OneGuyFromBarlick

A lot of interesting points raised here. The use of weight-loss drugs to solve the obesity problem seems to me a bit like the idea that carbon capture will solve climate change. In each case what we really need to do is deal with what is causing the problem - eat less food and use less carbon-rich fuel...
`How will weight-loss drugs change our relationship with food?' BBC In Depth article

Exactly the question that always occurs to me Peter when I see the medical world encouraging us to abandon self-control and put our fate in the hands of Big Pharma and take drugs to eliminate the consequences of losing control, and obesity is a perfect example of that.
Include me out!

Please read THIS BBC account of the report issued by House of Lords.
The House of Lords Food, Diet and Obesity Committee demands that the Government should develop a comprehensive, integrated long-term new strategy to fix our food system, underpinned by a new legislative framework. This is the key conclusion of the Committee’s report, ‘Recipe for health: a plan to fix our broken food system’.
This is so important and needs to be acted on immediately.

Stanley wrote: ↑24 Oct 2024, 06:42 Integrated long-term new strategy to fix our food system

They seem to have 'fixed' their own 'food system' House of Lords

Thanks for caring, my noble Lords, but I'll decide what I eat.

Stanley wrote: ↑24 Oct 2024, 06:42 This is so important and needs to be acted on immediately.

Yes, and a healthier population will be a more productive and happier one.

They want to ban stuff you wouldn't touch with a barge pole David.....

Have a look at THIS article In the Lancashire Evening Post. (If you can withstand the constant shifting bombardment of messages that they seem to think enhances the news experience..... )
Basically it's the same information about admissions to Preston hospitals with malnutrition that I flagged up in 'Seen in the News'.
Isn't it a terrible indictment of a modern affluent society that this can be true! In years gone by we could be fairly sure that the cause was poverty but today the well-off are just as likely to be malnourished. The cause being ignorance and relying on the output of a food industry more focussed on profit than on nutrition.
I have been banging on about the decline of cooking for years. The cure is so simple, cook raw natural ingredients at home! This will halve the cost and increase the nutrition. The reality is that many households don't even have the kitchen equipment to cook with. There is no need for it when you have signed on to the :just Eat' con-trick or live on highly processed ready meals from the supermarkets.
The only way back is to teach nutrition and cooking in schools but that is seen as hopelessly old fashioned.

Research published this morning suggests that people who only drink coffee in the morning get more health advantages than people who drink coffee all day. See this LINK.

This managed to get on the Radio 4 news yesterday. Suits me fine - I like my full-fat milk and cereals and white bread!
`Glass of milk a day cuts bowel cancer risk - study' LINK

Tizer wrote: ↑09 Jan 2025, 16:58 This managed to get on the Radio 4 news yesterday. Suits me fine - I like my full-fat milk and cereals and white bread!
`Glass of milk a day cuts bowel cancer risk - study' LINK

That's good, we drink a lot of milk at Chez Kev

From today - 10th Feb 2025 it will be allowed that the EU can add up to 4% of powdered mealworms to food products such as bread and pasta. Added meal worms

Not easy to find it mentioned in the British press. Can't think why.

Well spotted David! It wouldn't bother me because I don't eat bread or pasta but I can see why some people might be upset.
The bottom line is however that realities have to be addressed and we are rapidly reaching a point where food shortages (at present being addressed by pricing.) will start to become obvious.
And in the UK Starmer and his gang have suggested 9% of productive land could be rendered unproductive. Brilliant!

The larvae (mealworms) of several insects were already approved for food use in the EU. The latest authorisation is simply to clarify the earlier approvals which had led to some confusion over the wording. EC regs

I didn't know that -

"Germany is not the first to introduce insect-based food regulations. In the UK, Canada, and the US, mealworms and other edible insects have been permitted in certain products for years. In Switzerland, similar approvals have been in place since 2017. This growing trend suggests that insects in food may soon become a global norm rather than an exception".

Label me Luddite if you wish, but I trust that like nuclear fusion, autonomous electric cars etc - it will remain a theoretical possibility, but in practice will never happen.

Insects - suitable for Vegitarians ? Someone will probably breed mealworms (I think chickens like them) that pick up some prion causing a further health problem in the future. But for now might be better for the environment than whey protein for bodybuilders

Who really knows what these pesky food processors are feeding us!
I think my veggies are safe......

I hope you've al listened to this superb new episode of Radio 4's `The Food Programme'. We remember him from attending his lectures and publishing some of his papers in the 1990s onwards...

`Professor Michael Crawford: A Life through Food' LINK to podcast
In this episode of 'A Life Through Food', Sheila Dillon meets one of the most provocative scientific minds of the last half-century: Professor Michael Crawford. Now in his 90s, Crawford’s pioneering research into the brain and nutrition has reshaped how we understand the essential role of food—especially Omega-3 fatty acids—in human development and health.

Long before Omega-3 became a buzzword on supermarket shelves, Crawford was uncovering its vital connection to brain function. His work, often at odds with mainstream science, has led to over 300 peer-reviewed papers and three books challenging conventional theories of human evolution and nutrition.

The programme also features chef and broadcaster Rick Stein, who reflects on Crawford’s influence and the importance of sustainable seafood. And we hear from Dr Anneli Löfstedt, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and Environment, who is building on Crawford’s legacy by exploring the links between nutrition, sustainability, and the future of food systems.

The manner in which Crawford's work has so often been wrongly criticised by vested interests (eg. margarine manufacturers) and is only now being respected is strikingly reminiscent of the climate change debate (e.g. suffocated by the oil and coal companies). And yet I've just finished reading 'The Man Who Ate The Zoo: Frank Buckland' by Richard Girling. Next year will be the bicentenary of Frank Buckland's birth. An amazing man who wanted to know everything but eventually concentrated on finding new local food sources for Britain's population. It's odd now to think that 200 years ago most people knew nothing about what lived in the sea. Buckland started promoting marine biology and got the Marine Biological Association set up in laboratories on Plymouth Hoe. His life became devoted to getting people to eat more fish and he became leader of the Fisheries Directorate. He died age 59 after burning himself out with work and spending hours standing in cold rivers in winter. All to gather scientific information to help provide more and better fish. Yet most Brits still eat very little fish. The book's a great read although the first part is a bit gruesome in places because his early days were as a surgeon and he's too free with the details! Wikipedia Buckland page

Normally I never miss Sheila Dillon and the Food Programme but shame to say I missed that one Peter! As I think you know, I became a fan of long chain Omega-3 after reading the book Queen of Fats by Susan Allport and completely changed my doctor's view of fats after lending it to him when I realised how important Omega-3 was. I have ranted for years about the food manipulators who argued for years against good fats because they were bad for the shelf-life of their over processed supermarket shelf fillers.
A similar situation still applies with trace minerals and micro-nutrients in the soil and our food. The source of opposition to recognition of their importance is once again the food processors. We are seeing a slow recognition of the benefits of healthy soil but have not yet got the full light of exposure.....
Thanks Peter for reviving one of my favourite topics!