Author Archives: marcia

On Microwaving Food

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fr/http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=227

What do you think about cooking food in a microwave?

In a review of research, we have found that microwave heating, for the most part. impacts food nutrients in much the same way as other forms of heating. The microwaving of food creates greater nutrient loss when higher heats are created, when heating is extended over a long period of time, or when food is heated while being submerged in water. Each of these principles applies to stovetop cooking as well. Surrounding a food with water and placing it in the microwave on high temperature for several minutes will result in significant nutrient loss in a way that is parallel to boiling a food on the stovetop for several minutes.

There haven’t been any wide-scale, peer-reviewed journal studies on the impact of microwave cooking on food structures. We realize that other websites have recommended avoidance of microwave cooking due to changes in food proteins. We have not seen evidence to support this recommendation. We’ve seen purified, chemical extracts from food taken into a laboratory setting and then exposed to microwave radiation from laboratory equipment. But we’ve not seen intact, edible foods placed in a microwave oven and then analyzed for structural changes in nutrients such as protein.

There was one small clinical study on the effect of microwave cooking that is widely discussed on the Internet. While it was not published in a peer-reviewed journal and is not indexed on Medline, we will still report its findings. This study showed that the consumption of microwaved foods was followed by a short-term decrease in the number of white blood cells in the study participants consuming the microwaved food.

Food safety may be an issue when it comes to cooking in microwaves. One published study found the inability of microwaving to assure elimination of E. coli 0157:H7 from food. Another study found that owing to non-uniform heating of microwaves, some samples of microwaved chicken still contained the Listeria bacteria while another one found that the time needed cook mincemeat to achieve doneness, as observed by agreeable taste and texture, was insufficient to killSalmonella and Streptococcus bacteria.

We’ve found two basic health concerns to be well documented in relationship to microwave cooking. First and foremost is the choice of food containers to be placed inside of a microwave oven. Most plastics, including film food wrap (LDPE, or low density polyethylene, displaying a Number 4 recycling symbol) and styrofoam containers (PS, or polystyrene, displaying a Number 6 recycling symbol) have been shown to migrate from plastic packaging into microwaved foods. This contamination of the food with plastic particles is beyond question in the science research-but researchers disagree on the health implications. Researchers who look at “invisible” changes occurring inside human cells (including metabolic patterns and nutrient ratios) find reason for broad-based concern about the use of plastic packaging in microwave ovens. From our perspective, there is simply no good reason to take the risk. If you do decide to use a microwave oven, we recommend using non-plastic food containers only. These containers would include glass, Pyrex, and all microwave-safe ceramics.

All this being said, we choose not to use microwaves in our homes. The quick cooking methods that we like to use to cook foods like vegetables really do not take that much more time than if we cooked with a microwave. Until more research is done on the subject, we feel more comfortable using the stovetop and oven for cooking.

 

 

Biblical Quotes & Misquotes

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Actually, that's not in the Bible

Satan tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden right? Nope. That’s one of many phantom passages that people think are in the Bible.
June 5th, 2011
01:00 AM ET

Actually, that’s not in the Bible

By John Blake, CNN

(CNN) – NFL legend Mike Ditka was giving a news conference one day after being fired as the coach of the Chicago Bears when he decided to quote the Bible.

“Scripture tells you that all things shall pass,” a choked-up Ditka said after leading his team to only five wins during the previous season.  “This, too, shall pass.”

Ditka fumbled his biblical citation, though. The phrase “This, too, shall pass” doesn’t appear in the Bible. Ditka was quoting a phantom scripture that sounds like it belongs in the Bible, but look closer and it’s not there.

Ditka’s biblical blunder is as common as preachers delivering long-winded public prayers. The Bible may be the most revered book in America, but it’s also one of the most misquoted. Politicians, motivational speakers, coaches – all types of people  – quote passages that actually have no place in the Bible, religious scholars say.

These phantom passages include:

“God helps those who help themselves.”

“Spare the rod, spoil the child.”

And there is this often-cited paraphrase: Satan tempted Eve to eat the forbidden apple in the Garden of Eden.

None of those passages appear in the Bible, and one is actually anti-biblical, scholars say.

But people rarely challenge them because biblical ignorance is so pervasive that it even reaches groups of people who should know better, says Steve Bouma-Prediger, a religion professor at Hope College in Holland, Michigan.

“In my college religion classes, I sometimes quote 2 Hesitations 4:3 (‘There are no internal combustion engines in heaven’),” Bouma-Prediger says. “I wait to see if anyone realizes that there is no such book in the Bible and therefore no such verse.

“Only a few catch on.”

Few catch on because they don’t want to – people prefer knowing biblical passages that reinforce their pre-existing beliefs, a Bible professor says.

“Most people who profess a deep love of the Bible have never actually read the book,” says Rabbi Rami Shapiro, who once had to persuade a student in his Bible class at Middle Tennessee State University that the saying “this dog won’t hunt” doesn’t appear in the Book of Proverbs.

“They have memorized parts of texts that they can string together to prove the biblical basis for whatever it is they believe in,” he says, “but they ignore the vast majority of the text.”

Phantom biblical passages work in mysterious ways

to read more, go to:    http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/05/thats-not-in-the-bible/

Ahh, the Life of a Pirate

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Caribbean Pirate Life: Tobacco, Ale … and Fine Pottery

Owen Jarus, LiveScience Contributor
Date: 01 September 2011 Time: 10:56 AM ET
A Caribbean pirate ship
Archaeologists researching a site where Caribbean pirates “laid their hats” have found the drunken men not only smoked like the devil but also preferred fine pottery. They were sort of the real “Pirates of the Caribbean.”
CREDIT: KSL Productions LLC / Shutterstock

They smoked like the devil, drank straight from the bottle, annoyed the Spanish and had a fascination with fine pottery.

Oh, and they didn’t use plates … at least not ceramic ones.

Based in 18th-century Belize, they were real “Pirates of the Caribbean” and now new research by 21st-century archaeologists is telling us what their lives were like.

Their findings, detailed in a chapter in a recently published book, suggest that while these pipe-smoking men acted as stereotypical pirates would — drinking, smoking and stealing — they also kept fancy, impractical porcelain in their camps. The fine dinnerware may have been a way to imbue the appearance of upper-class society. [See photos of the pirate loot discovered]

Caribbean pirates

From historical records scientists had known that by 1720 these Caribbean pirates occupied a settlement called the “Barcadares,” a name derived from the Spanish word for “landing place.” Located 15 miles (24 kilometers) up the Belize River, in territory controlled by the Spanish, the site was used as an illegal logwood-cutting operation. The records indicate that a good portion of its occupants were pirates taking a pause from life at sea.

Their living conditions were rustic to say the least. There were no houses, and the men slept on raised platforms with a canvas over them to keep the mosquitoes out. They hunted and gathered a good deal of their food.

Capt. Nathaniel Uring, a merchant seaman who was shipwrecked and spent more than four months with the inhabitants, described them in the book The Voyages and Travels of Captain Nathaniel Uring (reprinted in 1928 by Cassell and Company) as a “rude drunken crew, some which have been pirates, and most of them sailors.”

Their “chief delight is in drinking; and when they broach a quarter cask or a hogshead of Bottle Ale or Cyder, keeping at it sometimes a week together, drinking till they fall asleep; and as soon as they awake at it again, without stirring off the place.” Eventually Captain Uring returned to Jamaica and, in 1726, published an account of his adventures.

to read more and see the photos, go to:    http://www.livescience.com/15866-caribbean-pirates-archaeology.html

Giant Solar Magnetic Wave

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GIANT SINE WAVE: Imagine a sine wave 400,000 km long. Today, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory is monitoring just such a structure. It’s an enormous filament of magnetism slithering over the sun’s northeastern limb:

One of the wave troughs appears to be passing through the core of sunspot1283. If so, an eruption of the sunspot could have an interesting ripple effect on the greater filament, perhaps even causing it to collapse.

fr/http://spaceweather.com/

Weekly Active Volcanoes Report

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Active volcanoes in the world from 24/08/2011 to 30/08/2011

Last update: September 1, 2011 at 9:43 am by By 

New Activity, Unrest or activity change

BAGANA Bougainville (Papua New Guinea)  – Satellite map – summit elev. 1750 m
Based on analyses of satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that on 23 August an ash plume from Bagana rose to an altitude of 3 km (10,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted 93 km SW.
Volcano Information :  Bagana volcano, occupying a remote portion of central Bougainville Island, is one of Melanesia’s youngest and most active volcanoes. Bagana is a massive symmetrical lava cone largely constructed by an accumulation of viscous andesitic lava flows. The entire lava cone could have been constructed in about 300 years at its present rate of lava production. Eruptive activity at Bagana is characterized by non-explosive effusion of viscous lava that maintains a small lava dome in the summit crater, although explosive activity occasionally producing pyroclastic flows also occurs. Lava flows form dramatic, freshly preserved tongue-shaped lobes up to 50-m-thick with prominent levees that descend the volcano’s flanks on all sides.

RANAKAH Flores Island (Indonesia) – Satellite map  – summit elev. 2350 m
CVGHM reported that observers of Anak Ranakah, a lava dome that formed in 1987 at the base of the large older lava dome of Ranakah, noted white plumes rising up to 10 m high during January-24 August. Seismicity initially increased in December 2010, but increased again during June-August. Based on visual observations and seismic data analyses, CVGHM raised the Alert Level to 2 (on a scale of 1-4).
Volcano Information :  A new lava dome, named Anak Ranakah (Child of Ranakah) was formed in 1987 in an area without previous historical eruptions at the base of the large older lava dome of Gunung Ranakah. An arcuate group of lava domes extending westward from Gunung Ranakah occurs on the outer flanks of the poorly known Poco Leok caldera on western Flores Island. Pocok Mandosawa lava dome, at 2350 m the highest point on the island of Flores, lies west of Anak Ranakah.

TAMBORA Sumbawa Island (Indonesia) – Satellite map –  summit elev. 2850 m
Based on visual observation and seismic data, CVGHM reported an increase in activity at Tambora during the previous five months. Ground-based observers at an observation post in Tambora village noted dense white plumes rising 50-75 m above the caldera rim during April and June, but no plumes during May or July. In August dense white plumes rose 20 m above the caldera rim. Seismicity started to increase in April and continued to increase through August. On 30 August the Alert Level was raised to 2 (on a scale of 1-4).
Volcano Information :  The massive Tambora stratovolcano forms the entire 60-km-wide Sanggar Peninsula on northern Sumbawa Island. The largely trachybasaltic-to-trachyandesitic volcano grew to about 4000 m elevation before forming a caldera more than 43,000 years ago. Late-Pleistocene lava flows largely filled the early caldera, after which activity changed to dominantly explosive eruptions during the early Holocene. Tambora was the source of history’s largest explosive eruption, in April 1815. Pyroclastic flows reached the sea on all sides of the peninsula, and heavy tephra fall devastated croplands, causing an estimated 60,000 fatalities. The eruption of an estimated more than 150 cu km of tephra formed a 6-km-wide, 1250-m-deep caldera and produced global climatic effects. Minor lava domes and flows have been extruded on the caldera floor at Tambora during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Gunung Tambora picture courtesy Pirata Alado – http://www.panoramio.com/photo/36914449

PAPANDAYAN Western Java (Indonesia) – Satellite map –  summit elev. 2665 m
On 26 August CVGHM reported that Papandayan showed minor to no changes in recent seismicity, deformation, geochemistry, and visual observations; therefore the Alert Level remained at 3 (on a scale of 1-4). Seismicity remained high, but stable, and was dominated by shallow volcanic earthquakes. Deformation measurements showed no change, and water temperatures in multiple fumarolic areas and lakes remained relatively unchanged. Sulfur dioxide gas emissions decreased from 8 tons per day on 12 August to 6 tons per day on 23 August. Carbon dioxide in the soil at a 1 m depth in multiple areas did not increase. Visitors and residents were advised not to venture within 2 km of the active crater.
Volcano Information :  Papandayan is a complex stratovolcano with four large summit craters, the youngest of which was breached to the NE by collapse during a brief eruption in 1772 and contains active fumarole fields. The broad 1.1-km-wide, flat-floored Alun-Alun crater truncates the summit of Papandayan, and Gunung Puntang to the N gives the volcano a twin-peaked appearance. Several episodes of collapse have given the volcano an irregular profile and produced debris avalanches that have impacted lowland areas beyond the volcano. Since its first historical eruption in 1772, in which a catastrophic debris avalanche destroyed 40 villages, only two small phreatic eruptions have occurred from vents in the NE-flank fumarole field, Kawah Mas.

ETNA Sicily (Italy) – Satellite map – summit elev. 3330 m
Sezione di Catania – Osservatorio Etneo reported that nine days after the previous episode, the New SE Crater produced its twelfth paroxysmal eruptive episode of 2011 during the early morning of 29 August. The event was preceded by an explosion at 2252 on 27 August, and a series of ash emissions from the New SE Crater almost 15 hours later. Weak Strombolian activity visible during the evening on 28 August intensified during the night.
At 0115 on 29 August lava overflowed the rim through a breach in the E crater rim and traveled towards the Valle del Bove. Strombolian activity progressively intensified and two vents within the crater emitted pulsating lava fountains up to 100 m high. The lava fountains again increased in height and a dense plume rose a few kilometers above the summit before drifting toward the SSE. At the same time, a small lava flow issued from the area affected by the collapse of a portion of the cone’s ESE flank during the 20 August paroxysm. At 0220 the SE flank of the cone fractured and exposed a line of new eruptive vents down to the base of the cone that produced lava fountains. A broad lava flow fed by the vents descended into the Valle del Bove, somewhat to the S of the lava flow emitted earlier during the episode. The lava fountaining from the vents within the crater turned into ash emission just after 0220, whereas the lowest vent on the new eruptive fracture continued to produce incandescent jets until 0250. Ash emission continued at a diminishing rate until about 0315.
Read also :  Another beautiful eruption of Mt Etna (Italy) on August 29 2011 + videos
Volcano Information :  Mount Etna, towering above Catania, Sicily’s second largest city, has one of the world’s longest documented records of historical volcanism, dating back to 1500 BC. Historical lava flows cover much of the surface of this massive basaltic stratovolcano, the highest and most voluminous in Italy. Two styles of eruptive activity typically occur at Etna. Persistent explosive eruptions, sometimes with minor lava emissions, take place from one or more of the three prominent summit craters, the Central Crater, NE Crater, and SE Crater. Flank eruptions, typically with higher effusion rates, occur less frequently and originate from fissures that open progressively downward from near the summit. A period of more intense intermittent explosive eruptions from Etna’s summit craters began in 1995. The active volcano is monitored by the Instituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Volcanologia (INGV) in Catania.

KILAUEA Hawaii (USA) – satellite map – summit elev. 1222 m
During 24-30 August, HVO reported that the level of the lava-lake surface in the deep pit within Kilauea’s Halema’uma’u crater periodically fluctuated but remained below the inner ledge 75 m below the crater floor. At Pu’u ‘O’o’ crater, lava from sources on the E and S portions of the crater floor fed a lava lake that was formed during 25-26 August. A new source opened at the W edge of the crater floor during 29-30 August, and lava quickly spread N and S along the base of the W crater wall.
Volcano Information :  Kilauea, one of five coalescing volcanoes that comprise the island of Hawaii, is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. Eruptions at Kilauea originate primarily from the summit caldera or along one of the lengthy E and SW rift zones that extend from the caldera to the sea. About 90% of the surface of Kilauea is formed of lava flows less than about 1,100 years old; 70% of the volcano’s surface is younger than 600 years. A long-term eruption from the East rift zone that began in 1983 has produced lava flows covering more than 100 sq km, destroying nearly 200 houses and adding new coastline to the island.

for more information, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/01/active-volcanoes-in-the-world-from-24082011-to-30082011/

Hurricane Updates

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Katia organizing; threat of a Gulf of Mexico storm
Posted by: JeffMasters, 4:38 PM GMT on August 31, 2011
Tropical Storm Katia 
Tropical Storm Katia continues its long trek across the Atlantic Ocean today, and is expected to arrive at a position several hundred miles north of the Northern Lesser Antilles Islands by Monday. At this time, it appears unlikely that the islands will receive tropical storm-force winds from Katia. Satellite images show that Katia is a well-organized storm with plenty of heavy thunderstorms. The storm has good upper-level outflow channels to the north and south, is under light wind shear, and is traversing warm waters, so it should be able to overcome any dry air problems by Thursday and intensify into a hurricane. It is looking less likely that Katia will affect land. Dr. Bob Hart’s Historical Tropical Cyclone Probability web page suggests shows that tropical storms in Katia’s current position have an 11% chance of hitting North Carolina, a 12% chance of hitting Canada, a 5% chance of hitting Florida, and a 62% chance of never hitting land. It will be two more days before our computer models will be able to assess the threat to land, though, as Katia is currently still very far out at sea.


Figure 2. The morning run of the GFS Ensemble prediction. The ensemble prediction was done by taking a lower-resolution version of the GFS model and changing the initial distributions of temperature, pressure, and humidity randomly by a few percent to generate an ensemble of 20 different computer projections of where Katia might go. The operational (highest-resolution) version of the GFS model (white line) is usually more accurate, but the ensemble runs give one an idea of the uncertainty in the forecast. Very few of the ensemble members are currently showing a threat to the U.S. Canada is more at risk than the U.S., according to this model.

Gulf of Mexico disturbance a threat to develop
Surface winds over the Gulf of Mexico are rising today in advance of the approach of a tropical wave currently over the Western Caribbean, western tip of Cuba, and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. This wave is headed west-northwest at 10 – 15 mph, and is under a high 20 – 30 knots of wind shear. The wave is slowly beginning to build an increased amount of heavy thunderstorms, and this process will accelerate on Thursday when the wave enters the Gulf of Mexico. By Friday, when the wave will be near the Louisiana or Texas coast, wind shear is expected to drop to low to moderate levels, and the wave may be able to organize into a tropical depression. This process will likely take several days, and formation of a tropical depression is more likely Saturday or Sunday. NHC is giving the wave just a 10% chance of developing into a tropical depression by Friday morning. Regardless, this system will spread heavy rains to portions of the Gulf Coast by Friday, with the Upper Texas coast and the coast of Louisiana the most likely recipients of heavy rain. Strong onshore winds raising tides to 1 – 2 feet above normal are likely over Louisiana beginning on Friday, and coastal flood statements have been issued for the region. Three of our four top models for predicting tropical cyclone development forecast that a tropical depression will form this weekend or early next week, and I think it is at least 50% likely we will have Tropical Depression 13 on our hands by Monday. However, steering currents will be weak in the Gulf, and it is difficult to predict where the storm might go.The GFS model has a possible tropical depression forming by Sunday off the coast of Mississippi, then moving east-northeast over the Florida Panhandle on Monday. The ECMWF model forms the storm on Monday off the coast of Texas, and leaves the storm stalled out there through Wednesday. The UKMET model forms the storm Saturday off the coast of Louisiana, and leaves it stalled out there through Monday. If the storm did remain in the Gulf of Mexico for three days as some of the recent model runs have been predicting, it would be a threat to intensify into a hurricane.

Science & Spirituality

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My Take: Science and spirituality should be friends

Editor’s Note: Deepak Chopra is founder of the Chopra Foundation and a senior scientist at the Gallup Organization. He has authored over 60 books, including The Soul of Leadership, which The Wall Street Journal called one of five best business books about careers.

By Deepak Chopra, Special to CNN

For most people, science deserves its reputation for being opposed to religion.

I’m not thinking of the rather noisy campaign by a handful of die-hard atheists to demote and ridicule faith.

I’m thinking instead of Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution has proved victorious over the Book of Genesis and its story of God creating the universe in seven days. Since then, God has been found wanting when measured against facts and data. With no data to support the existence of God, there is also no reason for religion and science to close the gap between them.

Yet the gap has indeed been closing.

Religion and spirituality didn’t go away just because organized religion has been losing its hold, as suggested by showing decades of  declining church attendance in the U.S. and Western Europe.

Despite the noisy atheists, two trends in spirituality and science have started to converge. One is the trend to seek God outside the church. This has given rise to a kind of spirituality based on personal experience, with an openness to accept Eastern traditions like meditation and yoga as legitimate ways to expand one’s consciousness.

If God is to be found anywhere, it is inside the consciousness of each person. Even in the Christian West we have the assurance of Jesus that the kingdom of heaven is within, while the Old Testament declares, “Be still and know that I am God.”

The other trend is a growing interest by scientists in questions about consciousness

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/15/my-take-science-and-spirituality-should-be-friends/

On Meditation

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Sam Harris

Author, Neuroscientist

How to Meditate

Posted: 5/12/11 07:04 PM ET
2011-05-12-nonjudgment.jpg

(The one who does not judge, by h.koppdelaney)

 

There are many forms of introspection and mental training that go by the name of “meditation,” and I have studied several over the years. As I occasionally speak about the benefits of these practices, people often write to ask which I recommend. Given my primary audience–students of science, secularists, nonbelievers, etc.–these queries usually come bundled with the worry that most traditional teachings about meditation must be intellectually suspect.

Indeed, it is true that many contemplative paths ask one to entertain unfounded ideas about the nature of reality–or, at the very least, to develop a fondness for the iconography and cultural artifacts of one or another religion. Even an organization likeTranscendental Meditation (TM), which has spent decades self-consciously adapting itself for use by non-Hindus, can’t overcome the fact that its students must be given a Sanskrit mantra as the foundation of the practice. Ancient incantations present an impediment to many a discerning mind (as does the fact that TM displays several, odious signs of being a cult).

But not all contemplative paths kindle the same doubts or present the same liabilities. There are, in fact, many methods of meditation and “spiritual” inquiry that can greatly enhance our mental health while offering no affront to the intellect.

to read more, go to:    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-harris/how-to-meditate_b_861295.html?ref=spirituality

UK UFO Files

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UFO and Paranormal researcher and journalist 

UK UFO Files Show High Level Officials Were Concerned

Posted: 8/28/11 10:27 PM ET

Britain’s Ministry of Defence ceased to collect UFO reports as of December 2009, because, as they put it, “…in over fifty years, no UFO report has revealed any evidence of a potential threat to the United Kingdom.” However, the UFO files being released by the British National Archives contain cases that clearly should be of concern, and I am not alone in this opinion. In fact, the last batch of files includes correspondence between the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and two high level military officials who were adamant that UFO cases should be taken more seriously.

The highest ranking among those hounding the MOD about UFOs was Baron Hill-Norton, former Admiral of the Fleet (1970-71), Chief of the Defence Staff (1971-73), and head of NATO’s military committee (1974-77). Two years after his retirement in 1977, Peter Hill-Norton was made Baron and a member of the House of Lords. As you can see, Lord Hill-Norton was quite an impressive chap and known as a tough and aggressive leader. In other words, he didn’t take no crap.

At some point Lord Hill-Norton took an interest in UFOs, and was unsatisfied with the MOD claiming that they were of no concern. He badgered the MOD with questions, trying to get them to actively investigate important cases. There are over 300 pages of correspondence between Lord Hill-Norton and the MOD in the latest batch of UK UFO files.

to read more, go to:    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alejandro-rojas/uk-ufo-files-show-high-le_b_937478.html#s339987&title=Ralph_Noyes

 

 

Chili Peppers for Sinus Problems

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Heat in Chili Peppers Can Ease Sinus Problems, Research Shows

ScienceDaily (Aug. 26, 2011) — Hot chili peppers are known to make people “tear up,” but a new study led by University of Cincinnati allergy researcher Jonathan Bernstein, MD, found that a nasal spray containing an ingredient derived from hot chili peppers (Capsicum annum) may help people “clear up” certain types of sinus inflammation.

The study, which appears in the August 2011 edition of Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, compares the use of the Capsicum annum nasal spray to a placebo nasal spray in 44 subjects with a significant component of nonallergic rhinitis (i.e., nasal congestion, sinus pain, sinus pressure) for a period of two weeks.

Capsicum annum contains capsaicin, which is the main component of chili peppers and produces a hot sensation. Capsaicin is also the active ingredient in several topical medications used for temporary pain relief. It is approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is available over the counter.