Thursday 15 March 2007

TINNED DELIGHTS


I still have a memory of a woman on a telly program tucking into a can of Whiskas cat food. She was doing this to prove that there was as much nutrition in it as conventional food for humans. Although the thought of it was pretty yucky, she had lived on it for about six months and was perfectly happy. This was about thirty years ago and the issue has arisen again. This time it’s not to prove that the food in the tins is comparable to human food, this time research has shown it’s actually better for us! Yes, a tin of dog food contains less fat, salt and sugar. In some cases about one eighth the amount in fast food chicken from a fast food joint. The dog food also contains more fibre and protein. The taste of the dog food is more meaty than a fast food meal but less spicy. It can’t be all that bad because most young toddlers that I know have all at some stage had their head stuck in the dog’s dinner!


Another popular product on the market are those drinks and yoghurts that contain probiotic substances. The probiotic product market is worth about €1.2 billion euro and has risen 500% since 1998. American researchers tested 55 probiotic products and found that just 20% of them contained probiotic products labelled. Nine of the products had no bacteria at all. The group also claimed that most of the bacteria can’t live in the gut anyway so they are a waste of time. However as the manufacturers’ have a vast budget for advertising, we are going to see a lot of probiotic products pushed at us regardless of whether they are any good for us. One benefit from this type of product is that it will make us look more closely at our diets and we can choose a healthier alternative, whether we buy their goods or not. At least with probiotic products we have the freedom of choice.




There was a very disturbing report about fluoride in water recently, which has come about because of the lack of this freedom. The claim was that new research has found that the inclusion of fluoride in the water supply is directly linked to the increase of bone cancer in children. Put fluoride into the search blg box to find out more.

Click the Tinned Delight title above for a report on flouride in water from the Irish Independent.


Environmental


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