Alli, weight loss and an controversial piece in The Spectator

The new weight loss aid, Alli, is available over the counter to people with a BMI of 28 or more. Your pharmacist will be able to supply a pill that, taken before main meals, prevents fat from being absorbed and thus cuts the calorie intake. Fat contains some 9 calories per gram and is the most calorie dense of all the food groups.  I am sure that some people will benefit from the drug but once again, this simply addresses the problem with no advice about how to not get fat in the first place.

Take the pill and keep eating, is that the message? To get Alli you need to have a BMI of 28 or more, that’s all you need to qualify and having such a high BMI which does suggest that you don’t manage your diet very well. Surely that’s the key, education and understanding, not a pill?

I have a friend who takes it, not to lose weight, instead to allow him to eat cheese and anything else fatty, and not gain weight. The drug changes the nature of the stool as it inevitably becomes much fattier – ‘you daren’t misjudge a fart’ reports my friend, which made me laugh out loud, something I fear he may not be able to do without clenching first.

There is a piece on fat in this weeks Spectator in which Dan Jones makes the non-PC and brave assertion that being fat is the fault of the individual and not the media. I must stress that I don’t support this point of view!Take a look. http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/3556821/there-is-no-sacred-right-to-be-a-lazy-fat-slob.thtml

If anyone has tried Alli, let me know. I am sure it has helped many people, but is the answer?

 

 

 

 

 

 

ION 25th Anniversary Awards

Yesterday saw the Nutritional Need of Mankind conference which was held to mark the 25th anniversary of the Institute for Optimum Nutriton. I wasn’t able to attend the proceedings of the day but am told that the speakers were excellent and that the day was highly informative and very well organised. The team at ION did a great job and I know that they worked very hard.

I was delighted to able to attend the Awards Dinner and was very pleased to receive the award for Best Media Advocate, and am very grateful to ION for their nomination and to everyone for their votes.

Other winners were; Marilyn Glenville for Best Nutrition Health Writer Planet Organic for Best Health Retailer Sun Chlorella for Best Industry Newcomer Patrick Holford for Best Contribution to the Industry. Patrick also received another award to recognise his overall contribution to the field of nutrition.

It’s a pleasure to be nominated and also to win, and as this is the first time I have won anything ( apart from £10 on the National Lottery ) I am especially pleased. The inscribed glass award will take pride of place on my desk at the clinic.

For more information about the Institute for Optimum Nutrition visit http://www.ion.ac.uk

Slumdog Millionaire, Change4Life and Revels.

I think there must be something wrong with me.  Now I think about it I am sure there are plenty of things that are wrong with me, and I am very lucky to have people all around who are only to happy to tell me how wrong I am.

Despite all my obvious faults, it’s a movie that is the source of my failings this time. Over the weekend, I went to see Slumdog Millionaire having bought the requisite bag of Revels, some green tea and a bottle of water.Despite winning Golden Globes, I felt that the movie was ordinary, and even using every cinematic trick there was, it managed to remain flat and uninteresting whilst the love interest was unconvincing and dull. Not even the orange Revels could distract me from noticing that the hero was mostly unmoved by winning a life-changing amount of money.

The message of the movie wasn’t lost on me ( love is more important than money, that the world of popular culture is often corrupt and that holding on to one’s dignity is more important than personal gain ) but I don’t think that the messages were delivered with the subtlety that would have suited. Instead, the movie bashed you on the head with its moral take on the story and bullied you into feeling things.

When the director seems to think that the audience are not bright enough for gentle and clever messages about life, but instead need them pointed out with neon signs, then the movie loses some integrity. You aren’t stupid, you don’t need these things spelt out for you just in case you miss them. Do you?

I was struck by the same approach in the new Change4lfe advertisements that are running on television and in newspapers. Why do we need to have health messages delivered in the form of animation? Is it because the message about healthy eating isn’t getting through to those that need it the most?  Take a look at the website, http://www.nhs.uk/change4life and you will see that the message is excellent, and there is nothing controversial or ground-breaking about what is needed, but like Slumdog, I am questioning the delivery.

If you do a web search, Change4life, you will see that in the ten days since its inception, the campaign has attracted some harsh comments from members of the community who feel that their needs have been overlooked. In addition, the British Heart Foundation have called for food manufacturers to change the way they advertise food ( In fact the BHF said “It’s time for the government to show that it truly has the stomach to lead the fight against obesity” displaying the same level of subtlety as Slumdog ).

The Change4Life campaign is laudable, and the Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo says that “We are trying to create a lifestyle revolution on a huge scale – something which no Government has attempted before”. Multinational brands are working within the campaign including Cadbury, Kellogg’s, Kraft and PepsiCo are all taking part alongside major supermarkets Asda, Tesco and The Co-operative Group and people will be able to call a dedicated helpline and speak to specially-trained advisors for advice on exercise, nutrition and support services. Pretty good stuff then – well supported and excellent partners, who could ask for more?

Despite my predilection for Revels, I am happy to support the Change4Life campaign, but do wish that the delivery message had been a little more subltle.

 

 

 

 

Supereating, The Mail on Sunday and BBC Radio London.

The latest title from The Food Doctor, Supereating, is now in the shops. Supereating is a new concept in nutrition and addresses an aspect that has been overlooked in the mainstream, which is how the nutrients interact with one another. We are aware of some of the basics, such as vitamin C enhances the absorption of iron, and so when taking iron supplements we may be instructed to take it with orange juice.  However there are many other similar combinations that are required to help the absorption of activity of nutrients, some acting together in a positive way, whilst others have a negative effect on each other. Furthermore, elements in foods may hinder absorption or action, such as oxalates and phytates ( found in grains for example ), which hinder mineral absorption. So if you are eating grains, it would make sense to eat them with a food that might enhance mineral absorption to compensate for the potential reduction caused by oxalates and phytates. This might be as simple as including a sauce made from plain yogurt on vegetables, or having some miso soup before the meal as both contain probiotics which encourage the absorption of calcium, magnesium and iron, thus making up for the action of the phytates. It may sound complicated but its not, and in the book I cover daily menus with simple explanations.

The Mail on Sunday will be publishing an extract this weekend ( January 4th ) so do look out for that. On the same day I will be sitting in for Lesley Joseph and Christopher Biggins on BBC Radio London ( 94.9 FM or listen on DAB or online ) from 9am until 12 midday. I will be presenting the show with the lovely Anne Diamond so do please listen if you can, and feel free to call in as well.

What to do with 11lbds of lard. Just in case you were wondering.

I am not really sure what to say about this. I doubt I would ever win anything like this, firstly because my sculpting skills are non-existent, and secondly, and more importantly, I don’t have any lard ( I don’t want any either ). If you have some then sculpting it into something attractive is, in my opinion, preferable to eating it.

See the story here; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3683781/Gurkhas-win-award-making-sculpture-from-lard.html

It’s nice to know that the Chefs from the Queens Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment won catering awards for sculptures ( first a wire structure was made and then the animal fat added ). I am glad that they had the time to create a dragon and a Buddha statue.
“Lance Corporal Amrit Limbu, 27, used three 11lbs blocks of lard to create the Buddha statue, working for up to 12 hours a day for eight days” reports The Daily Telegraph. Eight days. That’s a good use of time, wouldn’t you say?
Lard is pig-fat that is most often hydrogenated, and therefore quite unsuitable for human consumption. Hydrogenating fats can be complete or incomplete, neither is good, but the latter are known as trans-fats, the use of which have been banned in New York City,  as well as in Switzerland and Denmark with other countries likely to follow suit very soon. The process of hydrogenation makes the fat more solid which makes it perfect for sculpting, not eating or using in cooking.
Crackling is also lard, prepared in a different way to the white lard that Lance Corporal Limbu used, as it is exposed directly to heat. Crackling, crunchy and tasty though it may be, is perhaps potentially more detrimental to ones health than the white lard as it has a low smoke point and has been damaged by exposure to heat. So that’s crackling out too.
Lard has a high smoke point, ie it doesn’t burn at lowish temperatures like olive oil would (  lard  contains a high level of saturated fats which don’t burn easily ). The food industry often use it for this very reason, as it can be heated without giving off smoke that might affect the flavour of the food.. Lard is often found in pastry, especially flaky pastry, so if you find yourself reaching for a pre-made pie, do yourself a favour and check the label or ask at the counter.

Bear in mind that the same pie is banned for health reasons in some pretty sophisticated parts of the world, so no New Yorker, Swiss national or Dane would eat it, and you wouldn’t want to break rank with a Dane, would you?

Purple tomato ‘may boost health’.

BBC website report on a purple tomato – read the full story here……http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7688310.stm

Would you eat a purple tomato? Well, why wouldn’t you? It’s a pleasing colour and would look very nice in a salad.

Now, if you knew that the purple tomato was genetically modified, would you still want to eat it?

Perhaps I am being naïve, but again I say, why wouldn’t you? After all, varieties of fruits and vegetables have modified over time so that they differ in colour and flavour. Don’t farmers and gardeners cross this with that to get hardier/tastier/better crop of whatever it is? All that has happened here is that the modifications have taken place in a laboratory.

The result has been that the tomato has an increased concentration of anthocyanins, an antioxidant substance that could be useful in lowering the risk of some forms of cancer. Tested on mice that had been bred to be susceptible to cancer, the group that were fed the anthocyanins lived longer.

There are several issues that come to mind here.

      1.                  Can we absorb that level of anthocyanins from the diet?

2.                  Mice were tested, could the results be replicated in human beings?

3.                  If we do absorb the anthocyanins, will that alter the delicate balance between other nutrients?

4.                  Is it right to genetically alter crops in a lab?

5.                  Could we extend this in time to increase the benefits to many other foods so that what we eat delivers more of the good stuff?

Like it or not, with billions of people to feed, will foods have be genetically modified in time to help feed us all, and promote health and quality of life?

What are your views?

Confused of London. Do you know what to eat?

Yesterday in the Daily Telegraph we read about a 72 year old man who has been on the equivalent of the Atkins diet for over some time, and his health seems robust and his various blood counts of lipids and cholesterol are low. This may seem surprising given that a typical breakfast is a large egg., liver fried in lard and hot chocolate made with cream. Barry Groves, 72, has followed this diet for more than 40 years. Groves holds a doctorate in nutritional science and has just published a book, Trick and Treat: How Healthy Eating Is Making Us Ill.

Read the piece here….http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/health/3230846/Healthy-food-Should-we-be-eating-more-fat.html

But then today we read about a study published in Circulation, a medical journal that a typical Western diet raises heart risk. Having looked at the diets in three different populations and areas of the Western world, the report suggests that we avoid fried and salty food and eat more vegetables. In other words, the opposite from that which Barry Groves espouses.  Read about the Circulation report here.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7680283.stm.

Of course there are many ways to eat but these two methods are very much at odds with one another.

Maybe the truth lies somewhere in between? Eating fat is recommended, at least I think so, as fats give what the food industry call ‘mouth feel’ which adds to the experience of having eaten, leading to feeling satisfied.  The question is how much and which fats? Do we cook in fat?

Reading the two features mentioned here, one could easily become confused. I welcome your comments, as always, but my own view is as follows.

We need to eat fat, lean protein, vegetables and fruits and complex carbohydrates ( wholegrains for example ). We don’t ‘need’ sugar, alcohol, simple carbohydrates or rarely do we need to go looking for fat in food, it usually finds us.

What do you think?

World Food Day – Oxfam appeal

Today is World Food Day and Oxfam are launching an appeal for £15million to help those people whose lives have been affected by rising food prices far more than you and I have been.

In these troubled times many of us are struggling, or at the very least re-evaluating the important elements of our lives. Historically, people seem to spend a higher percentage of their income on food in recessions, perhaps as looking after ones health is prioritised, perhaps because we cook food as we stay home a little more – there are several possible reasons.

I am not one to preach, I leave that to the more extreme nutrition experts ( you know who I mean ), but having worked with Oxfam to help them with their campaign, I would urge you to consider making a donation to enable them to support the countless millions all over the world who cannot afford to pay greatly increased food prices.

Here is the full press release which will tell you all you need to know, but do look at the Oxfam website too – http://www.oxfam.ca/what-we-do/campaigns/world-food-day – and if you have a few pounds to spare today, then you might want to consider giving it to Oxfam on World Food Day.

 

Celebrities join forces with Oxfam to launch £15 million World Food Crisis Appeal

Today, [World Food Day, 16 ^th  October] chart-topping singer-songwriter, Sandi Thom , Private Eye Editor, Ian Hislop ,   and Celebrity nutrition consultant, Ian Marber , helped launch Oxfam’s £15 million World Food Crisis Appeal.

Oxfam needs an extra £15million to pay for its international development and humanitarian work on food and agriculture, and to campaign for changes to the flawed trade and agricultural polices that have left poor farmers vulnerable.

Sandi Thom has just returned from a week’s visit with Oxfam to southern Malawi, where she met some of the families and communities who are already facing hunger as food prices soar around the world, and learned about how Oxfam is helping those communities.

She said: “My visit to Malawi opened my eyes to the extent of poverty and the harsh reality of how some people live and how rising food prices are affecting them. I urge and plead the public to make a donation. People shouldn’t even consider not giving!  I’ve now had the chance to see the harsh reality of how some people are being affected by rising food prices and it is everyone’s responsibility to help in time of need.”

The appeal has also been kicked-off with support from Ian Hislop, Private Eye Editor and Have I Got News For You panelist.

He said: “Whilst we in the rich world have been frantically worrying this week about the thought that we might become a bit less rich it is rather shaming to be told by Oxfam that there are currently one billion poor people actually going hungry. And the problem is getting worse as the price of food increases sharply.  Oxfam needs us to donate to this appeal to help them change this, by getting assistance to the people who need it and to tackle the unfair policies that have allowed this situation to come about. If we can save the banks then perhaps we can put our hands in our pockets for the hungry.”  

Celebrity nutrition consultant Ian Marber, the Food Doctor, said: “The impact of the food crisis on millions of people’s health and potential is profound. Children are being deprived of the nutrients they need to grow up strong – and in some cases their metal development is affected – and adults are left weak, unable to work and vulnerable to disease. By donating to Oxfam’s World Food Crisis appeal you can help provide people all over the world who are going hungry with help right now, and a long-term solution.”

Barbara Stocking, Oxfam’s Chief executive said: “These are tough times for many of us, but huge increases in food prices mean that the world’s poorest are being hit hardest. Oxfam needs £15 million to help us to tackle this problem, anything you can do to help will make a real difference.”

You can make a donation online at www.oxfam.org.uk  by phone to 0300 200 1242  or at any Oxfam shop.

 

 

Misleading advertising – Maltesers et al.

Maltesers and Jaffa Cakes are not that low in fat it seems, despite the advertising for the former on TV. I have seen the ad and I am sure it says that its ‘less than’ 11 calories per Malteser.

 

The Advertising Standards Authority, the ASA, have ruled that the ‘less than’ part was misleading as it implied that the sweets were ‘low energy’.

 

Jaffa cakes television adverts said that they contained only one gram of fat but claims like this can only be made if the solid food contains 3g of fat  ( or less ) per 100g. Jaffa cakes contain 8g of fat per 100g

 

Unusually. Innocent’s water brand, This Water, was rapped too as the ASA said that their branding implied that the product contained only fruit and water, but in fact there was sugar present too. And how – some 32g per standard bottle. The poster advertising will be changed accordingly I expect. I say ‘unusually’ as the Innocent brand is spotless and very much admired.

 

Interesting isn’t it? The foods that we know aren’t especially healthy ( such as chocolate sweets and biscuits ) are making attempts to claim that they are healthier than we might expect. Its fair that they do so but only if they indeed are, but on this occasion, the ASA felt otherwise.

 

I am glad that the ASA has teeth. Now, all they have to do is deal with POM, the pomegranate juice, who are claiming that by drinking their product, we could ‘cheat death’. Are they serious?

Jamie Oliver and the Ministry of Food

Let me start this of by saying that I am a fan of Jamie Oliver. I have eaten his food numerous times and met him on a couple of occasions and liked him a lot. He kindly made me ( personally ) a garlic free version of one of his signature dishes at Fifteen in London. That was a nice touch and I was flattered.

 

There’s a ‘but’ coming here, you know that….

 

BUT, is anyone else left slightly uncomfortable by the Ministry of Food programme? I watched the first part, and read this excellent piece in The Independent today (http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/features/jamies-ministry-of-food-the-truth-about-rotherhams-eating-habits-953455.html ). Watching the show one is left believing that the people of Rotherham are fat and useless and only eat junk. This can’t be true, yet one cant help watching and thinking that the entire idea may have started out as worthy, but has it become patronising instead? Rotherham has a responsible council, an elected MP, schools, media and supermarkets, not to mention a Farmers Market, so unless the ‘eat well’ message has been completely lost, surely the population of Rotherham can’t be that stupid?

 

Let’s assume they aren’t, and I think that’s a fair assumption, this potentially valuable and worthy food programme has become entertainment for the rest of us, a chance to feel superior and laugh at stupid fat people. A little like ‘You are What you Eat’ but instead of shaming one person, a whole town seems to be the victim this time.

 

I am sure that the ‘Jamie Effect’ and his undoubted popularity will turn things around, and his recipes are always winners, and so all will turn out well in the end. For now however, I am resigned to watching a wee but of the show and squirming slightly in my seat as the cheeky chappie from the South, complete with Range Rover and film crew, shakes his head in despair at the stereo-typical no-nonsense Northerners attitude to food.