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Restaurants Are Ditching Vanilla Ice Cream

Amy Hansen
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Restaurants Are Ditching Vanilla Ice Cream

This isn’t exactly a state of emergency, but it’s the second closest thing. There is a vanilla shortage and your ice cream situation may neveer be the same. In fact, many restaurants are excluding vanilla ice cream from menus.

Yes, vanilla has a reputation for being booooring, but that’s not the reason it’s getting dropped from the dessert roster. It’s because plantations of vanilla orchids off the Southeast Coast of Africa were destroyed. But let’s back up.

Related: 20 Insane Ice Cream Flavors From Around The World

High-quality vanilla, specifically Madagascar (where over 75 percent of vanilla is grown), is very precious. In a nutshell (preferably the kind that cradles an ice cream sundae), vanilla is sourced from the pods of vanilla orchids, which have to be hand-pollinated in order to be mass-produced because they are only open for a short amount of time, leaving a small window for natural pollination.

Bet you never pictured that process as you were diving into your a la mode spoon first, huh?

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About a year ago, a cyclone knocked out about 30 percent of vanilla crops, according to Madagascar farmers. That means Madagascar vanilla is even more precious. In the U.K., some ice cream makers are paying their suppliers 30 times more for vanilla extract than they did previously. As the BBC reports, “At around $600 per kilo the sweet ingredient costs more than silver.”

So, yeah, you can see why vanilla is getting nixed off of menus in restaurants, scoop shops and anywhere else that serves ice cream.

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And substitutes are, well, no substitute.

As the BBC states, synthetic flavoring called “vanillin” is not extracted from plants at all; it’s extracted from wood and sometimes even petroleum.

Related: 

And not only is that fact incredibly depressing, more industries are expected to rely on it until the cost of the real thing becomes more affordable. Others are just going to ditch vanilla from their menus all together.

Until then, you’re on your own.

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The Fresh Toast Marijuana Legislative Roundup: May 14

Alec Engber
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The Fresh Toast Marijuana Legislative Roundup: May 14

Last week was a promising one for veterans as a House committee advanced a medical marijuana bill. In Ohio, recreational cannabis took a huge step forward. Find out more in our weekly marijuana legislative roundup.

National:  

On Tuesday, the House Veterans Affairs Committee approved a bill that would allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to research the medical utility and safety of marijuana for common ailments afflicting veterans. If enacted, the VA Medical Cannabis Research Act would authorize the VA to “conduct and support research relating to the efficacy and safety [of medical marijuana]… on the health outcomes of covered veterans diagnosed with chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD], and other conditions.” The VA would research marijuana in both whole plant and concentrate forms, including at least three different strains of cannabis with varying levels of THC and CBD. A companion bill was also introduced in the Senate.  

A separate provision of a VA funding bill that passed the US House Appropriations Committee Tuesday urges the VA to expand marijuana research. The directive was attached to the Department of Veterans Affairs funding bill for 2019 and requests that the VA study the effectiveness and safety of cannabis-based treatments for PTSD, chronic pain, and other conditions. The amount spent on such research would be determined by the DA Secretary, who is asked to provide a report to Congress within 180 days. However, the provision is attached to the bill in such a way that it is legally nonbinding.  

Ohio: 

On Thursday, a proposed constitutional amendment on recreational cannabis legalization passed a procedural hurdle that could allow it to be placed on the ballot in 2019. After rejecting a previous version of the legislation in April, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine certified the Marijuana Rights and Regulations amendment. It will now go to the state Ballot Board for approval before its backers can begin collecting the 305,591 signatures needed to place it on the ballot, though it is they will be able to gather enough signatures by the July deadline for ballot placement this year. If approved by a majority of voters, the Marijuana Rights and Regulations amendment would allow adults 21 and older to grow, possess, consume, share, sell, and transport marijuana. It would also give the state Legislature authority to devise a licensing and regulatory system and allow municipal control over cannabis businesses, which would only be permitted within precincts where a majority voted in favor of legalization.  

5 Weirdest Takeaways From Goop’s ‘Sex Issue’

Maria Loreto
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5 Weirdest Takeaways From Goop’s ‘Sex Issue’

While Goop has received its fair share of criticism over their, um, unorthodox lifestyle and wellness recommendations, it’s still a pretty successful business with plenty of followers and fans.

Launched by Gwyneth Paltrow in 2008 as a newsletter, Goop evolved into an international company that hosts summits and sells different items, such as vitamin programs and skincare products.

Their latest book, The Sex Issue, discusses all sorts of sex things in a very Goop-y manner, which is funny and also mind-boggling. The book reveals polls from their staff, consults with experts, discusses BDSM, and ethical porn. You know, light reading.

Hollywood Reporter compiled some of the strangest things that the issue covers.

Here are 5 of our favorite take-aways:

Your Dating Profile Should Be A “Lobster Trap”

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That’s a really bad mental image to have, but maybe there’s a useful metaphor in there somewhere. According to Goop, you should chill, because some weeks lobsters wander into your dating profile or “trap”, and on some weeks they don’t. They also say that the “lobster is the most sustainable seafood there is,” which, thanks, I guess?

In conclusion, Goop’s metaphors suck and you should also avoid stressing out while using dating apps.

Look For “Quirky Places To Get It On”

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In one section of the book, Goop staff-members list the weirdest — sorry, quirkiest — places where they’ve ever had sex, including a rain forest and a child’s pirate ship.

The “Sacred Snake Ceremony”

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Nope, the “sacred snake” in this instance is not a penis, it’s an actual snake. This ritual advised by a spiritual intimacy leader allows you to tap into your “divine feminine power,” by vibing with legit SNAKES. According to this crazy person, snakes are energy masters, capable of unlocking a woman’s sensuality whenever the ritual is conducted.

Condoms Have Dairy In Them

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Oh no, what will the vegans do? Goop also advises on buying water-based lubricant, and suggest, if you’re really concerned about the dairy in condoms, to buy the vegan-friendly option called Sustain, which — wouldn’t you know it — they sell on their site for $29.

Drink Lots Of Water

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The editors call this their “GOOP-iest sex tip ever.” So, yeah.

You can buy The Sex Issue on their website or on Amazon for $26.

How Does Medical Marijuana Work? Here’s The Science

Richard Faulk
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How Does Medical Marijuana Work? Here’s The Science

For all the devilish complexity of medical marijuana research (and it is quite, quite complex), the basic idea is easy to grasp. Here’s a breakdown:

  • The active ingredients of marijuana are called cannabinoids. There are dozens of them, but the ones best understood are delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which makes us stoned, and cannabidiol (CBD), which doesn’t.
  • It’s networks of receptor proteins that enable the cannabinoids to work in our bodies. We know of two types: CB1, which are found in the nerves, particularly in certain regions of the brain; and CB2, which are primarily in other areas, particularly our guts.
  • The CB1 and CB2 networks make up the endocannabinoid system, which includes the body’s homegrown versions of THC and CBD, the best known (that is to say, the least poorly understood) of which is ananadamide. We don’t know much about the endocannabinoid system. In fact, it was only discovered in the mid-1980s (in the same year we were discovering the Pet Shop Boys). Cracking its code is the key to medical marijuana research.
  • Because of the receptor location, scientists assumed that the cannabinoids (both endo- and exo-) would have some effect on motor coordination, mood, the perception of pain, the protection and natural death of brain cells, and the development of the immune system (in which the intestines play an important role). Studies have largely born out these assumptions.
  • There are hundreds of other components of marijuana, particularly in marijuana smoke. Most are not unique to cannabis and some may have medical benefits. Of course some are simply terrible for you, too. There may be some strange synergy between the cannabinoids (both unknown and unknown) and other ingredients that give “whole leaf” cannabis superpowers beyond the reach of pure, synthetic forms of THC and CBD. At least that’s a claim of some proponents of medical marijuana. But it is yet to be proven.

If you want to explore the science of marijuana in more depth, why not try the book whose name says it all: The Science of Marijuana, by Oxford biochemist Leslie Iverson. (FYI: Leslie is male—not that it makes any difference; just very British.)

If you prefer not to pay for your information, you are a terrible person. But you can download for free Marijuana as Medicine? Assessing the Science Base from the National Academic Press.

Both books were written before the turn of the millennium (although Iverson revised his in 2007), so their clinical reviews are a bit outdated. But they are accessible to us non-scientists, and their basic information is as sound as ever.

If you want even more depth, keep an eye on Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, the only peer-reviewed, open access journal of its kind. It just launched in July 2016, but it promises to be a thought-provoking and reliable resource. The editor-in-chief, Daniele Piomelli, is a professor at the University of California, Irvine, and a 20 year veteran of cannabis research.

Effects Of Cannabis On The Teen Brain Lasts This Long

Trey Reckling
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Effects Of Cannabis On The Teen Brain Lasts This Long

The underpinnings that supported the logic for federal prohibition on cannabis seem to crumble a bit more each day. A study released in the publication JAMA Psychiatry chips away at a major chunk of that foundation. Studies show that the negative effects of cannabis on the brains of teenagers seem to only last three days. After 72 hours without consuming, no loss of cognitive function detected.

This was a meta-analysis study, so it’s a review of existing research over a 44 year period beginning in the 1970s and including over 8,500 subjects collectively. The subjects had a mean age of 20-years-old. Of those, about 2,000 were cannabis users.

In the study’s conclusion, researchers state:

Associations between cannabis use and cognitive functioning in cross-sectional studies of adolescents and young adults are small and may be of questionable clinical importance for most individuals.”

The researchers concluded that much of the past hysteria over reduction in IQ, poor aptitude performance and lessened academic success has been “overstated.

“Overstated” is a nice word to describe the work of former fellow researchers who have played into the hands of the Reefer Madness crowd. They are talking about not just one study, but an overview of 69 professional studies over the dozens of years. Overstated. That’s what happens when science funding is largely dictated by poor policy and hyperbole.

Over the years, millions of our taxpayer dollars have been spent to educate us about teen cannabis users having lower IQs, stunted brain development and long-term negatively affected memory and problem-solving abilities. Overstated. That is a generous word to use. 

“That was the biggest surprise. There is biological plausibility that cannabis could cause changes in the brain that is still developing. But the abstinence data we have indicates that while those effects are detectable, they seem to go away after more than three days of abstinence,”  J. Cobb Scott, assistant professor of psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine, told Time Magazine.

This lends more credence to the Canadian decision to allow consumption and purchase of legal cannabis at 18 years old. That decision had been criticized by some based on the very research that is now being called into question.

Does this mean that parents have less to stand on when it comes to guiding their children to making smart decisions when it comes to the herb? Absolutely not. But it does mean that these old truths do not hold up anymore in an argument.

Young people are enabled with the internet and access to information. They can fact check and do their own research on what is currently known. They are smart, and the cannabis users among them are no less so, as we have learned. So, instead, let’s have a conversation based on facts, not hype. Young people are likely to respect us for it and, as a result, more likely to hear what we have to think about keeping them safe.

5 Products To Help Pass A Drug Test

Maria Loreto
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5 Products To Help Pass A Drug Test

While marijuana is legal in many states, it’s still okay for employers and figures of authority to ask for a drug test. If you’re a regular marijuana user this means trouble, especially when the test is sprung on you out of nowhere. Getting your body clean is a process that, no matter how hard you try, takes some time. How fast you can “cleanse” your body mostly depends on how regularly you consume marijuana.

While the following five methods have offered positive results in the past, it’s very important to know that they’re not miracle workers and that tricking a drug test is really hard. There’s honestly no better way to pass a test than by staying clean for a couple of weeks, eating healthy, and drinking tons of water.

Easy @ Home Drug Screen Test

This product tests you urine, helping you see if you’re ready to pass your drug test or not. While it may not help you get clean any faster, it could help you prepare for your test and see how long it takes for your body to get rid of drugs completely.

Quick Fix Plus Synthetic Urine

This kit is super cheap, which is weird considering that it comes with a heating pad and some fake urine. Still, if the drug test you’re trying to pass is in any way serious it’ll probably be able to distinguish synthetic urine from real one that came from a body. The real question is: How desperate are you?

Nutra Cleanse Clean Caps

These cleanse capsules use different sets of ingredients to detox your body and flush out your toxins rapidly. It also helps if you drink tons of water. While the capsules claim that they provide results within 90 minutes, most users claim that they take a longer period of time to take effect.

Rapid Clear Detox Cleanse Shampoo

If you’re taking a hair drug test then this shampoo might just be what you need. It’s designed to strip all toxins away from your hair follicles without damaging your hair. The guys who made the shampoo also suggest to use their conditioner. Maybe both work better together, or maybe they just wanted to make more money.

Oral Clear Chewing Gum

This gum works for saliva tests. It’s pretty easy to use. According to the label, you’re supposed to chew it for 30 seconds and then spit it back out, allowing you to have neutral saliva for over 30 minutes. While the time constraints sound a little scary — is your tongue going to fall out? — it also sounds pretty legitimate.

The bad thing about these chewing gums is the fact that they’re pretty pricey, costing over $90 per chew. For your mission to be successful, you’ll also have to time yourself perfectly.

Why Complaining About Your Job Is Good For Everyone

Amy Hansen
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Why Complaining About Your Job Is Good For Everyone

Bad management, long hours, lack of appreciation, not feeling valued — these are just a few reasons we might be unhappy at work. But contrary to what your manager might think, bitching about your job could actually be good for you.

Vanessa Pouthier, a researcher at the University of Melbourne, studied a team of nurses and other health professionals at a large U.S. hospital for an entire year and found that workplace complaining might have some solid value.

She told ABC Radio Perth that joking and griping during conversations in the break room seemed to improve the mood of the team, which she described as clearly overworked.

“It helps people to process stress and frustration and you notice palpable changes when team members engaged in both activities,” she said, explaining that those bitch sessions have the potential to relieve the stress associated with workplace meetings.

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“One doctor said the meetings can be draining, but when they engage in banter and griping they leave the meeting feeling lighter and it changed the way they related to each other throughout the day.

“When that doesn’t happen, your day feels very long.”

Dr.P outhier went on to say that even though managers get nervous over the idea of staff not loving their job or getting irritated over some aspect of it, it’s really more beneficial than not, unless the workplace is at a toxic crossroads.

“Those gripes are not necessarily calls for change; they are calls for commiseration and bonding and just releasing the negative energy, especially when using humour,” she said, adding that the gripes are “statements of identification and kinship.”

Here’s Why Hot Weather Stresses People Out

Amy Hansen
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Here’s Why Hot Weather Stresses People Out

If you get depressed when the sun comes out, you’re not alone. Despite the bad rap winter gets, a new study finds that summer is when people are most likely to get a little down in the dumps, thanks to higher levels of circulating stress hormones.

Researchers from Poznan University of Medical Sciences in Poland have discovered seasonal patterns in the cortisol levels of medical students. Cortisol, the hormone released into the blood stream during stressful times, helps regulate the body’s levels of sugar, salt and fluids, thus, reducing inflammation and is essential for maintaining overall health.

RELATED: Anxiety And Stress Scientifically Proven To Be Reduced By Cannabis

According to Science Daily:

“The research team studied a group of female medical students on two separate days in the winter and for two days again in the summer. The researchers took saliva samples every two hours during each testing period — a full 24-hour cycle — to measure levels of cortisol and markers of inflammation. The volunteers completed a lifestyle questionnaire during each testing session about their sleep schedule, type of diet they followed and physical activity levels.”

The research team found cortisol levels to be higher on the summer testing dates.

RELATED: 5 Ways To Easily Manage Seasonal Affective Disorder

Nancy Molitor, an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry and behavioral science at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. has another take. She tells Live Science that hot weather creates other reasons for making us cranky, mainly lack of sleep, dehydration and restrictions on our daily actives (like being inside all day when it’s hot outside) — all of which are contributors to bad moods, especially when we feel like we can’t control them.

“Everyone’s fuse is going to be a little bit shorter,” Molitor said.

This Supermarket Chain Is Selling A Cannabis Alternative To Tobacco

Amy Hansen
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This Supermarket Chain Is Selling A Cannabis Alternative To Tobacco

Although the weed will be marketed as an alternative to tobacco, it will be way more expensive, with a 1.5-gram box of CBD bud going for 18 Swiss Francs (about $18).

They really know how to do legal weed in Switzerland. So much so, you can find the stuff next to cigarettes at your local grocery store.

The supermarket chain Lidl is planning to sell a new line of cannabis products in the form of 1.5 gram boxes of CBD flowers, packaged and promoted as an alternative to tobacco. In fact, the boxes will be sold alongside rolling tobacco at checkout.

Although the weed will be marketed as an alternative to tobacco, it will be way more expensive, with a 1.5-gram box of CBD bud going for 18 Swiss Francs (about $18).

Abiding by Switzerland’s cannabis laws means cannabis products must contain less than 1 percent THC in order to be manufactured and sold retail. In 2011, Switzerland passed a law allowing adults as young as 18-years-old to buy weed with less than 1 percent THC, making high CBD products more accessible.

Speaking to The Sun, Lidl said:

The manufacturer relies on sustainable agriculture and refrains entirely from adding chemical, synthetic or genetically modified substances.

The legally cultivable varieties contain only very small amounts of THC and a high proportion of CBD oil.

Last summer, Switzerland rolled out “the world’s first” hemp cigarette from Heimat. According to the company’s website, “Heimat Tabak & Hanf cigarettes can be consumed legally wherever smoking is permitted—in Switzerland, in any case. The cigarettes should not be taken abroad, as this may result in prosecution due to the differences in the permissible THC limits in other countries.”

As The Fresh Toast reported back in July, the cigarettes contain both hemp and cannabidiol (CBD), clocking in at 20 percent CBD.

How Bioavailability Will Change The Marijuana Game

David Sutton
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How Bioavailability Will Change The Marijuana Game

Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize cannabis for recreational use in 2012, since then, six others have followed suit, and more are sure to come. The legislation shift has been an economic boon. However, with all the positive results of legalization, we also regularly hear horror stories in the news about what happens when people mistakenly overindulge and end up in the emergency room.

The cannabis industry is still an entrepreneurial wild west. The testing is lacking, and the consumer base needs more options and more education on current consumption methods. You’d need biology PhD in physiology to properly understand the effects cannabis can have on the human body, as the effects vary substantially by consumption method, concentration and individual body chemistry.

The Problem

The fact is, cannabinoids (the active compounds in marijuana) are not user friendly and their potency can vary widely depending on a multitude of unpredictable factors such as the cannabis strain plant genetics, the soil climate conditions, the cultivation techniques, et cetera.

Further, the delivery methods available today are inefficient. There is lots of room for improvement. As such there has been a significant leap in the number of people showing up to the emergency room for marijuana. In fact, the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center reports a nearly 100 percent increase in marijuana-related calls following recreational legalization in the state.

Current Available Options

While there seem to be a plethora of delivery systems available on the market, they each have distinct drawbacks. Most notably, none of these methods provide a reliable dosage for use.

Inhalation: This may be the most popular or standard method of use. Smoking, vaping or using aerosols are somewhat faster acting and easier to control than other options, but inhalation can significantly irritate the lungs and is unappealing to many cannabis users. Plus, many vaporizers cartridges contain toxic chemical additives.

Intra-Oral: Spray tinctures, extracts, emulsion compositions, and drops can be administered to the oral mucosa (the membrane lining the mouth), but cannabinoid molecules are too large to pass though the mucosal layers into the bloodstream. Saliva carries them down your throat. So they work like ingesting an edible.

Oral: Finally, oral ingestion through the gastro-intestinal tract is the delivery method that is largely responsible for the notorious cannabis ‘over-doses’ and 9-1-1 calls. While the brownies, candies, and THC infused beverages are highly appealing upon first glance, they are wildly unpredictable due to cannabinoids’ low solubility and slow passage though the GI tract. The delay of onset makes it difficult to ingest the correct amount and their THC forms the highly potent psychotropic THC metabolite that creates greater tendency for adverse effects without warning.

A Better Delivery System

The answer to this problem is more research and further innovation such as delivery systems that provide greater bioavailability, increased bioactivity and precision dosing for a more predictable, controlled cannabis experience.

As more states legalize both recreational and medical marijuana, the danger to unknowing consumers will spread. It will be imperative to offer more products that enable the cannabinoids to enter the bloodstream quickly, rapidly peak in concentration and target Endocannabinoid System receptors to ensure a safe, controlled user experience.

In a market projected to reach $22 billion in sales by 2020, there is a huge opportunity for businesses to focus on pushing the innovation envelope to provide a better method of cannabis delivery to the growing cannabis user base. We all just need to make sure responsibility and testing goes hand-in-hand with the innovation.

About David Sutton

David Sutton is the chief operating officer at Denver-based NanoSphere Health Sciences. Throughout his career, Sutton has transformed concepts into profitable businesses – from nanotechnology to financial services. Sutton’s focus has been business design and strategy, assisting several start-up companies in business planning, capital development, operating infrastructures and product development. Sutton received his MBA in finance from the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver and has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Colorado.

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