WE ARE WHAT WE EAT

[Stanley]

We need somewhere where we can alert each other to matters of good nutrition. The food processors are trying to get us to pay high prices for sub-standard food and need watching.
I always remember the old adage, 'Feed a cold and starve a fever' and while I have been fighting the Xmas Cold and have consciously kept up my fruit intake and not been frightened of a bit of saturated fat. There is a lot to be said for a good meat and veg stew if your appetite is up to it. One advantage was that I lost weight because of the infection, I shall have to watch it now I am better! I firmly believe that good grub aids recovery and while I don't normally take a vitamin supplement I have been on them during the attack! So, if you are under the weather, remember that there is a lot of sense in the old fashioned meat and onion broth!

[Tizer]

American scientists studying meat in supermarkets have found that it is better to use LED lights in the refrigerated cabinets instead of the present fluorescent lights. LEDs are colder and therefore keep the meat cooler, they use less electrical energy, and they don't discolour the meat a much as fluorescent lights. The work was done by Kansas State University.

[Stanley]

Only problem I have with that is that the supermarket view of displaying meat is that the more red it is the more saleable because modern shoppers associate the red colour with freshness. Some meat is best fresh, like pig liver still warm from the slaughterhouse (Ah, those breakfasts after delivering skim milk at Marshall's Piggery at Bradley!) (Sorry Heather!) I prefer my beef hung for three weeks and it is definitely not red!

Just heard a news item, pathologists in Yorkshire have suggested that lack of vitamin D could be a factor in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. This is sometimes associated with child abuse and anything that gives us a better way of assessing this would be welcome. This was expanded on later and they added that Rickets was becoming more common. Causes are thought to be diet, life-style, excessive use of sun-block cream and of course our climate. The Germans call it the 'English Disease'. I remember Rickets being common when I was a lad, lots of bow-legged people about but I thought we had conquered it. The connection with child abuse accusations is that a child can be suffering from brittle bones without being diagnosed because Rickets is so rare. A bone could be broken doing something as simple as putting a baby into a Baby Grow.

[Tizer]

You'll recall that I've mentioned vitamin D a number of times over the last couple of years (now on the old OG site!). We now know it's important for preventing much more than just rickets and deficiency is implicated in heart disease, type 2 diabetes and other problems. Lack of sunlight and not drinking full-fat milk (or eating other full-fat dairy products) must be major factors. One day we'll all be wondering how it was that people stopped eating full-fat dairy foods.

[Stanley]

If they read us and take notice they will all be drinking it again and reading 'Queen of Fats'!
('Queen of Fats' by Susan Allport. University of California Press, 2006. A brilliant overview of lipid research since the 1930s. My GP read it and thanked me because even he learned from it.)

[Marilyn]

I think there is more to Vitamin D deficiency than generally noted. My Vitamin D deficiency persists despite living in one of the sunniest places on earth, drinking full cream milk, and taking Vitamin D supplement. It has me stumped.

[Stanley]

Morning Maz! Sorry to hear that. I'm sure you've tried a simple supplement. Our bodies are so complicated. Still, the hopeful side of it is you are aware of it and I'm sure you will find an answer eventually.

[Tizer]

Presumably it must be a genetic difference Maz, with a reduced ability to convert the precursor compounds to vitamin D, or a reduced ability to absorb it from the diet.

[Tizer]

Some good news on food prices from Reuters...

Global food prices to ease in 2012
"According to Reuters, the World Bank has reported that global food prices are set to decline further in 2012 as a weaker world economy dampens consumer demand while food supplies rise. The World Bank said prices have declined steadily but volatility has increased, including among staples like wheat, maize, and rice. In some countries, domestic food prices are higher than levels in 2010, keeping pressure on poor households that spend the bulk of their income on food. The World Bank said its 2011 annual food price index shows prices are still 24% higher than in 2010 despite some decline. Global prices fell 8% in the three months from September to December 2011, ending the year 7% below December 2010 levels. The Bank warned, however, that the steady decline in global food prices could be halted if weather patterns change, or if world oil prices rise, pushing up price volatility and demand for biofuels."

(The bad news is that a lot of the world's food is in the hands of the mighty and secretive Glencore commodity empire, which is now merging with the minerals trader Xstrata and will also gain control of much of our metals, coal and other minerals too.)

[Whyperion]

Vit D , think you also need to eat a complimentary item to help 'fix' the item in the body's cells , unfortunately I cannot remember what , I know its Orange Juice for Iron ,

[Cathy]

Think I heard somewhere (might have been from Marilyn ?) that to absorb the vitamin D you need to be taking extra calcium

[Stanley]

Tiz, Prices down compared to 2010 but still up. Not too sure how they can extract a trend from figures heavily influenced by economic problems. I suspect the number of people who are hungry hasn't gone down! I've been watching Glencore and Xstrata as well. Looks like an old-fashioned monopoly cornering the market to me. Wonderful what we let big capital get away with.

[Tizer]

Vitamin D...it's the other way around - you need vitamin D in order to absorb calcium efficiently. Lack of calcium is a big problem now due to not eating dairy foods in the quantities that we used to do. For an explanation and lists of calcium-rich foods see this page from the US National Institutes of Health http://www.niams.nih.gov/health_info/bo ... nutrition/

Stanley, even the Chinese are getting worried about the extent of Glencore's control over commodities. Bizarre to think that Glencore and it's boss might be determining the fate of China. Mr Big? Blofeld?

[Tripps]

You are what you eat indeed. I have just had my tesco delivery...
As a substitute for Pickled Herrings - ingredients herring, onion, vinegar, and a few peppercorns, they have set me something called 'Seafood Sticks'. Product of Thailand, Packed in the Uk, by Cumbrian Seafoods Ltd) 80 pence for 16 sticks. I think they used to be called crab sticks but along came the Trade Descriptions Act.

I looked at the ingredients,
Surimi (40% ) (White Fish, Sugar, Stabilisers (Sodium Triphosphate, Diphosphates). Dried Egg White), Water, Wheat Starch, Sugar, Modified Tapioca Starch, Salt, Soya Bean Oil, Flavourings, Whole Egg, Humectant (Sorbitol), Mirin, Crab Seasoning (Crab Extract, Crab Flavouring, Sugar, Hydrolised Vegetable Protein, Salt, Dextrin, Liquorice Extract) Colours (Carmine, Titanium Dioxide, Paprika Extract).

Should I chance it? Sadly I don't have a cat anymore.

[Whyperion]

Is that white fish the one from a river in China that some people have been reported to being allergic too ( due to either poisions from pollution in the fish or its that kind of fish , think its catfish related ).

Back to statistics , do they mean the rate of increase has reduced or bulk spot prices this year have fallen compared to last year ? Tinned goods have increased in price reflecting last years increases in fresh products.

[Stanley]

Dave, I share your doubts! I saw a report the other day that MacDonald's source 85% of their chicken and seafood from Thailand and adjacent countries and most of their beef from Argentina. Saw a film at the time of the Avian Flu scare where chickens were kept in cages above ponds where fish and prawns were reared. Theory was that the chicken muck fell into the ponds and fed the fish. Reminds me of the days pre-BSE when we were carting bags of broiler muck into Preston Farmers where it was used to raise the protein levels in cattle cake. Lots still to be addressed in the sourcing of cheap food!
Reminds me of something my dad once told my mother in a far away age, he said that the N*****s used to spit on the grapefruit so they should always be washed. Suspicion abounded even 70 years ago!

[Tizer]

Stanley, I hope you're not being rude about the Norwegians!
Tripps, if you've eaten the seafood sticks then I know why your avatar look strange! I notice the list contains titanium dioxide which seems to get into everything these days, food and non-food, as if it were an inert substance. But it's quite active as a catalyst of chemical reactions and is being researched as a possible anti-bacterial treatment for surfaces. It catalyses oxidation of organic compounds which I would have thought might be an adverse effect in a foodstuff.

[Stanley]

No and down to me dad! It was a different age.

[Tripps]

Wel - I checked my will was in good order, and carefully snipped the packaging. The contents were still double wrapped in heavy polythene, but I didn't care at all for the smell or the look of them, and they were put in the bin. Instead I had a pack of value Kipper fillets. Ingredients Herring 95% Salt, butter 5%, colour annatto. Delicious, with a touch of creamed horseradish, and remarkably they're the same price as the sticks.
Memo to self - remove tick from the "accept substitutes" box on tesco shopping site.

[Stanley]

David, sounds like a good decision to tick the box and also to bin the suspect fish. Fish is a wonderful food and the best value I know is still Princess tinned pilchards. I've never had much success cooking them but mashed up with a bit of Worcestershire Sauce it make a good sandwich filling. Source of fish is more important than is often recognised. There used to be a greasy spoon café on the dock at South Shields that sold mainly fish dishes. I went in for breakfast early one morning and asked for the fish. The man said "Inshore or offshore". The inshore was cheaper and I asked him why. He told me it was caught in the dispersal area near the sewer outfall where there was always a lot of fish. I tried both, the offshore was white and perfect, the inshore grey and earthy tasting. Great illustration of how environment and diet alters the quality, they were the same breed of fish.

[Tizer]

Inshore, river and lake fish, particularly those that are vegetarian, tend to pick up an earthy taste from the silt in the water. The taste and smell is harmless and comes from microorganisms called Actinomycetes found in all soils, and its the smell we like of freshly dug earth but I don't like it in fish so I avoid some species such as tilapia.

[catgate]

...... 16 sticks. I think they used to be called crab sticks but along came the Trade Descriptions Act.

I looked at the ingredients,
Surimi (40% ) (White Fish, Sugar, Stabilisers (Sodium Triphosphate, Diphosphates). Dried Egg White), Water, Wheat Starch, Sugar, Modified Tapioca Starch, Salt, Soya Bean Oil, Flavourings, Whole Egg, Humectant (Sorbitol), Mirin, Crab Seasoning (Crab Extract, Crab Flavouring, Sugar, Hydrolised Vegetable Protein, Salt, Dextrin, Liquorice Extract) Colours (Carmine, Titanium Dioxide, Paprika Extract).

Should I chance it? Sadly I don't have a cat anymore.

One could question how they managed to get all that lot into 16 sticks. It must all be packed very tightly.

[Stanley]

David, I once bought a sticky bun in the US and they had to have two labels in order to have room to list all the ingredients. Ridiculous! Easiest way to disguise crap is mince it up and preform it in 'sticks' etc. Same principle applies to animal feedstuffs, nuts cake etc. Amazing what you can get away with in stuff like that! I like to see my ingredients au naturel before I cook them.

[Tizer]

New research to be published by the American Academy of Neurology suggests that consuming between 2,100 and 6,000 calories per day may double the risk of memory loss, or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), among people age 70 and older. MCI is the stage between normal memory loss that comes with aging and early Alzheimer’s disease.

“We observed a dose-response pattern which simply means; the higher the amount of calories consumed each day, the higher the risk of MCI,” said study author Yonas E. Geda, MD, MSc, with the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona and a member of the American Academy of Neurology.

The odds of having MCI more than doubled for those in the highest calorie-consuming group compared to those in the lowest calorie-consuming group. The results were the same after adjusting for history of stroke, diabetes, amount of education, and other factors that can affect risk of memory loss. There was no significant difference in risk for the middle group. “Cutting calories and eating foods that make up a healthy diet may be a simpler way to prevent memory loss as we age,” said Geda. Press release here: LINK

[Julie in Norfolk]

After a particularly trying tin of corned beef defeated Steve this morning; we will be Corned Beef Hash tonight. Haven't had that in 30 years!