The Atlantic Bluefin Tuna is a highly prized food fish and is fished heavily throughout its range. Its value in the high-grade sushi market in Japan and elsewhere is high enough to cause fishers to target this species with almost unmatched effort. Scientists believe the species to be endangered (highly vulnerable to extinction), but fisheries managers continue to allow commercial fishing to target it. -oceana.org
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Researchers followed more than 200,000 doctors and nurses for up to 30 years. The participants had periodic physical examinations and completed questionnaires on diet and behavior, including their coffee habits. The study is in Circulation.
Compared with abstainers, nonsmokers who drank a cup of coffee a day had a 6 percent reduced risk of death, one to three cups an 8 percent reduced risk, three to five cups a 15 percent reduced risk, and more than five cups a 12 percent reduced risk. There was little difference whether they drank caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee. The association persisted after controlling for age, alcohol consumption, B.M.I. and other health and diet factors.Coffee drinking was linked to a reduced risk of death from heart disease, stroke, diabetes, neurological diseases and suicide, although not from cancer.The association was not apparent in smokers, probably because death from smoking-related causes overwhelms the positive effect of coffee drinking.While the findings are encouraging, the lead author, Dr. Ming Ding, of the Harvard School of Public Health, cautioned, “Our study is observational, so it’s hard to know if the positive effect is causal or not.”
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The study, which included data from 448,568 people in 10 European countries, including the UK, found that the biggest consumers of processed meat were 44% more likely to die prematurely from any cause than those who ate little of it. High levels of consumption increased the risk of death from heart disease by 72% and cancer by 11%.
If everyone ate no more than 20g a day of processed meat – about one rasher of bacon, chipolata sausage or thin slice of ham – then 3% of all premature deaths could be avoided, according to an estimate by the authors, led by Professor Sabine Rohrmann from the University of Zurich. Their results are published in the journal BMC Medicine.But a small amount of red meat also seems to benefit health, because it contains important nutrients and minerals, they add. Risks rise in line with the level of consumption, the researchers found. The results are in line with previous studies. Dr Rachel Thompson, deputy head of science at the World Cancer Research Fund, said the research bore out its own findings in 2007 – disputed by the meat industry at the time – about the health risks of processed meat.It has found that consuming bacon, ham, hot dogs, salami and some sausages heightened the risk of bowel cancer. The charity estimates that 4,100 fewer Britons a year would be diagnosed with the disease if everyone ate no more than 10g of processed meat a day, though advises avoiding it altogether.Dr Carrie Ruxton, a nutritionist who sits on the meat industry-funded MeatAdvisory Panel, said the study's findings were not robust enough to justify changing public health advice. The fact those who consumed the largest amounts of processed meat also displayed other unhealthy habits meant it was hard to confidently ascribe risk of death to meat eating alone, she said."The occasional bacon butty isn't going to do you much harm. People shouldn't avoid bacon or salami because they think it's going to kill them, because it won't. We can't say that from this study. But we do know that processed meat has a higher salt and fat content, so having bacon or salami in moderation, and switching to lean red meat products, is a good idea," Ruxton added. Tracy Parker, a heart health dietitian with the British Heart Foundation, said people who ate a lot of processed meat should try to eat a more varied diet, such as chicken, fish, beans or lentils.
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Australian telco Telstra will spend up to US$1 billion for a planned wireless joint venture with San Miguel Corporation in the Philippines, the company’s chief Andy Penn told investors today.
That’s just Telstra’s share in the JV. Partner San Miguel, a conglomerate with diversified interests in the Philippines, will also put money in the business, along with some banks that will provide financing.“We are not expecting it to be more than US$1 billion. That would be essentially Telstra’s equity investment. We could own 40 percent of the venture, which would also have external financing as well,” Andy was quoted as saying by The Australian.Telstra and San Miguel haven’t reached a deal yet, but talks are ongoing.If it pushes through, the pair is expected to shake up the duopoly of telcos PLDT and Globe Telecom in the archipelago.“Frankly, let’s face it, go to the Philippines and experience the lousy service you get from the incumbent operators and you will see that [there’s] opportunity for a new operator to provide a much better quality service … I think there’s a significant opportunity,” Andy was again quoted as saying.San Miguel is rolling out its mobile telecommunications network in the Philippines through unit Bell Telecommunications.The conglomerate had wanted to enter the mobile business for years, but this was delayed because of other acquisition opportunities, its president Ramon Ang previously said.Over the past years, San Miguel has aggressively moved away from its traditional food and beer businesses and into heavy industries such as infrastructure, power, oil refining, and telecommunications.For Telstra’s part, it won’t be its first time to break into Asia. It acquiredSingapore- and Hong Kong-based internet services company Pacnet for US$697 million early this year. That deal was part of a A$5 billion (US$3.56 billion) budget it allotted for Asian ventures.
