Surprise, surprise! Mediterranean diet may be reducing risk of Alzheimer's. I must have seen at least 10 studies in the last two years that extol the virtues of eating lots of salads, vegetables, olive oil and fish, excluding most other common foods in order to reduce the risk of dementia or improve mental faculties, when Alzheimer's has been diagnosed. In a way this is not as extraordinary as it sounds: similar diets have been proven effective in reversing several so-called

In 2015 the Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) estimated that diesel "particulates" are directly and indirectly responsible for an average of 52,000 deaths per annum in Britain, mainly associated with severe asthma, cardio-vascular disease and cancer. For people understanding the role of nutrition in human health, it will not come as a surprise to hear that another group of essential nutrients such as the vitamin B's have a protective effect against

I couldn’t help but be touched by the recent item on the BBC news about the death four years ago of Lisa Dennis at the age of 10 years. Lisa died following an asthma attack. Although she had an inhaler for an allergy, her parents were not aware she was an asthmatic. According to her family the word “asthma” was never mentioned. Dr Satish Rao of the Birmingham Children’s Hospital, who looks after difficult asthma cases, says “one of the biggest frustrations for us is the compl

Cupcakes have become extremely popular, thanks to Mary Berry to a large extent. As delicious as they may be, one in particular has caused a rise in a food allergies. The red velvet cupcake contains cochineal as its food colourant. Cochineal is an insect, mainly found in South America and Mexico, that produces carmine acid to deter its predators. This acid can be extracted from the body and eggs of the insect and when mixed with aluminium or calcium salts makes the carmine d