Dandelion Greens

Dandelion greens are a nutritional powerhouse. The plant has been used since antiquity as a diuretic, a liver tonic, to treat skin conditions and a whole host of other health problems.

Nutritional Highlights

They are packed with vitamins and minerals. One cup of cooked dandelion greens has more calcium than a cup of cottage cheese but only 34 calories. It provides 12% of the fiber, 19% of the iron and 28% of the Vitamin C that (averaging for adults and children) the USDA suggests that we get in our diets each day.
Dandelion provides more vitamin A than an equal amount of kale, collard greens or summer squash, giving you 85% of the daily recommended intake.

The one cup serving also contains 2.1 grams of protein, many minerals including potassium, magnesium and phosphorous as well as vitamin E, thiamin, riboflavin, B-6 and folate.

To wash dandelion greens (or any other leafy green) fill a large pot or bowl with cold water and place the leaves into the bowl. Swish them around to loosen the sand. Since the sand is heavy, it will fall to the bottom of the bowl and the leaves will float on top. Place a strainer next to the bowl and pull the leaves out and place them in the strainer. Don't pour the leaves and dirty water into the strainer because you will just pour all of the sand back into the greens. Rinse the bowl, refill with water and repeat until they are clean.

Coffee linked to glaucoma

• A 120,000-person study has tied drinking three cups per day to developing exfoliation glaucoma.
• About 2.2 million Americans age 40 and older have glaucoma, the second-most common cause of blindness worldwide after cataracts. Glaucoma is the name for a group of diseases in which fluid builds up inside one or both eyes, increasing the internal pressure and eventually damaging the optic nerve. If left untreated, people with glaucoma slowly lose their peripheral vision. Over time, central vision can also deteriorate.

This is what ophthalmologists see when they look in your eyes. The bright little circular part in the center is the optic nerve. They look for changes in its shape when diagnosing glaucoma

PROBLEM: A group at Harvard School of Public Health -- who'd previously conducted a smaller study that associated caffeine with a somewhat increased risk of primary glaucoma -- noted that people in Scandinavian countries have the highest rates of exfoliation glaucoma (EG) in the world, and that they also consume the most coffee. In an ongoing search for causes of EG, they suspected the two might be related. That was corroborated by knowledge that caffeine affects levels of homocysteine in our eyes, and that homocysteine levels are often high in people with EG.

A little on EG: The study's authors note it's "the leading cause of secondary open-angle glaucoma worldwide." It accounts for 7-12 percent of glaucoma. As we understand it, EG is due to pigments in your eye coming loose and blocking the flow of liquid out of your eyeball, which leads to increased pressure, changes in the optic nerve, and/or vision problems. A diagnosis of EG doesn't mean vision loss, though.

Lots of research on the causes of EG is happening. The stated purpose of this study was to look at risk factors for developing it. 

RESULTS: People who drank three or more cups of coffee every day were significantly more likely to have exfoliation glaucoma.
They didn't report on an association with actual vision loss.
The trend "did not robustly extend to caffeinated product consumption generally."

CONCLUSION: Drinking a lot of coffee is associated with increased risk of developing exfoliation glaucoma, and thereby a risk of impaired vision and blindness.

IMPLICATION: This is a large, prospective study worth factoring into the increasingly expansive discussion on coffee's plusses and minuses. "Life without life's joys is living death." And then, buried in the paper was this little gem: "The highest caffeine consumers were somewhat less likely to have hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, and myocardial infarction."

Takeaway, get screened for glaucoma regularly, even if you've never had any coffee ever. There were 44.8 million people with open-angle glaucoma in the world in 2010,  and by 2020 there will be 58.6 million. We can't jump to saying this glaucoma-coffee association is definitely causal and that no one should drink coffee. I'm actually drinking some very bad coffee right now. If, for the time, though, these findings promote glaucoma awareness and continued research on the tremendous amounts of coffee and caffeine we drink/eat/rub all over our bodies, it's useful and good.

Egg nutrition

Eggs are all natural and packed with a number of nutrients. One egg has lots of vitamins and minerals, high-quality protein and antioxidants, all for less than 100 calories. The nutrients in eggs can play a role in weight management, muscle strength, healthy pregnancy, brain function, eye health and more. At less than 15 cents apiece, eggs are an affordable and delicious breakfast option. The protein in eggs is the highest-quality protein found in any food.

A single large boiled egg contains:

• Vitamin A: 6% of the RDA.
• Folate: 5% of the RDA.
• Vitamin B5: 7% of the RDA.
• Vitamin B12: 9% of the RDA.
• Vitamin B2: 15% of the RDA.
• Phosphorus: 9% of the RDA.
• Selenium: 22% of the RDA.
• Eggs also contain decent amounts of Vitamin D, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, Calcium and Zinc.

Egg, particularly the yolk, are one of the top food sources of choline. Choline is one of the building blocks for acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that plays a key role in our "working memory" - our ability to store short-term memories. 

1. Nutrition Facts
   Egg, boiledEgg, friedEgg, omeletEgg, poachedEgg, rawEgg, raw, gooseEgg, raw, quailEgg, scrambledEgg, white, rawEgg, yolk, rawEgg, boiled
   

   Amount Per 1 tbsp (8.5 g)1 large (50 g)100 grams1 cup, chopped (136 g)1 large (50 g)

   Calories 78

2. % Daily Value*

   Total Fat 5 g	7%
   Saturated fat 1.6 g	8%
   Polyunsaturated fat 0.7 g
   Monounsaturated fat 2 g
   Cholesterol 187 mg	62%
   Sodium 62 mg	2%
   Potassium 63 mg	1%
   Total Carbohydrate 0.6 g	0%
   Dietary fiber 0 g	0%
   Sugar 0.6 g
   Protein 6 g	12%

   Vitamin A	5%	Vitamin C	0%
   Calcium	2%	Iron	3%
   Vitamin D	11%	Vitamin B-6	5%
   Vitamin B-12	10%	Magnesium	1%