National Post

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When mayonnaise went mainstream: 100 years of Hellman’s history rolls out in largest-ever ad campaign
Mario Batali is taking us back in time with some blue ribbon recipes that include Hellman’s, including the odd but amazing super moist chocolate cake.
[Photo credit: Handout/AP]

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Wondering which foods to pick up first at the farmers’ market this spring?
Dietitian Jennifer Sygo recommends two foods — asparagus and the plant pictured above (can you guess what it is?) — to pick up as they arrive on shelves this month, fresh from gardens and farms. Both back a powerful punch of vitamins, and can assist in shedding pounds, too.
[Dean Bicknell/Postmedia News files]

Two Chinese kindergarten students die after rival school poisons yogurt
Chinese state media say two girls have died after eating poisoned yogurt placed outside their kindergarten at the direction of the head of a rival school.

The Xinhua News Agency says police believe the poisoning was motivated by competition for students between the schools.

It says the woman confessed that she injected the yogurt with rat poison and asked a man to place it with notebooks on the road to the rival kindergarten in Pingshan county in Hebei province. (Tyler Anderson / National Post files)

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Dietitian Jennifer Sygo’s four strategies for shedding weight this spring
If you’re trying to shed excess weight this spring, start by ditching the leftover Easter candy, adding some protein and considering a raw component in your daily diet. Jennifer Sygo goes over some surefire ways to get your healthier regimen off the ground.
[Photo credit: Peter J. Thompson/National Post files]

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If you can make ‘Yak-a-mein soup,’ you can cure a hangover: Study says Southern recipe can remedy morning-after ailments
Deep-fried canary wings, buffalo milk and even an Alka-Seltzer hamburger are among some of the most ridiculous ways people have tried to overcome the aches and pains of a hangover. But researchers from New Orleans say they have found scientific evidence to suggest that the city’s treasured “Yak-a-mein soup,” also  known as “old sober” is actually the best remedy to scare away the toughest of hangovers. (Wikipedia Commons)

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New moms eating their placentas in attempt to beat post-partum depression
Susan Stewart collects fresh human placentas, takes them home and steams them with lemon, ginger and cayenne pepper. Once cooked, she puts the organs in a dehydrator overnight then grinds them and measures the powder out into gel capsules.

The service – the Calgary single mother makes a living at this – costs about $200.

Within a day, she presents new moms with their placentas in pill form – an average human placenta yields about 150 capsules – with promises of renewed energy, better lactation and no post-partum depression. They keep indefinitely.

Placenta-eating has gained some cachet among the natural-birth set, including Mad Men’s January Jones. Ms. Stewart said she became interested in it in 2009, after she was knocked down by depression following the birth of her first child, and she could see little downside from trying it.

“It was natural, it wasn’t from a drug. It was an organ that comes from your body and it’s typically thought of as a disposable organ or medical waste,” she said. (Keith Morison for National Post)

Camel gifted to French president is mistaken for food, made into tagine and eaten for dinner
As if President Francois Hollande of France did not have enough trouble with a stagnant economy and a scandal over his former budget minister’s secret overseas bank accounts, now his camel has been eaten.

Grateful Malian authorities gave the baby camel to Hollande during a triumphant visit to Mali in early February, after French troops intervened to drive back Islamist rebels who had seized the north of the country.

The French president left his baby camel in the care of a family in Timbuktu. The family, evidently misunderstanding the purpose of the custody arrangement, proceeded to slaughter the camel and feast on it. According to local reports, it was fashioned into a tasty tagine. (AFP PHOTO / TIZIANA FABITIZIANA)

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How medical science got it exactly wrong on childhood food allergies
How prevalent are food allergies? According to the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, the prevalence of children under the age of 18 afflicted with food allergies increased by 18% from 1997 to 2007. For certain food allergies, the increase has been even steeper. Children in North America and the U.K., for example, have seen the prevalence of peanut allergies double in a decade, according to a 2008 study published by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. And a Canadian study about peanut allergies conducted on Montreal families showed an increase from 1.34% in the 2000-2002 period to 1.62% prevalence in the 2005-2007 period.

“We don’t have a good explanation for why that is,” Papadopoulos said. “But delayed introduction does seem to be a factor.” (Getty Images/Thinkstock)

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Bacteria common red meat spikes risk of heart disease: Cleveland Clinic study
Everyone knows red meat isn’t the healthiest thing you can have on your plate. But a new study shows that eating steak, burgers and roasts may also trigger bacteria in the gut that further increase the risk of heart disease.
[Photo by Aaron Lynett/National Post files]

Thieves make off with five tons of Nutella in chocolate-hazelnut heist worth more than $20,000
These thieves might really have sticky fingers. Police said Monday an unknown number of culprits made off with 5 metric tons of Nutella chocolate-hazelnut spread from a parked trailer in the central German town of Bad Hersfeld over the weekend.

The gooey loot is worth an estimated $20,710.

Homophobic insults force gay restaurant owners in small Manitoba town to close up shop
A pair of gay restaurateurs is closing up shop in Morris, Man., saying they are sick of being the target of anti-gay slurs. Pots N Hands, which advertises “home cooked meals,” opened in the community of 1,700 70 kilometres south of Winnipeg just four months ago.

Ever since, alleges owner Dave Claringbould, he and his partner have been assailed by homophobic slurs, such as a customer asking if his plate of food was diseased.

“They should get the hell out of here. I don’t really like them — the service and who they are,” resident Aaron Kleinsasse told the Winnipeg Free Press this week.

Since word of the verbal attacks first became public, other locals have tried to bolster the new business by eating there or sending messages of support. But Claringbould says he has experienced homophobia in a small town before and knows some people will never change their attitudes. (Trevor Hagan / The Canadian Press)

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Could an egg a day help keep a growing waistline at bay?
A new study examining the eating patterns of teenage girls in the U.S. and the effects those habits have on feelings of hunger and obesity has found that yes, eating breakfast is bad. How bad? It can directly lead to getting fat. The good news? Eating breakfast, especially when it includes ample protein, may help protect against hunger cravings and the risk of obesity.
[Photo credit: Oliver Berg/AFP/Getty Images files]

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What’s better for losing weight (staying healthy)? A smoothie, or juice?
Post dietitian Jennifer Sygo weighs in on what makes a more nutritious glass of liquid nourishment, and the science of why.
[Adrian Lam/Postmedia News files]