Posted by kathryn in Myths and Nutrition

I’ve been asked a lot of questions recently about fructose. The comments and threads have been overwhelmingly negative. While the questions vary, they all centre around the same core issue – is fructose bad for you? In short the answer is an annoyingly cryptic – probably yes, but not really at the moment . . . as is ever the case with nutrition. h3. Problems with the research Fructose is a type of sugar. It’s a very simple sugar, called …

Read more 30 September, 2009

Posted by kathryn in Labels & advertising and Myths

In the world of food and health marketing “natural” is a well favoured world. Labels claim “natural goodness for the whole family”, “made from natural ingredients” and “fresh and natural”. There are “natural living” eggs and supplements promoted as the natural way to health. In a Choice survey 86% of people were influenced by the word “natural”. But, in the labelling world “natural” doesn’t actually mean anything. While it gives the impression that food is unprocessed and doesn’t contain artificial …

Read more 29 August, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Myths

It’s a beautiful sunny day in Sydney. I’m just back from having a morning coffee at my local cafe, where the barista told me something interesting: people are more likely to have skim milk in their coffee on hot days. I’m not sure if this coffee change is Sydney-specific, but it does fit in with other, more health-aware behaviour changes I notice at this time of year: * September to November is one of the busiest periods for me in …

Read more 15 September, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Myths

Kicking off Q & A Thursday today is a question from a friend: bq. What’s the healthiest chocolate? Ah chocolate, it’s such a popular food. There’s nothing more likely to grab a newspaper headline than when a group of researchers find something good in chocolate. h3. What’s chocolate made of? The basic ingredients of a chocolate bar are cocoa solids, fats like cocoa butter and sugar, although some brands have a list of ingredients as long as your arm. …

Read more 30 August, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Myths

Last week was Australian Continence Week – did you know that 67% of pregnant women experience problems with incontinence= during pregnancy and 1 in 3 women have incontinence problems following childbirth? Also incontinence is the second leading reason why elderly people have to move to nursing homes. If you combine an incontinence problem with mobility issues, then it can be hard to cope. Incontinence also affects men, although less often than women. One of the biggest myths is that there’s …

Read more 18 August, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Myths

Choice has an excellent article busting some myths about exercising. Much as in the food arena, there’s a lot of confusing information available about exercise. Many common misconceptions centre around burning fat and calories and the Choice article looks at many of these, including: * Exercising three times a week is enough * Low-intensity exercise burns more fat than high-intensity * Walking one kilometre burns the same number of kilojoules as running one kilometre * "I’m slim and healthy, so …

Read more 03 September, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Labels & advertising and Myths

School science projects can lead to unlikely results – GlaxoSmithKline were caught out on their ribena claims by two New Zealand schoolgirls. Two years ago Anna Devathasan and Jenny Suo, a couple of 14-year-old high school students tested the vitamin C levels in Ribena. Not only did they find it contained very little vitamin C, they also found at least one commercial orange juice brand which had four times more vitamin C than Ribena. I’m wondering if this is more …

Read more 27 March, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Myths

In last week’s Q & A Thursday, I included a link to a podcast interview with Barry Glassner. He’s the author of two books: The Culture of Fear and The Gospel of Food. One of Barry’s central ideas is that we worry about the wrong things. For various reasons, we get topics out of perspective and end up worrying about big scale problems and not seeing the day-to-day risks. I see this every day in the health arena: * where …

Read more 21 August, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Myths

Vanessa has also asked whether drinking water during a meal makes the food more difficult to digest ? This is a common idea in health circles and particularly relates to protein digestion. Your stomach contains hydrochloric acid, which is needed for the first stage of breaking down protein. Proteins are made up of long chains of amino acids. These curl, twist and clump together to form all different shapes and configurations. Hydrochloric acid is needed to uncurl and untwist the …

Read more 12 July, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Myths

While I’ve posted about the healthiest type of chocolate, I’d hate you to think I was part of the current Nestle campaign to turn chocolate into a health food. Yep, Nestle, one of the big chocolate manufacturers, has launched a campaign encouraging health professionals to promote dark chocolate, because of its antioxidant properties. The “switch to dark” campaign shows chocolate spilling out of medicine bottles, under the byline “anti-oxidants never tasted so good”. Do I need to say that, while …

Read more 08 September, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Myths

I saw this article, food facts and fiction in the Sydney Morning Herald last week and it’s finally up on their website. Paula Goodyer answers some of those basic questions about diet and nutrition, for example is spinach a good source of iron, does broccoli prevent cancer and does sugar cause diabetes? As Paula writes: bq. Healthy eating should be simple to do but many of us still take our information from our friends, mothers and the media – …

Read more 20 March, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Myths

Next question is from Joanne: bq. What is your opinion of soy? I’m a fan of soy and have at least two serves a day of soy products. To me, it is a valuable source of complete protein and, in its fortified forms, of calcium and B12. However, some sources are critical of soy; among their claims is that soy contains anti-nutrients and dangerous levels of phyto-oestrogens! Soy is one of those topics that keeps on coming up. I’ve blogged …

Read more 12 July, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Myths, Blogging, Vegetables, Salads and Nutrition

• I’ve been reading and re-reading this post from Passion For Health. It perfectly encapsulates something I see every day in clinic. We are more knowledgeable about health and diet than we’ve ever been. The majority of people I come into contact with know what they need to do to eat well and be healthy and yet so many just don’t have the wellbeing and vitality they want. If that’s you then read this post. * Green vegies, those …

Read more 19 May, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Labels & advertising and Myths

Ribena manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline have dobbed themselves in to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for misleading advertising. Apparently their claim that ribena contains four times more vitamin C than oranges, is not entirely true. They are already under investigation in New Zealand and will be in court next week facing more than 80 charges relating to misleading claims. Back in January Choice included ribena in their list of the ten foods that make kids fatter faster. Citing their high sugar …

Read more 22 March, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Labels & advertising, Myths and Fruit

Potato chips are a better snack than biscuits I saw the report of this misconception in the weekend herald – because they’re made from a vegetable, potato chips are a better snack. While biscuits are in now way an ideal snack, potato chips are worse. They’re chock-a-block full of fat, with a 50g packet containing about 15g of fat and just over 1,000 kJ. Most plain biscuits are lower than this, a fat free yoghurt is about 400kJ, while …

Read more 18 July, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Myths

We’re starting today’s Q & A Thursday with a curly one – does drinking coffee affect your absorption of other nutrients? This is actually a tough one to answer and at the moment there’s conflicting evidence. In the early 1980s a study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition which found a cup of coffee could reduce the absorption of iron from a hamburger by 40%. Concern has also been expressed about coffee affecting the absorption of magnesium, …

Read more 14 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Myths

One of the big claims made against soy is that it’s chockablock full of substances which block the uptake of essential nutrients. Goitrogens mean you can’t use iodine, while other compounds prevent the absorption of B12, vitamin D, protein and other nutrients. Soy eaters are apparently putting themselves at grave risk of deficiencies and illness. What the soy detractors neglect to say is, these anti-nutrients are broken down and destroyed by cooking. Yes, they’re present in raw soy beans, but …

Read more 17 September, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Myths

A friend just sent me this image, scanned from a magazine. h3. Apparently Diet Coke is now healthy. Because it contains vitamins and antioxidants. Two products. One provides “a little plus for your vitality and wellbeing”, while the other is for “today’s hectic lifestyle”. Although there’s no information (I can find) on their website about what exactly is in these drinks. Who do they think they’re kidding? h3. This leaves me speechless.

Read more 14 February, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Myths

A friend asked me this question during the week – is banana bread healthy? Don’t let the use of the word “banana” fool you. Banana bread is not a health food, it’s cake. A slice of banana bread from a cafe or grocery store contains: * 1,400 kilojoules * 6g of fat * 30g of sugar(source:Choice). In contrast one small banana is about 350kJ. If you make your own, you can control the fat and kilojoule content to some extent. …

Read more 12 July, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Myths, Eggs, Fats & oils and Nutrition

Through a variety of circumstances and shopping errors I’ve ended up with over three dozen eggs in the house. They’re all lovely fresh and organic, but Richard is away and I’m thinking that’s a LOT of eggs to get though by myself. I HATE wasting food, so expect a few egg recipe posts over the next couple of weeks! Fortunately I’m a great admirer of the egg, they’re such a perfect little nutrition pack, easy to use and highly adaptable. …

Read more 08 September, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Myths and Fats & oils

There are some foods which seem surrounded in confusion, myths and half-truths. Soy is one of these and I’ve seen it labelled as toxic, birth control for babies and likely to turn you gay. I’ve already written some posts about the confusion over soy. Another food surrounded by dodgy claims is canola and Melanie of Dietriffic has written a myth-busting post: is canola oil healthy? One of the most persistent charges against canola states it was first produced by genetic …

Read more 02 October, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Myths

I’m back from Melbourne. I’ve cleared my inbox and in-tray, so it’s time to continue with Q & A Month. The next question is from Justine, who asks about water: bq. I over-indulged over Christmas and the New Year alcohol-wise, so am drinking lots & lots of water now I’m back at work. I’ve heard that too much water can be damaging . . . how much water is too much? You’ve almost certainly heard how important it is …

Read more 05 February, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Myths and Vegetables

• Eating more vegetables: The Go for 2&5 campaign is aimed at increasing fruit and vegetable consumption. I particularly like their weekly healthy eating email – a quick, regular reminder of the practical ways you can eat more fruit and veg. Sign up here. * Root vegetables: In the Northern hemisphere root vegetables are in season. In the Guardian this week, Nigel Slater has a great column discussing different ways of using carrots, kohlrabi, parsnips, etc: The Root Master …

Read more 07 March, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Labels & advertising and Myths

GlaxoSmithKline in New Zealand have been fined $NZ227,500 ($200,000) for making misleading claims about the vitamin C content of Ribena. As I suspected, their claim that “the blackcurrants in Ribena contain four times the vitamin C of oranges” has been food label trickery. While blackcurrants themselves are indeed a rich source of vitamin C, Ribena only contains 4% of the fruit. Ribena is therefore a richer source of sugar, water and kilojoules than vitamin C. As reported in the …

Read more 29 March, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit and Myths

A while back Cooking Chat asked a question in the comments on my post about antioxidant supplements – are juices a good way to get your daily fruit serves? I can totally understand the attraction of juice – they’re sweet, easy to consume, tasty, no fussy cutting up or messy fingers at the end, you can buy them anywhere and they’re made from fruit, so they must be good for you? However, it’s not that simple. Fruit is part of …

Read more 28 March, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Myths

Most of my clients worry about how much caffeine they drink. But they’re usually even more anxious I might take their coffee away from them! I’m not a particularly puritanical practitioner. If you really enjoy something and get pleasure from a food or drink then there’s generally a place for it in your diet. You might need to address how much and how often, but there’s rarely a need to forbid foods. And the same goes for coffee. But …

Read more 08 September, 2009

Posted by kathryn in Fruit and Myths

As I’ve blogged about, juices are not necessarily all they’re cracked up to be. Yes, they contain vitamins and antioxidants, but that’s mixed up with a whole lot of kilojoules and no fibre. 1 glass of orange juice (ie 250ml) is more than 500 kilojoules, which is equal to: * 2 bananas * 3 small apples * 3 punnets of fresh strawberries * 3 oranges * 2 tablespoons of sultanas So, if you’re drinking a few glasses of juice a …

Read more 30 March, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit and Myths

While we’re on the subject of juice, under the heading Juice – it’s a health miracle, Weighty Matters points out the effectiveness of marketing by the juice industry. Here in Australia, just think about how ubiquitous ads, in-store promotions and marketing are by the big juice companies: Just Juice, the Daily Juice Company, Berri and so on. While at the Diet Dish, Cynthia Sass discusses a UK article stating it’s not uncommon for the average woman to use 70% …

Read more 28 March, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Labels & advertising and Myths

Following the recent court case highlighting msleading claims about the nutritional content of Ribena, GlaxoSmithKline have withdrawn the vitamin C statement from it’s packaging. As John Sayers, Manager Consumer Healthcare in Australia says on their website: bq. “Recently you may have heard about some issues relating to Ribena “ready to drink” products. We stated that some Ribena products contained a level of Vitamin C that was incorrect. The testing method used to determine the level of Vitamin C was unreliable …

Read more 08 May, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Myths and Junk Food

Sometimes when I see the advert for McDonald’s food, particularly that photo of the Big Mac, I find myself thinking “you know, that almost looks healthy”. Don’t worry, this insanity only lasts a moment, but the whole burger looks fresh and home-made. The bread seems to have substance and body, there’s a noticeable volume of vegetable and the meat looks juicy. So, why is it, when you buy the Big Mac it actually looks like this? It’s all …

Read more 10 May, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Myths, Nutrition and Dairy

Fiona asks: bq. Cow’s milk. Nutritionally beneficial? Or only beneficial for baby cows? While cow’s milk is sometimes painted as the nutritional equivalent of an anti-christ, I don’t have a problem with it, as long as you can tolerate it. h3. Nutritional breakdown Nutritionally, cow’s milk is made up of the following: * 87% water * 3.3% protein * 3.8% fat * 4.6% carbohydrate * No fibre And 100ml of milk also contains: * 120mg calcium * 158mg potassium …

Read more 28 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Myths

Following last week’s quick quizzes on carbs and fibre – today I want to know if any of these foods contain water? # bread # milk # pumpkin # lamb # tofu # broccoli # apples # olive oil # butter # salmon # bananas # rice # hazelnuts # chickpeas # sultanas Leave your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll post the answers tomorrow. Photograph by Wester under the terms of a creative commons license.

Read more 21 April, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Myths

For the readers here in Australia – tonight Channel 10 is showing Jamie Oliver’s programme Eat to Save Your Life. It’s all about what junk food does to your health. It looks at the history and evolution of mass produced, processed foodstuffs and exactly what this food does to your body. It’s a hard-hitting programme, aimed at shocking people into improving their diet. But as well as the negatives, it promises simple and easy steps you can take to improve …

Read more 16 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Myths and Fruit

Vanessa has asked about food combining – is it: bq. better to eat fruit as it’s own meal or snack – rather than in a dish or along side a meal – because it digests quickly compared with other foods? The food combining approach to diet was first promoted by Dr William Hay in the 1920s. His eating plan – the Hay Diet – is still around today. In the Hay Diet all foods are seperated into three groups – …

Read more 12 July, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Myths and Nutrition

Friday is usually Quicklinks day and I know it’s a popular weekly round-up. However this week I wanted to concentrate on just one link. The latest Australian Family Physician has an article about weight loss facts and fallacies. Noting the confusion about weight loss information, they decided to survey two groups of people about their weight loss knowledge. One group were GPs and medical registrars, while the others were truck drivers and tradesmen. So I thought I’d survey readers of …

Read more 19 November, 2009

Posted by kathryn in Myths

This isn’t going to be a popular post. The health message that chocolate and red wine contain antioxidants has really cut through. The idea that previously unhealthy foods, like chocolate and red win,e could actually be good for you, has been picked up with alacrity by both the media and individuals. But . . . as per usual, it’s more complicated than that. Last week the Heart Foundation released a comprehensive report on the antioxidants in food, drinks and …

Read more 18 May, 2010

Posted by kathryn in Myths

There’s a great piece on the ABC’s website about middle-aged weight gain. A lot of people think it’s inevitable. There seems to be a widely held belief that as you age there’s a dramatic slowing of the metabolism, which means no matter how hard you try weight gain is going to happen. But this is not really true. There is a slowing of the metabolism as people age, but it’s relatively slight. What’s more significant in the development of middle-aged …

Read more 08 July, 2010

Posted by kathryn in Myths and Nutrition

While I was training I was taught there are ‘no bad foods, only bad diets’. It was a phrase used regularly to remind us to take a more complete look at the way people ate. Not to focus on one or two meals, or even one or two days, but to instead see the broader picture. I’m not sure I completely agree with this statement now. I think there are bad foods – foods which have no nutritional value or …

Read more 21 September, 2011