Nutraceuticals

olaola

Here is an article from the Irish Times:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/pricewatch/2008/0728/1217013338260.html

I love the line at the end - "Using nutraceuticals to self-medicate is entirely unnecessary, according to Pollan, who has simplified the road to better health in seven words: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.""

That kind of sums it all up really!

hunnymonster

olaola wrote: »

That kind of sums it all up really!

not by a long shot, there is so much going on in the nutraceutical, nutrigenomics, functional foods world that this type of work is hugely important.

The most relevant point made in the article (imo), is that these days people are inclined to think they can negate the bad effects of some foods but supplementing with a particular "added-benefit" product. The researchers are not trying to get people to give up carrots to eat synthetic foods but for a whole range of people who suffer with serious alimentary problems, functional foods offer a vastly increased quality of life. This area is very much in it's infancy and I think it is only proper that given our 1st world capabilities and relatively low population densities (i.e. we can produce a lot of high quality ingredients) that Ireland is forging ahead in this area.

Macha

To be honest a lot of the added nutrients, nutraceuticals is utter nonsense. The best food you can eat is the least processed, not the processed one with added vitamin x, y & z.

So you get people dropping an orange or pice of broccoli to go grab a box of cereal with added calcium. It's a marketing ploy of the highest order and we (and our wallets) are the losers as we skip from superfood to superfad. This sentence really sums it up:

"The new centre will bring together four of the biggest food groups in the country - Dairygold Food Ingredients, Glanbia Nutritionals, Carbery and Kerry Ingredients Ireland - to maximise the commercial value of milk." That's really what is all about. You wonder how anyone survived over the last milleniae without all these "nutrients" and "anti-oxidants"

Look there are a few that work, like the Benecol for lowerng cholesterol but these things are marketed at everyone and people are using them to replace healthy eating. I don't think we should ever fool ourselves into thinking that companies like Glanbia & Kerry Gold are interested in anything other than maximising profits. I certainly wouldn't take their word for it.

Michael Pollan is spot on & everone should read his book "In Defense of Food". Funny how its the nations who are obsessing over food and nutrients that are the ones with the serious problems with obesity & eating disorders.

olaola

hunnymonster wrote: »

The researchers are not trying to get people to give up carrots to eat synthetic foods but for a whole range of people who suffer with serious alimentary problems, functional foods offer a vastly increased quality of life.

I think in context of this forum those seven words are very sage advice. The article is focusing on regular Joe, sans alimentary difficulties or other.

hunnymonster

eh??? not according to the second paragraph of the charter:rolleyes: