Health Food

A fruity cocktail may count as health food, U.S. and Thai researchers said Thursday. Adding ethanol -- the type of alcohol found in rum, vodka, tequila and other spirits -- boosted the antioxidant nutrients in strawberries and blackberries, the researchers found. Any colored fruit might be made even more healthful with the addition of a splash of alcohol, they reported in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. Dr.

Like a bloodhound, Gira Balistreri is racing through the palatial Whole Foods Market in El Segundo, sniffing out some of her favorite foods. A new employee at the 65,000-square-foot flagship store, she goes directly to several shelves of hemp shakes and snacks, then trots over to tidy rows of hemp butter and oil, then rushes down an aisle and snaps up a fresh package of hemp tortillas on her way to the hemp bars, hemp bread and hemp bagels.

'I'd like a myocardial infarction with extra pickles, a side of diabetes and a super-sized colon tumor, to go." That may not be what Americans are ordering when they pull up to the drive-in window at the local fast-food joint, but it's what an alarming number are getting. Obesity, and the serious health conditions that result, are rising sharply in the U.S., in part because portion sizes and fat content at restaurants are growing as fast as our waistlines. Food choices are a matter of individual preference and not something the government can or should oversee.

Somewhere in Vernon, among rendering plants and metal furniture factories, G.T. Dave, a 30-year-old Beverly Hills High School dropout, and the 45 employees of his steadily growing beverage company, Millennium Products Inc., lovingly tend to a repulsive organism that's reproducing like mad in a room with purple walls. We can't tell you exactly what it looks like. Or really anything about it. The fastidious and secretive Dave won't let us see it. The organism, a gelatinous melding of bacteria and yeast, is essential to the production of kombucha, a fermented tea that tastes a little like cider vinegar and has been credited with health benefits as varied as clearing up acne and boosting the immune systems of people with HIV. These claims aren't backed by scientific research, but that hasn't prevented supporters from latching on to kombucha as a cure-all--or kept Whole Foods and other national retailers from stocking GT's Kombucha, available in two varieties and 13 flavors, on their shelves.

On stage at a sales convention, XanGo founder Joe Morton said that when he first stumbled across mangosteen, a tropical fruit with purported curative powers, "I didn't have to have it confirmed in the New England medical journal before I would listen." The multilevel-marketing company has built a huge business around its mangosteen-based juice, which it promotes as an immunity booster. The company still hasn't proved its health benefits -- which it says could include a stronger immune system and improved joint function -- to skeptical experts.

As an intern at an investment banking firm, Dan Kim lived every poor college student's dream: takeout meals delivered to his office every day, and on the company dime. "I just started eating everything," he recalls, "and forgot about my whole health plan." In three months, he gained 25 pounds. It was a lot for a 5-foot-10-inch former high school athlete -- so much that his then-girlfriend, living in another city, didn't recognize him. Kim shed the weight and never looked back.

When Bill Birkhead first tried to concoct a new avocado treat to serve at the Orange County Fair, it didn't go so well. First, he tried sticking some guacamole on a stick. "We had to go back to the drawing board with that one," he said, laughing. Then, he molded two avocado halves into a whole and fried the whole thing. Another failure. The pressure was on.

Refrigerated trucks trundle down the pretty country lanes laden with pale, doughy masses of fungus -- 32 tons or more a day. "Pure mycoprotein -- good enough to eat, won't taste of anything, very bland," declares manufacturing manager Pete Willis, tearing off a golf-ball-sized sample from a 2,000-pound glob. Workers in white boots shepherd the fungal paste through a sea of vats and clanking machines that mix, press, slice and dice the raw dough.