WE ARE WHAT WE EAT

[Stanley]

The bottom line is clear, the more natural food you buy raw and cook yourself the better and cheaper your diet. What struck me in the news reporting was a family saying avoiding processed food, ready meals and take away will be impossible for them as they are time poor. That's the problem, time management!

[Tizer]

The Sugar Tax comes into force today. It will help reduce the appalling levels of tooth decay in the UK but it will have only a minor effect on obesity levels - that's due more to over-consumption in general than simply to sugary drinks. Also, it doesn't address the fundamental problem of people being addicted to sweet-tasting food and drink because the sugar will be replaced with multiple artificial sweeteners. We need to gradually reduce the sweetness of food and drink, especially for children.

[Stanley]

Couldn't agree more Tiz. My automatic reaction when I saw the news item was "Why not simply ban them." I suppose that would be seen as draconian.......

[Stanley]

Looking at some of the prices of soft drinks after the Sugar Tax is applied.... Can anyone tell me why people will buy a drink that is proven to be bad for you when pure fresh milk, one of the best foods there is, is cheaper? Is it an addiction to sugar and taste?

[Tizer]

It's partly the sweetness addiction and partly due to the decades of the news media telling people dairy foods cause heart disease. And I guess we have to include fashion too!

[Stanley]

It would be interesting to see a comparative study of the effects of ingesting milk v. soft drinks...... I doubt if the industry would finance that one!

[Tizer]

One of my gripes with the National Farmer's Union is that they didn't do enough to counter all the bad press given to dairy products. There were lots of opportunities but they didn't grasp them.

[Stanley]

I agree with you. They got lazy over the years that the MMB was looking after promotion of milk and dairy products and when it was abolished in 1994 they never fully took up the challenge.

[Stanley]

I watched the BBC programme on obesity last night and it was very interesting in that it alerted us to factors that I haven't heard much about. Well worth a watch on iPlayer if you missed it. Once again I find that by some miracle I am doing most of what they recommend. There were some shocking figures about the correlation of fast food outlets and the incidence of clinical obesity. I loved the 'piece of string' test! That's my sort of assessment!

[plaques]

Perhaps without knowing it you have found the answer but not in the way you think. "I watched the BBC programme on obesity last night". Watching TV is probably the main activity that you can do and eat at the same time. ( usually to fill in the boring bits while you hope it gets better ). Stop watching TV and get on with doing something else, anything which occupies both your mind and hands will cut down on your food intake.

[Tizer]

I can't see Stanley being a couch potato with a can of lager in one hand and a big doughnut in the other!

[Stanley]

P. Tiz is right. The only thing I eat while watching TV is my tea and by the time I do that I have had a full day of activity.......

[Wendyf]

Anyone with an interest in nutrition and nothing else to do tomorrow and Friday could tune in to the live streaming of this conference in Switzerland.
Food For Thought: The Science & Politics of Nutrition
The Agenda for tomorow afternoon's session looks very interesting!

http://institute.swissre.com/events/foo ... html#tab_1

[Stanley]

[Stanley]

See THIS for Jeremy Hunt's latest initiative on obesity. I welcome the proposals but don't think he has gone far enough. The supermarkets, who are leaders in what is the biggest industry in the UK, food, have far too much lobbying clout and over the years have completely skewed the nations nutrition and by very aggressive purchasing have damaged food production. The proposed merger of Asda (Walmart) and Sainsbury's will make these policies worse. I have often said that if a proper analysis was done, the supermarkets have contributed directly to an enormous number of deaths. I still believe this to be true and I'm afraid that no matter how draconian his proposals sound they will be watered down and will not make any appreciable difference. I have also always said that the route to improvement is not via regulation of the supermarkets but by a massive improvement in education about nutrition starting at Primary School level. The only thing that will persuade the supermarkets is if the sales of unhealthy food and drink falls.
In 1940 we were taught at four years old to recite verses like 'Peas beans and lentils are flesh forming foods' and taught basic food hygiene and nutrition. Does anything like that happen today on any meaningful scale?

[plaques]

I think its too easy to put all the blame on supermarkets. We all know that they drive demand through advertising and slick presentation but I'm in the opinion that over the last years we have seen people trying to maintain a standard of living while the pressure on their time is increasing exponentially. Zero hours, difficult working patterns all encourage a quick fix where the need to relax becomes essential. Marilyn Quote" Sunday nights are always easy. Dinner on trays in front of TV.". Very understandable but the slippery slope. Its adults that buy treats, kids rarely have enough money to indulge in these luxuries,adults are the ones who are really to blame, if that's the right word, Just one last comment, if you could just stop this constant grazing with people eating on the hoof in public it may help to put a bit more discipline into their eating habits.

[Tizer]

Sorry to have to break this news to you Plaques but kids these days do have enough money to buy expensive treats. Some save their money but many don't have the training or the motivation and will spend, spend, spend. Perhaps their parents were the same. How do we break the vicious circle of each generation passing on its bad habits?

[Stanley]

I agree with you P, they are only responding to a demand that makes profit and that is their remit. That's why I disagree with Hunt and put the emphasis on education. I think Tiz would agree that this covers his contention as well.

[Wendyf]

Good news that Tom Watson the Deputy Labour Leader, having lost over 7 stones by cutting carbs and eating more fat, has come out fighting!

[BBvideo=560,315]https://youtu.be/uCf0Axc3OpU[/BBvideo]

[Stanley]

Good clip Wendy. I know that the danger is that we always like to hear others reinforcing our own prejudices but there was so so much sense talked there. My only beef is that more emphasis should be placed on influencing the young early in life when messages hit home the hardest via education in primary schools on nutrition. The problem at the moment is that the people who could influence that have no clear and consistent official advice on which to form a position.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report of a trial that on the face of it rubbishes fish oils as being 'good for your heart'. No mention of the essential balance between Omega3 and Omega6 fats. I have based my beliefs about fish oils on extensive reading of lipid research and heart problems were never high on my priorities. They talk in the study about 'good' and 'bad' fats but how many people are in a position to make a decision on the difference? I doubt if there is any segment of nutrition that has had so much mis-information disseminated about it. I shall continue to take my daily dose of Cod Liver Oil and let the click bait element go their own way.
The question does arise though, what is the value of 'research' like this? As I understand it they have conducted a data exercise trawling all the available references. Unless some weeding out was done this will include some very dodgy results.

[PanBiker]

Looking on the bright side there was another report yesterday that confirmed that full fat milk is good for you and is the best of the variants on offer for health. I think we already knew that.

[Tizer]

See THISThe question does arise though, what is the value of 'research' like this? As I understand it they have conducted a data exercise trawling all the available references. Unless some weeding out was done this will include some very dodgy results.

It's a Cochrane review which is highly regarded worldwide and it's the best you'll get for analysis of diet, health and nutrition studies. This is how they describe themselves:
`Cochrane is a global independent network of researchers, professionals, patients, carers and people interested in health. Cochrane produces reviews which study all of the best available evidence generated through research and make it easier to inform decisions about health. These are called systematic reviews. Cochrane is a not-for profit organization with collaborators from more than 130 countries working together to produce credible, accessible health information that is free from commercial sponsorship and other conflicts of interest. Our work is recognized as representing an international gold standard for high quality, trusted information.'

Weeding out was done: `The review combines the results of 79 randomised trials involving 112,059 people. These studies assessed effects of consuming additional omega-3 fat, compared to usual or lower omega-3, on diseases of the heart and circulation. 25 studies were assessed as highly trustworthy because they were well designed and conducted.' Cochrane

Note that the review only looked at effects on `heart health' and didn't address other claimed benefits for omega-3 such as brain health and function. Also, it only looked (in detail) at omega-3 taken in capsules and not at cod liver oil or fish.

Cochrane always publish responses to their reviews and some can be seen here: LINK For example, Johnson comments: `Given the strong evidence from previous epidemiological studies this conclusion is somewhat surprising, but it needs to be taken seriously. Either the protective effects of oily fish consumption that are observed in populations are due to mechanisms that cannot be reproduced by relatively short-term interventions with purified omega 3 supplements, or perhaps they are caused by other unidentified environmental factors somehow linked to oily fish consumption.' Tom Sanders points out something that came to my mind when I read the review, namely that omega-3 levels in foods have increased over the last two decades and that means supplements will have less effect than they did in the past.

[Stanley]

Ian, dead right, fairly bleeding obvious! I always said that if 'they' were right, God must have been wrong when he invented mother's milk and eggs!
Tiz, I understand all that but the quote from Johnson is good. My mind goes back to the expedition to investigate why the Inuit who consumed enormous quantities of fish oils and saturated fats had one of the lowest incidences of heart problems in the world. (See 'Queen of fats') And again, I'd like to see a distinction made between long chain and short chain Omega3.
Then there is the experiment I have been conducting on myself.... My long term ingestion of twice the recommended quantity of Cod Liver Oil each day has given me many benefits. The only time I get into trouble is if I take too much and get nose bleeds! Just one example, if I tip my head back and rotate my neck I used to get a crunching sound and pain, I don't have that now. Not very 'scientific' to conclude that this is because of Cod Liver Oil I know but if I cut back on it the crunch returns..... As far as I am concerned, QED.

[Stanley]

Coincidentally this morning on World Service there was a report about farmed salmon in Scotland. The percentage of long chain Omega3 in the flesh has plummeted. Not surprising when their main source of nutrients is artificial food fed in the pens and not wild food whose origin is the algae which has made the conversion to Omega3 using sunlight. At one fish farm as an experiment they are being fed a supplement high in Omega3 which is genetically modified. No results as yet but of course the anti-GM folk are incandescent!
The conclusion is that your fish oils should come from wild fish to be effective......