Search results

This condition is very common but can diet help? Jill Davies PhD reports

In 1989 the Scientific Affairs Board of the British Psychological Society set up a working party on food, health and nutrition chaired by Dr Jane Wardle to report on the contribution of psychology to this important area. This is a version of the working party′s report, reprinted here with kind permission of The Psychologist. Outlines the evidence relating diet to health and development and illustrates the possible contribution of psychological research to the area of food choice. The working party hopes that this report will stimulate productive collaboration between psychologists and food scientists.

A summary of papers given at a recent conference on this topic

The enrichment of bread with non-digestible prebiotic ingredients may exert health-promoting effects and provide healthier food choices for those suffering from metabolic diseases, including obesity and diabetes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of ß-glucan and resistant starch incorporation on the glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) of white bread.

Seven different formulations of prebiotic bread were produced using different proportions of ß-glucan (0.8, 1 and 1.2 per cent), resistant starch (5.5, 8 and 10.5 per cent) and the combination of resistant starch and ß-glucan in a ratio of 4:0.5.

The GI and GL of the prebiotic bread prepared with 1 per cent ß-glucan (w/w) were 55.7 and 7.8, respectively, whereas those of the prebiotic bread prepared with 8 per cent resistant starch (w/w) were 64.8 and 8.42, respectively, with both breads having significantly lower GI and GL values than the control (P < 0.05). It was concluded that the incorporation of 1 per cent ß-glucan may be beneficial in producing prebiotic bread with both low GI and low GL.

Although white bread is a main food source in human diet, its high GI and GL make it an unhealthy food choice. The incorporation of ingredients with prebiotic effects, such as ß-glucan and resistant starch, can improve the nutritional value of this product by lowering its GI and GL.

A freak television reception caused, it is thought, by an inexplicable variation of cosmic ray frequency in space‐time curvature vibration, makes it possible to present this astounding record of the life and work of an eminent scientist who has yet, unfortunately, to be born. A document without precedent or value, it is based upon a fragment of intelligence flashed back from the future. Those who stood spell‐bound, gazing upon a screen in an Upper Tooting flat, fingered for a few fleeting moments the fabric of eternity. But this glimpse through an unknown window of time was not granted without penalty. In addition to the author, none of those who saw it has ever been the same since.

Peter Haxby of Royce's is a man of no mean standing among training managers. Like most other people at BACIE's September conference at Loughborough he confessed to being sceptical and curious about the manner of man Frank Metcalfe would turn out to be. And, again like most others, he stayed through to the end to hear him.

You Are What You Eat was an educational programme produced by Anna Jackson and first transmitted on BBC 1 during January and February 1986. It occupied six ten‐minute Sunday evening slots, from 1820–1830 hours. The media regard 1915 hours as the start of Sunday prime‐time so the programme immediately preceded peak viewing. Mass audience educational topics have been successful in the 1820–1830 slot before and managers agreed that the connection between food and health was likely to be a popular topic. You Are What You Eat was therefore designed both to inform and entertain.

In Brazil, studies on dietary fiber consumption are scarce. The greatest difficulty is to obtain reliable data on the fiber content of foods that are part of Brazilians’ eating habits, which involves adjusting laboratory methodology. It is extremely important to evaluate the average daily fiber intake on a regional basis, considering the heterogeneous eating habits of the Brazilians. The study aims to estimate the average dietary fiber content of meals eaten in “by‐the‐kilo” restaurants.

The foods used in the preparation of 1,907 meals consumed during one month in four restaurants in the city of São Paulo were studied. Intake, nutritional composition, and fiber analyses focusing on average lunch intakes were performed based on the RDA and SBAN (Brazilian Food and Nutrition Society) recommendations. Intake and nutritional composition results were compared with the values of a control meal theoretically prepared. A total of 40 samples of preparations using fiber‐rich foods were analyzed and their dietary fibers and soluble and insoluble fiber fractions were determined by enzymatic‐gravimetric method.

The results showed that a lunch meal alone accounts for 69.2 per cent of the SBAN recommendation and 39.5 per cent of the maximum RDA for dietary fiber.

Foods served in “by‐the‐kilo” restaurants proved to be good sources of fiber, and their insoluble‐to‐soluble fiber ratios were similar to the recommendations.

The purpose of this chapter is to review and synthesise the available evidence for the health benefits of walking. It follows a non-systematic evidence review and finds that the evidence base for the health benefits of walking is growing. Increasingly we are finding strong evidence for the beneficial effects of walking for both individuals and populations. More evidence is required on how to better understand the health outcomes associated with walking and how to promote long term increases in walking behaviour. Systematic reviews of specific health benefits remain rare. Walking should be promoted in all population groups regardless of age or sex. There are currently few existing integrative syntheses of the physical and mental health outcomes associated with walking and this chapter aims to help fill that gap.