Monkey Business

I was reading a recent article in the NY Times about using monkeys and mice/rats as an experimental model for obesity and diabetes research and ran across this statement:

"Dr. Hansen, who has been doing research on obese monkeys for four decades, prefers animals that become naturally obese with age, just as many humans do. Fat Albert, one of her monkeys who she said was at one time the world’s heaviest rhesus, at 70 pounds, ate “nothing but an American Heart Association-recommended diet,” she said."

Maybe the American Heart Association diet is not so healthy after all.

I just finished reading . . .

Once a Spy by Keith Thomson. This is his first novel. If you like lots of action I highly recommend it. The action starts early and keeps up throughout the entire novel until the very end. The main characters are a father and son duo. The father was a spy unbeknownst to his son. The son likes to gamble on the horse races and is deep in debt. The two do not have a close relationship and never have. Although the father is still fairly young, he has developed some early symptoms of Alzheimer's and this brings him and his son together.

Unfortunately, the bad guys are out to get the former spy for what he knows. And then the action begins. The father and son basically run for their lives throughout the novel. In addition to the action there is plenty of witty dialogue. I recommend checking it out from your local library.

Are You Taking A Statin?

Just ran across this post concerning muscle damage and statins on the Fat Head blog which I found interesting.