How much salt? Wrong kind of fat? Too high in sugar? Is it organic? We’ve all been there – staring at a food carton in the supermarket aisle, trying to work out what’s good for us, what might be alright if we’re in a hurry and what’s a complete no-no. [...]
For years, we’ve been told that in order to help maintain a healthy lifestyle, we need to incorporate at least 5 servings of fruit and vegetables in our diet each day. But in the past few decades, increased demand for greater productivity and increased pressure from supermarkets to produce ‘perfect’ [...]
In the UK we enjoy some of the highest quality drinking water in the world, but in order to get it so clean; various chemicals first need to be added. These chemicals cause some scientists to worry that a gradual accumulation of small amounts may eventually serve to damage our [...]
Remember the days when the first strawberries of the year were the ones shown on television at Wimbledon? How times have changed, for now all kinds of exotic fruits and foodstuffs are available the year round at our local supermarket – flown perhaps thousands of miles around the world so [...]
More than two thirds of the Earth’s surface consists of water and man can’t survive without it. However, our water sources, the world over are becoming more and more contaminated with pollutants. So what are these pollutants and how can we help to preserve the cleanliness of our water? When [...]
Chlorinated water has been around for the last 100 years or so, with its first recorded use as a water disinfectant being in 1897, when it was used to help control and reduce an outbreak of typhoid in Kent. There is no disputing that chlorine performs a much-needed task as [...]
I’m sure most of us keep a can of baked beans in the cupboard for emergencies or use tinned tomatoes in our cooking. But are they good for our health? Why Can Food? Canned food has been around for quite some time. Back in the early 1800’s a French confectioner [...]
Aluminium is one of the most common metals found in the Earth’s crust and so it is naturally present in the environment, in many food stuffs and in water. But is it harmful to us? The jury is still out on this one, but read on to make your own [...]
A couple of years ago there was a story going around that if you didn’t want to suffer pesticide poisoning, you had to chop at least the first two inches off a carrot because of the amount of pesticides which would have soaked into the top part of it. But [...]
Most people use pesticides at some point in their life – whether it is something to kill those persistent weeds, to get rid of slugs, flies, or ants, or even to treat a case of head lice on your child. But if they’re designed to kill plants and animals, what [...]
The heavy metal contamination of fish does not mean that the oceans are buzzing with the sound of salmon and tuna, head banging to AC/DC – although that would be a rather nice image! Rather, it is the more serious issue of our marine life being poisoned by toxic levels [...]
