Protein

The gig: Lizanne Falsetto is founder and chief executive of ThinkProducts, the Ventura maker of the popular thinkThin brand of nutritional snack and weight-management protein bars. Over the last 12 years, Falsetto has grown her operation from a one-woman venture into a firm with 23 employees. Among the newest offerings: 100-calorie thinkThin Bites in flavors including chocolate toffee nut and white chocolate raspberry. The privately held company does not disclose its financial results, but Falsetto said sales grew 51% in 2010, despite a sluggish economy.

The Dukan diet (think “protein”) is making a splash on this side of the pond after apparently taking France by storm. As Americans are always looking to the French -- though they won’t admit it -- on how to live and look better, let’s take a look. At first glance, the diet seems both familiar and strange. The Dukan diet, as with the more established Atkins diet, emphasizes a high-protein, low-carb approach in the beginning. The former was created by French physician Pierre Dukan; the other by American physician Robert Atkins.

Just two days after the start of the winter strength-and-conditioning program, Jim Poggi, a University of Iowa freshman football player, called his father to report that his body ached from the intense workouts. The pain in his arms and legs had not subsided even after a weekend of rest. "He called afterwards and said it was hard work and he was very, very sore," Biff Poggi said of his son. By the third day of workouts, on Jan. 24, it was clear something had gone terribly wrong.

Eugene Goldwasser, the biochemist who isolated and purified the anti- anemia protein erythropoietin ? arguably the most important biological drug since insulin ? died Friday at his home in Chicago of kidney failure associated with prostate cancer. He was 88. Erythropoietin, commonly known as EPO, was one of the first blockbuster drugs of the biotechnology industry and was the foundation for the success of Amgen of Thousand Oaks. Yet neither the University of Chicago, where Goldwasser isolated the drug, nor the National Institutes of Health, which funded his work, chose to patent the discovery, and Goldwasser himself never got around to it. "One percent of 1% of the drug's annual revenues would have funded my lab quite handsomely," he later reflected.

Chemist John B. Fenn, who shared the 2002 Nobel Prize in chemistry for work that made possible the rapid analysis of the structure of proteins and other biomolecules through mass spectrometry, died Friday in Richmond, Va. He was 93 and died of complications from a fall suffered Oct. 12. "The possibility of analyzing proteins in detail has led to increased understanding of the processes of life," the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences said in its...

The ocean is our global heat reservoir and one of two major carbon dioxide sinks. If you agree that humans are trapping heat and carbon dioxide in the planet's atmosphere ? and 53 years of rigorous observations at Scripps and other research institutions show that we are ? then the ocean must be at the very center of the climate discussion. But it rarely is. Consider Cancun: The negotiation text presented at the outset of the climate conference contained exactly one passing reference to the oceans, submerged in a Mariana Trench of footnotes.

Thanksgiving is not a day for counting calories. But for people who have dieted this year and are trying to maintain a healthful weight, turkey leftovers ? without the stuffing ? may be a smart strategy going forward, according to a new report. In the largest diet study in Europe to date, foods that were high in protein and low on the glycemic index ? such as poultry, eggs, fish and nuts ? did the best job of helping people maintain their weight loss for 26 weeks, researchers report in Thursday's edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Eggs have been the subject of high-profile recalls this summer over E.coli concerns. Now one cereal company is trying to elbow them off the breakfast table. In a new marketing campaign, Kashi claims some of its breakfast cereals have as much protein as an egg. This Allentown Morning Call story says that's nothing to brag about, given the average egg has just 6 grams of protein. "When you consider that a half of a breast of chicken contains about 30 protein grams, the egg doesn't seem like a particularly protein-rich food," the story says.

Months of sun, surf and chlorine can wreak havoc on even the healthiest of hair, making it brittle, faded and lifeless. In California, we face these conditions year-round, but hair can take more of a beating in the summer, when people tend to spend even more time outdoors. The good news: With a little help from an expert and a couple of at-home treatments, you can whip your weather-beaten hair back into shape. Here are our five top tips for beautiful fall hair. Get a protein treatment At the end of summer, hair feels dry and brittle and a protein treatment can do wonders.

When it comes to misguided efforts of average people wishing to pack on muscle, protein supplements are way up there. A 2004 study of exercisers at a Long Island commercial gym that was published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition revealed that more than 40% of regular exercisers take protein supplements more than five times a week. For people looking to get as huge as professional bodybuilders, protein powders do make sense. But for us regular folks who merely want to look good for the beach, bar or bed partner, these probably are unnecessary.