Featured Posts

My [12] thoughts on what it means to give at Christmas time ...My [12] thoughts on what it means to give at Christmas... No. 1 Give a smile : A cheerful look brings joy to the heart - Proverbs 15:30 Some people might say that Christmas is the most unhealthy time of the year, and not just because because of all...

Readmore

Nuts - an ancient super-health food: Eat a handful a dayNuts - an ancient super-health food: Eat a handful... After years of unfair persecution nuts are finally back on the healthy shopping list and not just as an occasional treat but as a daily prescription for good health. Most health authorities now recommend...

Readmore

New Zealand All Blacks Win the Rugby World Cup - New National Anthem - thank you ABs (and ACDC!)New Zealand All Blacks Win the Rugby World Cup - New... On the 23rd of October 2011, New Zealands national rugby team won the Rugby World Cup. Despite consistently being the worlds No. 1 side for decades, it took a supreme effort to get to the Final and once...

Readmore

Can I eat mussels if I have high cholesterol?Can I eat mussels if I have high cholesterol? The short answer is yes - you can eat mussels if you have high cholesterol. Mussels are low in kilojoules, cholesterol and fat. The little fat they do have is mostly healthy unsaturated fat with plenty...

Readmore

Kiwifruit – Super-fruit for the gutKiwifruit – Super-fruit for the gut My parents came to stay a few weeks ago, bearing bags of kiwifruit from their orchard. “We’ve got so much!” my mum exclaimed as she dumped three or four bulging bags in the front hall. “The fruit...

Readmore

  • Prev
  • Next

Will I get cancer from frying with olive oil?

Posted on : 01-12-2009 | By : Cindy | In : Cancer, Food safety, Interviews, Research

2

olive oil 6Last night I heated some extra virgin olive oil and fried chopped potatoes, onion and asparagus. After a few moments I tossed in some spinach leaves and chopped tomato, then poured over beaten eggs. A sprinkle of cheese and a light grill to brown the top and voila – yummy frittata for an easy Sunday evening meal. The big question is have I increased my risk of getting cancer by frying in olive oil?

“Exposure to second-hand cigarette smoke or going outside without sun-block is much more likely to cause cancer than burning your cooking oil,” writes fats and oils expert, Laurence Eyres, in the October/November issue of Food New Zealand – the official journal of the NZ Institute of Food Science and Technology. But what about all those cancer causing chemicals – polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons – that are formed when we burn cooking oil? It’s true that when oil is repeatedly heated to its smoking point it will begin to accumulate cancer causing substances and lose its natural antioxidants. But who uses the same oil over and over again, especially when we’ve burnt it? We usually just heat and eat.

When researchers feed ‘severely heat-abused frying fats’ (more than we would ever do at home) to some poor experimental animals there are ‘very few deleterious effects’. In fact olive oil is especially stable because it is monounsaturated. Extra virgin olive oil is even better than a lower quality olive oil because it has more natural antioxidants to soak up nasty free radicals. And good news for those of us who love New Zealand extra virgin olive oil. Compared to overseas olive oils it has more antioxidants and a higher smoking point, so you can heat it hotter before it starts to burn.

Toddlers who eat fruit as a snack rather than at meals have 3 times the risk of iron deficiency

Posted on : 27-11-2009 | By : Cindy | In : Brain, Conferences, Iron defficiency, Kids nutrition, Meat, Research

0

brain-fuelToddlers who eat fruit as a snack rather than with meals are three times more likely to have iron deficiency. “But I thought it was healthy to give my child fruit as a snack,” commented the health professional sitting near me. “It is,” replied Dr Clare Wall, one of three child nutrition experts speaking at a seminar I attended this week. “But it’s also important for toddlers to eat fruit with a meal because it increases iron absorption from that meal.”

One in six Kiwi toddlers are iron deficient and around two-thirds don’t eat enough iron to meet the recommended daily intake. For most, it’s not bad enough to cause anaemia but it is bad enough to affect their behaviour and brain

Brain food for toddlers

Posted on : 22-11-2009 | By : Cindy | In : Brain, Iron defficiency, Kids nutrition, Super-healthy...er...stuff

0

brain-kidEighty percent of our adult brain is formed by the age of three. So just at the time when our toddlers have learnt that saying “NO” causes the big people around them to act in all sorts of funny ways, we need to make sure they somehow get enough brain nutrients into them, particularly iron, zinc and omega-3 fats.

Iron carries oxygen around the body. If a muscle is deprived of oxygen, it dies. If a toddler doesn’t get enough iron the brain doesn’t get enough oxygen. It can’t develop so well – and the damage is irreversible.

Iron supplements and cups of tea don’t mix

Posted on : 19-11-2009 | By : Cindy | In : Iron defficiency, supplements

2

tea“I’ve been taking an iron supplement for three weeks and still feel tired.” This was the comment from a woman attending a series of nutrition seminars I was running. She had been discharged from hospital three weeks earlier and prescribed an iron supplement. “When do you take it?” I asked her. “With breakfast,” she replied. Breakfast consisted of muesli with low fat milk or wholegrain toast and a cup of tea. A healthy breakfast – yes. But a suitable meal to take an iron supplement – no.

..