Purple haze
Sorry to pour cold water on the news splashed across the papers today, but I don't think the new purple tomato is going to protect us all from cancer. The research conducted by a team of researchers...
View ArticleSweet science
Times columnist Alex Renton last week wrote about a personal experiment he undertook to see what would happen if he let his son eat as much sugar as he wanted for a day. This, he maintained in an...
View ArticleFootball focus
Like all other football fans I pick up the morning paper, scan the headlines and promptly turn to the back pages for the today's news. With all the usual big money transfer rumours, stories of soccer...
View ArticleSpice up your life
It's National Curry Week from 23 to 29 November and this year is the 11th anniversary of the celebrations. But most importantly it is also the 60th anniversary of the invention of the chicken tikka...
View ArticleLook after your leftovers
Christmas is almost upon us. Enjoying seasonal food is an essential part of Christmas for most people but at this time of year it can be easy to overlook the things we should do to ensure that our food...
View ArticleHigh caffeine intake linked to hallucination proneness
Most people love their cup of tea or coffee, however, in this week's papers you may have read that people who drink too much coffee could start seeing ghosts or hearing strange voices. The research,...
View ArticleIgnorance isn't always bliss
Lucy Mangan, writing in Saturday's Guardian newspaper, laments the Agency's initiative to have calorie counts printed next to dishes on the menus of restaurants, canteens and takeaways. Lucy thinks we...
View ArticleWhat's in your kebab?
That post-pub favourite, the doner kebab, has been in the news recently. The media reported last week on the death of 87-year-old Mahmut Aygun, the Turkish immigrant credited with inventing the doner...
View ArticleThe appliance of science
In many people's minds, science is often associated with complex equations, technical language and experiments in labs. This can have the effect of making the scientific world appear remote to the...
View ArticleCancer prevention is a team effort
Today the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) published a policy report to show how we can all work together to prevent cancer.If you cast your minds back to November before last, you might remember that...
View ArticleWeight-loss pill - medical marvel or quick fix?
You've probably seen the news that a new weight-loss pill, Alli, goes on sale over the pharmacy counter today for those with a body mass index of over 28. Listening to the controversy it's generated in...
View ArticleCredit crunching 5 a day
Earlier on this week, I noticed reports in some papers on the increasing prices of fresh fruit and veg, and how the Government is urging people to buy more of this ‘pricey produce’. Reports claimed...
View ArticleJust a gentle reminder ...
One of the key messages of our sat fat campaign earlier this year was that small changes to our behaviour can make a real difference to our sat fat intakes, and thus our long-term health. We circulated...
View ArticleYou say potato, I say potato
You may have seen the multitude of reports in the media of late criticising various 'quangos' for, among other things, giving contradictory advice, including the FSA versus the British Potato Council....
View ArticleOn organic food
Organic food has certainly been in the headlines today and as Andrew is on holiday, I’ve been asked to do a guest blog. I, by the way, am Gill Fine, Director of Consumer Choice and Dietary Health for...
View ArticleA balanced diet balances the books
It was good to see some balanced reporting in the media yesterday on vitamin supplements and the possible risks some people are taking with a ‘belts and braces’ approach to their health. I agree with...
View ArticleSalt – are you checking it?
With any luck, you won’t be able to miss the posters plastered down the sides of buses, or the TV and radio ads advertising the launch of the next phase of the Agency’s salt campaign. There is...
View ArticleA chocolate conundrum
As I cycled into work I noticed several adverts have appeared with a smiling cartoon character holding a bowl of chocolatey cereal, with the message that it contains 'no added colours'.Presumably, the...
View ArticleSupporting family Supercooks
Now that the clocks have gone back, what better way to spend the longer evenings than in your own home with the family, watching the brand new FSA part-funded TV programme ‘Family Supercooks’. You can...
View ArticleAn 'in-salt' to science
I usually like to keep my blogs short and to the point, but following a critical article about the Agency's salt policy in The Times earlier this week, I felt this needed a more detailed response. As...
View ArticleClearing up calorie confusion
If you’ve read the papers or watched the news over the weekend, you may be forgiven for thinking you now have the green light to consume 400 extra calories a day. This was the way that the Scientific...
View ArticleMad, bad and dangerous to eat… What next?
As I sat eating my toast yesterday morning while listening to the radio and scanning the paper, I was somewhat concerned by the stories being thrown around on food and health – one calling for a ban on...
View ArticleLose ‘lbs’ not ‘£s’
Despite the absurdity of Hannah Sutter’s proclamation in Saturday’s Daily Mail, that government advice to ‘exercise more and eat fewer calories’ is making people fat, I felt I had to respond. She...
View ArticleGreen champion challenges Agency
It was a pleasure to have Jonathon Porritt, a distinguished commentator on sustainable development, come to talk to staff and present us with some challenges! Jonathon questioned at what point food...
View ArticleNutrition Research Review
Yesterday we published a strategic review of our nutrition research portfolio. It was conducted by an external, independent panel of experts who have taken a close look at current work and made...
View ArticleThe supersized Last Supper
An interesting piece of research appeared yesterday, suggesting that the size of food portions have grown dramatically over the past millennium.Having studied 52 famous biblical paintings of the Last...
View ArticleGuest blogger: Eating healthy food
'Food is any substance, composed of carbohydrates, water, fats and/or proteins, that is either eaten or drunk by any animal, including humans, for nutrition or pleasure'Wikipedia, the free...
View ArticleThe data behind the review
The Agency published a scientific review of organic food last July, which found that there are no important nutrient differences or nutrition-related health benefits from eating organic food, compared...
View ArticleIt's a man thing
I saw some sobering figures recently that show heart disease kills more than one in five men, and half of all 40-year-old men will develop heart disease sometime during the rest of their life. This is...
View ArticlePublic health: Let’s look at the bigger picture
The Daily Mail, in not one but two rather sensational articles, calls for a ban on artificial trans fats in food. But to put the dangers of trans fats into perspective, as a nation we consume less than...
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