the women who were more physically active were less likely to experience a decline in their mental function than inactive women.

Another compelling study, conducted by researchers at the University of Chicago, was highlighted on ABC News last week. The study used mice bred to develop Alzheimer's type plaque in the brain. In the study, some mice were allowed to exercise and others were not. The brains in the physically active mice had 50 to 80 percent less plaque than the brains of the sedentary mice and they (exercising mice) produced significantly more of an enzyme in the brain that prevents plaque.