diet-and-nutrition

Nitrate-free bacon: Is this another food fad?

Butchers and supermarkets are increasingly selling nitrate-free bacon, which is often twice the price of bacon that's been cured using sodium nitrate.

Butcher Blair Parsons said customers started asking for nitrate-free bacon about four years ago, prompting him to experiment with alternative preservatives and curing agents.

After some trial and error, Mr Parsons started using a cure of salt, sugar, water and sodium ascorbate which, as a food additive, has the code E301.

Why exercising in the cold isn't such a bad idea after all

Did you know when our bodies are exposed to cold over time, they actually start to change to keep themselves warm?

"We start to build up a tissue ... that we call brown adipose tissue — so brown fat," Dr Dino Premilovac from the University of Tasmania said.

"It's more muscle-like than it is fat-like in what it does.

"If we expose our bodies to the cold environment, the way our bodies deal with it over a long period of time is to produce more brown fat."

Brown fat's purpose in the body is to produce heat to warm up the blood, in turn keeping the body warm.

Food health-rating labels failing to reveal added sugars, study finds

Professor Bruce Neal from the George Institute for Global Health in Sydney reviewed more than 34,000 packaged foods with health-star ratings.

These are the voluntary front-of-pack labels, designed to help people make healthier choices.

But health experts said naturally occurring sugars found in fruits, vegetables and dairy were treated the same as sugars added during food processing.

How to train your tastebuds and other tips for your tongue

The taste of foods such as broccoli, coriander and brussels sprouts can divide many of us.

But there is hope for those wanting to broaden their palate, according to Dr Veronique Chachay from UQ's School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences.

"Different textures and food presented in a different way can help develop certain tastes," she said.

"We can change our tastes by the number of exposures to a certain food."

For example, someone who dislikes bananas should eat them daily over a two-week period in different forms: mashed, whole and with other foods.

The science of taste: Why we choose fries over broccoli

But observations and research show this is generally not the case.

Instead, people tend to make choices based on how food tastes. Typically, the more sugar, salt and fat in the food, the more we will like it.

Genetics, experience and environment also influence our perception of food and the consumption choices we make.

Burning question: If you cut mould off food, is it then safe to eat?

Can you attempt a rescue operation by cutting off the mould or should the whole lot go in the bin?

The answer to some extent depends on how you balance your approach to a potential health risk versus your desire to avoid wasting food.

If the cheese is a hard cheese, it's probably safe just to cut the bad bit off, says Dr Ailsa Hocking, of CSIRO Agriculture and Food.

The bread though, is probably better off thrown away, she believes.

Assessing the risk

It's not just an awful taste you're risking if you eat mouldy food.

The healing power of the sea

A few years ago my brother fell ill with a severe mental illness. I reasoned if the sea could calm itself, maybe it could help calm his mind.

Sugar tax would prolong Australians' lives more than two years, Melbourne researchers find

In an article to be published in the PLOS (Public Library of Science) Magazine, modelling by the university's Centre for Public Health Policy concludes that taxing foods that are high in sugar, salt and saturated fats — as well as subsidising fruit and vegetables — would also save $3.4 billion in healthcare costs.

"The study suggests that taxes and subsidies on foods and beverages can potentially be combined to achieve substantial improvements in population health and cost savings to the health sector," the article reads.

Doctors call for sweet drink levy to tackle obesity in Australia

The Committee of Presidents of Medical Colleges, representing bodies including the Royal Australian College of GPs, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, has developed a six-point obesity action plan to tackle what it calls the most pressing public health issue.

Professor Nick Talley, head of the Committee of the Presidents of Medical Colleges, said urgent definitive action was needed.

"We need leadership, not just telling people to lose weight," he said.