Health and diet
by Ms H Judit Hadnagy
The food choices we make
can have an important impact on our health. Understanding
the link between diet and health drives
you to change your lifestyle,
food shopping and food preparation. What is available on the shelf will also have
an impact on the choices you make, thereby affecting your wellbeing. Unfortunately your diet greatly manipulated by
the food industry, here is a list of examples; fortification and enrichment of
cereal grains with vitamins, calcium and sugar, increased production of
unsaturated vegetable oils and margarine, -hydrogenated fat, as substitutions
for lard and butter- lowered cholesterol content foods, reduced sugar content
foods, lower sodium foods, decreased portion sizes in pre-packaged foods for
use in weight loss and increased calcium levels to prevent osteoporosis. Even more
substances are added to food to preserve it and enhance its taste and appearance –food
additives-. These additives must be
assessed for safety before they are used in food. To inform consumers, each additive is allocated
a unique number, called as E number, which is used in Europe for all approved additives.
Do you check the list of ingredients
when you pick up the food from the shelf?
Studies
have indicated that nutritional factors do contribute to the development of
some diseases like cancer, atherosclerosis, bone disease, arthritis, and
dementia. The diet could influence all of these disease states. The patterns in
our food consumption have changed and will continue to change. Here are some
examples. Decreased consumption of saturated fats, salt and sugar advised due
to benefit of cardiovascular health. Increased intake of fish /fish oil, seeds
and nuts is recommended because of the numerous effects of omega-3 fatty acids including
they lower the risk of coronary heart disease and
perform improvement in cholesterol level. Fish oil has also been recommended for disease states
including arthritis, cancer, and diseases of the immune system. Eating healthily doesn’t have to be complicated or tedious!
Make sure you get all the nutrients you
need and maintain a healthy weight. Good diet is about not eating too much of
some things – like saturated fat, sugar and salt – while getting enough of
others – like fibre, protein, vitamins and minerals. Research shows that
people who eat plenty of fruit and vegetables are less likely to develop heart
disease and certain cancers.
About the food labels
Information
on the back of a pack is compulsory that gives details about the ingredients,
nutritional composition, known allergens, ‘best before’ or ‘use-by’
dates and the weight of the product. The ingredients are listed in order,
starting with the highest-quantity ingredient first, down to the lowest-
quantity ingredient last. So, if you find sugar at the top of the list, the
food is likely to be high in sugar.
The traffic light
system for ‘front of pack’ labelling has been around for a while now which is
an easy way to check at a glance how healthy a food is. The labels show how
many calories are in the food or drink and are also colour coded to show
whether the food is low (green), medium (amber) or high (red) in fat, saturated
fat, sugar and salt. The information on the front of the pack also tells you
how the portion of the food contributes to the Reference Intake (RI) of an
adult. Try to choose foods with more greens and ambers and fewer reds.
