This Is Why You Feel Hungry After A Night On The Town

Cosmos: Why you crave hot chips after a night on the town

Don't feel too guilty when you drunkenly bite into a hot dog at 3 am – you can't argue with biology.

A pie or hot dog scoffed at 3 am is, quite simply, delicious. But why do we crave fatty and carb-rich food after drinking alcohol, which itself laden with kilojoules? It turns out the brain cells that make you hungry are also activated by alcohol.

Researchers in the UK put mice on the equivalent of a human weekend bender and found their subjects ate more food than teetotal counterparts. Examining the mouse brains, the team found a specific set of brain cells that drive hunger were activated in the presence of alcohol.

The work was published in Nature Communications.

Alcohol consumption and overeating are linked. Drinking an aperitif before a meal stimulates the appetite. Why, though, is a puzzle.

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CSN Editor: This is the reason why .... the brain cells that make you hungry are also activated by alcohol.

Nearly Half Of All Global Food Is Wasted

Image Credit: Photos.com 

Nearly Half Of All Food Is Wasted, Accounting For More Than 2 Billion Tons Annually -- Red Orbit

As the global population continues to grow at an astounding rate, and as food stocks continue to dwindle due to a number of factors, more and more people around the world will be left with less food on their plate. And when you tie in an unsettling report on food waste, the issue becomes all too surreal.

A new report by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) states that as much as half of the world’s food supply (more than 2 billion tons) is wasted each year. The bulk of this waste is being caused by poor storage, strict sell-by guidelines, bulk offers and consumer finickiness, according to the report.

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My Comment: Spoilage is a fact when it comes to food .... it will always go to waste.

Global Hunger Continues For One In Eight In The World

One In Eight Of World Population Going Hungry: U.N. -- Reuters

(Reuters) - One out of every eight people in the world is chronically undernourished, the United Nations' food agencies said on Tuesday, and aid groups warned that rising food prices could reverse gains in the fight against hunger. In a report on food insecurity, the UN agencies said 868 million people were hungry in 2010-2012, or about 12.5 percent of the world's population, down more sharply than previously estimated from about 1 billion, or 18.6 percent in 1990-92. The new figures, based on a revised calculation method and more up-to-date data, are lower than the last estimates for recent years that pegged the number of hungry people at 925 million in 2010 and 1.02 billion in 2009. Read more ....

More News On Global Hunger

UN says world hungry not 1 billion after all -- Seattle Times/AP UN Says World Hungry Now Under 1 Billion -- Voice of America MDG target to halve prevalence of hunger within reach, says UN -- The Guardian UN tweaks the methodology of malnourishment -- Globe and Mail Hunger falls but still unacceptably high-FAO chief -- Reuters

Are We On The Brink Of Another Global Food Crisis?

Historic U.S. Drought Raises Fears Of Global Food Crisis -- Radio Free Europe

By this point in the summer, corn stalks are supposed to be as high as a farmer’s head, not his knees. But this is no normal summer in the agricultural heartland of the United States. The stunted plants, bending over cracked and dusty fields, are a product of the worst drought to hit the United States in more than 50 years.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has already forecast a 3 to 4 percent rise in domestic food prices next year and more than 1,000 counties across the country have been declared disaster areas. Data released on July 26 by the U.S. Drought Monitor found that the situation is only worsening, with almost two-thirds of the United States affected.

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More News On The Global Food Crisis

Another food crisis looms -- The Economist
We are teetering on the brink of another global food crisis -- The Guardian
Spike in Crop Prices May Signal 'Chronic Food Crisis' -- CNBC
US drought: Stuck on dry land -- Financial Times
Could the Midwestern Drought Cause a Global Crisis? -- Suzanne McGee, The Fiscal Times

Global Food Shortages And Higher Prices Around The Corner

Expert Warns Of Global Food Shortages And Higher Prices -- Sydney Morning Herald

AS MUCH food is wasted in developed countries as is produced in sub-Saharan Africa.

This ''eye-popping'' statistic highlights one of the big changes urgently required to meet the challenge of feeding 9 billion people by 2050, a visiting expert in agriculture and economics has said.

Chris Barrett, of Cornell University, warns there is ''dangerous complacency'' about global food security. Professor Barrett, who will give a public lecture on Wednesday night at the University of Sydney, said that demand for food is about to rise significantly, particularly as a result of population growth in developing countries, rises in income and the migration of people to towns and cities.

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My Comment: The focus has always been on oil and resource conflicts .... and the geopolitics that it spawns. The coming food and water shortages in the developing world is something that we in the West are not accustomed to .... but I suspect will have to get use to as refugee numbers start to swell from these areas.

Report Advocates GM Crops In Food Supply Measures

Top of the crops: Government ministers are keen to embrace GM foods,like this modified soya crop. Photo from The Daily Mail

From The Independent:

Genetically-modified crops are among measures needed to tackle problems with global food supplies that could see prices soar, leading scientists said today.

A new Government-commissioned report warned that there were major failings in the global food system that damages the environment and leaves one billion people hungry.

A further one billion suffer from "hidden hunger" in which nutrients are missing from their diet and the same number are over-consuming, while a third of all food produced is currently wasted.

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My Comment: Lacking any other means to grow more crops .... our options are very limited.

'Double Food Output To Stop World Starving,' Say Scientists

Photo: International Rice Research Institute via flickr

From The Independent:

Royal Society wants green revolution to deal with global population rise of 3 billion.

Global food production needs to be increased by between 50 and 100 per cent if widespread famine is to be avoided in the coming decades as the human population expands rapidly, leading scientists said.

A second "green revolution" is needed in agriculture to feed the extra 3 billion people who will be added to the existing population of 6 billion by 2050.

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Britain Will Starve Without GM Crops, Says Major Report

Oilseed rape, one of the four main commercial genetically modified crops Photo: EPA

From The Telegraph:

A new row over genetically modified foods being introduced into our shops has broken out after a Royal Society report recommended GM crops should be grown in Britain.

The study concluded that GM crops are needed to prevent a catastrophic food crisis by 2050.

But the report has sparked a backlash from opponents of GM foods who say they present a threat to the livelihood of small farmers.

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The Science of Hunger: What 1 Billion People Feel

From Live Science:

Despite a record level of people suffering from hunger, food aid is at a 20-year low due to the poor global economy, United Nations officials said today. The result: More than 1 billion people across the world will face hunger this year.

"For the world's most vulnerable, the perfect storm is hitting with a vengeance," said U.N. World Food Program (WFP) Executive Director Josette Sheeran. So far this year, the agency has received less than half of the $6.7 billion it needs to feed 108 million people in 74 countries, Sheeran said.

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Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilization?

From Scientific American:

The biggest threat to global stability is the potential for food crises in poor countries to cause government collapse

One of the toughest things for people to do is to anticipate sudden change. Typically we project the future by extrapolating from trends in the past. Much of the time this approach works well. But sometimes it fails spectacularly, and people are simply blindsided by events such as today’s economic crisis.

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Our Noble Attempts To 'Feed The World' Are Simply Not Working

Food aid fills stomachs but does not provide an enduring solution to hunger and poverty. Photograph: AFP/Getty

From The Guardian:

There are 109 million more hungry people in poor countries now than there were just five years ago. But the answer is not more food aid, writes Pedro A. Sanchez

In recent decades, it seemed the struggle against world hunger was finally meeting with some success. But the number of undernourished people is growing again. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, the number of hungry people in poor countries has increased by 109 million to 963 million since 2004. Unicef estimates that each day 300 million children go to bed hungry.

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New Science Could Defeat Food Crises

Wheat Fields (Image from Cutting Edge News)

From The Guardian:

Breakthroughs in microscopic engineering could boost shelf life of food and increase crop yields.

A controversial scientific revolution that could give packaged foods a dramatically longer shelf life and boost crop growth has "real potential" to help feed a fast-growing world, according to environment secretary Hilary Benn.

New developments in nanotechnology, engineering carried out at a microscopic level, could lead to plastic packaging designed to stop food and drink spoiling by killing bacteria or preventing oxygen getting through the container.

The technology could also be used to enrich food with supplements and preserve vitamins that would otherwise be destroyed as food aged. Farmers could also use it to ensure the slow release of fertilisers at the right time for crops, and to detect threats from pests or pollutants. The technology is, however, highly controversial, with green campaigners arguing that its effects on human health are unknown.

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Nearly A Billion People Go Hungry Every Day – Can GM Crops Help Feed Them?

A protester vandalises a GM crop trial. Qualms about GM food may be a luxury Africa can ill afford. Photograph: Barry Batchelor/PA

From The Guardian:

Leading scientists met last night to debate whether genetically modified crops can feed the world's hungry. The issue, it seems, is as divisive as ever

The Science Museum in London is running an exhibition until the end of May called Future Foods. It attempts to give a balanced view of the pros and cons of genetically modified crops, which are back on the agenda in the light of fears over a major food crisis. It does a good job too.

As part of the exhibition, the museum organised a debate at the Dana Centre to give the public a chance to debate GM crops and the food crisis with some key scientists. I chaired the event and picked up on a few issues I thought might be worth sharing.

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