Food as medicine is a new concept for many Grand Rounders and yet, veni, vidi, veggie…I came, I saw, I had a salad. The best of the medical blogosphere follows.

Tasty food as medicine. Sports medicine scientist Jolie Bookspan explains succinctly what else to use to stop joint pain (probiotics, spices, aromatics and more), thus avoiding the increased risk of hip fracture and osteoporosis with PPIs (Nexium et al). Dietitian Cynthia Sass will endear lovers of spelling bees, cruciferous vegetables and science to her smart Diet Dish link for 222 Brussels with an S recipes, including kabobs.

Ruth at Eating Fabulous touts Forbes’ 9 top surprisingly healthy foods from “dark chocolate for your heart to turmeric for your colon cancer”. Self-experimenter Seth Roberts, on his Shangri-La Diet blog asks if drinking olive oil is healthy, and indeed, Ancel Keys documented its daily use in the Seven Countries longevity study. And Gloria Gamat tells us that eating more fish means less chance of dementia {(is it the DHA? do Mrs. Paul’s count? is it the pterostilbene? (a derivative of resveratrol) }.

In sickness and in health. Impacted Nurse’s guestimates vomitus trajecticus after a magic mushroom quiche you’ll never forget, and Kim at Emergiblog meditation on regurgitation wants to rename the “flu” the “spew”. Her identification of the Starbucks Throwback, the Two-Fer and the expected if disgusting Non-Chewer has nutritional implications. Chewing is also inadvisable if, for example, you are uninformed and in the wilderness, about which Paul Auerbach’s wild plants and mushrooms is clear.

Death by cheese platter promises melting Explorateur, but Nurse Ratched administers edged cubes of cheese, dosed impulsively. Let’s just say it strikes a chord. And though every clinician has moved a patient from liquids to solids, few have sucked spaghettini thru a feeding tube, notes Universalhealth, though I wouldn’t put it past TV’s House. If you are so tempted, Lisa Marcucci’s Inside Surgery would test your olfactory nerve (80 percent of taste is smell) with oil of wintergreen, oil of cloves, oil of cinnamon, vanilla and anise. Yow.

Excess. Tundra medicine dreams laments the 50 year path of the Yupik Eskimos from hunter-gatherers to soda, pasta, rice and Crisco eaters. Too much food is a problem for StorkDoc, who bravely broadcasts his pledge to lose 60# this year, an early Christmas present.

(Note to StorkDoc: it’s not willpower. It’s planning. You need accountability.)

Ask Dr. Dork, who writes of urban rangers and Egyptian watercourses (denial is not just a river in Egypt, bada-bing). He has dropped 65# and has kept it off, mostly by walking. A lot. Rita Schwab likes the PhotoShop diet (spokeswoman: Katie Couric c/o CBS); and who can blame her? Every picture tells a story, as does Rita’s side-by-side with Katie. Tony Chen advocates fasting, telling why diets don’t work, and Diet Blog agrees with those who refuse to diet, because diet=misery : many plus-size comments here agree.

The globe. A detailed Malaysian blog describes shark fin soup, which you should never order because of the cruel finning of the sharks, the lack of medicinal benefit, the off-the-charts mercury content of meat and fin, and because Yao Ming says so. George C calls this a controversial delicacy, but both claims have little bite. From Australia in Limes&Lycopene, Kathryn Elliott features a pictorial guide to the “5 serves of veggies” recommended in forthcoming Australian RDIs; she offers photos to show that 5 serves do not require a semi trailer. From Manila, the marinade for a kilo of Sasama Yakitori relies on coconut vinegar, soy sauce and 15-20 cloves of garlic: the dish is high in lean protein and hypertensives “need not worry too much” says Dr. Emer

(I might check a creatinine and do a recipe analysis first, there, buddy).

The step-by-step preparation photos of the skewered chicken are strangely fixating, as if from a TIA. Seth Godin would take that wet chicken and dry rub it, pressing the difference between ingredients (Hungarian paprika) and cooking (fish rub), even if they’re the same product: some people want a hand held. And from Hungary, medical student N Curse blogterviews (for real) naturopath Tom Greenfield about the Blood Type Diet, the science of which is unfamiliar to many clinicians, and separately about nutrigenomics, also unfamiliar but fast gaining scientific credibility in the West.

Kids. Moreena displays festive food: Chicago pizza-for-Thanksgiving which her lucky liver-transplant kiddo requested and ate, sans puree. Andrea Diancoli’s girls need magnesium now pulses with energy, and offers a short list of essential foods and the JCEM citation. And PediatricObesity reveals what Disney offers kids in licensing deals with the big 3 of childhood obesity…nutrition anyone?

Finally, whether Revolution Health will displace WebMD, Medscape and Yahoo we’ll have to see: Allen Searls (Revolution invites Grand Rounders) excitedly promos nutrition tools in beta. Here’s a revolutionary device for weight loss: a DDRevolution!

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