Sorry to say, but Grandma’s nutrition advice is toast
Today’s question:
When I was a child my grandmother told me that burnt toast is more nutritious for you. Now as I sit here at breakfast with my burnt toast I am wondering if this is true.
I am sure your grandmother was a wonderful woman, sweet and caring with nothing but your best interest at heart.
Too bad she was trying to kill you. I’m afraid she couldn’t have been more wrong about burnt toast. It’s terrible stuff.
Burning starchy foods such as bread or potatoes creates a compound called acrylamide, which has been linked to cancer and nerve damage in animals.
Some studies on the link between acrylamide and cancer in humans have found a doubling of risk of ovarian and uterine cancers, but other studies found nothing.
So make of all that what you will, but
earlier this year the United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency announced that even brown toast poses an increased risk and advised you shouldn’t go past a golden yellow sort of look. Where does ear wax come from and what is its purpose?
You must have skipped third-grade health class the day this came up.
Ear wax — properly known as cerumen is made up of dead skin cells — sebum and secretions from the cerumenous glands in the outer ear canal.
Its job is to catch dust, bacteria and other junk from getting too far inside ear. When you move your jaw or chew, the motion moves ear wax slowly toward the opening of the ear where it dries up and flakes away.
I didn’t know this before but it comes in two types — wet and dry. People of northeastern Asian descent, especially those from China or the Korea peninsula, tend to have dry ear wax, while the ear wax of people from other areas is wet.