Climate change to cause more diet related deaths

A young man in drought conditions in Ethiopia (Author: USAID African Bureau) We are all told to improve our diet; increasing our fruit and vegetable consumption and reducing our red meat intake. But a new study, ‘Global and regional health effects of future food production under climate change; a modelling study,’ published in The Lancet…
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The sugar industry and the World Health Organization – still at odds

I recently attended the International Sugar Organization’s annual conference in London, hoping to hear Dr. Francesco Branca of the World Health Organization explaining the rationale for the WHO’s recommendations on how much sugar people should eat, and see what response he got from the assembled sugar industry representatives and how he responded to that. As…
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New report highlights link between forests, farms and food security

With the global population estimated to reach 9 billion by 2050, there has been much debate around the issues of nutrition and food security. Amid these concerns, a report published on May 6 by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), calls for greater consideration of the use of forests as a food source as…
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Low-level iodine-deficiency produces lower IQ children in UK

IN my March 2013 blog “Eat less salt but make sure it contains iodine!”, I described the  problems of addressing iodine–deficiency diseases in Pakistan and  the worrying rise in iodine deficiency in the UK,  linked to a shift  in eating patterns away from dairy and oily fish, our traditional sources of iodine.   Whereas, other developed…
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Low salt diets could allow iodine-deficiency diseases to re-emerge

Salt has been used for thousands of years to flavor & preserve food BUT reliance on fast food, biscuits and tinned goods, with their hidden salt content, has created for us a high salt diet and with it an alarming rise in cardiovascular disease. Reducing our salt intake, by working with food industry and educating…
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Is artisanal salt healthier than commercial salt?

 Guest blogger, Henry Ko, health services researcher with SingHealth, Singapore, provides a personal commentary on issues raised by Mark Bitterman's book  on salt: “Salted: A manifesto on the world’s most essential mineral, with recipes”.  As a healthcare researcher with both professional and recreational interests in food, nutrition, and cooking, I was drawn to a book…
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Chocolate Made in South Africa for homesick Brits?

This blog is about the weirdness of global trade… and the lengths (literally) we go for chocolate. The wrapper on my Marks & Spencer (M&S) valentine chocolates read: “Made with our exclusive British Milk chocolate recipe, Made in South Africa”. Incredibly, it seemed that a firm in South Africa (SA) was targeting local people with…
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Jumping the red light – Do consumers pay attention to nutritional labels?

There have been many labelling schemes to make clearer to consumers the healthiness of foods, such as traffic light codes with green for healthy and red for less healthy. But do consumers actually make use of the labels and choose healthier foods?In a paper in CAB Reviews, Sophie Hieke and Jo Wills of the European…
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Hospital Food Anyone?

There’s a new virus spreading around geriatric wards of the UK’s National Health Service and it’s got hospital managers quaking in their pinstriped suits. Even more worrying than MRSA, this infectious little viral is set to infect the elderly, making them – and their carers – proactive.
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You say tomato, I say cardioprotective antiplatelet factor

Studies directly on platelets show that tomato juice and kiwi fruit juice are both potent at preventing platelet aggregation.
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