FOOD FOR THOUGHT
SUGAR ALCOHOLS (POLYOLS) QandA: OUR EXPERTS ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS Prof Jennie Brand-Miller and Dr Alan Barclay answer 7 of the most common questions we are asked about sugar alcohols. WHAT ARE SUGAR ALCOHOLS (POLYOLS)? Erythritol, glycerol, hydrogenated starch hydrolysates, isomalt, lactitol, maltitol, mannitol, sorbitol and xylitol are sugar alcohols. They are a type of carbohydrate. …
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
STARCH Q and A: OUR EXPERTS ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS Prof Jennie Brand-Miller and Dr Alan Barclay answer 5 of the most common questions we are asked about starch. WHAT IS STARCH? Starch is found naturally in grains, legumes (beans, peas and lentils), potatoes and other starchy vegetables (e.g., parsnip, potato, pumpkin, squash), nuts and seeds. …
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
FERMENTED FOODS ARE BACK Fermented foods have burst onto the health scene and are packing the supermarket shelves. What are they? Do the health claims stack up? Here, dietitian Nicole Senior checks them out and Prof Jennie Brand-Miller explains why many are low GI. Everywhere you look there is a revival of time-honoured food preserving …
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
AN EMPTY HOUSE IS BETTER THAN A BAD TENANT Farts. Flatus. Wind. Gas. Whatever you call it, everyone does it. It’s a natural part of life. Don’t hold back. Here, Clare Collins, Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle shares some facts about flatus (and what happens when you try to hold on) in …
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
FRUIT FOR THOUGHT “There is no way that taking a pill can replace eating fruits and vegetables … In theory, one could cram all the good things that plants make—essential elements, fibre, vitamins, antioxidants, plant hormones, and so on—into a pill. But it would have to be a very large pill, and no one can …
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
A TASTE OF HONEY To make honey, bees collect nectar from nearby flowering plants; transform it by combining it with specific substances of their own; and deposit it, dehydrate it, store it and leave it in honeycombs to ripen and mature. That’s where we come in. Ancient rock art in Spain shows our forebears braving …
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
TOPPING UP THE TANK It’s often said that we run on fuel just as a car runs on petrol. In fact we burn a mix of three key fuels that we get from the foods and drinks we consume. Nutrition scientists call these fuels “macronutrients” because our bodies need lots of them. They provide us …
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
INTRODUCING NEW FOODS TO BABIES: WHEN AND WHAT Recently, the Trump administration angered health experts around the world with its attempt to weaken a UN resolution encouraging breastfeeding. The US bid to promote the use of formula was unsuccessful and has prompted discussions about the importance of exclusively breastfeeding (if possible) for the baby’s first …
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
THE COOKING SKILLS CONUNDRUM Have We Lost Our Food Skills and How to Get Them Back was the bait-clicky headline of a recent piece in the Sydney Morning Herald. The article by Paula Goodyer with contributions from dietitians including Profs. Clare Collins and Margaret Allman-Farinelli makes the point that “a host of factors have led …
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
BACK TO THE FUTURE Researchers from Oxford University and the Swiss agricultural research institute, Agroscope, report that the same food can have very different environmental impacts – the best growing practices achieved the same yield with about a third of the impact. For instance, the worst 10 per cent of beef production produces 12 times …
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