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Last year a UK report by the NHS on health supplements concluded: "Overall, it is clear that we may be placing our hope in products that still require far more testing."

Here's another local fishy story that caught my attention, and what an interesting one!

 

Maggot protein is new fishmeal for livestock, says SA start-up

The world urgently needs new and sustainable sources of protein. Two South African entrepreneurs believe one answer lies in the humble maggot (larva of a fly). Their Cape business, AgriProtein, is already well on the path to large-scale commercialisation of a win-win-win, non-marine-based alternative for livestock and fish farming feed.

Enjoy this week's read!

Fair Cape Dairies has gone a green step further with its fresh milk, replacing its Free Range trademark with a new marque, Fair Cape ECO-FRESH, a milk range produced in an ecologically-friendly manner and with "a significantly lower carbon footprint".

A farming crisis? SA farmers going big ... and small
The number of farmers who feed SA has dwindled down the years as smaller producers are swallowed up and bigger ones consolidate to take greater advantage of economies of scale.
There are about 37000 commercial farmers in the country; about 20% of these produce 80% of the food that is consumed by the nation.

Farm crisis puts food supply in jeopardy
From 120000 in 1994, only 37000 commercial farmers remain in South Africa, which has led to the country teetering on the brink of becoming a net importer of food.

The year 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the discovery of vitamins. In 1912, a scientist named Casimir Funk coined the term “vitamins” to describe bioactive substances essential for human and animal health. 

America's bi-annual Fancy Food Show, the Winter edition, took place last week in San Francisco. The show, which attracted 17 000 visitors and 1 300 exhibitors, is a showcase for specialty food and a glimpse into the possible future of grocery shelves and/or dinner tables. From the aisles of the expo, this article uncovered 12 food trends for 2012...

Led by rising sales of almond milk, the US market for dairy alternative beverages reached $1.33 billion in 2011, according to a new report from Packaged Facts. The report states that as consumers seek out healthier substitutes for dairy drinks, many are increasingly turning toward consumption of soy milk, almond milk, and rice milk.

Nestlé is adapting the packaging of some of its products to ensure consumers of all ages can use them without difficulty. One approach, established by the University of Cambridge in the UK, is called 'Inclusive Design'.

Miracle metal could usher in food safety revolution, scientist
Copper could usher in a food safety revolution within processing plants, according to the author of a new study that revealed the metal’s impressive ability to kill deadly E.coli pathogens.

Sprouted seeds pose an unacceptable risk to health
Evidence is emerging that sprouted seeds could present an unacceptable risk to human health unless effective control measures such as irradiation can be used to make them safer.

Several new high-​tech bottle-​scanning technologies that will allow the lifting of the liquids ban at airports are currently being trialled in several countries. The UK-based Cobalt Light Systems’ explosives detector has just passed all its European civil aviation security tests.

Ninety years after the breakthrough first use of insulin to treat diabetes, commemorated on Monday 23 January 2012, the disease remains one of the Western and developing worlds' most challenging pandemic health issues. 

 

Feeling cranky, fatigued and unable to focus? You might just need a drink of water, according to new research.

Dukan diet: Fallacy or fat-buster?
If your only reminder of Christmas is a tightened waistband, you may be considering starting the Dukan diet that's been much in the news. Devised by the French doctor and nutritionist, it may be faddy but even eminently sensible people have raved about it. The book has sold 7.5-million copies worldwide and several millions have tried the diet - so, what's it all about?

The ten most polarising foods
There are foods you love, foods you hate and foods that probably fall somewhere in between. But there are some foods that inspire more opinionated and polarised reactions than others. These foods are either the best tasting, or the worst tasting thing out there, depending on whom you talk to. Why such extremes? Check out some of the most polarising foods in this slideshow.

"Living with a food allergy or intolerance can be a huge hassle. So it’s surprising how many people think they have sensitivities to certain foods — and alter their lives accordingly — when they really don’t.

“Research shows that as many as 20 percent of people claim to have food allergies when the number is actually around 3 to 4 percent,” says Hugh Sampson, director of the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.

He concedes that the number of people with milder reactions — nonallergic symptoms that flare up when they eat certain foods — is higher, but he thinks the problem is still generally overestimated. That’s partly because reactions to food can change over time. And various symptoms are sometimes mistakenly attributed to food when they really stem from something else."