Posts for Food
Government struggles to tackle childhood obesity
Successive governments have struggled to tackle rising childhood obesity and it is not clear that the Department of Health & Social Care’s (DHSC) current programme will be able to make the step change needed in the timescale available, according to today’s report by the National Audit Office. Governments have been […]
Why low and alcohol free beers could be considered health drinks
Refreshing in the scientific-medical sense, not just the pints-after-work sense. Syda Productions/Shutterstock Duane Mellor, Aston University; Bishoy Hanna-Khalil, Aston University, and Ray Carson, Aston University It is often said that weak beer was drunk in preference to dirty water in European towns during the middle ages. This fact is probably […]
A brief history of chocolate – and some of its surprising health benefits
k.nykyforova Liam Corr, University of Huddersfield Chocolate in all its forms is something that I, along with many others like to indulge in on an almost daily basis. But chocolate as it’s enjoyed today is quite different from when it first arrived in Europe from South America around the 16th […]
Here’s why we crave food even when we’re not hungry
Our “food reward” system can seriously undermine our ability to resist temptation. Roman Samborskyi/ Shutterstock Charlotte Hardman, University of Liverpool and Carl Roberts, University of Liverpool Food cravings are very familiar to most people. We may see or smell food and want to eat, or sometimes we suddenly feel like […]
Vegetarian and vegan diet: five things for over-65s to consider when switching to a plant-based diet
A well-planned, plant-based diet can support good health at every age. Tatjana Baibakova/ Shutterstock Taibat Ibitoye, University of Reading Plant-based diets continue to grow in popularity, worldwide. There are plenty of reasons people switch to a plant-based diet, including ethical and environmental reasons. However, a growing number of people are […]
How lockdown changed people’s feelings about drinking and going back to the pub
Emily Nicholls, University of Portsmouth and Dominic Conroy, University of East London Among the raft of changes following the UK’s coronavirus lockdown in March 2020 was the closure of pubs – an integral part of British cultural life. While the 1990s heyday of pubs is long gone, they remain unique […]
Here’s how the body reacts to one-off overeating – new research
The participants were able to eat almost 3000 calories worth of pizza on average in one sitting. Dean Drobot/ Shutterstock Aaron Hengist, University of Bath; James Betts, University of Bath, and Rob Edinburgh, University of Bath Whether it’s a summer barbecue with friends, your favourite fast food takeaway, or Christmas […]
Body mass index may not be the best indicator of our health – how can we improve it?
BMI is calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms by your height in metres squared. Christian Delbert/ Shutterstock Karen Coulman, University of Bristol and Sarah Sauchelli Toran, University of Bristol Body mass index or BMI has long been the standard for measuring health. The simple formula is widely used to […]
Excess weight and Covid-19
As Boris Johnson sadly discovered, being obese or excessively overweight increases the risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19. Now this is confirmed in a new Public Health England (PHE) report. The current evidence does not suggest that having excess weight increases people’s chances of contracting COVID-19. However, the […]
Quorn thought to lower ‘bad’ cholesterol
A study from the University of Exeter has found that mycoprotein, the protein-rich food source that is unique to Quorn products, lowers the post absorptive levels of low-density lipoproteins (LDL), commonly known as “bad” cholesterol, more than meat and fish. Results also showed that there was no difference in blood […]
