Demi
Sun, Dec-31-06, 03:33
The Sunday Times
London, UK
31 December, 2006
You may be preparing for an après Christmas detox but new research suggests you should pick your diet with care. Jonathan Leake and Sian Griffiths report
It has been a gluttonous few weeks. The parties, the chocolates, the mince pies — all capped with that 6,000-calorie Christmas Day feast. A January detox sounds sensible. A chance to purge those toxins, burn away the flab and give our furred arteries a well earned break.
Millions of us will be making just such a resolve today as we prepare for New Year’s Eve and one last night of hedonistic indulgence. If, however, you are thinking of joining that bandwagon then you may be about to suffer in vain.
After sponsoring one of the biggest nutritional research programmes of its kind, the BBC is set to debunk the notion of detoxing, together with a list of other food myths.
“The detox diet idea is nonsense,” said Nigel Denby, a dietician at Queen Charlotte’s hospital in west London, who worked on the BBC’s detox experiment.
“Our research has confirmed what medics have long suspected: that our bodies are extremely efficient machines for doing all the detoxing needed and they don’t need much extra help.”
The BBC’s six-part series The Truth About Food will set out the results of dozens of scientific experiments commissioned to test popular beliefs about food.
Can, for example, foods really make you feel sexy? Some can, it appears — but not the ones you might think. (Forget oysters and chocolate, think garlic instead.) The new series, supported with a book, is not the only thing that will keep food in the headlines throughout January. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is also to hit the airwaves with advertisements promoting its traffic light labelling system for packaged foods.
The voluntary system, which puts a red warning blob on foods that are high in fat, salt or sugar is driving junk food retailers and manufacturers such as Tesco, Kellogg’s and Nestlé to distraction. They are expected to launch their own television counter-blast.
Neville Rigby, policy director at the International Obesity Task Force, said: “The labelling of food has been confusing consumers for too long. The FSA’s new traffic light system is the first attempt to give consumers clear, simple information that they can use to make simple decisions about which foods to buy. It would give consumers an easy way of spotting foods that are high in fat, salt or sugar — and that is why the industry is so set against it. It will be a hard-fought battle.”
All this comes as Ofcom, the communications regulator, is preparing to implement its long discussed ban on television advertising for junk food before the 9pm watershed. That could see advertisements for up to 75% of breakfast cereals and other products aimed at children being taken off the air.
What should we aim to be eating in 2007? Here are some of the answers:
DETOXING
Carol Vorderman is among the leaders of this craze with her book, The 28 Day Detox Diet and Beyond, and a DVD, produced with Ko Chohan, creator of the detox diet. Does it work? Almost certainly not, according to the consensus of medical opinion and the latest research. The BBC took 10 young women, who had spent several days partying at a rock festival, and sent them to a Devon retreat where five were put on a detox diet and five ate normally.
The detoxers had to avoid sugar, salt, coffee, wheat, meat and dairy produce and stick to a gruelling diet of organic fruit, vegetables and fish.
After seven days the two groups were tested for toxins and were found to be almost identical. The conclusion? The January detox might make you feel virtuous but it does nothing much for your health.
“It’s a complete waste of time and money,” said Jill Fullerton-Smith, the BBC’s director of scientific programmes, who produced the series and wrote the accompanying book. “Our researchers found no evidence of detox working.”
WEIGHT-LOSS DIETS
Dieting is full of myths, fads and quackery. We have seen the grapefruit diet, the cabbage soup diet and, of course, the Atkins diet. Some of them may take a few pounds off, but only for a while.
The basic science, which does hold, is that you should not consume many more calories than you burn. If you eat more calories than you use, you get fat no matter how much exercise you take. If you eat fewer calories than you use, then you get thinner. Even sedentary people can lose weight if they eat fewer calories than it takes to get to the office or to watch television.
The BBC’s researchers showed this by putting nine volunteers on the so-called Evo diet — a recreation of the diet of our prehistoric ancestors, rich in nuts, fruit, vegetables and some fish.
The volunteers lived in a tent at Paignton zoo, in Devon, for 12 days, eating the same diet as the apes in an adjacent cage. At the end their cholesterol had fallen by 23% and they had lost an average of 10lb.
There was, however, a downside. The nine became so desperate for a pint and a packet of crisps that guards had to be posted to stop them sneaking out to the pub.
One of the nine, David Glew, 42, an insurance broker, lost 12lb and saw his cholesterol levels plummet, but said the diet was not a practical option. “Every day there was a big box of fruit and veg to munch through and some was unpalatable, like the daily cabbage leaf or the bag of tomatoes. I never ate it all — it would take all day,” he said.
Dr Susan Jebb, of the Medical Research Council’s human nutrition laboratories in Cambridge, said that the Evo diet illustrated the powerful connection between diet and health — and the difficulties in sticking to good advice.
“A 23% reduction in cholesterol is unachievable for most people over this time period,” she said. “Diets work if you can stick to them but people find it very difficult to change their eating habits to any great extent.”
VEGETARIANISM
Vegetarians claim that their meatless diet means a longer and healthier life and a stronger body, but are they right? Not quite, say the experts.
The BBC took 12 vegetarians and made half of them eat meat for a few months. By the end the meat eaters had become stronger and faster — with the experts linking this to the increased iron levels in their diet.
The researchers also put Colin Jackson, the recently retired champion hurdler, on a vegetarian diet for a month. At the end he had become significantly weaker.
So meat is an important part of the diet — but perhaps the real concern is not whether to eat it but how much. Research shows that those with a diet rich in red meat face a higher risk of cancer and heart disease.
“Meat gives you iron, zinc and some minerals that are difficult to replace if you are vegetarian,” said Jebb. “It is helpful to have small amounts in your diet.”
APHRODISIAC FOODS
Can foods improve your love life? Some can, but not the ones we expect. Oysters, chocolate and strawberries are the classic aphrodisiac foods, so the BBC’s researchers invited two men and two women on luxury dates with attractive models of the opposite sex.
When the volunteers sampled the supposedly aphrodisiacal foods, however, there was no physiological response.
They got a far more impressive result in a separate experiment with one of the world’s least erotic foods — garlic.
Seven men with erectile dysfunction were given two cloves of garlic twice a day for three months.
Six reported uplifting results, of which two were “outstanding”.
The likely reason? Garlic contains substances that improve overall blood flow. Poor circulation is a primary cause of many men’s impotence.
FEEDING THE KIDS
How do get your children to eat well? Start before they are born, say the experts.
Studies show that whatever women eat while pregnant or breast-feeding helps children to acquire a taste for that food when they are weaned.
Later on in life the traditional advice is to begin a child’s day with a good breakfast. But steer clear of the sugary cereals and condiments that are common to most British breakfast tables because they create a desire for sugar.
What many parents do not realise is that children’s sense of taste is much stronger than an adult’s. “At birth we have an average of 10,000 taste buds,” said Fullerton-Smith. “But by age 80 only around 3,000 remain.”
The BBC sponsored a study of 19 six to seven-year-olds which showed that sugary foods caused a surge of glucose into the blood. Children given such a start to the day did not concentrate well.
Instead the best breakfast proved to be the traditional German-style meal of ham, cheese and rye bread because these released sugars into the blood more slowly and over a longer period. Porridge or muesli had the same effect.
The findings undermine the claims of British cereal manufacturers such as Kellogg’s which say that sweetened products such as Frosties, with four teaspoons of sugar per 40g serving, will give children much needed energy in the morning.
FIGHTING AGEING
Eating the right foods can keep ageing at bay. Scientists looked at common foods such as tomatoes, spinach, red wine and blueberries.
In one study 12 volunteers were fed 50g of spinach daily for 12 weeks. At the end of the period the part of their retinas that absorbs damaging UV light was stronger.
Another piece of research found that consuming extra tomatoes protected the skin against the sun’s ageing UV rays. In another, Roger Corder, professor of experimental therapeutics at St Bartholomew’s hospital in London, linked longevity in Sardinian villagers to consumption of red wines containing high levels of procyanidin, a powerful antioxidant.
“This may explain the strong association between the consumption of traditional wines and overall wellbeing, reflected in greater longevity,” said Corder.
FOR Fullerton-Smith, making The Truth About Food was a life-changing experience.
“I really do believe food has the power to change our health, the way we look, our bodies, our moods,” she said.
“It’s a real shame that people will be starting 2007 embarking on all sorts of faddy diets,putting their bodies through all sorts of stress. We need to replace the confusion and fear that surround food with an understanding of its positive potential.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2524265_1,00.html
London, UK
31 December, 2006
You may be preparing for an après Christmas detox but new research suggests you should pick your diet with care. Jonathan Leake and Sian Griffiths report
It has been a gluttonous few weeks. The parties, the chocolates, the mince pies — all capped with that 6,000-calorie Christmas Day feast. A January detox sounds sensible. A chance to purge those toxins, burn away the flab and give our furred arteries a well earned break.
Millions of us will be making just such a resolve today as we prepare for New Year’s Eve and one last night of hedonistic indulgence. If, however, you are thinking of joining that bandwagon then you may be about to suffer in vain.
After sponsoring one of the biggest nutritional research programmes of its kind, the BBC is set to debunk the notion of detoxing, together with a list of other food myths.
“The detox diet idea is nonsense,” said Nigel Denby, a dietician at Queen Charlotte’s hospital in west London, who worked on the BBC’s detox experiment.
“Our research has confirmed what medics have long suspected: that our bodies are extremely efficient machines for doing all the detoxing needed and they don’t need much extra help.”
The BBC’s six-part series The Truth About Food will set out the results of dozens of scientific experiments commissioned to test popular beliefs about food.
Can, for example, foods really make you feel sexy? Some can, it appears — but not the ones you might think. (Forget oysters and chocolate, think garlic instead.) The new series, supported with a book, is not the only thing that will keep food in the headlines throughout January. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is also to hit the airwaves with advertisements promoting its traffic light labelling system for packaged foods.
The voluntary system, which puts a red warning blob on foods that are high in fat, salt or sugar is driving junk food retailers and manufacturers such as Tesco, Kellogg’s and Nestlé to distraction. They are expected to launch their own television counter-blast.
Neville Rigby, policy director at the International Obesity Task Force, said: “The labelling of food has been confusing consumers for too long. The FSA’s new traffic light system is the first attempt to give consumers clear, simple information that they can use to make simple decisions about which foods to buy. It would give consumers an easy way of spotting foods that are high in fat, salt or sugar — and that is why the industry is so set against it. It will be a hard-fought battle.”
All this comes as Ofcom, the communications regulator, is preparing to implement its long discussed ban on television advertising for junk food before the 9pm watershed. That could see advertisements for up to 75% of breakfast cereals and other products aimed at children being taken off the air.
What should we aim to be eating in 2007? Here are some of the answers:
DETOXING
Carol Vorderman is among the leaders of this craze with her book, The 28 Day Detox Diet and Beyond, and a DVD, produced with Ko Chohan, creator of the detox diet. Does it work? Almost certainly not, according to the consensus of medical opinion and the latest research. The BBC took 10 young women, who had spent several days partying at a rock festival, and sent them to a Devon retreat where five were put on a detox diet and five ate normally.
The detoxers had to avoid sugar, salt, coffee, wheat, meat and dairy produce and stick to a gruelling diet of organic fruit, vegetables and fish.
After seven days the two groups were tested for toxins and were found to be almost identical. The conclusion? The January detox might make you feel virtuous but it does nothing much for your health.
“It’s a complete waste of time and money,” said Jill Fullerton-Smith, the BBC’s director of scientific programmes, who produced the series and wrote the accompanying book. “Our researchers found no evidence of detox working.”
WEIGHT-LOSS DIETS
Dieting is full of myths, fads and quackery. We have seen the grapefruit diet, the cabbage soup diet and, of course, the Atkins diet. Some of them may take a few pounds off, but only for a while.
The basic science, which does hold, is that you should not consume many more calories than you burn. If you eat more calories than you use, you get fat no matter how much exercise you take. If you eat fewer calories than you use, then you get thinner. Even sedentary people can lose weight if they eat fewer calories than it takes to get to the office or to watch television.
The BBC’s researchers showed this by putting nine volunteers on the so-called Evo diet — a recreation of the diet of our prehistoric ancestors, rich in nuts, fruit, vegetables and some fish.
The volunteers lived in a tent at Paignton zoo, in Devon, for 12 days, eating the same diet as the apes in an adjacent cage. At the end their cholesterol had fallen by 23% and they had lost an average of 10lb.
There was, however, a downside. The nine became so desperate for a pint and a packet of crisps that guards had to be posted to stop them sneaking out to the pub.
One of the nine, David Glew, 42, an insurance broker, lost 12lb and saw his cholesterol levels plummet, but said the diet was not a practical option. “Every day there was a big box of fruit and veg to munch through and some was unpalatable, like the daily cabbage leaf or the bag of tomatoes. I never ate it all — it would take all day,” he said.
Dr Susan Jebb, of the Medical Research Council’s human nutrition laboratories in Cambridge, said that the Evo diet illustrated the powerful connection between diet and health — and the difficulties in sticking to good advice.
“A 23% reduction in cholesterol is unachievable for most people over this time period,” she said. “Diets work if you can stick to them but people find it very difficult to change their eating habits to any great extent.”
VEGETARIANISM
Vegetarians claim that their meatless diet means a longer and healthier life and a stronger body, but are they right? Not quite, say the experts.
The BBC took 12 vegetarians and made half of them eat meat for a few months. By the end the meat eaters had become stronger and faster — with the experts linking this to the increased iron levels in their diet.
The researchers also put Colin Jackson, the recently retired champion hurdler, on a vegetarian diet for a month. At the end he had become significantly weaker.
So meat is an important part of the diet — but perhaps the real concern is not whether to eat it but how much. Research shows that those with a diet rich in red meat face a higher risk of cancer and heart disease.
“Meat gives you iron, zinc and some minerals that are difficult to replace if you are vegetarian,” said Jebb. “It is helpful to have small amounts in your diet.”
APHRODISIAC FOODS
Can foods improve your love life? Some can, but not the ones we expect. Oysters, chocolate and strawberries are the classic aphrodisiac foods, so the BBC’s researchers invited two men and two women on luxury dates with attractive models of the opposite sex.
When the volunteers sampled the supposedly aphrodisiacal foods, however, there was no physiological response.
They got a far more impressive result in a separate experiment with one of the world’s least erotic foods — garlic.
Seven men with erectile dysfunction were given two cloves of garlic twice a day for three months.
Six reported uplifting results, of which two were “outstanding”.
The likely reason? Garlic contains substances that improve overall blood flow. Poor circulation is a primary cause of many men’s impotence.
FEEDING THE KIDS
How do get your children to eat well? Start before they are born, say the experts.
Studies show that whatever women eat while pregnant or breast-feeding helps children to acquire a taste for that food when they are weaned.
Later on in life the traditional advice is to begin a child’s day with a good breakfast. But steer clear of the sugary cereals and condiments that are common to most British breakfast tables because they create a desire for sugar.
What many parents do not realise is that children’s sense of taste is much stronger than an adult’s. “At birth we have an average of 10,000 taste buds,” said Fullerton-Smith. “But by age 80 only around 3,000 remain.”
The BBC sponsored a study of 19 six to seven-year-olds which showed that sugary foods caused a surge of glucose into the blood. Children given such a start to the day did not concentrate well.
Instead the best breakfast proved to be the traditional German-style meal of ham, cheese and rye bread because these released sugars into the blood more slowly and over a longer period. Porridge or muesli had the same effect.
The findings undermine the claims of British cereal manufacturers such as Kellogg’s which say that sweetened products such as Frosties, with four teaspoons of sugar per 40g serving, will give children much needed energy in the morning.
FIGHTING AGEING
Eating the right foods can keep ageing at bay. Scientists looked at common foods such as tomatoes, spinach, red wine and blueberries.
In one study 12 volunteers were fed 50g of spinach daily for 12 weeks. At the end of the period the part of their retinas that absorbs damaging UV light was stronger.
Another piece of research found that consuming extra tomatoes protected the skin against the sun’s ageing UV rays. In another, Roger Corder, professor of experimental therapeutics at St Bartholomew’s hospital in London, linked longevity in Sardinian villagers to consumption of red wines containing high levels of procyanidin, a powerful antioxidant.
“This may explain the strong association between the consumption of traditional wines and overall wellbeing, reflected in greater longevity,” said Corder.
FOR Fullerton-Smith, making The Truth About Food was a life-changing experience.
“I really do believe food has the power to change our health, the way we look, our bodies, our moods,” she said.
“It’s a real shame that people will be starting 2007 embarking on all sorts of faddy diets,putting their bodies through all sorts of stress. We need to replace the confusion and fear that surround food with an understanding of its positive potential.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2524265_1,00.html