Brain food ~ get it early
The human brain is, pro rata bigger and is far more complex in structure than in any other species. It tends to be a very busy organ and consumes about 25% of the daily caloric intake of an average...
View ArticleObesity and social disadvantage
Frequently, when chatting with my middle class friends on nutrition and health, I have to argue long and hard against some preconceived notion of the truth behind the topic of discussion. Of all of...
View ArticleFructose - challenging the myths
In the past, the sugar component of most sweetened beverages was obtained either from sugar beet or cane sugar. For both sugar cane and sugar beet, the sugar found is called sucrose and it is one...
View ArticleCalorie counting on menus ~ The US experience
The Minister for Health here in Ireland wants to introduce calorie counts on menus and has given the industry 6 months to implement the proposal or, if they fail to do so, legislation will be...
View ArticleNature, nurture and the control of food intake
Some weeks ago, my blog was entitled: “Ever seen a fat fox”, the gist of which was that whereas biology can tell us a lot about the control of food intake in animals, in man, with a large pre-frontal...
View ArticleIodine - now a problem in developed countries
When we think of hunger, we think of the gaunt and emaciated children in sub-Saharan Africa. There is another form of hunger known as “hidden hunger” which requires the services of a biochemist to...
View ArticleFibre, farts and faeces
Some 2,500 years ago, Hippocrates declared that: “Wholemeal bread cleans out the gut and passes through as excrement. White bread is more nutritious as it makes less feces”. For a long time fibre was...
View ArticleThe Locavore's dilemma ~ review of an excellent book
“The Locavore’s Dilemma - In Praise of the 10,000 Mile Diet” is the title of a new book by Pierre Desrochers, a Professor of geography at the University of Toronto and his Japanese wife Hiroko Shimizy...
View ArticleBook Review: "Panic on a plate"
On my holidays here in Kerry, in between the Olympics and the rain I have been reading several books. Last week I blogged on the “Locavore’s Dilemma” and this week I’m going to cover the book “Panic on...
View ArticleThe obesity epidemic re-visited
When we measure the prevalence of obesity, it is usually by way of a survey over a defined period. Thus the National Adult Nutrition Survey (NANS) here in Ireland was conducted over a 12 month period...
View ArticleThe fridge and the human food chain
I grew up in a house without a fridge but then again I grew up in Ireland which suffers neither extreme cold in winter or extreme heat in summer, thanks to the gulf stream. In summer, we had a cold box...
View ArticleMedia reporting of food related health claims
In 2009, the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF)[1] conducted a survey of 2,400 UK subjects to ascertain their views as to the evidence linking diet and physical activity to cancer. WCRF argue that the...
View ArticleGenes, memes and obesity
I have blogged several times about the uniqueness of obesity to the human race. Notwithstanding the fact that we share 98% of our genes with our nearest biological relatives, the chimpanzees, we alone...
View ArticleCalorie restriction for longevity ~ For mice, not man
Work in any field long enough and you get a “nose” for the job. It is an instinctive reaction to some new event or idea, built on decades of the passive accumulation of knowledge in ones chosen field....
View ArticleFat Englanders ~ 200 years ago
(Apologies for non-publication of some recent blogs but China still poses Internet challenges)William Wadd, born in London in 1776. He was from a medical family and he followed in that tradition,...
View ArticleA bad day at the lab for GM reserach
During this summer, I recall reading in the Sunday Times that the environmental NGOs are beginning to re-think their strategy on GM foods. I see some evidence that this is the case since I cannot find...
View ArticleDolly Parton and the art of dieting
Sometime back in the early 1990s or thereabouts, Dolly Parton was being interviewed by the famous BBC chat show host, Michael Parkinson. When asked about what diet she used to keep her figure, she...
View ArticleSugar taxes and weight loss predictions
The Danish government has abandoned its tax on fat and and its plans for a sugar tax. A spokesperson for the tax ministry is quoted thus: “The suggestions to tax foods for public health reasons are...
View ArticleObesity and Nature v Nurture re-visited
In the obesogenic environment that we live in, not everyone becomes obese. To the high priests of nutrition, that variability is put down to variation in self-control and self-discipline and that in...
View ArticleTreating diabetes: Diets, gyms and scalpels
In the US, 27% of those aged 65 or older have diabetes. Based on fasting blood glucose levels or glycated haemoglobin levels, the estimate of the prevalence of pre-diabetes is 79 million cases. The...
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