The Straight Dope 05/26/2006

The Straight Dope -- By Cecil Adams
http://www.straightdope.com

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 05/26/2006

Dear Cecil:

My aunt recently died. When I asked about the funeral details, I was
told that there would be no graveside service because my aunt had
donated her body to science. Nobody seemed to know much more, so I turn
to you. How do you donate your body to science? Who wants it and what do
they do with it? When whoever got your body is done with it, how do they
dispose of it? --Codaflex, via e-mail

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Cecil replies:

Good for your aunt, and for anybody else who agrees to become a body or
organ donor. (I confess I signed the organ-donor form on the back of my
driver's license only recently--just never got around to it before.)
Body donation is vital to medical training and research, and it's not
like you'll have any further use for the old hat rack once you ship out.
That said, donation isn't a pretty business and abuses do occur, so you
may as well know the facts before you decide.

Most donated bodies go to medical schools. The how-to is pretty
straightforward. Googling "willed body program" plus your state or
poking around the Web site of your favorite med school will turn up
detailed information and often a donor form. The institution may send
you a wallet card to notify authorities of its claim at the time of
death. Be sure to discuss the matter with your family and doctor so
they'll know what to do (and won't freak) when the time comes.

What do med schools do with cadavers? 

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/060526.html

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC #1 - 09/18/1992

Dear Cecil:  

A friend recently told me that her boss, an Orthodox Jew, could
not eat M&Ms due to their shells being coated with beetle juice.
Restricting bug intake doesn't seem extraordinary considering Talmudic
law (which might be more discerning than federal food regulations but
who knows), but what about the accusation that insects are being used to
make the candy coating that melts in your mouth, not in your hand?
--Michael Chelm, Los Angeles  

Dear Michael:  

You didn't get the whole story. The rumor is that the coating is made
from a secretion of the lac beetle, the same insects used to make a
well-known floor coating. Aha, you think, M&Ms don't melt in your hand
because they paint 'em with shellac! Worth a giggle (maybe), but untrue.
The folks at M&M/Mars say the coating is a mixture of sugar and corn
syrup that is buffed to a high sheen by tumbling the M&Ms together during
manufacture.   

The story about the beetles has been circulating quite awhile. It turned up in
1991 in a kid's book called Kids Can Save the Animals; after a little
prodding from M&M/Mars the publisher admitted having goofed. (Apparently
some candies similar to M&Ms do use a bug-based confectioner's glaze.)
Although M&Ms aren't certified as kosher, a company spokesman says, "to
the best of our knowledge they would be accepted under kosher dietary
laws." That probably wouldn't satisfy an Orthodox Jew, but for purposes
of this question we can give Mars the benefit of the doubt. 

For more, see: 
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_118.html

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC #2 - 01/19/1990

Dear Cecil: 

Was spinach once considered the ultimate vegetable? Lately I've been
spending a lot of time reading my daughter the classic children's story
"The Little Engine That Could," which lists all the good things the
circus train is carrying for the girls and boys on the other side of the
mountain. In the food category, in addition to big golden oranges,
red-cheeked apples, etc., we find "fresh spinach for their dinners."
When called upon to read this line, needless to say, I gag and
substitute something more palatable and nutritious, such as Fritos. But
the mention of spinach has gotten me to thinking about the old Popeye
the Sailor comic, where a timely can of spinach unfailingly endows
Popeye with super strength, sort of like reverse kryptonite. What
magical qualities did people think spinach had that warranted such a
shameless campaign of propaganda to get kids to eat it? As a child I
regarded spinach as inedible mush and nothing I have learned about it
since has made me change my mind. --Frank C., Chicago  

Dear Frank:  

Come on, spinach isn't so bad. If it were a choice between spinach and, 
say, radioactive pond slime, I'd definitely take spinach. But among things
you're likely actually to be made to eat, I agree spinach rates pretty
high on the yukky scale. Along with castor oil and mustard plasters, the
stuff exemplifies the in-suffering-lieth-virtue school of child rearing:
if it's bad, it must be good for you.  

In the early part of the century, when the study of micronutrients was in
its infancy, spinach was regarded with something approaching awe.
"When well cooked, it is about as health-giving an article as can be
imagined," said Artemas Ward in the 1923 Encyclopedia of Food. 
Spinach was prized, at least by nutritionists, for its high concentration
of iron and vitamins A and C. (Actually it contains a vitamin A precursor
called carotene.) It was also considered a good source of roughage.  

But its fans recognized that spinach was a tough sell and did what they
could to hype it. "It is rendered sweeter and more delicate (and thus
almost universally liked) by cooking with a fair proportion of lettuce," 
wrote Ward--but one suspects he had his fingers crossed when he did. 

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_120.html

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