- Toothpaste that contains the naturally-occurring cacao extract theobromine was more effective at repairing and re-mineralizing exposed dentin (the tissue that makes up the bulk of your teeth below the enamel) than fluoride toothpaste
- People who brushed their teeth with cacao-extract toothpaste twice a day for one week had “100 percent dental occlusion” with their tooth dentin becoming re-mineralized or repaired
- Past research has also shown that the phytocompound found in chocolate known as theobromine works better than fluoride at repairing lesions in artificial enamel
- There are safer and more effective solutions for dental health than fluoridated toothpaste (and fluoridated drinking water), including natural non-fluoride toothpastes and proper nutrition
I can only say: I'm sorry, America. As a
former Federal Reserve official, I was responsible for executing the
centerpiece program of the Fed's first plunge into the bond-buying
experiment known as quantitative easing. The central bank continues to
spin QE as a tool for helping Main Street. But I've come to recognize
the program for what it really is: the greatest backdoor Wall Street
bailout of all time.
Five years ago this
month, on Black Friday, the Fed launched an unprecedented shopping
spree. By that point in the financial crisis, Congress had already
passed legislation, the Troubled Asset Relief Program, to halt the U.S.
banking system's free fall. Beyond Wall Street, though, the economic
pain was still soaring. In the last three months of 2008 alone, almost
two million Americans would lose their jobs.
The
Fed said it wanted to help—through a new program of massive bond
purchases. There were secondary goals, but Chairman Ben Bernanke made
clear that the Fed's central motivation was to "affect credit conditions
for households and businesses": to drive down the cost of credit so
that more Americans hurting from the tanking economy could use it to
weather the downturn. For this reason, he originally called the
initiative "credit easing."