A study recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has found that participants who drank the most green tea were the least likely to develop 'functional disability'. The Japanese researchers tracked the health of almost 14,000 men and women aged 65-plus for three years, noting what they ate and drank and factoring in data on any care they needed. It was found that the more green tea they consumed, the more mobile and self-sufficient they were.
The British Nutrition Foundation has released a series of factsheets highlighting the findings of a briefing paper on the main nutrition and health related issues in schoolchildren across the UK. The factsheets are a useful resource for various audiences, including teachers, local authorities, curriculum authorities, teacher trainers and health professionals, and include topics such as iron deficiency anaemia, food allergy and intolerance, and factors affecting food choice in schoolchildren.
Some health experts are now warning that sugar is as harmful and addictive as alcohol or tobacco and should be monitored. According to a team at the University of California, new policies such as taxes are needed to control the increased consumption of sugar and sweeteners.
Taxes on unhealthy food are being introduced in several countries; Denmark and Hungary have a tax on saturated fat, while France has approved a tax on soft drinks.
According to research published in the British Medical Journal, there has been a decline in deaths from heart attacks over the last decade. The study, which was conducted at the University of Oxford’s Department of Public Health, looked at the trends in acute myocardial infarction events, 30 day case fatality and total mortality rates in England between 2002 and 2010. A decline in all of the rates was observed.
Many parents and health professionals are apparently unaware of Government guidelines recommending that some groups, including the under-fives, should take a daily vitamin D supplement, and new concerns have been raised that some people are not getting enough of this vitamin.
The Department of Health have published a new public health outcomes framework, setting out the desired outcomes for public health and how these will be measured. This is the first time that public health will be measured against a framework of 66 health measures so councils and the Government are able to see real improvements being made and take any action needed.
A study published in the British Journal of Cancer has highlighted a potential link between processed meat consumption and pancreatic cancer. The meta-analysis, which included 11 prospective studies with 6643 pancreatic cancer cases, showed that an increase in processed meat consumption of 50 g per day (about one serving), was associated with a 19% increased risk of pancreatic cancer.
We are dismayed at the tone and nature of the article published by Which? and endorse the views expressed by BANT. Although 15 Nutritional Therapists were seen, the majority being members of BANT, we do not know how many of these had completed our professionally accredited course or were registered with the regulatory body, the CNHC.
The Food Standard Agency have produced a factsheet to help people who have an intolerance to gluten understand a new food labelling law, which came into force on 1 January 2012. The new law has introduced rules on how food can be labelled with claims about gluten and covers all food on sale, whether it’s in a packet on a supermarket shelf, on a menu, in a restaurant, or at a deli counter.
The School Food Trust have launched the Eat Better, Start Better project, whose aim is getting young children to eat well. More than one in five children are overweight or obese as they join reception year, so the project will lead on work nationally to help early years providers meet children’s nutritional needs more consistently, and to help families with young children to develop the cooking skills and confidence they need to cook and eat more healthily.
