Presentation is everything

Whereas some foods are considered healthy when they are anything but, others have acquired the most heinous of reputations, quite unjustifiably. Black pudding has a repute as black as its name, and in a gross miscarriage of justice, currently occupies one of the lower circles of health food hell. Let’s put the record straight: black pudding is a healthy, delicious and traditional British food that deserves to be formerly recognised as such. If it’s made properly, that is.

We may think of black pudding as quintessentially British but in fact most countries where pork is produced have their own version of this thrifty dish. Here in Britain quality black pudding is usually made with onions, pork fat, pork rind, pig’s blood, oatmeal, herbs and pepper, with a few slight variations thereof. If you can get over any initial but frankly irrational revulsion at the thought of consuming pig’s blood you have to admit that the finished product is indeed rather tasty. Think of all those indelicate body parts that go in to producing cheap sausages and you’ll soon recover from any aversion you may feel. Buy fresh red meat and there is plenty of blood running through it. What’s the problem?

My only concern with black pudding is the provenance of the blood. I always want to know where my food comes from, and animal welfare is of paramount importance. Buy black pudding from any given supermarket and, unless it is organic (and it won’t be), the dried blood it contains will be imported – from who knows where. I don’t like the thought of that, and for that reason won’t buy it. Indeed, I hadn’t eaten this food in years. However, for the purposes of ongoing research, I felt it incumbent upon me to give it a go. A quick Google led me to Laverstoke Park Farm, so I gave them a ring. They confirmed what I wanted to hear: their organic black pudding is made from the blood of their own, organically reared pigs. Phew.

Blood, as you’d expect, is highly nutritious, full of pre-digested nutrients, especially iron, protein, calcium and vitamin A. There is nothing new about humans consuming blood. It was, until fairly recently, a regular part of the diet of the Maasai of East Africa, along with meat, milk and yogurt. In fact they ate very little else, other than herbs, resulting in a diet consisting of a whopping 66 per cent fat. As recently as the 1970s their diet was considered something of a mystery. Despite all the blood and fat they consumed they were found to have consistently low blood cholesterol and fat levels. Post-mortem examinations reveal an absence of atherosclerosis – plaques on artery walls which are a sign of heart disease. That comes as no surprise – for more on the role of animal based foods in health and cardiovascular disease, see previous posts (here and here).

What about flavour? It was food heaven, after such a long period of abstinence. Smooth and nicely spiced it went down especially well with the nitrate-free bacon which accompanied it – more of which later.

Biss, K., Ho, K-J., Mikkelson, B. et al (1971). ‘Some unique biologic characteristics of the Masai of East Africa’, New England Journal of Medicine 284:694-699

Presentation is everything

Many of us tend to eat the same breakfast every morning, and it can get a tad dull after a while. Introducing my new and current favourite, the high protein boiled egg and anchovy combo.

Eggs make a great breakfast. They contain complete protein and are also a good source of minerals, especially zinc, iron, selenium and iodine, and vitamins A, E, B1, B2, B3 and B12. Studies on the nutrient value of eggs have found significant differences between conventionally fed hens and hens allowed to forage freely outdoors. When US scientists compared the vitamin A, E and fatty acid composition of the eggs of caged and free-range hens they found that the eggs of hens that were free to forage had 38 per cent higher vitamin A and twice as much vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids. Naturally, my breakfast egg is from a free-ranging, organic and happy hen whose work-life balance is the envy of the poultry world.

On the subject of omega-3 fatty acids, these anchovies have very high levels of EPA and DHA, fatty acids which are essential during every stage of life. Women with high intakes of EPA and DHA during pregnancy are more likely to have babies with healthy weight at full term, compared to women with low intake, who are more likely to have low birthweight babies born prematurely. Evidence abounds for the protective effects of these fatty acids against heart disease, thrombosis and inflammatory disorders. DHA is the most abundant fatty acid in the brains of mammals, and evidence is also now accumulating to suggest that EPA and DHA may be protective against stroke and dementia, in particular Alzheimer’s.

We’re completely natural

Not intestines – roe

Last week I was in Ireland, where I had a very pleasant surprise, followed by a shocking revelation. Whilst picking up a paper in the local shop, I spied, in the deli counter, a bowl full of fresh herring. Is that fresh herring? I enquired, barely able to contain myself. Of course it was. Now that may sound unremarkable to you, but the dismal truth is that, despite being right on the west coast of Ireland, a stone’s throw from the sea, it is very hard to find fresh fish in this region. Instead, something calling itself fish is usually found in the freezer of a supermarket, reshaped into something unfish-like and covered in batter. Yet here was the real thing (in Bunbeg, Donegal, if you’re ever down that way) fresh off the boat the night before. Too good to pass over, I immediately bought four.

We got them home and set about gutting them. All four provided a generous supply of roe. That’s a great coincidence, choosing four fat females, I remarked, pleased with myself. And it was this matter of dietary ignorance that started the discussion on roe.

I always assumed that roe was fish eggs. But no – if the roe is smooth rather than grainy (this was all smooth) then it’s not lady roe. It’s man roe.

This creamy white substance is more correctly known as milt, or milts, or to spell it out, seminal fluid. Quite an impressive amount, considering how much of it there is compared to the meat of the fish. Eggs, seminal fluid … whatever. We coated the herring fillets in porridge oats and dill and fried them in extra virgin olive oil. The roe/milts were also fried in the oil and dressed with a squirt of lemon juice and a grind of black pepper. Served with a mountain of broccoli, this was a lovely lunch. I have since repeated this lunch experience with tinned herring roe (which I see now is quite clearly milts, not eggs) and frozen broad beans – see photo. Even though it’s already cooked I prefer to cook it again in oil so that it less resembles human intestines, or indeed fish semen. Roe is just not a looker.(Unlike Bunbeg harbour, as seen in the other photo. Isn’t it lovely?)

I realise now that in a previous post I may have misled you about tinned herring roe. My apologies. I was right about its nutritional value though – omega-3 fatty acids and protein, and almost certainly full of zinc, though I have been unable to confirm this. Strangely, this quality food has not been the subject of a great deal of nutritional analysis.

Here’s something for the weekend. It’s a very decent cooked breakfast – a high protein, low carbohydrate mini-celebration which satisfies the appetite until late in the afternoon. The bacon and sausage are from our own outdoor-reared pig: we belong to a local cooperative and each member or family invests in half a pig. We know how well the pigs live because we can visit them any time. Indeed they are usually to be found wallowing in mud and generally leading a happy pig’s life. There is no water in the bacon, no nitrates in the sausages; the quality is superlative. The egg is organic, dressed with a little dill. The mushrooms are cooked in a mix of extra virgin olive oil and butter with parsley. That red blob is something left over from the previous day – a borlotti bean, tomato and garlic medley which somehow tastes better after a night in the fridge. This high protein breakfast not only ensures satiety, it keeps blood sugar regular by stimulating minimal insulin production.

These fillets are always a good standby for lunch. If you take them in to work, rest assured that they will not be purloined from the communal fridge, as their whiff factor will deter any thoughts of office crime. Mackerel is a highly nutritious protein food, rich in the fatty acids EPA and DHA so important to brain function. It is still comparatively cheap, and certainly a lot cheaper than a nutritionally-poor, ready-made factory sandwich. You can buy mackerel fillets at the fish counter to avoid the plastic wrapping, and reduce costs even further. In this particular case I have reheated (in a bit of butter) the left-over spinach from the night before – still garlicky and fresh tasting, with a hint of grated Parmesan cheese. Spinach is packed with magnesium and carotenoids, to name just two of its riches. If you’re at the workplace, and fresh spinach is not easy to rustle up, try having some salad leaves with your mackerel fillets – those salads-in-a-bag can come in quite handy at times like these. After this virtuous lunch you’ll be feeling satisfied and full of vigour, as its very low carbohydrate content means you will not be drained of energy for the rest of the working day, or want to snack mindlessly on the office biscuits until it’s time to down tools.

First, crack your coconut

If you have ever taken a hammer to a coconut, you will know that it is a hard nut to crack. As is often the case, something so good does not come easy, but the rewards justify the effort.

The peoples of Asia and the tropical regions know that they owe their survival to this fruit of the coconut palm. Not for nothing is Cocos nucifera known as the Tree of Life. It holds an important position in Indian traditional healing and in Ayurvedic medicine its use as food and therapy were recorded 4000 years ago.

Any plant food so highly revered, and for so long, is likely to find itself the subject of some quite extraordinary health claims. Traditionally, the coconut is said to cure almost anything, from abscesses to syphilis, from baldness to toothache. It certainly isn’t doing anyone any harm; Pacific islanders who eat large amounts of coconut have been found to have a low incidence of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and arthritis.

Health claims aside, it is unquestionably a versatile plant. In its lifetime a coconut tree can produce up to 10,000 nuts. Every part of the tree is either edible or usable. The leaf and trunk are traditionally used as building materials and its fibrous roots used in medicine. The hair – coir – can be processed into rope and matting. The hard brown shell can be used to make household items, or charcoal.

Inside, the generosity of this fruit continues. So complex and rich in terms of nutritional value is the coconut that it should be viewed as providing two distinct sources of nutrition: the fleshy part, which is called the meat, and water. Both coconut milk and coconut oil (also known as butter) are obtained from the meat.

Perhaps most surprising of all is the water which is, as you’d expect, mainly water, but the sum of its parts adds up to much more. As well as decent amounts of many B vitamins, coconut water is rich in inorganic ions which can help replace electrolytes lost through sweat: potassium, sodium, magnesium and calcium. Because it is also so refreshing, it is said to make an effective rehydration drink. Indeed, during the Second World War coconut water was used as a short-term intravenous hydration and resuscitation fluid.

Coconut water has a unique composition of sugars, vitamins, minerals, amino acids and phytohormones – plant hormones that regulate growth. For this reason the water is used as a growth promoter in the culture of plants used in traditional Chinese medicine. It also contains cytokinins (proteins involved in immunity) which have been shown to have significant antioxidant, anti-carcinogenic, anti-thrombotic and anti-ageing effects. One cytokinin in particular – kinetin – is often incorporated into skincare products.

The meat also boasts an extraordinary range of nutrients and health claims. Coconut milk is extracted from the meat, and this milk is in turn the source of coconut oil. Around 92% of the fat in coconut is saturated, composed mainly of medium chain fatty acids which are easily and readily digested.

These fatty acids, which include lauric and caprylic acid, are not just a source of instant energy. They also bring significant health benefits. They have been shown to be effective in the treatment of urinary tract infections, stomach ulcers and food poisoning, and to act as antifungal agents in the treatment of various fungal overgrowths, including Candida albicans. Lauric acid in particular has strong antibacterial properties and has been found to be effective against pathogenic bacteria such as Helicobacter pylori and Salmonella.

The health benefits of coconut oil are not restricted to its fatty acid content. It also contains chemicals known as phenolic compounds thought to promote good heart health. A study which examined the effect of coconut oil consumption on the blood fat and cholesterol levels of 1,839 Filipino women aged between 35-69 found that coconut oil consumption resulted in a significant increase in HDL cholesterol levels, and lowered levels of blood fat (triglycerides) and lipoprotein(a) – a marker of heart attack risk.

To top it all, this bountiful food is quite delicious, lending itself well to both savoury and sweet dishes. However, before you rush out to buy be aware that, like olive oil, when buying coconut oil you should seek out cold-pressed virgin coconut oil (VCO) which is made from fresh coconut kernel, dried in the sun or on a low heat. Avoid copra, which is industrially produced, refined coconut oil whose nutritional value is negligible compared to VCO.

References
Marina, A.M., Che Man, Y.B., & Amin, I. (2009) Virgin coconut oil: emerging functional food oil. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 20:481-587

Goonaratna, C. & de Silva, J. (eds) (2006) Coconut fats. The Ceylon Medical Journal, 51(2):47-51

Yong, W.H., Ge, L., Fei Ng, Y. & Ngin Tan, S. (2009) The chemical composition and biological properties of coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) water. Molecules, 14:5144-5164

DebMandal, N. & Mandal, S. (2011) Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.:Arecaceae): In health promotion and disease prevention. Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine, 241-247.

Feranil, A.B., Duazo, P.L., Kuzawa, W. & Adair, L.S. (2011) Coconut oil predicts a beneficial lipid profile in pre-menopausal women in the Philippines. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 20(2):190-195.

A longer version of this article first appeared in Optimum Nutrition magazine, summer 2012.

I’m often asked what I think of Quorn, a product originally marketed as a ‘relative of the mushroom’. That’s a very tenuous claim indeed for something made from fermented soil mould. Anything created in a laboratory bearing very little relationship to anything real or natural, is not a food at all, in my book, and not worthy of a mention. Apart from that one.

Photo credit: mine. A reminder of real protein food

You can almost see the minerals

I’m just back from Italy where it rained constantly, just like here. The inclement weather necessitated lingering over lunch in restaurants more often than I might ordinarily. Every cloud, etc etc…. I consequently found myself eating enormous portions of spinach at every opportunity, by way of compensation.

That might be your idea of hell. Once upon a time it would have been mine, too. But if you are ever down that way, try ordering spinaci with your main meal (often available even when it’s not on the menu) and prepare to be amazed by those dark leafy greens.

I’ve never understood why I’ve never been able to cook spinach the way they do in Italy. It just doesn’t taste the same here, even though it grows easily and abundantly in our soil. So I decided, as part of my ongoing nutrition research, to find out the secret of successful spinach.

No big secret, as it turned out; just a few basic rules. First, don’t buy those pathetic bags of insipid ‘baby’ leaves from supermarkets. Instead you want that butch, adult spinach with giant leaves that would be embarrassed to find itself in a plastic bag, and that you are more likely to find in a farm shop, or market. When preparing, you only need to remove the bigger stalks and then just chop the rest. There is so much water in spinach that you don’t need to boil or even steam. Just heat some extra virgin olive oil in a pan. Second, and most importantly, add as much sliced garlic to the oil as you feel is socially acceptable, then add the chopped spinach and cook for just a few minutes on a low heat. Drain well, add a squirt of lemon juice and a grind of black pepper and an optional knob of butter. For me, the garlic really does the trick. For an extra indulgence, add some freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Try putting all that into plastic

I have always encouraged people to eat lots of dark leafy greens and my rule of thumb is that the darker the leaf, the better for you. Beefy big spinach is lovely and dark, and its nutritional value is superlative. I generally recommend it for its mineral content – potassium, calcium and magnesium in particular, but also folate. Spinach has high antioxidant activity and is chock full of carotenoids, those plant chemicals which protect you from sun damage and which I wrote about in an earlier post. One of the carotenoids in spinach, neoxanthin, has been found to be effective against prostate cancer cells in vitro, and to reduce age-related brain degeneration in rats. In humans, these carotenoids, together with the pigment chlorophyll found in dark leafy greens, play an important role in the prevention of many chronic diseases, including cancer and heart disease. Chlorophyll is a powerful anti-inflammatory agent, considered promising for the treatment of inflammation-related diseases. The human body cannot make carotenoids or chlorophyll, so I recommend a hefty dose of leafy greens on a daily basis, whatever the weather.

Meet the relatives

References

De La Rosa, L.A., Alvarez-Parrilla, E., & González-Aguilar (2009) Fruit and Vegetable Phytochemicals: Chemistry, Nutritional Value and Stability. In: Yahia, E.M. The Contribution of Fruit and Vegetable Consumption to Human Health. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Žnidarčič, D. Ban, D. & Šircelj, H. (2011) Carotenoid and chlorophyll composition of commonly consumed leafy vegetables in Mediterranean countries. Food Chemistry, 129: 1164-1168.

Subramoniam, A. et al (2011) Chlorophyll revisited: Anti-inflammatory activities of chlorophyll a and inhibition of expression of TNF-a gene by the same. Inflammation. Published on-line October 2011.

Top photo: graur codrin/www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

If you want to know where the big money is, watch Coronation Street. This is prime time television so only companies with massive budgets can afford to advertise during this slot.

I’m a life-long fan which means I’ve been watching adverts for junk food for longer than I should admit to, though I do feel smug that I have always remained impervious to their charms. Even so, the dross on the screen before, during and after my beloved Corrie has always been a source of irritation. What sort of food philistines do these advertising executives think we CS fans are? Ready-meals feature strongly, as do breakfast cereals and snack foods. I don’t really mind the ads for junk food which are not pretending to be anything that they are not; sometimes they are quite entertaining. It’s the ones that present themselves as public health broadcasts, doing us all a favour, that are most vexing.

Especially galling is Flora Cuisine – “For the Hearts you Love”. It’s full of the usual flannel but with more lather than Corrie itself. Vernon Kay’s mother has been engaged, together with her son, to persuade us that this product is a healthy alternative to olive oil. She tells him/the UK that Flora Cuisine has 45% less saturated fat than olive oil, as if that were a good thing. She’s about to cook a stir fry for her strapping lad. If she really wanted to do him a favour, she’d cook that stir fry in extra virgin olive oil, or perhaps some butter, or even a combination of the two. These fats remain stable when heated. But no, what she’s using is a blend of mainly polyunsaturated oils: sunflower seed, rapeseed and linseed oils together with stabilisers, preservatives and emulsifiers. This is the last thing you should use for frying. That much has been known for a long time; in 2001 researchers looked at twenty years’ worth of studies and concluded that heating cooking oils, especially polyunsaturated oils, poses serious health hazards. These findings were published in a food industry journal, so not likely to have escaped the attention of Unilver, makers of Flora Cuisine, and their ilk.

Frying these oils generates large amounts of free radicals, the sort that are well known to be very, very bad for the heart. But very good for business.

Grootveld, M., Silwood, C.J.L., Addis, P. et al (2001) Health effects of oxidized heated oils. Foodservice Research International, 13(1):41-55.

That’s the taste of the sea. Honest.

When I first tasted samphire I nearly swooned with happiness. This ordinary-looking green vegetable, a bit like skinny asparagus or cactus, revealed itself in all its sea-flavoured, salty glory in just one bite. There is nothing like it; even the word samphire suggests something dazzlingly exotic. 

That first bite was only three or four years ago. I don’t know what took so long – samphire is no ludicrous foreign import, some Johnny-come-lately food fad. It is native to these isles, grows wild and abundantly along shore lines and until recently not many people had heard of it. Now it would be unpardonable for any decent seafood restaurant not to feature samphire when it’s in season. No other vegetable can compete as an accompaniment to seafood dishes.

Growing near the sea, samphire is chock full of minerals. I’m particularly interested in the iodine content, because iodine deficiency is a serious concern for us all.

There may, or may not be samphire on the Cornwall coast. But it looks good, eh?

This trace element and component of thyroid hormone is found in seafood, seaweed and dairy foods (but only because it is routinely added to cattle feed). Iodine deficiency is a major global problem, as it can cause stunting and mental disability, and is recognised by the World Health Organization as the most common preventable cause of brain damage in the world. Deficiency is rife, because most of the iodine on the planet is in the sea, not in the soil. This is largely thanks to glaciation during the last Ice Age, which exposed the iodine-rich layers of soil to rain, flooding and wind, and washed them into the sea. Soil erosion has continued ever since, making us vulnerable to iodine deficiency. Because of the detrimental effects on mental development in the unborn child, deficiency during pregnancy is a particularly serious issue. A study published in 2008 of 31 women in Surrey, which measured iodine concentration in urine, found that approximately 30 per cent of the women were mildly to moderately iodine-deficient. More recently, a study of more than 700 teenage girls from all over the UK found that more than two-thirds were iodine-deficient. Because iodine is part of thyroid hormone, deficiency is also linked to hypothyroidism so will also affect metabolism, energy and the rate at which you burn fat. You should only take iodine supplements if medical tests show you are deficient, but eat samphire at every possible opportunity for the sheer joy of it.

Seafood fest in need of samphire

Skeaff, S.A. (2011) Iodine deficiency in UK schoolgirls. The Lancet, 378(9803):1623-1624

Rayman, M., Sleeth, M., Walter, A. & Taylor, A. (2008) Iodine deficiency in UK women of child-bearing age, Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 67 (OCE8):E399.