Michael Rosenthal
(10/2023) Everyone who spends time outdoors eventually sees caterpillars. Caterpillars are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera, the insect order that includes butterflies and moths. Caterpillars do not attack human beings (!) as do some other insects, and they eat plant material, often, but not always leaves. About 1% of caterpillars eat insects, and some are cannibalistic or feed on products of other animals, such as clothes moths who feed on wool, and even hooves and horn moths who feed on hooves and horns of dead ungulates, a category of critter that includes deer, camels, elks and reindeer, as well as a number of others who largely live on grasslands. Caterpillars have soft bodies that can grow rapidly between moults. Their size varies from one millimeter (0.039 inches) up to 14 centimeters (5.5 inches).
Because caterpillars are typically voracious feeders, many of them are among the most serious of agricultural pests. Some of them who become moths cause harm to fruits and other agricultural produce. Moths are generally obscure and do no direct harm. On the positive side, various species of caterpillar are valued as sources of silk, as human or animal food, or for biological control of pest plants. Caterpillars have an interesting place due to their metamorphosing into butterflies. This quality has led to references in Lewis Carroll’s Adventures in Wonderland and in an episode of the popular television show Mad Men, and also in an episode of Season 5 of The Sopranos.
Woollybear festivals are held in several locations in the fall. One festival in Vermillion, Ohio, has costume contests for children and pets. A festival in Banner Elk, North Carolina, features crafts, food, and races. The Woolly Worm Festival in Beattyville, Kentucky features food, vendors, live music, and a Woolly Worm Race, in which people race the wollybear caterpillar up vertical strings.
Other Woolley Bear events are held in Oil City, Pennsylvania, and Little Valley, New York. Caterpillars seem rather innocuous, but some have evolved more aggressive self-defense measures. These measures include spiny bristles or long fine hair-like setae with detachable tips that will irritate the aggressor by lodging in the skin or mucous membranes. Some birds swallow hairy caterpillars. Highly aggressive caterpillar defenses are bristles called utricating hairs which produces poisonous venom. The venom in the South American silk moth, genus Lonomia, produces anticoagulant venom powerful enough to cause death from hemorrhage in a human being.
Some caterpillars have evolved countermeasures which enable them to eat the leaves of toxic plants! In addition to harm being done to them from the toxins, they sequester it to protect them from predators. The species include cinnabar moths and monarch caterpillars.
There is quite a variation in caterpillar impact. Some of them are indeed poisonous or distasteful, and their bright coloring serves as a warning to predators. Others mimic more dangerous caterpillars while not being dangerous themselves. Many caterpillars are cryptically colored and resemble the plants on which they feed. There are caterpillars that look like other things in the environment such as thorns or bird droppings.
Environmental Nutrition, the newsletter from the Health Information Network, for which I promote ongoing enthusiasm, has an article in the August 2021 issue entitled Frozen Treats on a Stick. It reminds me of the days when ice cream trucks came rolling down the street in the summer, and you ran inside to find someone who would give you the money needed to buy an ice cream treat. My hometown, Youngstown, Ohio, (also known as Crimetown USA) is the home of Isaly’s, a chain of family-owned dairies which started in Mansfield, Ohio.
It was very popular in the years of my youth, and I still maintain my passion for their ice cream bars. Their products are pretty much purchased now in supermarkets in the frozen food aisle. Like all treats, a consideration of the ingredients is useful in making a healthy diet for you. These frozen treats do not contain much, if any salt, so sodium is not an issue. The main area of nutritional concern is calories, fat, saturated fat, and added sugar. Some of these products encourage multiple ingestion at a single serving.
As Mel Brooks says, "Everything is Show Biz". Hard as it may be, it is wise to limit your treat to one bar at a time. In more recent times, Greek yogurt has been used as an ingredient, which is healthier, by giving a protein boost. There are a few other options to consider. One can look for smaller bars rather than larger ones. Favor those made with genuine fruit, rather than flavored sugar substitutes. Avoid those treats containing sugar alcohols. They can be sources of gastric distress. Those treats that are non-dairy contain no more than 60 calories and 7 grams of added sugar. Dairy choices contain no more than 150 calories, 7 grams of fat, and 10 grams of added sugar.
The same issue of Environmental Nutrition has an article on caffeine-containing drinks. I rarely start the day without coffee, for better or for worse. Let’s see which dominates! Caffeine is of course the ingredient that creates the effect, besides that of flavor or just encouraging your habit. Energy drinks have been a major source of caffeine.
Though caffeine is not generally thought of as a dangerous drug, excessive consumption can lead to nervousness, headaches, nausea, cardiac arrhythmias, and seizures. Most of us who drink coffee can relate to a time when we drank a lot of it, and felt nervous and shaky. Excessive coffee input can increase blood pressure. Also increasing with excessive coffee drinking is the stress hormone norepinephrine. Caffeine containing products often contain other substances that contribute to health effects. I still have coffee in the morning and occasionally during the day, but I’ve learned not to drink too much and get these unpleasant and unhealthy side effects.
So how much coffee is too much coffee?
A noted sports cardiologist, John P. Higgins, suggests that a person should limit his or her amounts of caffeine. A noted rose in blood pressure and the stress hormone norepinephrine came with energy drinks. The Food and Drug Administration has not taken a very active role is this topic. It is well, says the article’s author to limit your consumption of coffee and energy drinks, and undertake a good diet and life-style.
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