This is interesting Dr Bert. I just read a blurb on cold air and the immune system by Dr Gabe Mirkin:
"Breathing cold air turns on your immunity. Your immunity is supposed to attack and kill germs, but as soon as the invading germ is gone, your immunity is supposed to shut down until the next attack. If it remains active, it causes inflammation, a condition in which your immunity attacks your own body to damage your blood vessels, joints and other tissues. Researchers at the German Research Center for Environmental Health in Neuherberg showed that exposing men, who had previously had heart attacks, for five consecutive days to colder weather increased blood levels of three markers of inflammation: C-reactive protein, interleukin-6 and fibrinogen (Epidemiology, May 2008). This could explain why heart attacks occur more commonly in the winter. Cold temperatures also increase blood pressure."
-Rick
--- In fast5@yahoogroups.com, "thentor" <bherring@...> wrote:
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> In the "study of one" category, another suggestion applies only to those who typically drink most of their beverages cold or on ice, and especially to those who work in an air-conditioned workspace. Drinking cold beverages may signal the brain, (the hypothalamus "set point" controller) that the environment you're in is much colder than it really is, and so the hypothalamus may add to appetite to build or maintain fat reserves to deal with the a cold winter that isn't really there. The experiment would be to avoid cold (particularly iced) beverages for about 4-6 weeks and see if there's any noticeable change.
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> Why do I think it might matter? Iced drinks are a relatively new fashion as homes acquired freezers and ice makers, then ice dispensers over the last few decades. Iced drinks are much more popular in the USA than in Europe. Obesity follows a similar pattern. In a world where we spend most of our time in air-conditioned/heated comfort, we may be inadvertently signaling our brains that it's freezing cold outside, in which case putting on extra weight to make it through the winter would be a good idea.
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> If you work outside or exercise to the point of breaking a sweat frequently, your body's probably getting enough messages that it's warm to balance out the cold messages from cold drinks.
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> Bert
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