If science can be said to be the reliable and valid documentation of observable events, and not having instruments to observe a limiting factor, it’s exciting this week to note three interesting events that affect what and how we eat.

The first is today’s F.D.A. ruling that limits antibiotics use for livestock.  This will level the playing field between organics and non-organics in farming, obviating in part marketing labels and branding, and even more importantly: It ought to have a positive impact on the number of deaths occurring each year due to antibiotic-resistant infections.  In the NYT article on today’s front page, the writer notes that “22,000” die every year and that “two million” Americans “fall sick every year” from antibiotic resistant infections.

Next: Nuts.  Tree nuts, ground nuts, nuts.  Just eat ’em and lots of ’em and you stand a better chance of having good cardiovascular health.  Looks like that guy in, “Best in Show,” was right about nuts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGmNqzbsuiY.

Finally, there’s news about organic milk.  In a study sponsored by an organic milk company, it was found that organic whole milk has fewer omega-6s than omega 3s.  The problems are that it’s whole milk, which isn’t particularly good; that milk isn’t necessary as a source of anything for any of us; that omega 6s are actually OK; and, that it’s an industry sponsored study.  Here’s William Willett on the study, as quoted in the NYT: “Dr. Willett said omega-6s were actually associated with a lower risk of heart disease, and he called the ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s ‘irrelevant.’ People should try to eat more of both, he said. And he noted that milk was not essential to a healthy diet; adults in many countries drink little or none. ‘We don’t know all the long-term consequences, so I think the best strategy given current knowledge is to keep intake low to moderate (as in the Mediterranean diet) if it is consumed at all,’ Dr. Willet wrote in an email.”