Eating as an environmentalist. According to a new study, transportation and food miles make a relatively minor contribution to the total climate impact of the American diet [News Source]

Los Angeles wants to take bite out of fast food. The City Council was poised to vote Tuesday on a moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in a swath of the city where a proliferation of such eateries goes hand-in-hand with obesity. [News Source]

Turning Niagara’s garbage into cash. Niagara's biggest landfill has a massive case of indigestion. Like an enormous stomach, the Niagara Waste Systems landfill reluctantly digests a diet of rotting veggies, rusty metals, plentiful plastic and chemical soup. [News Source]

Cut children’s fluoride exposure, report to Health Canada urges. An expert panel Health Canada commissioned to study the risks of fluoride exposure says the government should cut the recommended amount in drinking water and encourage the use of low-fluoride toothpaste by children. [News Source]

EFSA opinion reaffirms safety of meat and milk derived from cloning. The European Food Safety Authority announced its final scientific opinion that food from cloned cattle and pigs is safe, and there are no implications of animal cloning on the environment. [News Source]

On the table: the calories lurking in restaurant food. It's no mystery why Americans are getting fatter. We're expending less energy to work, play, travel and acquire food. And we're taking more calories in. And how! [News Source]

Cut children’s fluoride exposure, report urges. An expert panel says the government should cut the recommended amount of fluoride in drinking water, encourage children to use low-fluoride toothpaste and have makers of infant formula reduce levels in their products. [News Source]

Climate experts tussle over details. Public gets whiplash. When science is testing new ideas, the result is often a two-papers-forward-one-paper-back intellectual tussle among competing research teams--and lately the phenomenon has been glaringly apparent on global warming. [News Source]

Haiti: Mud cakes become staple diet as cost of food soars beyond a family’s reach. The global food and fuel crisis has hit Haiti harder than perhaps any other country, pushing a population mired in extreme poverty towards starvation and revolt. [News Source]

Pet tip: Guinea pigs, like humans, can’t make vitamin C (Rockford Register Star) What do guinea pigs, humans and primates have in common? All three species lack a gene that enables the body to make vitamin C. Without a daily dose of this vitamin, guinea pigs, like people, can develop scurvy, which can cause rough hair coat, loss of appetite, lameness, delayed wound healing and a weakened immune system. [News Source]

Vitamin C-rich diet may slash diabetes risk (Nutraingredients.com) The new study, which followed 21,831 men and women for 12 years, also found a weaker association between fruit and vegetable intake and a reduced diabetes risk, supporting the importance of the five-a-day regime. [News Source]

DSM Gains Most in 4 Months as Profit Beats Estimates (Update2) (Bloomberg.com) July 29 (Bloomberg) -- Royal DSM NV , the world's largest maker of vitamins, gained the most in four months after it reported second-quarter profit that beat analyst estimates and raised its full-year earnings outlook. [News Source]