Australia, NZ Final Touches to Nutrition Claims

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) is ironing out the creases before finalising its proposed health and nutrition claims standard with nutrient profiling and percentage daily intakes up for comment.

Melanie Fisher, FSANZ's General Manager (Standards), comfirmed that several health claims are pre-approved, inclduing the link between fruit and vegetable consumption and a reduction in the risk of heart disease, calcium and osteoporosis or enhanced bone density, sodium and blood pressure, folic acid and neural tube defects, and saturated fats and trans fats and LDL cholesterol levels.

The new standard will also allow for lower levels of health claims for ingredients with some but not enough evidence backing up the proposed health benefits.

‘Our expert advisory group found that there was probable evidence that dietary omega-3 fatty acids reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease but that this did not reach the convincing level required for a high level health claim,’ she said.

‘However, a general level health claim, which requires a lesser degree of evidence, will be able to be made, for example 'omega 3s aid heart health'.

‘The expert group also concluded that currently there was not convincing evidence for a relationship between wholegrains and cardiovascular disease so FSANZ is not pre-approving a high level claim based on this.’

The proposed new standard will put in place a voluntary scheme that will allow manufacturers to promote the health benefits of their products.

‘To be eligible to make health claims foods will need to meet a number of criteria. The standard provides a rigorous framework to assess claims linking a food to the reduction of risk of a certain disease, for example 'fruit and vegetables reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease'. It also makes nutrition claims - like 'low salt' and 'reduced fat' - legally enforceable,’ said Fisher.

She added that previous proposals for setting upper limits for saturated fat, sugar and salt were regarded as too simplistic, and, as a result, the agency has developed a system that takes account of the overall composition of the food, which they are calling the nutrient profiling method, which will also take into account fibre, fruit and vegetable content.

‘If a food does not qualify to make a health claim, and a food manufacturer still wants to make a claim, they may be able to reformulate their product with less salt, sugar or saturated fat or by increasing fibre or fruit and vegetable content.

‘We are interested in stakeholders' views on this profiling method,’ she said.
‘During the last round of public comment we proposed including a percentage of daily kilojoules on the labels of foods making a nutrition claim such as 'low salt' or 'good source of calcium'. We received a mixed response to this suggestion and we are now undertaking further consumer research and proposing that the percentage daily intake be considered in the broader labelling review we are scoping this year rather than in this proposal,’ concluded Fisher.

Comments on the proposals can be made until 16th May 2007. The report is available on the FSANZ website, along with an electronic calculator to allow a quick and simple calculation of whether a food is eligible to carry a health claim.

New Food Ad Rules to Protect Children's Health - Only Fruit and Vegetables Will be Exempt

New curbs on food and drink adverts were announced on 11th April in response to rising levels of childhood obesity - but Which? says they are a missed opportunity.

Fresh fruit and vegetables are the only products exempt from the measures, which ban all other print media adverts for food and soft drinks from encouraging under 16s to be unhealthy.

They aim to quash 'pester power' by banning phrases such as 'Ask Mummy to buy you..'.

And advertisers mustn't show children putting products into parents' supermarket trolleys.

The new rules apply to newspaper and magazine adverts, posters, cinema and online adverts.

No 'hard sell'
Advertisers will be banned from using 'hard sell' techniques and from using promotional offers in an irresponsible way for products aimed at children.

Tougher rules apply to adverts targeted directly at pre-school or primary age children.

Popular cartoon characters and celebrities will be banned from food and soft drink adverts aimed at this age group.

All promotional offers and nutritional claims will also be banned in food and drink adverts aimed at very young children.

The rules say children mustn't be encouraged to eat or drink near their bedtime or to snack throughout the day.

And advertisers mustn't play down product prices with words such as 'only' and 'just'.

The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP)'s new rules come into force on July 1st this year.

'Strong commitment'
CAP chairman Andrew Brown said the new measures showed a 'strong commitment' by advertisers to responsible food and drink promotions.

'These comprehensive new rules are designed to help protect children's health while still allowing advertisers an appropriate degree of freedom to promote their products,' he said.

But Which? says the rules for older children are not clear enough.

Chief policy adviser Sue Davies says: 'The food industry and advertisers have missed an opportunity to show that they genuinely want to take a more responsible approach to the way foods are promoted to children.

'While we welcome the steps to protect younger children, it is very disappointing that the rules for older children are so vague .Terms such as 'a due sense of responsibility' and 'not condoning or encouraging poor nutritional habits' are too open to interpretation and will allow companies to continue targeting children above primary school age.

'The new rules state that celebrities and licensed characters won't be able to advertise food to younger children but they will still be allowed to promote unhealthy foods to older children while characters created by food companies such as the Nesquik Bunny will not be covered at all.

'The CAP code doesn't cover important types of promotion such as packaging and company websites. The Government needs to urgently step in and tackle this whole area.'

Parents who feel that the government and the food industry are not doing enough to combat the marketing of unhealthy foods to children can fight back. Visit http://www.which.co.uk/kidsfood to download a Which? Kids' Food Campaign Toolkit.

Phosphoric Acid in Sodas Nearly as Damaging to Teeth as Battery Acid

According to a report published in the March/April edition of General Dentistry, phosphoric acid in soda causes tooth enamel erosion, even with minimal exposure. While some consumers may believe that sugar is the only culprit of soda's adverse effects on dental health, enamel erosion occurs whether the soda is sweetened with sugar or artificial sweeteners.

‘Drinking any type of soft drink poses risk to the health of your teeth,’ said Kenton Ross, a dentist and spokesman for the Academy of General Dentistry.
‘My patients are shocked to hear that many of the soft drinks they consume contain nine to 12 teaspoons of sugar, and have an acidity that approaches the level of battery acid,’ Ross said.

Americans drink more than 50 gallons per capita of carbonated soft drinks each year, according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, which tracks beverage consumption in nine areas: bottled water, coffee, fruit beverages, milk, tea, beer, wine, spirits and ‘CSDs’ or carbonated soft drinks. Of the nine, carbonated soft drinks make up the largest segment of beverages consumed.
The United States has the highest per-capita CSD consumption in the world.
Soft drinks are infused with phosphoric acid to add a tangy flavour. In nature, this type of flavour can be found in ginger or lemon. Inexpensive and widely available, phosphoric acid is also used in fertilisers and detergents, including industrial cleaners. Even ‘food grade’ thermal phosphoric acid is known to sometimes contain arsenic.

‘Phosphoric acid is used in shipyards to remove rust from aircraft carriers and transport ships,’ explained Mike Adams, author of The Five Soft Drink Monsters, a book that teaches consumers how to beat their addiction to sugary sodas.

‘Consuming highly acidic substances is not only bad for your teeth but also terrible for bone health and can promote a deterioration of the jawbone, pelvis and femur. Essentially, drinking phosphoric acid dissolves away your skeletal system,’ Adams said.

Web: http://www.NewsTarget.com

Sales of Latest 'Superfood' Soar - Demand for Pomegranates Hits Record High

Pomegranates are the latest fruit to enjoy a sales surge after being dubbed a 'superfood', a retailer said recently.

Demand for the seed-filled fruit has grown by 76 per cent across all stores over the past year, figures from market analysts TNS show.

Pomegranates have overtaken blueberries as Britain's fastest growing superfood, according to Tesco.

The country's biggest supermarket chain sold 3.8 million pomegranates in the past year - an increase of two million on the previous year.

Consumer demand for the fruit was prompted by the launch of pre-packed pomegranate juice.

Vitamin C
Tesco pomegranate buyer Kevin Patel said: 'In the last few years there has been tremendous publicity surrounding pomegranates and their supposed health-giving qualities and that has led to the phenomenal rise in demand.'

Other products dubbed 'superfoods' because of their health benefits include spinach, broccoli, avocados and fish rich in omega 3 oils.

A single pomegranate provides around 40 per cent of the daily recommended vitamin C intake, Tesco said.

They are also a good source of antioxidants which can help prevent illness.

Urgent Action to Stop GM Crops in Europe

The Soil Association says that in case you thought GM crops had gone away, moves are afoot in Europe to push through a strongly pro-GM motion - in spite of newly published research on the negative health impacts of GM. On the plus side, there's good news for schools in England who will be benefiting from a revolutionary new school meals programme.

'A new proposal to encourage genetically modified (GM) crops in Europe is being considered by the European Parliament. MEPs voted on motion (2006/2059 INI) http://www.icppc.pl/gmo/635387en.pdf, submitted by Finnish MEP Kyösti Virrankoski, on March 14th. If this motion is approved by the European Parliament, it will open the flood gates for a GMO invasion of European food and farming. In an earlier vote, 22 MEPs voted for it, 15 rejected it and 6 abstained. The motion looks to us as if it could have been written by Monsanto! See for yourself...

'The MEPs believe that '...the use of biotechnology and genetic engineering should be developed in order to facilitate more sustainable farming practices, better food, increased yield and higher-quality and more diverse products with less use of nitrates and other fertilisers and less use of water'.

'Contrary to scientific evidence, they claim that '...developments in biotechnology have the potential to yield many benefits for agriculture, such as increased yields, reduced use of herbicides and pesticides, less fossil fuel use and reduced soil erosion'.

'And the icing on the cake, '...the precautionary principle cannot be used as an excuse to delay the process [of approving new GMOs]'.'

GM potatoes - more evidence emerges
'As GM potato trials loom over the English countryside this month, more scientific research has come to light about their health risks. Eight years after being conducted, a secret feeding study of Monsanto GM potatoes was finally published last month which showed that the potatoes caused 'considerable damage to the organs of the rats in the study'. Dr Irina Ermakova of the Russian Academy of Science said that the GM potatoes were ‘toxic’ to lab rats and ‘cannot be used in the nourishment of people’. Only three animal feeding studies on GM potatoes have been carried out - and they all show negative health effects. Even so, official scientists are still in denial about the emerging scientific evidence on harm and uncertainty of GM crops. You can read more about this research and the GM potato trials at http://www.soilassociation.org/gmpotatoes'

Good news for school meals
'And finally, 180 schools across England will now become beacons of good food culture, thanks to £17 million Big Lottery funding awarded to the Food for Life Partnership just before Christmas. Led by the Soil Association, the Food for Life Partnership consists of the Focus on Food Campaign, Garden Organic and the Health Education Trust, bringing together unique experience of successful work in revolutionising school meals and giving children the chance to grow and cook food, as well as visiting organic farms. Click here http://www.soilassociation.org/web/sa/saweb.nsf/GetInvolved/ffl.html to find out more and get your local school involved.'

UK Snack Market hit by Health Concerns

The UK sweet and salty snacks market has seen disappointing sales in the wake of Government efforts to reduce obesity by alerting consumers to the importance of a healthy diet.

A report by market analyst group Key Note indicates that greater health-related innovation and product reformulation is needed in the sector to reverse falling sales and encourage demand to pick up.

The sweet and salty snack market is predicted to show a slight yearly decline in value terms until 2011 with sweet products in particular damaging the sector.
Between September 2004 and May 2005 salty snack sales fell 3.3 per cent and sweet snacks fell 2 per cent in the year ending May 2006.

The report says: ‘The Government and others campaigns to reduce levels of fat, salt and sugar in consumer's diets - in response to the substantial and growing numbers of overweight and obese persons in the population - have had an adverse effect on sales of sweet and salty snacks.’

Web: http://www.NutraIngredients.com

UK Food Product Recalls Fall by 7 per cent

Product recalls in the UK food sector fell by seven per cent last year, according to a report by law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain.

The report highlights the need to make recalls sooner rather than later, and to have insurance in case of a problem.

Mark Kendall, a partner at the London-based law firm said that the negative media coverage of the slow response of Cadbury to finding salmonella in its chocolate clearly illustrates the dangers of not taking pre-emptive action.

"Corporate reputations have become more fragile as consumers increasingly use the internet and other media to share and publicise information about faulty products," he said.

While food recalls fell to a total of 71, overall product recalls of all goods rose by eight per cent to 179, the law firm stated.

The increase indicates businesses are moving more decisively to protect their reputation from the harm caused by faulty goods, he said.

Companies were also driven by the treat of insurers not paying out due if they delayed making a recall, and fears over regulatory action against them.

The largest increase came in the consumer goods sector, where recalls leapt by about 20 per cent.

The reasons for recalls in the food sector varied from mislabelling to the discovery of glass, wood and even moths in products.

More on this story at:
http://www.FoodQualityNews.com.

Should we Eat Soya?

Soya contains toxins and plant oestrogens powerful enough to disrupt women's menstrual cycles in experiments. It also appears damaging to the thyroid. In 2002, the British government's expert committee on the toxicity of food (CoT) published the results of its inquiry into the safety of plant oestrogens, mainly from soya proteins, in modern food. It concluded that in general the health benefits claimed for soya were not supported by clear evidence and judged that there could be risks from high levels of consumption for certain age groups. Yet little has happened to curb soya's growth since.

More than 60% of all processed food in Britain today contains soya in some form, according to food industry estimates. It is in breakfast cereals, cereal bars and biscuits, cheeses, cakes, dairy desserts, gravies, noodles, pastries, soups, sausage casings, sauces and sandwich spreads.

Soya, crushed, separated and refined into its different parts, can appear on food labels as soya flour, hydrolysed vegetable protein, soy protein isolate, protein concentrate, textured vegetable protein, vegetable oil (simple, fully, or partially hydrogenated), plant sterols, or the emulsifier lecithin. Its many guises hint at its value to manufacturers.

Soya increases the protein content of processed meat products. It replaces them altogether in vegetarian foods. It stops industrial breads shrinking. It makes cakes hold on to their water. It helps manufacturers mix water into oil. Hydrogenated, its oil is used to deep-fry fast food.

Soya is also in cat food and dog food. But above all it is used in agricultural feeds for intensive chicken, beef, dairy, pig and fish farming.

Soya protein - which accounts for 35% of the raw bean - is what has made the global factory farming of livestock for cheap meat a possibility. Soya oil - high in omega 6 fatty acids and 18% of the whole bean - has meanwhile driven the postwar explosion in snack foods around the world.

Crisps, confectionery, deep-fried take-aways, ready meals, ice-creams, mayonnaise and margarines all make liberal use of it. Its widespread presence is one of the reasons our balance of omega 3 to omega 6 essential fatty acids is so out of kilter.

In 1965, the earliest year for which the Chicago Board of Trade keeps figures, global soya bean production was just 30m tonnes. By 2005, the world was consuming nine times that a year, at 270m tonnes. World soya oil production, meanwhile, has increased sevenfold over the same period, from 5m tonnes to 34m tonnes a year.

To feed demand, new agricultural frontiers are being opened up in Brazil, where large areas of virgin rainforest have been illegally felled to make room for the crop. US-based transnationals are now exporting soya back to China, the country from which it originated, as newly urbanised Chinese switch to industrialised western diets. Thanks to US agribusiness, we have developed an apparently insatiable global appetite for the bean produced by farmers in the Americas.

It had been known since the early 1980s that plant oestrogens, or phyto-oestrogens, could produce biological effects in humans. The most common of these were a group of compounds in soya protein called isoflavones. Food manufacturers had variously marketed soya foods as an antidote to menopausal hot flushes and osteoporosis, and as a protective ingredient against cardiovascular disease and hormone-related cancers. Large quantities of mainly industry-sponsored scientific research have been produced to back up these claims. The American soya industry spends about $80m every year, raised from a mandatory levy on producers, to research and promote the consumption of soya around the world. The rash of new soya foods can be seen as the latest in a line of innovative ways devised to use soya.

The hypothesis behind the health claims is that rates of heart disease and certain cancers such as breast and prostate cancer are lower in east Asian populations with soya-rich diets than in western countries, and that the oestrogens in soya might therefore have a protective effect.

Mass exposure to isoflavones in the west has only occurred in the past 30 years due to the widespread incorporation of soya protein into processed foods, a fact noted by the Royal Society in its expert report on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in 2000. When the independent experts on the scientific committee on toxicity trawled through all the scientific data, they concluded that soya milk should not be recommended for infants even when they had cow's milk allergies, except on medical advice, because of the high levels of oestrogenic isoflavones it contains.

On breast cancer, they decided that ‘despite the suggested benefits of phyto-oestrogens in lowering risk of developing breast cancer, there is also evidence that they may stimulate the progression of the disease’.

The lower risk of certain cancers among Asian populations might be due to other factors - their high consumption of fish, for example. They advised caution. On the effects on menopause symptoms, the evidence was inconclusive, the experts ruled. On bone density, the committee thought there might be some protective effects, but the data was unclear.

The evidence on prostate cancer was mixed. Since isoflavones cross the placenta, the implications of pregnant women eating large quantities of soya were unclear. There was some evidence that soya-based products had a beneficial effect on the good HDL cholesterol but they were not sure that was down to the isoflavones. On the other hand - reassuringly - they judged that a study linking soya consumption to decline in cognitive function was not convincing.

What the committee also pointed out was that the way soya was processed affected the levels of phyto-oestrogens. Traditional fermentation reduces the levels of isoflavones two- to threefold. Modern factory processes do not. Moreover, modern American strains of soya have significantly higher levels of isoflavones than Japanese or Chinese ones because they have been bred to be more resistant to pests. (One way to tackle pests is to stop them breeding by making them infertile. It turns out that unfermented soya did play one role in traditional Asian diets - it was eaten by monks to dampen down their libido.)

Sue Dibb, now food policy expert at the National Consumer Council, was a member of the CoT working group that compiled the final report. She questions whether infant soya milk should still be on public sale and is troubled by the latest marketing of soya. ‘We looked in detail at the claimed health benefits for adults for soya consumption and concluded there was not sufficient evidence to support many of them. There may be benefits but there are also risks. The groups of adults of particular concern are those with a thyroid problem and women with oestrogen-dependent breast cancer. It worries me that soya is being pushed as a health food by a big soya and supplements industry. We ought to be taking a more cautious approach.’

The Food Standards Agency advice is that soya's potential to have an adverse effect on babies' hormonal development is still controversial, but that soya formula should only be given to infants under 12 months old in exceptional circumstances.

Professor Richard Sharpe, head of the Medical Research Council's human reproductive sciences unit at Edinburgh University, was also a member of the committee's working group on phyto-oestrogens in food. He has been studying the decline in male fertility in the past half-century. He recently completed studies on the effects of soya milk on young male monkeys which showed that it interferes with testosterone levels. ‘In the first three months after birth, baby boys have a neonatal testosterone rise. The testes are very, very active in hormone production at this point and there is a lot of cell activity going on that will determine sperm count in adults and will affect the developing prostate. If you introduce a phyto-oestrogen, which can, in large amounts, alter these changes, you may predispose children to later disease. Soya formula milk is a [recent] western invention. There is not the historical evidence to show it is safe.’

Manufacturers, however, argue that soya infant formula has been widely used without problems. ‘The industry has said that if the CoT comes up with clear science, we will take note, but the case is not proven,’ says Roger Clarke, director general of the industry's Infant Dietetics Food Association. ‘A lot of the work it looked at was based on experimental work with animals. There does not seem to be clear evidence of adverse effects, and there is demand for it. There are some markets, such as vegan usage, where soya is the only alternative.’

While 30-40% of all infants in the US are raised on soya formula - not least because it is given away in welfare programmes - soya milk for babies has always been confined to a small minority in the UK. So does Sharpe think exposure to soya from other sources - vegetarian soya proteins, the soya flour in factory bread, the hydrolysed proteins added as flavourings, for example - has a cumulative effect that might be worrying to other age groups? He says he is not concerned about people who eat soya foods in moderation or in the way they are traditionally used in oriental diets, but when it comes to modern processed foods, which use soya proteins in different ways, he prefers to turn the question round. ‘If someone said they were adding a hormone to your foods, would you be happy with that? There may be lots of effects, some of them may be beneficial, but would you be happy with that? I am not a fan of processed foods, full stop. And these quick fixes for protecting against ill-health - you know they can't be true,’ he adds.Soya is used in traditional oriental diets in these forms, after cultures, moulds or precipitants have achieved a biochemical transformation, because in its raw form the mature bean is known not only for its oestrogenic qualities but for also its antinutrients, according to the clinical nutritionist Kaayla Daniel, author of The Whole Soy Story. Soya was originally grown in China as a green manure, for its ability to fix nitrogen in the soil, rather than as a food crop, until the Chinese discovered ways of fermenting it, she says.

The young green beans, now sold as a fashionable snack, edamame, are lower in oestrogens and antinutrients, though not free of them. But raw mature soya beans contain phytates that prevent mineral absorption and enzyme inhibitors that block the key enzymes we need to digest protein. They are also famous for inducing flatulence.

Christopher Dawson, who owns the Clearspring brand of organic soy sauces, agrees. He lived in Japan for 18 years and his Japanese wife, Setsuko, is a cookery teacher. ‘I never saw soy beans on the table in Japan - they're indigestible.’

Dawson describes the traditional craft method of transforming the soya bean through fermentation, so that its valuable amino acids become available but its antinutrients are tamed. The process involves cooking whole soya beans, complete with their oil, for several hours, then adding the spores of a mould to the mix, and leaving it to ferment for three days to begin the long process of breaking down the proteins and starches. This initial brew is then mixed with salt water and left to ferment for a further 18 months, during which time the temperature will vary with the seasons. The end result is an intensely flavoured condiment in which the soya's chemical composition has been radically altered. Traditional miso is similarly made with natural whole ingredients, slowly aged.

Most soya sauces (and misos) are not made this way any more, however. Instead of using the whole bean, manufacturers short-cut the fermentation by starting with defatted soy protein meal. Soya veggie burgers and sausages generally use the same chemically extracted fraction of the bean.

This meal is the product of the industrial crushing process the vast majority of the world's soya beans go through. The raw beans are broken down to thin flakes, which are then percolated with a petroleum-based hexane solvent to extract the soya oil. The remains of the flakes are toasted and ground to a protein meal, most of which goes into animal feed. Soya flour is made in a similar way.

The oil then goes through a process of cleaning, bleaching, degumming and deodorising to remove the solvent and the oil's characteristic ‘off’ smells and flavours. The lecithin that forms a heavy sludge in the oil during storage used to be regarded as a waste product, but now it has been turned into a valuable market in its own right as an emulsifier.

In so-called ‘naturally brewed’ soya sauces the processed soy protein meal is mixed with the mould spores and given accelerated ageing at high temperatures for three to six months. Non-brewed soya sauce, the cheapest grade, is made in just two days. Defatted soya flour is mixed with hydrochloric acid at high temperatures and under pressure to create hydrolysed vegetable protein. Salt, caramel and chemical preservatives and flavourings are then added to provide colour and taste. This rapid hydrolysis method uses the enzyme glutamase as a reactor and creates large amounts of the unnatural form of glutamate that is found in MSG.

Most commercial soya milk today is made from soya isolates, although some of the pioneers of soya foods as health products in Europe avoid the chemical extraction process and use whole beans to make their milk. The key selling points for both types of soya milk are that they contain complete proteins and oestrogenic isoflavones.

Bernard Deryckere, president of the European Natural Soyfood Manufacturers Association, says that his members' products, made using natural processes, are a healthy alternative to diary products. ‘A lot of people in Europe are lactose-intolerant. Soya milk was invented in China 4,000 years ago and today it's consumed by all types of people as a cholesterol-free source of quality protein.’

Daniel's detailed examination of the history of soya milk, however, suggests that soya milk was made not to drink, except in times of famine, but as the first step in the process of making tofu. After the long, slow boiling of soya beans in water to eliminate toxins, a curdling agent was added to the liquid to separate it. The curds would then be pressed to make tofu and the whey, in which the antinutrients were concentrated, would be thrown away.

Dibb points out that if you are drinking non-dairy milk because you want calcium without cow's milk, there are plenty of other sources such as green leafy vegetables and nuts. And only those eating extremely limited diets are likely to be short of protein as adults.

Dawson, a lifelong vegetarian, does not drink soya milk and only eats tofu in moderation. ‘I will only use a product for my family if there is 200 years of tradition behind it. You are asking for trouble if you take an isolate from soya - yet so much effort seems to go into taking industry's waste and turning it into new food.’

The effort that has gone into creating the global soya market has indeed been enormous. Today it is dominated by a handful of American trading companies. Three of them - Bunge, ADM and Cargill - control 80% of the European soya bean crushing industry. These three, together with allied companies, are also estimated to control up to 80% of European animal feed manufacturing. They dominate the US soya market, and also account for 60% of Brazil's soya exports.

Before the first world war, only a very few soya beans were crushed. The Americans had begun experimenting with using the protein meal as animal feed, but farmers were reluctant to take it up because it was indigestible to chicken and pigs. The oil produced was considered 'a bit of an embarrassment', according to Kurt Burger, a fats and oils technical expert at the Society of Chemical Industry, whose experience in the food industry goes back to 1944. It was mainly used in soaps because it was considered unpalatable. (Henry Ford later funded research projects to turn soya into plastic for car parts.)

Cottonseed oil, a byproduct of the cotton industry, was the main edible oil used in the US. But then the combination of disease in monocropped cotton and demand from European allies in the first world war for oil both to eat and to make the glycerine needed for nitroglycerine in explosives, stimulated American soy oil production.

It was not until the 1940s that industry worked out how to deactivate the enzyme inhibitor in the protein meal sufficiently for animals to tolerate it, and it was only technology taken from the Nazis at the end of the second world war that solved the problem of the oil's horrible smell and flavour.

That left the way for the US to promote the soya that suited its agricultural conditions as part of the reconstruction of Europe through the 1950s. Soya oil exports to Europe tripled under the Marshall Plan, and heavily subsidised exports of surplus US soya ensured the commodity's dominance in animal feed. The subsidies continue. Between 1998 and 2004, US Department of Agriculture figures show that its soya farming received $13bn in subsidies from the American taxpayer.

Until 2003, the US was the largest exporter of soya. But through the 1990s, multinationals promoted the expansion of the crop in Latin America, helping finance farmers and building the infrastructure for soya exports. The attraction of Latin America is that land is cheap and labour costs are minimal too. Three years ago, the combined exports from Brazil and Argentina surpassed US exports for the first time. The cost is now being counted there in environmental damage and social upheaval. The cost to western consumers may yet be counted in health.

Apples Could be Probiotic Carriers

Simple apple pieces may be a simple and inexpensive method of supporting probiotics, as well as expanding the range of applications, suggests new research from Greece.

‘Apple pieces are promising carriers for probiotic bacteria and may be used in the production of probiotic fermented milk and/or other food products, as well as in the prolongation of their shelf-life,’ wrote lead author Yiannis Kourkoutas from the University of Patras.

‘Freeze-dried apple-supported L. casei biocatalyst could be added to various solid foods (breakfast cereals, used in baking, etc,) to provide probiotic properties.’ Most foods containing probiotic bacteria are found in the refrigerated section of supermarkets as the bacteria is destroyed by heat and other processing conditions.

This has given the dairy sector, already used to handling live bacteria for the manufacture of yoghurt, a major advantage in probiotic foods - probiotic drinking yoghurts are currently the fastest growing dairy product in Europe.

However major food companies have been investigating probiotic use in other food categories, indicating that this is a very relevant area for the health foods industry at present. The first cereals, bars and chocolates and cookies with probiotics have started to appear on the market.

‘Production of probiotic foods containing specific probiotic strains at suitable levels of viable cells during their self-life is a technological challenge,’
explained Kourkoutas.

The supported probiotic was prepared by adding the apple pieces to Lactobaccillus casei cell culture and allowed to ferment overnight. It was then decanted, washed and was then ready for use.

Kourkoutas and his co-workers report that the apple-supported L. casei was suitable for probiotic fermented milk production, and that, even after 129 days of storage, the probiotic cells were still viable.

‘L. casei cells immobilised on apple pieces survived for extended storage time periods and were adapted to the acidic environment, which usually has an inhibitory effect on cells survival,’ said the researchers.

‘The improved aroma of the fermented milk encourages further research on this subject,’ said the researchers.

The fruity aroma was also still evident after 129 days of storage, they said.

‘Taking into account that probiotic properties are obtained when a product contains adequate amount of live bacteria at least 107 cfu/g, it seems that cell immobilisation on apple pieces may play a positive role in cell survival,’ they concluded.

Increasing research has focused on expanding protecting probiotics during processing and expanding the food categories available to prebiotics. Such an avenue of research has led companies like Cell Biotech from Korea using a dual-coating to protect probiotics against oxygen, acid, moisture and high temperatures for use in emerging new product categories such as breakfast cereals and smoothies.

Recently, NutraIngredients.com reported on innovative research from the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) investigated the capabilities of various prebiotic fibres to protect the stability and viability of probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus strains during freeze-drying, storage in freeze-dried form and after formulation into apple juice and chocolate-coated breakfast cereals.

Source: LWT- Food Science and Technology
Volume 39, Issue 9, Pages 980-986
‘Apple pieces as immobilisation support of various microorganisms’
Authors: Y. Kourkoutas M. Kanellaki and A.A. Koutinas

EU to Vote on Widespread Obesity Action Plan

The European Parliament is next month set to vote on a report that calls obesity a ‘European epidemic’ and proposes that all countries implement certain measures to combat the growing condition.

The own-initiative report by Belgian Liberal MEP Frdrique Ries calls for better information and more education about food, as well as healthy school dinners and more exercise.

According to the latest estimates, Europeans are getting increasingly overweight. Across the EU, 14 million children are thought to be overweight and a further three million classed as obese. In some states, already half of the adult population is overweight and between 20 to 30 percent is obese.

And these figures are growing rapidly. For example, the number of overweight children in the EU is thought to be increasing by 4000,000 a year.

The Parliamentary report, entitled ‘Promoting healthy diets and physical activity’, recommends that all countries take certain steps to combat the epidemic. These include recognising obesity officially as a chronic disease to prevent discrimination, and informing people from an early age about the effects of a poor diet. In addition, the report recommends that funding is provided to enable schools to offer healthy meals instead of fatty foods, as well as ensuring that schools have proper sports facilities.

It also calls on the European Commission to push for rules to end the promotion of foods high in fat, salt and sugar to children.

Last May, Parliament endorsed a report by the Italian MEP Adriana Poli Bortone, which aimed to tighten up nutritional and health claims made on foods.

According to the report, studies have shown that consumers tend to rely more on labels such as reduces cholesterol, low fat, rich in calcium, high fibre, fat free, light than the nutritional analysis tables on the packs.

The regulation aims to prevent the use of health claims to promote foods with high quantities of sugar, salt or fat, with the future seeing all claims having to backed up by scientific claims.

A compromise between the Parliament and the Council of Ministers means a regulation on improving consumer protection will be introduced this year. All new health claims on food will need to be registered with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

New Year.... Brand New Healthy You!

Another year and another chance to make some well intentioned promises to yourself...'I will eat my five portions of fruit and veg a day', 'I will not skip breakfast', 'I will shed those extra pounds'...sound familiar?

We've all been guilty of not managing to stick to our New Year's resolutions so it's time to call in a bit of help. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has rounded up a Top 10 of popular New Year resolutions that people make about food each year, offering some great advice and tips on how you can start the New Year as you mean to go on...

FSA nutritionist, Orla Hugueniot comments,
'New Year is a great time to break old and unhealthy habits. Why not start by giving your body and lifestyle an MOT. Healthy eating doesn't have to be hard work or about depriving yourself of your favourite treats. In fact, the secret to eating well and being healthy is achieving a sensible balance. Small and simple changes to your diet and lifestyle can really make a big difference to your overall health and how you feel not just for now, but in the long term.'

Top 10 New Year's Food Resolutions
1. Time to hit the scales... 'I will go on a diet'
After over-indulging at Christmas many people start the New Year with the good intention of losing a few pounds. They often undertake very strict diets because they want to lose lots of weight quickly. Diets that severely limit the amount of food, or types of food, you can eat can be hard to stick to. Crash diets aren't good for your health and often don't work in the longer term. The best way to reach a healthy weight and maintain it is to adapt your lifestyle gradually to reduce the amount you eat, eat a wider variety of foods and improve your overall diet and be more active.

Some easy ways to improve your diet include:
- Base your meals on starchy foods, such as bread, pasta and potatoes and choose wholegrain varieties wherever you can
- Eat lots more fruit and vegetables - these are generally low in fat, help to fill you up and make very healthy snacks if you get hungry between meals
- Cut down on high-fat foods, especially those with saturated fat, such as pies, sausages, butter, cheese, dishes with creamy sauces, cakes, biscuits and doughnuts
- Choose skimmed or semi-skimmed milk and low-fat yoghurts, rather than full-fat versions
- Choose lean cuts of meat and avoid eating the fat. Also avoid eating the skin on chicken, because although the meat is low in fat, the skin contains much more

2. Note to self, 'Must eat more fruit and veg'
We all know that we're supposed to feast on at least 5 portions of fruit and veg a day, however most people in the UK don't eat nearly enough. On average, adults consume less than 3 portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Having at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and veg each day has lots of health benefits, including reducing your chances of developing heart disease and some types of cancer. Try to make eating lots of fruit and veg a daily habit and try to:

- Add some sliced banana, apple, dried fruit or raisins to your breakfast cereal
- Drink a glass of fruit juice at breakfast time
- Keep some fruit handy for a mid-morning or afternoon snack
- Add tomato, peppers, carrots or lettuce to sandwiches
- Add vegetables to curries, soups, casseroles and pasta sauces
- Serve an extra vegetable or side salad with a meal
- Make a bowl of fruit salad for dessert

Remember that fresh, frozen, tinned, dried and juiced fruit and veg, ALL count towards your daily portions, but juice only counts as one portion a day, however much you drink. This is because you don't get the same nutritional benefits from juice as you get from the whole fruit and veg.

3. 'Out goes all fatty products from my diet'
An urban food myth! You shouldn't try to avoid all fat because everyone needs some fat in their diet to be healthy. But the type of fat you eat is important. Most people eat too much of the wrong types of fat and that can increase your chances of developing heart disease.

As part of a healthy diet try to reduce the amount of foods you eat which contain saturated fats and replace them with unsaturated fats. Eating too much saturated fat can raise blood cholesterol levels and increase the risk of heart disease. Biscuits, cakes, pastries, meat pies, sausages, hard cheese, butter and foods containing lard, coconut or palm oil can be high in saturated fats. Having unsaturated fats, instead of saturated fats can help to lower cholesterol. Foods that are rich in unsaturated fats include oily fish, avocados, nuts and sunflower, rapeseed and olive oils.

Fatty foods tend to be very densely packed with calories, so it's easy to eat too much of them, which increases your chances of becoming overweight. Get into the habit of checking out the fat content on food labels before you buy them, some foods are low in fat, even though they aren't marketed as low-fat products. And other foods that are labelled 'reduced fat' might still be quite high in fat so keep your eyes peeled on the labels!

4. Only a pinch of salt... 'I will stop adding salt to my food'
Everyday on average 26 million people eat more than the daily recommended maximum of 6g of salt. It's definitely a good idea to stop using salt at the table or adding it whilst cooking because having too much can raise blood pressure and increase the risk of heart disease and strokes. Although not adding salt to food will help you cut down, about three-quarters of the salt we eat comes from processed foods, so remember to check the label when you're shopping too.

Compare the nutritional information on different products to help you choose lower-salt options. Most foods are labelled with the amount of sodium they contain per 100g, rather than salt.

So how much is too much salt? If a food contains 1.25g salt or more per 100g then it's high in salt. It's better to choose foods that contain just a little salt - 0.25g or less per 100g. Adults should try to eat no more than 6g salt each day. Other ways to cut down salt include:

* Look for food with 'no added salt' labels
* Make your own stock and gravy instead of using cubes or granules
* Add fresh herbs instead of salt to pasta, meat and vegetable dishes
* Experiment with other flavourings such as garlic, ginger chilli or lime
* Marinade meat and fish in advance to give them more flavour

5. Bye-bye sweet tooth... 'I will cut out sugar'
Cutting out all sugar is very difficult and more or less impossible to stick to. There are naturally occurring sugars in lots of foods, including fruit and veg, and you don't need to avoid these. However, it's a good idea to try to cut down on foods and drinks that contain lots of added sugar, such as cakes, biscuits, sweets, jams and fizzy drinks.

Both adults and children in the UK eat too much sugar. And more of it comes from fizzy drinks than any other type of food or drink. So cutting down on sugary drinks, such as cola and lemonade, is a good way to reduce your intake of sugar. Other ways to cut down on sugar include:

- If you take sugar in hot drinks, gradually reduce the amount until you can cut it out altogether
- Instead of always spreading jam on your toast, try a low-fat spread, sliced banana, peanut butter or low-fat cream cheese
- Try having a currant bun or malt loaf instead of cakes or biscuits
- Choose tins of fruit in juice rather than syrup.
- Choose wholegrain breakfast cereals rather than those coated with sugar or honey

6. Fish, glorious fish...'I will eat more fish'
Most of us don't eat enough fish. We should be eating more as both white fish (such as haddock, plaice, halibut and sole) and oily fish (such as sardines, salmon, trout, pilchards and mackerel) are excellent sources of protein, vitamins and minerals and they are also low in fat.

You should aim to eat at least two servings of fish a week, including one serving of oily fish. Oily fish is rich in a type of fatty acid called Omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and is a good source of vitamins A and D. These fatty acids can help prevent coronary heart disease.

White fish contain some Omega 3, but at much lower levels than oily fish. Although fresh tuna is a good source of omega 3 fatty acids, when tuna is canned the levels of these fats are reduced to a much lower level. So, although tinned tuna can be a healthy choice, it doesn't count as oily fish.

Fish such as whitebait, canned sardines, pilchards and salmon - where you also eat the bones - are a good source of calcium and phosphorous, which help make our bones stronger.

7. Breaking the fast... 'I will stop skipping breakfast'
Some people skip breakfast because they think it will help them to lose weight. But missing meals doesn't help you lose weight and isn't good for you because you can miss out on essential nutrients. Research shows that eating breakfast can actually help you maintain a healthy body weight, which is probably because when you don't have breakfast you're more likely to get hungry before lunch and then grab a fatty or sugary snack such biscuits, doughnuts or pastries!

A good breakfast will really set you up for the day and provides the energy you need as well as giving you some of the vitamins and minerals you need for good health.

Having some starchy food such as bread or breakfast cereal helps to give you energy. Try to choose wholegrain versions, because these contain more fibre and nutrients, and give a more sustained energy boost. Not all breakfast cereals are healthy choices though, because some contain as much fat and sugar as biscuits, plus lots of salt, so be sure to check the label first!

8. Where did I put that bottle of vitamins...'I will take my vitamin supplements regularly'
Most people don't need to take vitamin supplements, because they can get all the nutrients they need from a healthy balanced diet. And popping pills can't give you the same benefits as eating well. Evidence suggests that fruit and vegetables are good for you, not just because of the individual vitamins and minerals they contain, but because of the combination of different nutrients and fibre you get when you eat them.

However, pregnant women and those trying for a baby should take 400mcg of folic acid daily until the 12th week of pregnancy. In addition to this, they should also eat folate (natural form of folic acid) rich foods such as green vegetables, brown rice and fortified breakfast cereals. Pregnant and breastfeeding women should also take a daily 10mcg supplement of Vitamin D.

9. Saving the pennies...'I'll save some cash by taking a packed lunch to work'
This resolution requires some organisation! But it can be much cheaper than going to the sandwich shop every day and healthier too, because you have more control over what goes into your lunch.

Many people think sandwiches are boring, but they don't need to be:
- Try using different types of bread - squashy granary rolls, brown bread with added nuts or seeds, rye bread, bagels, tortilla wraps or wholemeal pitta bread
- Healthier sandwich fillings include lean meats such as ham, beef and turkey, chicken without the skin, canned sardines or salmon, hard-boiled egg, Edam, mozzarella and low-fat cream cheese
- Add some salad to help you eat more fruit and veg and make the sandwich more tasty
- And remember to be sparing with butter, mayonnaise and dressings because these are high in fat

10. Get steppin'... 'I will exercise more'
Being physically active, alongside a balanced diet, is one of the best ways to help you lose weight and keep it off. Lots of people start of the year by slogging it out in the gym for the first two weeks of January, only to then spend the rest of the year on the sofa! You're more likely to stick to an activity if you enjoy it, so try going for a swim, a brisk walk or a bike ride, or joining an exercise or dance class, taking up a new sport or another physical hobby.

And remember, exercise doesn't only have to be in the gym - try walking up the stairs at work, or make the walk home from the station brisk, get off at an earlier bus stop or leave the car at home when you nip to the shop. Try to be conscious of the amount of exercise you're doing everyday and remind yourself that a little bit of gentle exercise everyday is better than none at all - so get moving!

For further advice on exercise, log on to the Department of Health's website, http://www.dh.gov.uk.

If these New Year's resolutions get you thinking, check out the Agency's websites at http://www.food.gov.uk, http://www.eatwell.gov.uk, http://www.salt.gov.uk and pick up some great ideas and tips to make 2007 your healthiest New Year ever!

Supplements Book Draws Fierce Response

A newly published book has incited backlash from trade associations within the dietary supplements industry for its critical portrayal of regulatory controls and safety. In the past, the industry's respectable face has worked hard to distance itself from less legitimate factions.

Marketed as investigative journalism, Natural Causes by Dan Hurley looks at the growth of the dietary supplement industry, which he claims is largely built on fraud, and points to a supposedly unregulated and dangerous side of these products.

The findings outlined in the book are in line with the opinions of critics of the dietary supplement industry who allege it is unregulated, which trade associations have fought back in the past by saying such accusations are based on sensationalism of rare cases and the not the behaviour of the industry as a whole.

Dietary supplements in the United States are regulated under DSHEA (Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act), an amendment to the Food and Cosmetics Act. Although critics call it the law that deregulated supplements, industry groups have consistently upheld it as a good law and said that its full enaction provides sufficient safeguards for consumers. The final piece to come into effect is the Good Manufacturing Practices guidelines - long anticipated, but hoped by many to finally see the light of day this year.

Indeed, Hurley claims it was backroom politics that led to the passage of DSHEA and that the law ‘effectively freed the industry from FDA oversight’.

According to CRN president and CEO, Steve Mister, Hurley relies primarily on ‘personal opinion and isolated incidents to falsely imply that these cases represent the experience of the more than 150 million Americans who take safe, beneficial dietary supplements as part of their healthy lifestyle choices.’

CRN points to the book's footnotes as representing the author's absence of science in drawing its conclusions.

‘The book includes more than 200 footnotes, but a cursory examination shows the author repeatedly footnotes his own inquiries, other people's opinions and people who spoke anonymously,’ said Mister. ‘This is not the bibliography of a serious piece of work.’

Mister insinuates that the sensationalism which drove interest in cases such as that of now banned herbal Ephedra, is behind the marketing of Natural Causes.

‘The book Natural Causes cannot be considered a credible, scientific work,’ said Mister. ‘This is an assortment of extreme anecdotes that exploit rare and tragic misfortunes in an agenda-driven attempt to sell books.’

In drawing his argument against Natural Causes, Mister also cited what he opinioned as Hurley's lack of knowledge on dietary supplements. In the book's opening chapter, Hurley examines the use of bloodroot as a topical ointment for treating cancer. Bloodroot, when used as a salve, is not a dietary supplement.

‘He either has an appalling lack of understanding about even the most fundamental aspects of dietary supplements, or purposely chooses to mislead consumers in order to draw his conclusions,’ said Mister.

Web: http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com

Defra Statistics Indicate Healthier Trends in Food Purchases

People in the UK are buying more and more fruit and vegetables. 2005-06 saw the largest increase in purchases in the last twenty years, as shown by results from the Expenditure and Food Survey published today.

The results also show that people are buying less confectionary, and soft drinks and indicate a decline in purchases of alcoholic drinks both for the household and in pubs and restaurants.

Household expenditure rose for cheese, eggs and milk, with a continuing switch from whole milk to semi skimmed milk. There was also an increase in intake of fibre.

Jeff Rooker, Minister for Sustainable Food and Farming said: 'These are national statistics produced to high professional standards and are an important addition to the evidence base on diet.

'These healthier trends in food purchases are promising, but we cannot be complacent, and must continue to encourage these trends, through healthy eating initiatives, like the 5 A DAY programme.

'Consumers must remember that the food choices they make can have a big difference not only to their health, but to their environment, and our countryside'

This is the first release of estimates based on food and drink purchases recorded in the Survey for the twelve month period from 1st April 2005 to 31st March 2006.
Comparing 2005-06 with the previous year:

* Quantities of fruit and vegetables, excluding potatoes, purchased for the household were 7.7 per cent higher in 2005-06, continuing an increasing trend.
* Household expenditure rose by 12.9 per cent for fruit and by 6.3 per cent for vegetables, excluding potatoes.
* Quantities of confectionary purchased for the household fell by 6.1 per cent in 2005-06, following small rises in recent years.
* Household expenditure fell by 7.7 per cent for confectionery and by 5.7 per cent for soft drinks.
* Since last year household and eating out consumption of alcoholic drink has dropped by 3.1 per cent
* Households are continuing to switch from whole milk to semi skimmed milk. Quantities of purchases of whole milk decreased by 3.8 per cent in 2005-06 whilst those of semi-skimmed milk increased by 3.3 per cent.
* Estimated average intake of vitamin C rose by 6.8 per cent, in keeping with the rise in purchases of fruit and vegetables.
* Fat intake, measured by its percentage contribution to food energy intake, dropped very slightly to 38.1 per cent. The energy contribution from saturated fatty acids dropped to 14.6 per cent.
* There was a small rise in sodium intake in 2005-06 of 0.6 per cent. The 0.6 per cent rise in sodium is small and may not be statistically significant. Due to the way the results are processed it is not possible to say whether this change is likely to be due to sampling errors.
* Estimated intake of fibre was 3.4 per cent higher.
* Household expenditure rose by 5.3 per cent for fish, 5.1 per cent for cheese, 5.0 per cent for eggs and 4.9 per cent for milk.
* Total expenditure on all food and drink rose by 1.7 per cent to £34.97 per person per week.
* Expenditure on total household food and drink rose by 2.2 per cent to £23.56 per person per week.
* Estimates for 2001-02 to 2004-05 have been revised to incorporate free food and unspecified meals which equate to roughly an additional 100 Kcals per person per day. Almost all of the effect is on eating out.

Pesticide Residues Committee - Second Quarter Report 2006

The latest Pesticide Residues Committee's (PRC) quarterly report found that 65% of the 1126 samples of 22 different foods tested had no detectable residues, and 33.3% contained levels below the maximum residues level (MRL) - the legally permitted level. 19 of the samples (1.7%) contained residues above the maximum permitted levels. None of these residues were likely to cause concern for people's health.

No residues were detected in cauliflower, bacon, cheese, milk, orange juice, and shellfish.

Dr Ian Brown, chairman of the Committee, said:
‘The majority of food sampled does not contain detectable residues or contains residues in accordance with the guidelines. The PRC have looked carefully at all of the exceedances of the MRL and published a full risk assessment. We are satisfied that the all the results give us no concern for consumer health.

‘The results show 19 samples (1.7%) contained residues in excess of the maximum permitted levels. We have looked carefully at each of these exceedances and in every case the presence of these residues was unlikely to have resulted in any adverse health effects for consumers. The majority of these 'exceedances' are exceedances of MRLs set at the lowest level which can be routinely tested for because producers have not supplied information to set a higher level.

‘We have asked suppliers for an explanation of our findings.

‘The results should reassure consumers that the food they eat continues to be safe. It is important to stress that the positive effects of eating fresh fruit and vegetables as part of a balanced healthy diet far outweigh any concern about pesticide residues.’

The PRC is an independent body which advises Government, the Food Standards Agency and the Pesticides Safety Directorate. The recent results are part of a £2.2 million food and drink monitoring programme which takes place each year, and cover testing from April to June 2006.

The MRL, or maximum residue level, is the maximum concentration of a pesticide residue - expressed as milligrams per kilogram, or parts per million - legally permitted in or on our food and animal feeds. The levels are not safety limits, but are set at levels which protect the consumer. They are primarily a check that good agricultural practice is being followed, and an MRL exceedance does not automatically imply a hazard to health.

The full report is available online: http://www.pesticides.gov.uk/uploadedfiles/Web_Assets/PRC/Report.pdf

Detox and Revitalise the Gut - How to Restore Internal Balance for Optimum Health

The digestive system takes quite a hammering during the winter months with the liver and the pancreas suffering the most. A.Vogel has two products that will support the gut and enable it to get maximum benefit from the nutrients in the diet. Easy-to-take Milk Thistle Complex and Molkosan Vitality help get the body ready for Spring.

The liver is under constant assault from pollutants like car fumes and cleaning chemicals. For many people the party season means too much alcohol and fatty foods, adding to the level of abuse and causing such symptoms as headaches, bloating, fatigue, poor skin, constipation and nausea. The herbs in Milk Thistle Complex, originally formulated by A.Vogel, tackle the causes of these problems. Milk Thistle protects the liver, Dandelion nourishes it and helps produce and move bile effectively, and Artichoke improves the liver's efficiency to deal with fats.

During the winter months, most people eat even more sugary and stodgy foods than usual, putting an extra strain on the pancreas. Too much sugar and starch can cause an imbalance in gut bacteria. When the balance is tipped towards unfriendly bacteria, the result can be bloating, abdominal discomfort, wind, sugar cravings and thrush. New Molkosan Vitality is a prebiotic drink powder containing concentrated whey, soluble fibre, maize starch and green tea extract, flavoured with natural orange.

In concentrated whey, the natural lactose changes into L(+) lactic acid. It is a natural antiseptic and inhibits the spread of germs both internally and externally. Molkosan Vitality creates the right environment for the colonisation of the gut by friendly bacteria. It also makes it harder for unfriendly bacteria to adhere to the gut wall. The partially hydrolysed maize starch in Molkosan Vitality is a well-tolerated, gluten-free dietary fibre with prebiotic effects which helps improve bowel transit time. Green tea has an anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effect and is traditionally used as a diuretic.

After a month's course of Milk Thistle Complex and Molkosan Vitality, the digestive system will be refreshed and revitalised and energy levels will be enhanced.

Milk Thistle Complex costs £8.49 50m. Molkosan Vitality costs £10.99 275g from health stores.

Stockists and mail order:
Tel: 01294 277344
Web: http://www.AVogel.co.uk

US Nutrition Facts

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centre for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) in HHS's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced the availability of two new learning tools to help American consumers use the Nutrition Facts label to choose nutritious foods and achieve healthy weight management.

The tools are Make Your Calories Count, a Web-based learning programme, and a new Nutrition Facts Label brochure.

‘The risk of many diseases and health conditions may be reduced through preventive actions and a culture of wellness deters or diminishes debilitating and costly health events. Individual health care is built on a foundation of responsibility for personal wellness. We at HHS are pleased to introduce both the new web-based programme and the brochure, which contribute to the nutrition focus of the department's prevention priority,’ said Dr. John Agwunobi, HHS Assistant Secretary for Health.

The Web-based programme is part of FDA's response to the recommendations of its Obesity Working Group, in the group's 2004 report, Calories Count. The programme was based on recommendations in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The Dietary Guidelines are the foundation of the federal government's science-based advice designed to help Americans choose diets that meet nutrient requirements without exceeding calorie needs, promote health, support active lives, and reduce the risk of chronic disease.

‘This learning programme provides a quick and simple way to educate consumers on how to use the nutrition facts label,’ said Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach, Acting FDA Commissioner. ‘By making it easier for consumers to understand the Nutrition Facts label, the FDA is helping them make quick and informed food choices that contribute to lifelong healthy eating habits.’

Make Your Calories Count is an interactive online learning programme that is also available in a downloadable format. It is designed to help consumers understand and use the Nutrition Facts label to plan a healthy diet while managing calorie intake. The programme guide features an animated character called ‘Labelman’ who expertly leads the viewer through a series of exercises on the food label. The programme includes exercises to help consumers explore the relationship between serving sizes and calories, while they learn how to limit certain nutrients and get enough of others. For simplicity, the programme presents two nutrients that should be limited (saturated fat and sodium) and two nutrients that should be consumed in adequate amounts (fibre and calcium).

Consumers can use the Nutrition Facts label to take control of their caloric intake and weight and to make healthy food choices, if they know how.
This programme will show consumers how, in part, by explaining what serving sizes, percentages, and daily values mean and how to use them. This programme is available for online use and in a downloadable format at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/labelman. FDA is making available a new downloadable Nutrition Facts Label brochure that is targeted for use by consumers. The brochure can also be used by health professionals to teach people how to make healthier food choices. The brochure describes how consumers can use the Nutrition Facts label as they shop and plan meals. The brochure includes information that will help consumers understand the relationship between calories and serving size, which may help them use the label to manage their intake of calories. This brochureis available at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/lab-gen.html.

These new learning tools are part of a commitment by HHS and FDA to help reduce the number of overweight persons and obesity in America.

Consider the Kind of Carb By Caroline J. Cederquist

Today's anti-carb diet hype is giving carbohydrates a bad name when, actually, the right type of carbs form the backbone of good nutrition.

Sadly, the average American eats way too much of the wrong type - those sugars and processed starches in snack foods, most bakery goods, beverages and desserts - and not enough of the high- nutrient carbohydrates we find in vegetables, dairy and whole grains, which provide most of our essential vitamins and minerals. But the current hype villainises the good with the bad. This is why you need to know your macronutrients.

Carb structure and function
Chemically, all carbs are made up of sugar units. Nearly all carbohydrates come from plant sources, but they also occur in dairy products, honey and some seafood.

They are typically classed as ‘complex’ carbs, which include starches and fibre, and ‘simple’ carbs, which include sugars and starches that have been commercially processed to the point that they've almost been broken down into sugars already.

Simple carbs contain just one or two sugar units and taste sweet; they're rapidly processed by your body and provide energy (calories) but no nutrient value.

Complex carbs contain long chains of sugar units. They have a characteristically starchy taste and, unlike sugars, are typically found in foods rich in vitamins, minerals and fibre - like vegetables, whole grains, dairy foods and even some protein. Because of these additional nutrients, the body takes a longer time to digest them.

Glycogen, a starch made by your body, is stored in the liver and muscle for the body to draw on as a secondary quick energy source. An average 150-pound man can store about 1,750 calories this way, but that's about it.

When glycogen stores are full, any leftover glucose is then changed to fat, and unfortunately, there is no limit to the amount of fat that can be stored.

Simple carb complications
Recent research shows that some Americans get up to half of their calories today from simple carbohydrates.

But eaten alone - as in a breakfast of toast and juice, or a snack of pretzels and a soda - those simple carbs will cause the blood sugar to rise dramatically. This, in turn, causes a spike in the production of insulin, the hormone that carries glucose into the body's cells.

Since the cells can only take so much glucose at once, insulin also aids the conversion of the excess glucose into fat, so it can be stored.
Because of this, people who eat a lot of simple carbs have typically higher insulin levels, and produce and store fat more quickly and efficiently.

And there's more bad news. Another side effect of that spike in blood sugar and insulin is the inevitable crash that follows. Once insulin is on the job, it makes quick work of cramming the glucose from simple carbs into your body's cells.

But as that task is suddenly finished, you experience an abrupt drop in blood sugar that can be accompanied by shaking, dizziness and ravenous hunger - even though you've actually eaten quite recently.

And if you're one of those people prone to eat simple carbs, you'll probably grab for more of the same. See the vicious cycle developing there? You could be on that roller coaster all day, and indeed, many Americans are, without even knowing it.

Caroline J. Cederquist is a board-certified family physician and bariatric physician.

Set up of Nutrition Strategy Steering Group (NSSG)

The Food Standards Agency and the Department of Health have established a Nutrition Strategy Steering Group (NSSG), jointly chaired by Public Health Minister, Caroline Flint and FSA Chair, Dame Deirdre Hutton.

Bringing together key representatives from industry, consumer and health groups, the NSSG will help drive forward health improvement through diet and nutrition policies including those set out in the Choosing Health white paper.

Following the first meeting, the group agreed to focus on taking forward the (FSA's) commitment to independently assess nutritional front of pack labelling schemes. The NSSG agreed the research objective was 'to evaluate the impact of 'front of pack' signpost labelling schemes on purchasing behaviour and consumer knowledge'.

Public Health Minister Caroline Flint said: 'Food manufacturers, retailers and representatives of the third sector have a key role to play in helping people make positive steps towards a healthy lifestyle.

This group represents a high level commitment across industry and government to ensure the action we take to help people make healthy living choices has the greatest impact.'

Food Standards Agency Chair, Deirdre Hutton, said: 'Working in partnership is vital to achieving our shared goal of improving the health of our nation. The NSSG will provide a valuable platform from which we can agree a co-ordinated approach to making healthier eating easier.

'Setting up independent research to assess front of pack nutritional labelling schemes is the NSSG's first task - the results of which will provide a clear way forward for both Government and industry on this issue.'

British people have the worst diets in Europe according to the head of the nation's food watchdog.

Food Standards Agency (FSA) Chairman Dame Deirdre Hutton says all parts of society are eating badly and the nation has a 'troubled' relationship with food.

Her comments come less than a day after it was revealed that the UK is the fattest nation in Europe, with 60 per cent of women and a similar percentage of men overweight or obese.

Speaking in The Independent, Dame Deirdre described the 'crazy' situation in Britain that results in mass obesity in the adult population and sees young girls considering going on diets.

Poor nutrition
She added: 'The most obvious symptom of our nutritional status is obesity. It's not the only thing, but the most obvious problem is obesity coupled with things like high salt in the diet.

'Although other countries in Europe are catching us up or at least showing a trend growing the same way, we nonetheless remain right at the bottom in terms of poor nutrition and obesity.'

Yesterday the government released new figures showing the UK tops the league as the 'fat man' of Europe.

The figures showed a significant north-south health divide in the country, with northern areas showing higher obesity rates, while the UK population has the highest prevalence of obesity in Europe.

Childhood obesity
Within England, women living in the West Midlands were most likely to be obese, while those living in London, the South East and the South West showed the lowest prevalence.

For men the prevalence of obesity was greatest amongst those living in Yorkshire and the Humber region, while those living in London showed the lowest prevalence.

The figures show childhood obesity among children aged two to ten has risen from 9.9 per cent in 1995 to 14.3 per cent in 2004. The document warned that if nothing was done, 20 per cent of this age group will be obese by 2010 - which is more than 1 million children.

Which? and 23 other organisations have written to broadcast regulator Ofcom demanding a 9pm watershed on the television advertising of unhealthy food to children.

Cancer Research UK, the British Heart Foundation, the National Union of Teachers, Diabetes UK and the National Family and Parenting Institute are among those who have added their signature and given their support.
Ofcom is due to make a decision this autumn on television advertising restrictions to children.

Which? research shows four out of five voters agree that TV adverts for unhealthy food should not be shown during the times children are most likely to be watching TV.

Irresponsible advertising
Which? Chief Policy Adviser, Sue Davies, said: 'Advertising has a proven effect on children's food choices. Ofcom's proposed restrictions are inadequate as they fail to cover the time when most children are actually watching TV.

'Irresponsible advertising on TV is an uninvited guest in our homes, contributing to the growing national obesity crisis. Without effective action from Ofcom, all efforts to improve the diet and health of children will be undermined.'

In February, Which? looked at a snapshot of ITV1 viewing figures for two weeks and found far more children aged nine and under watch TV in the evening than specific children's programmes.

For the four to nine year age group, the most popular programmes were Dancing on Ice, Coronation Street and Emmerdale.

Health before profit
But under Ofcom's proposed measures food companies would still be able to place adverts for unhealthy foods during breaks in these programmes.

Sue Davies added: 'Sadly it is only the broadcast and advertising industries who continue to oppose a 9pm watershed. We urge Ofcom to put children's health before profit.'

Ofcom yesterday published its consumer research into regulating TV advertising of food and drink to children.

Which? Campaign Team Leader Miranda Watson said: 'Ofcom's own research shows that consumers do not think the current proposals to restrict television advertising of junk food to children go far enough.

'It is unfortunate that Ofcom did not explicitly ask people to consider a 9pm watershed as Which? research shows this is the only way to protect children when they are most likely to be actually watching TV.

'Ofcom must now respond to public demand and introduce a 9pm watershed.'

An embarrassing problem people find hard to talk about is Digestive related disease. This can cause people to suffer for many years with constipation, bloating and flatulence or extreme stomach pain in some cases.

Yet despite these problems, life must go on, and without an immediate solution life does go on but often with great suffering. Take the recent example of Tennis Ace John Lloyd. For 20 years John suffered with gut related disease. Even at his peak on the courts he suffered daily with stomach cramps and extreme stomach pain.

Unfortunately this is not an isolated story, recently published in a UK based health campaign an estimated five per cent of British adults suffer from long-standing illness of the digestive tract. Additionally more than 3 million people in the UK suffer from constipation every month.

Like many others John Lloyd spent many years searching for a solution to his problems.

Finally his search came to fruition at a party in Los Angeles. Here he was told of a Pro-Biotic formula (Friendly Bacteria) known as Healthy Trinity made by Natasha Trenev co-founder of The Probiotic Specialist Company Natren®.

Since his revelations to Daily Mail writer Graham Whitcroft, of his success using Healthy Trinity, UK Vitamin Manufacturer and Natren® Distributor– G&G Vitamins has had a flood of calls and requests for more information on this product.

Natren®’s Healthy Trinity® capsules take probiotics to the next level of effectiveness with a simplified system that is both easy to use and understand. Healthy Trinity® capsules contain all three of the most potent super strains of beneficial bacteria: Lactobacillus acidophilus, NAS adhesion super strain, 5 billion cfu per capsule; adult specific Bifidobacterium bifidum, Malyoth super strain, 20 billion cfu per capsule; and Lactobacillus bulgaricus LB-51 champion transient super strain, 5 billion cfu per capsule. These amazing super strains may also be found in Natren®’s other powders or capsules: Megadophilus®, Bifido Factor® and Digesta-Lac®.

http://www.natren.co.uk

With over 22,414 different products, The Nutri Centre claims to have the largest list of nutritional supplements in the world, while also offering an impressive bookshop specifically related to all fields of the alternative and complementary therapy industry.

Stocking brands such as Biocare, Solgar, Weleda, Nelsonbach (manufacturer of Back Flower Remedies), Kirkman Laboratories and Nature's Plus, to name but a few, The Nutri Centre is located on the lower ground floor of the well known Hale Clinic in London and offers an extensive range of vitamins, supplements and nutritional products, catering for practitioners and the general public.

Its range extends from items found in a health food shop to practitioner products and also occasionally, the company will cater to very specific, personalised needs to suit individual clients/customers.

The Nutri Centre prides itself on good, friendly and efficient service, always aiming to dispatch products to customers on the same day as the order is taken. There is also a generous discount scheme (25-35% on most lines) in place for registered practitioners to be taken advantage of.

Books

The Nutri Centre also has an impressive bookshop specifically related to all fields of the alternative and complementary therapy industry.

The Nutri Centre bookshop (now one of the UK's leading supplier of Complementary Medicine text books to British colleges and universities) aims at being able to provide any and all books a practitioner or student might need, including those rare, specialist books that can be expensive or hard to find. If there is a book you are looking for which is not stocked, The Nutri Centre will do its best to acquire it for you.

For students and practitioners The Nutri Centre also offer a discount on books from 10-25% depending on the title. A great resource for anyone in the CAM industry!The success and popularity of The Nutri Centre has enabled the business to expand, now having outlets within Tesco branches in Kensington, West London, Kingston Park, Newcastle, Slough, Milton Keynes and Bournemouth.

For more information on The Nutri Centre please visit: http://www.nutricentre.com

For more information on the discounts available through the Practitioner Partnership Programme, and how to join, visit: http://www.nutricentre.com/start/cam_ad.htm

The Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announces the release of the 2005 issue of the Annual Bibliography of Significant Advances in Dietary Supplement Research. This seventh issue of the Bibliography includes abstracts of 25 noteworthy dietary supplement research papers published in 2005, as judged by an international team of reviewers.

Compared with previous issues of the Bibliography, this issue has more papers testing the efficacy of commercially available products against their marketed claims. The 2005 Bibliography also includes papers on the efficacy of botanicals, effects of B-vitamins, calcium, and vitamin D on fractures, interaction of mineral supplementation on mineral status, and the effects of vitamin E on cardiovascular disease. Each of the 25 papers reports a study result that is of importance to the field of supplement research, as it describes mechanisms by which supplements act to create a health effect or provides a better understanding of the health effects in individuals.

The Bibliography is part of the ongoing commitment by the Office to meet the information needs of a wide variety of audiences on the subject of dietary supplements. “Each year, the bibliography provides a snapshot of key scientific research published in the field.” said Paul M. Coates, Ph.D., director of ODS. “It is important to remember that the entire collection of scientific literature on a particular topic, not the results of a single study, must be considered when making research or health care recommendations.”

In their introduction to the 2005 Bibliography, the editors highlight the need for researchers to better characterize test materials used in research. “Even though the best work in the field is highlighted in the bibliography, there were several methodological issues with the studies. But these issues are not unique to dietary supplement research,” said Rebecca B. Costello, Ph.D., co-editor of the Annual Bibliography.

“Researchers need to sufficiently describe the supplements being tested in their studies, as this enables other scientists in the field to duplicate the study findings,” said Leila Saldanha, Ph.D., R.D., co-editor of the Annual Bibliography. To assist authors and editors working in the area of natural products research, ODS has compiled this list of valuable resources that can be accessed through its website: http://ods.od.nih.gov/Research/ProductQualityResources.aspx.

Of more than one thousand papers that were considered from 58 peer-reviewed journals, 261 were sent for evaluation to an international team of 50 scientific reviewers. The selection of the 25 papers to be included in the Bibliography was based on the rankings of these scientists, who are recognized experts in the fields of nutrition, botanical sciences, and public health.

This year's issue was released September 17, 2006 at the Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo of the American Dietetic Association.

Copies of the Annual Bibliography of Significant Advances in Dietary Supplement Research 2005 may be downloaded from the ODS website at http://ods.od.nih.gov/Research/Annual_Bibliographies.aspx.

Copies may also be requested by e-mail (ods@nih.gov), or by writing to the Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health, 6100 Executive Blvd., Rm. 3B01, MSC 7517, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-7517, USA.

ION announce that the top-up modules for the BSc are now accredited by the University of Bedfordshire (formerly University of Luton).

Students who have completed the Foundation Degree have an automatic right to progress to a BSc if they so wish. The top-up course will be taught over one year full-time, or two years part-time and will involve attendance one or two days a week at the University of Bedfordshire. Every effort is being made to consolidate the teaching into a single day per week, but the university timetable has yet to be finalised, so we do not presently know if this will be possible, or which days of the week the teaching will take place.

For more information contact the university of Bedfordshire (for the moment the web address remains: www.luton.ac.uk)

Those Dip ION's who do not have a Foundation Degree may progress to a BSc via a process called Accreditation for Prior Experiential Learning (APEL), providing they can demonstrate to the University that they have sufficient experience and knowledge.

Whilst a degree is not essential to be a practitioner, this is a great opportunity to develop your skills, enhance your learning, perform some research (which could be part of your current clinical practice) and further enhance your confidence in the practise of Nutritional Therapy. The top-up modules will also offer you the opportunity to develop as a practitioner by using reflective practice.

The modules that make up the level 3 credits and provide the BSc qualification include:

Research Module
The project provides a focus for student-lead, independent research into any health science-related topic. This could include for example, analysis of heavy metals in breast milk; analysis of the dietary fat content of patients with cystic fibrosis; health awareness of primary school children. Students may also choose to undertake research directly related to their area of, or in the subject of, clinical practise.

Clinical Dietetics
This module develops knowledge and looks at the inter-relationships of clinical management, surgical intervention, and pharmacological therapies with dietetic practise.
http://www.ion.ac.uk

Clinical Biochemistry
This module provides you with a theoretical understanding of the biochemical and cellular bases of certain human physiological functions in health and disease states, and changes in cellular metabolic processes that occur in the progression from health to disease. It also integrates the clinical biochemical techniques used with the diagnosis of disease. Some of this module will further build on material already studied on the Dip ION course, and the biochemical mechanisms, diagnosis and processes of prevention feature heavily in this module.

Becoming an Effective Practitioner
This is a practise-based module designed to enable nutritional therapists from diverse backgrounds to know and realise 'best' practice and become effective practitioners. It takes the position that the hallmark of the effective practitioner is the ability to reflect both within and on practice in order to ensure best practice as acknowledged in the Clinical Governance agenda.

For more information contact the University of Bedfordshire or see:
http://www.luton.ac.uk/courses/bysubject/biobiosci/bsc-nutsci

BCNH, the UK College of Nutrition and Health, has announced that courses forming their nutritional therapy programme have been credit rated by the University of Greenwich. Students can opt to study concurrently the BCNH Diploma and the BSc (Hons) in Complementary Therapies (Nutritional Health) at the University of Greenwich.

The announcement makes BCNH one of only a handful of private colleges to offer such an opportunity. The course can be taken over four years part-time (with attendance at weekends and evenings
only) or it can be achieved within three years full-time.

There is also a correspondence option for students wishing to study from elsewhere in the country and from abroad.

The BCNH programme meets all of the current National Occupational Standards for Nutritional Therapy. Consequently, graduates are fully qualified to practice as Nutritional Therapists and are eligible for membership of the British Association of Nutritional Therapists; The British Complementary Medical Association and The Complementary Medical Association.

Breda Gajsek, founder and principal of BCNH, said, 'Our aim has always been to train nutritional therapists to the highest standards of excellence. We are thrilled with this collaboration with the University of Greenwich and the endorsement it brings to the high standard of our teaching'.

Christine Stacey Programme Leader at University of Greenwich said 'We are delighted to have given academic credit to the BCNH programme for its extremely high quality modules in nutritional therapy. This route within our Honours degree is a welcome addition to our existing portfolio of health and complementary therapy courses. We are looking forward to working in partnership with BCNH to provide students with the professional, practical and academic skills to equip them to succeed in the nutritional healthcare arena'

The Nutritional Therapy Council (NTC) has been developing the Grandparenting Scheme which starts this month (September 2006). There will be three possible routes to inclusion on the Professional Register and full details can be found at http://www.nutritionaltherapycouncil.org.uk

ION is working with the NTC Schools Forum to ensure that the Dip ION Course will be accredited and thereby give our current students automatic inclusion on the Professional Register.

Former students who have already graduated from ION will be included on the Register provided they can satisfy the NTC that they meet all the National Occupational Standards for Nutritional Therapy. For these graduates ION is mapping its past courses against the National Occupational Standards and will produce a matrix for each year that has graduated since 2000. This matrix will show to what extent the course you studied matches the National Occupational Standards, and will highlight areas that might need evidence to show they have been covered in CPD activities.

For more information on the National Occupational Standards this link will be helpful:
http://www.skillsforhealth.org.uk/view_framework.php?id=52

As soon as all the courses are mapped, we will inform graduates who will be able to download their matrix from the ION website - or the map for your year will be available, free of charge, from ION.
If you graduated before 2000, ION would like to support you in your application and we are, at present, considering the best way of doing this. ION is enthusiastically awaiting the formation of the Professional Register and is hoping that the first 300 practitioners on the register will be Dip ION's. Updates will follow on how we can support graduates in this process. For now, graduates might want to start looking at the documents on the web and perhaps hunting out those old CPD certificates.

http://www.ion.ac.uk

Clayton College of Natural Health’s Director of Practitioner Education, Susie Hale, ND, PhD, appeared in a recent issue of Better Nutrition discussing the application of traditional naturopathy. Hale is the author of the Natural Reader Press publication 'The Clayton College Model of Empowerment for Natural Health Practice' and an experienced natural health practitioner. The Better Nutrition interview explores the philosophy of naturopathy as an approach to living and a system of health, and Hale offers recommendations for locating a traditional naturopath.

The article also explores the differences between traditional naturopaths, or naturopathic consultants, and naturopathic physicians. Although the term 'naturopathy' is used by the two types of practitioners, Hale observes that it is, 'the application of the philosophy that differs.'

Hale was also a contributing writer in the June 2006 issue of Vitamin Retailer. She discussed the history of traditional naturopathy and how traditional naturopathy is practiced today. The education and credentials that represent those who practice in the field were also explored.

In addition to being an educator and author, Hale is an experienced speaker at natural health conventions and symposiums on topics such as traditional naturopathy and practitioner education. She presented 'The Language of the Iridologist: Practicing Legally and Professionally' in February, 2006, at the International Iridology Practitioners Association (IIPA) Third Annual Symposium. Other 2006 appearances include CCNH’s fifth annual natural health conference April 20-23, where she discussed 'Practice Issues: Assessment, Education, Recommendations,' and the American Naturopathic Medical Association convention in July.

'CCNH is proud to have Susie Hale as a faculty member. Her expertise in the areas of the application of traditional naturopathy and issues of practice is sought not only by students of CCNH, but by the natural health community. Hale is an excellent example of how our faculty is both educating the leaders of natural health and becoming the leaders of natural health.'

Email: communications@ccnh.edu
Web: http://www.ccnh.edu

Nutrition is currently a buzz word in mainstream and complementary health care, says the Centre for Nutrition Education and Lifestyle Management (CNELM). There are few health care practitioners who are not regularly asked by their clients about the role of food and health or whether supplements are necessary. How many practitioners are genuinely equipped to answer such questions? How many practitioners can afford not to answer such questions? The Government is encouraging NHS health care practitioners to become informed about nutrition. Students study with us from around the UK and abroad. Attendance and/or access to our courses using modern media techniques are available.

The Centre is committed to providing quality education at all levels to health care practitioners enabling a consistent message to be communicated to the public. Providing quality information and education for the public is in demand and our short certificated courses are designed to equip practitioners to respond effectively to their client's queries and to anaiyse their diets. The degree courses taught at the Centre enable practitioners to design personalised nutritional therapy programmes taking account of complex health problems and multiple medications.

The degree courses have a strong scientific orientation combined with indispensable practical and life coaching skills. The Centre knows that just informing clients and the public about what they should do is rarely enough when it comes to food and lifestyle. Becoming an effective life coach is integral to our undergraduate degree course and-our life coaching courses can be accessed by any health care practitioner independently of our nutrition courses.

The Director, Kate Neil leads the Clinical Services provided at the Centre and at certain times of the year the public can access the fully supervised student clinic at concessionary rates. The Centre specialises in providing services for parents with children with learning and behaviour difficulties, women's health, allergies and autoimmune disorders, digestive problems and sports nutrition. Separate or integrated life coaching consultations are also availabie.

The Nutrition Practitioner peer reviewed journal has been published since 1999 and is a valuable resource for the profession and media alike.

Web: http://www.cnelm.co.uk

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