Let’s shed a tear for bottled water. Increasingly, it has come under attack from a number of groups. The criticisms range from environmental impact (Fiji water is the poster child for high carbon footprints) to cost to health concerns.

I’d like to pose this truth…Water is a CHOICE. When drinking water, we’re faced with a myriad of factors to balance (Environmental, Convenience, Cost, Health Concerns, Taste) when making our choice.

Over the next week, I’ll be posting about each of this factors and how it pertains to water. Up first, environmental!

In the meantime, enjoy the gullibility of the American foodie:

Many of you know I took part in a 12 week study on the effect of Omega-3s on inflammation. It was an interesting experience which you can read about here.

The study runners are looking for a few more participants in order to complete the study. If you’re interested, read on:

The Stanford Prevention Research Center is currently in the final stages of recruiting research study participants for two ongoing studies funded by the National Institutes of Health to examine the possible health benefits of dietary antioxidants and omega-3 fats. We hope to close recruitment by the end of September 2008. A brochure with more details is attached to this e-mail.

For more information about our studies, visit our web-site: http://nutrition.stanford.edu , or call Antonella Dewell, study coordinator, at 650-736-8577.

To quickly go to our on-line surveys to determine your eligibility, please click on the following links:

For the Antioxidant study: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=324193360481
For the Omega-3 study: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=793233362741

Some people requested links to the organizations and studies that Prof. Goldberg talked about last night. You can find them all on Prof. Goldberg’s web page.

After 12 weeks, I am finally through with my lenghty omega-3 trial. After weeks of taking 12 pills a day, getting blood drawn, and endless questionairres, I’m ready for some fish. I was positive I had fish oil because of a strange smell with my pills, but I was taking flaxseed Omega-3s the whole time. Guess I was wrong…big time.

It was very difficult making it through the 12 weeks. Easy to let your focus slip, forget to take some pills, or even have some omega-3s. I’m a huge believer in scientific studies, but this weakened my faith. It is just plain hard to run studies on humans, especially humans with the name of Kishore. The study hinged on my honesty and discipline, both of which aren’t in short supply. But I can imagine the situation where someone else “futzes” with the numbers. Now, statistics help weed out of lot of those problems, but still…the lingering question of reliability of these quality of life studies on humans remains.

I’ll get my blood test results in a few weeks, I’ll post the before and after results online. The study itself won’t be complete until the end of the year, so any conclusions will have to wait.

In the meantime, if you’re interested in taking part in a health study, check out: http://nutrition.stanford.edu/

About 10 DtaSers hauled themselves to the SF Dump for a tour of the facilities. SF has a huge disposal facility with many separates parts: There’s hazardous disposal (paint, batteries, oil, e-waste, etc.), public dump (for all your personal dumping needs at $123.07/ton), the recycling center (bottles and cans just claps your hand, just clap your hands), and of course the good ol’ household garbage transfer station.

The sheer volume of garbage was staggering…about 14-18 tons per day goes straight to the landfill. Looking out at the field of garbage, it felt like a sea of plastic. In addition, you could see thousands of recyclable items mixed in with the garbage. It’s easy to understand why recycling rates for plastic have stayed flat over the past ten years when you look out on this heap.

The tour was heavily attended by artists seeking the exclusive Artist in Residency. We got to meet the two current artists, Casey Logan and Barbara Holmes. Casey makes science meets absurdity meets trash sculptures (he found a place in my heart), while Barbara has a furniture maker background. She keeps a blog on her experiences at the dump, check it out at http://www.re-f-use.blogspot.com.

I’ll be heading back for a tour of the Recycling Sorting Center on the 28th (4th Monday of every month @ 930 AM). I’ll have more to say after that experience. In the meantime, check out pics from the event: