The decision by the UK government to give the green light to the use of a neonicotinoid pesticide currently banned across the EU is as predictable as it is appalling. The government’s decision to allow the use of thiamethoxam to deal with aphids on sugar beet crops went directly against the advice of its own expert advisers, and will undoubtedly mean further damage to our threatened bee species. Neonicotinoids act […]
There is a wealth of evidence about the beneficial role that our intestinal bacteria play in keeping us healthy. Not only do they play a vital role in digestion, they also produce essential enzymes and vitamins, help us to fight infections, they can even create chemicals like serotonin which support our mental wellbeing. Some studies have suggested that the increased prevalence of conditions such as obesity, diabetes, irritable bowl syndrome, […]
A recently published study has confirmed a link between the consumption of sugary drinks and increased risk of bowel cancer. The study involved a cohort of over 95,000 women, whose diet and health were monitored between 1991 and 2015. It found that women under the age of fifty who regularly consume more than a pint of sugary drinks per day have double the risk of developing bowel cancer compared to […]
We are witnessing a strange political contest here in the UK. The Conservative Party is in the process of electing a new leader, and the successful candidate will automatically become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The voters in this election are a tiny, unrepresentative group. Demographically, they are predominantly white, male, well off, based in the south of England and with an average age approaching 60. They are, of […]
Fewer and fewer of us are cooking our food from scratch. In some cases this may be due to a lack of skills or confidence. In many cases, however, it is down to a distorted attitude to time. We are in the grip of the “convenience” food industry, which encourages us to regard any time we spend preparing and cooking food as time wasted. Anything, it seems, which short-circuits time […]
The British Medical Journal recently published a study carried out by the French Sorbonne University and Brazil’s University of Sao Paolo. The study followed a cohort of nearly 105,000 people over a five year period, measuring their consumption of what the researchers called “ultra processed foods” (included in this category are foods such as sugary cereals, ready meals, chicken nuggets, pot noodles, pizza, sliced bread, crisps, biscuits, cakes and sweets). […]
Last week the UK Conservative Party held its annual conference. Most of the British media’s coverage focused on the various tribulations which haunted the Prime Minister, Theresa May, as she attempted to deliver her keynote speech. But a coughing fit, an interruption by a prankster and a collapsing set weren’t the only causes for embarrassment at that conference. As one newspaper, spotted, the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt managed to deliver […]
The past decade has witnessed a rise of almost 25% in the number of children in England being admitted to hospital to have decaying teeth extracted. To make matters worse, increasing numbers of our children are officially obese by the time they leave primary school (this figure now stands at 20%). If nothing else does, these startling facts should cause us to examine closely what our children are consuming. It […]
Britain leads the rest of the world in consumption of ready meals. Our trust in the manufacturers of processed foods and drinks would be touching if it was not so harmfully misplaced. Time and again, those processed food and drink manufacturers have been shown to be far more concerned about maximising and protecting their profits than they are about the health of their customers. Their most profitable ingredient is also […]
According to a 2015 report by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, nearly one in five UK children are obese by the time they leave primary school. That is a shocking and scandalous state of affairs, which to my mind is evidence of a new type of child abuse. Without a drastic change in their circumstances, most of these young children, already obese at age eleven, will go on […]
The recent announcement by the makers of Dolmio and Uncle Ben’s, advising consumers that their sauces should only be consumed once a week, struck me on two levels. Firstly, as the manufacturer was not required to make this declaration, I wondered what could have motivated it to take such a unilateral step. Ever the cynic, I believe this move was less about serving the interests of consumers and more about […]
As I write this post, repercussions from the UK chancellor’s March budget statement continue to make the news. George Osborne’s budget not only triggered a ministerial resignation it also exposed rifts within the governing Conservative party over an economic doctrine that produces tax cuts for the rich at the expense of benefits for the poor and disabled. But when the dust has died down, what might well emerge from this […]