Dieting to beat jet-lag

You would think the Central Intelligence Agency and Mormon Tabernacle Choir have almost nothing in common. And you'd be right — except for how they handle jet lag.

Both institutions use an anti-jet-lag diet developed at Argonne National Lab near Darien, Ill. Argonne officials think that information might come in handy now that summer vacations for some people will include flights to Paris, London, Prague, Beijing or other destinations multiple time zones away.

What's good for spies and sopranos will work for "anyone traveling across three or more time zones," Argonne spokesman Dave Baurac said. A study on members of the Minnesota and Wisconsin National Guards, published in 2002 in the medical journal Military Medicine, showed they were 7 to 16 times less likely to experience jet lag after embracing the anti-jet-lag-diet, Baurac noted.

The Argonne Anti-Jet-Lag Diet, which also includes a sleep-timing regimen, "maintains our healthy cellular rhythms by using the same natural time cues that nature uses," Baurac said. Those would be the type of food you eat and the time you eat, sleep and ingest caffeine — all of it starting three days before the trip. Feast days and fast days are involved, as is drinking coffee at 9 p.m. and walking the aisles of the plane about 2 a.m.

Argonne contends it has helped "hundreds of thousands of travelers avoid jet lag," including Ronald Reagan, the military, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, World Bank, even the Canadian National Swim Team. Former Argonne biologist Charles Ehret, who passed away in 2007, devoted his career to studying the daily biological rhythms in a variety of organisms and invented the anti-jet-lag diet in the 1960s, Baurac said.

Where can a traveler obtain the Anti-Jet-Lag-Diet? Visit antijetlagdiet.com and fork over $10.95 for the program on a one-way trip or $16.95 to help beat jet lag on a round trip. (c) 2009, Chicago Tribune.