Green Tea and the health benefits being attributed to it are constantly in the news. Some claims are yet unproven, but here’s one that appears to have validity.

The polyphenols in Green Tea have been studied for their protective effects against some cancers. Green Tea contains antioxidants that have been shown to protect against cell damage.

A study at the University of Southern California suggests that drinking Green Tea could lower a woman’s risk of breast cancer. According to researchers, Green Tea drinkers had a lower blood estrogen level. High blood estrogen levels have been linked to breast cancer.

Drinking Black Tea did not have the same estrogen lowering effects.

Green Tea May Protect Against Breast Cancer

Sarah Vasquez, 22, and her mother, Natalie Fornaciari, 46 are suing Best Buy and their “Geek Squad”, alleging that the computer technician they sent to their house used a cell phone to record Vasquez taking a shower.

The law suit allegess that Hao Kuo Chi, 26, placed the cell phone in the bathroom, and set it to record. The 22 year old woman noticed it after showering and went to tell her sister. The phone then disappeared from the bathroom and subsequently showed up in the 13 year old sister’s bedroom.

It’s definitely the age of technology, even for perverts. The Internet that brought immediacy of communication and information also brought hackers, spyware and spam, combining convenience with annoyance. Cell phone cameras allow people to share important moments of their lives – the birth of a baby, a high-school graduation – with family far away by transmitting photos immediately, phone to phone.

But we’ve also learned to be aware of the possibility of cell phone cams being used to record pin numbers and credit card numbers at checkouts and ATMs. Now there are other reasons to be concerned about privacy.

Still, there’s something almost exculpatory about the name, isn’t there? The Geek Squad. They called for a geek, and so that’s what they got. They probably didn’t imagine they would get the kind of geek who would sneak around to obtain potty shots with his cell phone camera. What kind of world is it when you can’t trust a geek?

And then there are the stories that just lead you to the conclusion that there are people with too much time on their hands.

Researchers at the Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation in Wisconsin have concluded that obesity rates increase in cities where the newspapers publish high-calorie dessert recipes.

Assuming that some percentage of the readers of any particular newspaper like to bake and that of those, a percentage may try the recipe for that luscious fat and calorie-ridden dessert, we must then calculate how many people that baker is likely to serve this treat to. Six? Seven? Eight at most, I should think. Assume then that this dessert is a big hit and friends and family insist that the baker must prepare this treat again, thus it begins to show up at company parties and family functions and holidays. That would be how often, three or four times a year? Does something you eat four times a year make you obese?

The report notes that the news media play an important role in providing nutrition information, but with respect to recipes, “this information is seldom studied.”

Maybe there’s a good reason for that.

2007 may be the year of vindication for fat people.

First a study at UCLA declares that diets don’t work and what is worse, are actually harmful to your health.

Now scientists announce they have discovered a “fat” gene which explains why two people leading similar lifestyles could have disparate amounts of weight. Talk to any overweight person and they will tell you they know of thin people who eat as much or more than they do and yet stay thin. Society has always chalked this up to overweight meaning lazy, but now the evidence says that is not the case.

The scientists discovered the gene, known as FTO and say the influence on the gene in weight depends on whether a person has one or two copies of the FTO gene variant. FTO is known to play a role in the hypothalamus which regulates appetite.

16% of the population have two copies of the high-risk gene, and weigh nearly 7 pounds more than those without it. Those with only one copy were found to weigh about 2.6 pounds more than those who did not have the gene variant at all.

Research into the gene variant and its effects may lead scientists one day to discover better treatments and methods for dealing with obesity.

For overweight people everywhere, it may relieve some of the guilt to know that what is in their jeans, may be in their genes.

A Common Variant in the FTO Gene Is Associated with Body Mass Index and Predisposes to Childhood and Adult Obesity