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Hello. Today we're talking about the scary headlines that might make you think that | 0:00:02 | 0:00:05 | |
some of the food you eat every single day could be really dangerous. | 0:00:05 | 0:00:08 | |
But sometimes what you read isn't the full story. | 0:00:08 | 0:00:11 | |
It might even be wrong, and that can have some serious implications | 0:00:11 | 0:00:14 | |
for your health. | 0:00:14 | 0:00:15 | |
Every day we're bombarded with conflicting information | 0:00:18 | 0:00:21 | |
about our favourite foods. | 0:00:21 | 0:00:23 | |
One minute we're told something's good for us, | 0:00:25 | 0:00:27 | |
the next it's not, | 0:00:27 | 0:00:28 | |
and we're left feeling guilty about what we're eating. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:31 | |
Well, we've been wading through the confusion to separate | 0:00:34 | 0:00:37 | |
the scare stories from the truth, | 0:00:37 | 0:00:39 | |
so you can choose your food with confidence. | 0:00:39 | 0:00:42 | |
Hello and welcome to Food - Truth Or Scare, | 0:00:50 | 0:00:53 | |
the programme that unpicks what's behind some of those headlines | 0:00:53 | 0:00:56 | |
we all read in the papers or online, | 0:00:56 | 0:00:58 | |
so you'll know which ones are really worth paying attention to | 0:00:58 | 0:01:01 | |
and which you can safely ignore. | 0:01:01 | 0:01:03 | |
It's really, really easy to see a news story that makes you totally | 0:01:03 | 0:01:07 | |
rethink what you should be eating to avoid some serious health problems. | 0:01:07 | 0:01:11 | |
But if the story you're reading is barking up the wrong tree, | 0:01:11 | 0:01:14 | |
you could end up making completely the wrong decision. | 0:01:14 | 0:01:17 | |
So, today we'll be bringing some much-needed clarity to stories that, | 0:01:17 | 0:01:21 | |
if you really did swallow what they say, | 0:01:21 | 0:01:23 | |
could have serious implications for your health. | 0:01:23 | 0:01:26 | |
Coming up... Oily fish has long been called a miracle food, | 0:01:27 | 0:01:31 | |
but now some reports claim it could actually be dangerous. | 0:01:31 | 0:01:34 | |
So, what's the truth? | 0:01:34 | 0:01:35 | |
It's actually really worrying because consumers, like yourself, | 0:01:35 | 0:01:38 | |
are so confused about what they should do. | 0:01:38 | 0:01:41 | |
And Chris is as confused as anyone when it comes to whether it's safe | 0:01:41 | 0:01:44 | |
to eat steaks and burgers rare. | 0:01:44 | 0:01:47 | |
So, we'll clear up which meats you can eat pink. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:49 | |
I wouldn't eat a burger like that. | 0:01:49 | 0:01:51 | |
With the beef I'm fine, but with the burger | 0:01:51 | 0:01:53 | |
I'm maybe a little bit more apprehensive. | 0:01:53 | 0:01:56 | |
You know, Chris, it never fails to amaze me how many headlines | 0:02:02 | 0:02:05 | |
there are, and stories, about food. | 0:02:05 | 0:02:07 | |
Every single day - and I get the papers every morning - | 0:02:07 | 0:02:10 | |
and there it is, another headline - | 0:02:10 | 0:02:12 | |
another food, another warning. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:14 | |
But, sometimes there's a headline that sort of turns convention | 0:02:14 | 0:02:17 | |
on its head, like oily fish. | 0:02:17 | 0:02:19 | |
Now, since I was a kid at school, | 0:02:19 | 0:02:21 | |
my mum was sticking that sort of cod-liver oil in my mouth, | 0:02:21 | 0:02:23 | |
every day going to school. And, you know, | 0:02:23 | 0:02:26 | |
we've been told that, in relation to oily fish, | 0:02:26 | 0:02:28 | |
that the omega-3 fatty acids inside | 0:02:28 | 0:02:30 | |
are really, really good for you. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:32 | |
Yeah, well, we're told it's brain food, | 0:02:32 | 0:02:34 | |
it's good for our heart, and we should eat it every week. | 0:02:34 | 0:02:36 | |
-And do you? -I try to, actually. Yeah, I do. | 0:02:36 | 0:02:39 | |
Now, problem is, last autumn there was a flurry of stories | 0:02:39 | 0:02:42 | |
like this one. And it was a French study, | 0:02:42 | 0:02:45 | |
actually, and they were telling us that oily fish | 0:02:45 | 0:02:47 | |
was actually bad for us. | 0:02:47 | 0:02:48 | |
So, I wanted to find out if those of us who were eating it every week, | 0:02:48 | 0:02:51 | |
as we've been told to do for years, | 0:02:51 | 0:02:53 | |
could in fact have been putting our health at risk. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:56 | |
And where better to start than by the sea? | 0:02:56 | 0:02:58 | |
Every year, we spend over £1.5 billion on fresh fish, | 0:03:04 | 0:03:09 | |
and our favourite by a long stretch just happens to be | 0:03:09 | 0:03:12 | |
one of the healthiest around - salmon. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:15 | |
Now, we've long been told that salmon | 0:03:15 | 0:03:17 | |
and other oily fish, like tuna and mackerel, | 0:03:17 | 0:03:19 | |
is so wonderfully good for us, and we should eat plenty of it. | 0:03:19 | 0:03:23 | |
But then suddenly last year, some of the papers performed | 0:03:23 | 0:03:26 | |
an abrupt about-turn, instead saying that | 0:03:26 | 0:03:29 | |
too much oily fish was bad, | 0:03:29 | 0:03:31 | |
and could even lead us to an early grave. | 0:03:31 | 0:03:33 | |
Now, those headlines are the exact opposite of everything I've always | 0:03:36 | 0:03:39 | |
thought about it and indeed believed in - | 0:03:39 | 0:03:41 | |
that fish is really good for you and you should eat it every week, | 0:03:41 | 0:03:44 | |
especially if it's oily fish. | 0:03:44 | 0:03:47 | |
Now, I must admit, I've always tried to follow that advice, | 0:03:49 | 0:03:52 | |
and like millions of other people I even back up the fish I eat | 0:03:52 | 0:03:55 | |
with fish oil supplements, as well. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:58 | |
So those headlines really had me worried. | 0:03:58 | 0:04:01 | |
I now wonder whether the foods I've been eating | 0:04:01 | 0:04:03 | |
to try and keep me healthy | 0:04:03 | 0:04:05 | |
might actually be doing me more harm than good. | 0:04:05 | 0:04:08 | |
But first off, I have to confess to not being really sure which fish | 0:04:08 | 0:04:12 | |
are classed as oily and which aren't. | 0:04:12 | 0:04:14 | |
I'm hoping that fishmonger Kieran Hammond can help me out. | 0:04:14 | 0:04:17 | |
Well, Kieran, I have to admire your display, it's fantastic. | 0:04:19 | 0:04:23 | |
So, which ones, as far as you're concerned as the expert here, | 0:04:23 | 0:04:25 | |
-are the best oily fish? -You've got the sprats here, they're very good. | 0:04:25 | 0:04:29 | |
A classic thing to do with that is lightly flour it and fry it, | 0:04:29 | 0:04:31 | |
-it's a very easy meal. -Yeah. | 0:04:31 | 0:04:33 | |
We've got the sardines here, they're great on the barbecue. | 0:04:33 | 0:04:35 | |
-Because they're so oily, they just crisp up. -Just put them straight on. | 0:04:35 | 0:04:38 | |
-Crisp up and they're lovely. -Yes. | 0:04:38 | 0:04:40 | |
And we've got the herrings, there, and the tuna. | 0:04:40 | 0:04:42 | |
It turns out there are a lot more oily fish than I realised - | 0:04:44 | 0:04:47 | |
12, in fact. As well as those mackerel, sprats, | 0:04:47 | 0:04:51 | |
sardines and herring, | 0:04:51 | 0:04:53 | |
there are also pilchards, trout, anchovies, | 0:04:53 | 0:04:56 | |
whitebait and salmon, and a couple of fish we eat less often here - | 0:04:56 | 0:05:00 | |
carp and jack. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:02 | |
Then, of course, there's tuna, | 0:05:02 | 0:05:03 | |
although, perhaps surprisingly, that's only considered an oily fish | 0:05:03 | 0:05:07 | |
when it's fresh, not when it's in cans, | 0:05:07 | 0:05:10 | |
because, unlike with other types of oily fish, | 0:05:10 | 0:05:12 | |
the canning process removes a lot of the beneficial oils | 0:05:12 | 0:05:15 | |
that makes them so good for us. | 0:05:15 | 0:05:17 | |
The oils are fatty acids called omega-3s, | 0:05:17 | 0:05:20 | |
and these fish store higher levels of those fatty acids in their flesh, | 0:05:20 | 0:05:24 | |
which of course we then eat. | 0:05:24 | 0:05:26 | |
And the customers here in Whitstable have definitely bought into | 0:05:26 | 0:05:29 | |
the message that oily fish is good for us. | 0:05:29 | 0:05:32 | |
Well, I've heard that it can help | 0:05:35 | 0:05:38 | |
slow down dementia and stuff like that. | 0:05:38 | 0:05:42 | |
Are you aware very much of, like, oily fish? | 0:05:42 | 0:05:45 | |
To try to get omega-3 for health? | 0:05:45 | 0:05:47 | |
Yes, we are. Statistics show that it's supposed to be beneficial, | 0:05:47 | 0:05:51 | |
particularly for MS, so... | 0:05:51 | 0:05:53 | |
And Michael takes it because I think it's good for him. | 0:05:53 | 0:05:55 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:05:55 | 0:05:56 | |
So, Michael, do you get it as an insurance policy as well? | 0:05:56 | 0:05:59 | |
-It's good for your knees. -Yes. | 0:05:59 | 0:06:01 | |
It doesn't improve his hearing, Gloria, but it's good for the knees! | 0:06:01 | 0:06:04 | |
But do you ever read the headlines, you know, | 0:06:04 | 0:06:06 | |
in the daily papers, that will say, | 0:06:06 | 0:06:09 | |
"Too much oily fish is bad for you"? | 0:06:09 | 0:06:11 | |
How do you regard those headlines when you see them? | 0:06:11 | 0:06:13 | |
We take no notice, because there are so many of them. | 0:06:13 | 0:06:16 | |
Well, they might not take much notice of those scary headlines, | 0:06:18 | 0:06:21 | |
but I have to say I do, so I've asked dietician Linia Patel | 0:06:21 | 0:06:25 | |
to help me navigate the choppy waters | 0:06:25 | 0:06:27 | |
of those conflicting news reports. | 0:06:27 | 0:06:29 | |
-Look at this marvellous array of fish. -Amazing. | 0:06:29 | 0:06:33 | |
'And whether they're recommending oily fish or warning against it, | 0:06:33 | 0:06:36 | |
'what all those reports have in common is that they say | 0:06:36 | 0:06:39 | |
'it's the omega-3 that makes it good or bad for us. | 0:06:39 | 0:06:43 | |
'But Linia most definitely comes down on one side of the argument.' | 0:06:43 | 0:06:47 | |
Originally, when they started looking at the benefits of omega-3, | 0:06:47 | 0:06:49 | |
they looked at the Inuits in Greenland, | 0:06:49 | 0:06:51 | |
and they saw that Inuits had really low levels of heart disease, | 0:06:51 | 0:06:56 | |
and that was correlated with their intake of fish. | 0:06:56 | 0:06:59 | |
So, we know, and there's lots of evidence to show, | 0:06:59 | 0:07:01 | |
that omega-3 has a good impact on preventing heart disease and treating it. | 0:07:01 | 0:07:05 | |
But since then, they've found omega-3 has a whole host of benefits. | 0:07:05 | 0:07:09 | |
Researchers are also interested in the effect that oily fish might have | 0:07:09 | 0:07:12 | |
on dementia, and it's hard not to be impressed by claims | 0:07:12 | 0:07:16 | |
that it can stave it off. | 0:07:16 | 0:07:18 | |
But for me, there was one negative headline that really hit home, | 0:07:18 | 0:07:22 | |
and it's this one, saying that eating oily fish increases your risk | 0:07:22 | 0:07:26 | |
of developing diabetes. | 0:07:26 | 0:07:28 | |
Now, I was diagnosed as being pre-diabetic a few years ago, | 0:07:28 | 0:07:31 | |
and I'm determined to try and make sure that I don't develop | 0:07:31 | 0:07:34 | |
full-blown Type 2 diabetes, | 0:07:34 | 0:07:37 | |
so I'm pretty careful about what I eat. | 0:07:37 | 0:07:39 | |
This one says, "Diabetes risk soars by a quarter...", | 0:07:39 | 0:07:42 | |
which is very high, | 0:07:42 | 0:07:44 | |
"..if you eat oily fish like salmon or mackerel every day." | 0:07:44 | 0:07:47 | |
Well, I wouldn't eat it every day but, I mean, | 0:07:47 | 0:07:49 | |
that is a scaremongering headline. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:52 | |
It is, and we've always got to remember | 0:07:52 | 0:07:54 | |
there's a lot of media hype in terms of nutrition. | 0:07:54 | 0:07:56 | |
But when Linia looked at the original study behind that headline, | 0:07:56 | 0:08:00 | |
she discovered that the link with diabetes | 0:08:00 | 0:08:02 | |
actually had more to do with meat than with fish. | 0:08:02 | 0:08:06 | |
When you actually look at this study in a little bit more detail, | 0:08:07 | 0:08:10 | |
we find that actually it's not quite as straightforward | 0:08:10 | 0:08:13 | |
as linking your intake of oily fish to diabetes. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:17 | |
When the researchers were making the completion of the study, | 0:08:17 | 0:08:20 | |
they were linking it more to the intake of essential fats | 0:08:20 | 0:08:24 | |
that were found in meat, versus oily fish. | 0:08:24 | 0:08:26 | |
Well, I must say it's a relief to hear Linia say | 0:08:28 | 0:08:30 | |
that particular headline wasn't right, | 0:08:30 | 0:08:32 | |
even if it did unnecessarily worry not just me, | 0:08:32 | 0:08:35 | |
but, I'm sure, many of us as well. | 0:08:35 | 0:08:37 | |
Next, though, I'm keen to hear Linia's take on another | 0:08:37 | 0:08:40 | |
that's even more concerning. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:42 | |
"Eating too much oily fish could increase your risk | 0:08:42 | 0:08:44 | |
"of premature death." | 0:08:44 | 0:08:46 | |
Very dramatic, and again when you drill down into the research, | 0:08:46 | 0:08:49 | |
it's not quite as straightforward as this. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:52 | |
'A number of newspapers ran this story, | 0:08:52 | 0:08:55 | |
'but some headlines oversimplified the study's findings | 0:08:55 | 0:08:58 | |
'and reported a link to oily fish that simply wasn't there.' | 0:08:58 | 0:09:02 | |
Now, the story said, | 0:09:02 | 0:09:04 | |
"Right, we know that oily fish actually increases your risk | 0:09:04 | 0:09:06 | |
"of good cholesterol, so that must make a link between oily fish | 0:09:06 | 0:09:09 | |
"and premature death", but it's not quite that straightforward. | 0:09:09 | 0:09:12 | |
So, really this headline is all about cholesterol... | 0:09:12 | 0:09:14 | |
-Exactly. -..and not really about oily fish at all. -Exactly, exactly. | 0:09:14 | 0:09:17 | |
'In this case, the researchers found that people who had kidney disease | 0:09:17 | 0:09:21 | |
'and high levels of good cholesterol in their blood | 0:09:21 | 0:09:24 | |
'were at risk of dying prematurely, | 0:09:24 | 0:09:26 | |
'but that's not what the headline suggested.' | 0:09:26 | 0:09:29 | |
What do you make of that, then, as an expert, | 0:09:29 | 0:09:31 | |
-does this not infuriate you? -Frustrating. | 0:09:31 | 0:09:33 | |
So, so frustrating. And it's actually really worrying, | 0:09:33 | 0:09:36 | |
because consumers, like yourself, are so confused | 0:09:36 | 0:09:38 | |
about what they should do, and I spend my life trying to debunk myths | 0:09:38 | 0:09:41 | |
that the media have created. | 0:09:41 | 0:09:42 | |
Well, thank goodness we can all rest easy and not worry about | 0:09:44 | 0:09:47 | |
those two headlines. | 0:09:47 | 0:09:49 | |
There is, however, still one group of people for whom things | 0:09:49 | 0:09:52 | |
may not be quite as clear-cut, and that's pregnant women. | 0:09:52 | 0:09:56 | |
Rachel Hudson lives not too far away from Whitstable harbour, | 0:09:56 | 0:09:59 | |
and she's expecting her second child. | 0:09:59 | 0:10:01 | |
But when one headline suggests that eating fish | 0:10:01 | 0:10:04 | |
could make her baby obese, and the next says | 0:10:04 | 0:10:07 | |
that oily fish could protect it against allergies | 0:10:07 | 0:10:09 | |
or boost its brainpower, | 0:10:09 | 0:10:11 | |
it's no wonder that she doesn't know who or what to believe. | 0:10:11 | 0:10:15 | |
I don't think it's easy for pregnant women to get the right message | 0:10:15 | 0:10:17 | |
on food or oily fish. | 0:10:17 | 0:10:19 | |
There is a little bit advice given on nutrition, | 0:10:19 | 0:10:22 | |
but not much, as far as I'm concerned, | 0:10:22 | 0:10:25 | |
so it is up to you to, just, you know, | 0:10:25 | 0:10:27 | |
look on the internet and ask other people. And sometimes, you know, | 0:10:27 | 0:10:31 | |
that's confusing. | 0:10:31 | 0:10:33 | |
Not only has Rachel been put off by some of those headlines, | 0:10:34 | 0:10:37 | |
but GPs and health visitors also tell pregnant women | 0:10:37 | 0:10:40 | |
they should steer clear of eating too much oily fish | 0:10:40 | 0:10:44 | |
because it can contain pollutants | 0:10:44 | 0:10:45 | |
that might be dangerous for the baby. | 0:10:45 | 0:10:48 | |
So, I've invited Rachel and fellow pregnant mum Louise | 0:10:48 | 0:10:52 | |
to meet Linia, whom I hope will, once again, | 0:10:52 | 0:10:54 | |
make sense of some of those mixed messages. | 0:10:54 | 0:10:57 | |
So, girls, when it comes to oily fish, do you buy that? | 0:10:57 | 0:11:01 | |
Well, I buy salmon more. Salmon and the canned tuna is what I have. | 0:11:01 | 0:11:06 | |
So, what do you rate as being oily fish? | 0:11:06 | 0:11:09 | |
When I hear oily, I think of, like, smoked mackerel. | 0:11:09 | 0:11:12 | |
I heard canned tuna come up there. So, how does that sound? | 0:11:12 | 0:11:16 | |
Well, canned tuna actually doesn't have that much omega-3. | 0:11:16 | 0:11:20 | |
Fresh tuna has more omega-3. | 0:11:20 | 0:11:22 | |
Both Louise and Rachel admit that they're unsure | 0:11:23 | 0:11:25 | |
which fish is safe to eat when pregnant, | 0:11:25 | 0:11:28 | |
perhaps confused by those headlines | 0:11:28 | 0:11:30 | |
suggesting that too much oily fish might be bad for the baby. | 0:11:30 | 0:11:33 | |
But then, are the headlines right? | 0:11:33 | 0:11:36 | |
You know, omega-3's really important in pregnancy, cos it helps | 0:11:36 | 0:11:39 | |
in brain development, visual development, nervous system etc. | 0:11:39 | 0:11:43 | |
But Linia says the presence of pollutants like mercury | 0:11:43 | 0:11:47 | |
means that pregnant women should have no more than | 0:11:47 | 0:11:49 | |
two portions of oily fish a week. | 0:11:49 | 0:11:52 | |
Can you set out, then, what the girls should not have? | 0:11:52 | 0:11:55 | |
Firstly, you should not be having things like shark, | 0:11:55 | 0:11:58 | |
marlin and swordfish at all, because they're the fish | 0:11:58 | 0:12:02 | |
that have the highest levels of mercury. | 0:12:02 | 0:12:04 | |
What you can have is maximum two portions of oily fish - | 0:12:04 | 0:12:08 | |
salmon, fresh tuna, mackerel - | 0:12:08 | 0:12:11 | |
and then you can have white fish - so cod, your plaice, | 0:12:11 | 0:12:15 | |
your sea bass - you can have that as much as you like. | 0:12:15 | 0:12:19 | |
While the NHS advises pregnant women to have no more than two portions | 0:12:19 | 0:12:23 | |
of oily fish a week because of that slight pollutant risk, | 0:12:23 | 0:12:26 | |
Linia recommends that they boost their omega-3 intake further | 0:12:26 | 0:12:29 | |
with a small supplement. | 0:12:29 | 0:12:31 | |
We know, particularly in the third trimester, that's when | 0:12:31 | 0:12:34 | |
the brain develops, so potentially you could be looking | 0:12:34 | 0:12:36 | |
to have a higher dose of omega-3 intake then. | 0:12:36 | 0:12:40 | |
But there's a word of caution, as well. | 0:12:40 | 0:12:42 | |
Linia says pregnant women should take a supplement | 0:12:42 | 0:12:44 | |
that's clearly labelled "fish oil", rather than "cod-liver oil", | 0:12:44 | 0:12:48 | |
because cod-liver oil contains high levels of vitamin A, | 0:12:48 | 0:12:52 | |
which might just be harmful to the baby. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:54 | |
It's the clear advice that Rachel and Louise have been looking for. | 0:12:54 | 0:12:57 | |
You always want to better, like, | 0:12:58 | 0:13:00 | |
your health and your baby's health, and anything that I can do | 0:13:00 | 0:13:03 | |
to make that better, then I'm going to do it. | 0:13:03 | 0:13:04 | |
And especially entering the third trimester, now, | 0:13:04 | 0:13:07 | |
I will be upping my fish intake | 0:13:07 | 0:13:09 | |
and taking an omega-3 supplement, so... | 0:13:09 | 0:13:13 | |
But if oily fish contains pollutants, | 0:13:13 | 0:13:15 | |
and as a result pregnant women are told to limit their intake, | 0:13:15 | 0:13:18 | |
does that mean the rest of us should watch how much we have, as well? | 0:13:18 | 0:13:21 | |
If you're not pregnant, Linia says up to four portions a week | 0:13:22 | 0:13:25 | |
would be fine. | 0:13:25 | 0:13:27 | |
But I have to say that when Linia recommended those supplements, | 0:13:27 | 0:13:30 | |
it was music to my ears, | 0:13:30 | 0:13:32 | |
because I've been taking fish oil for decades, and I'm not alone. | 0:13:32 | 0:13:36 | |
15% of all the supplements we buy are fish oils. | 0:13:36 | 0:13:40 | |
At King's College in London, | 0:13:40 | 0:13:42 | |
Professor Tom Sanders has studied the powers of omega-3 | 0:13:42 | 0:13:45 | |
from both fish and in supplements. | 0:13:45 | 0:13:48 | |
His research suggests that the millions of us who take | 0:13:48 | 0:13:50 | |
fish oil supplements every year really needn't bother... | 0:13:50 | 0:13:53 | |
although he's going to have a real job convincing me | 0:13:53 | 0:13:56 | |
that I shouldn't be taking mine. | 0:13:56 | 0:13:59 | |
This is my fatty acid one. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:01 | |
-Yeah. -Oh, there we go. | 0:14:01 | 0:14:03 | |
-A few of them. -They look more like suppositories. | 0:14:03 | 0:14:05 | |
-GLORIA LAUGHS I assure you, they're not! -Yeah. | 0:14:05 | 0:14:07 | |
'Now, I take a relatively high-dose supplement, daily, | 0:14:07 | 0:14:10 | |
'but as far as the professor is concerned, | 0:14:10 | 0:14:12 | |
'he says my whole week of pills is just about the same | 0:14:12 | 0:14:14 | |
'as one piece of oily fish.' | 0:14:14 | 0:14:16 | |
Well, a typical tablet, like that, would provide about half a gram, | 0:14:16 | 0:14:21 | |
so if you took one of those every day, | 0:14:21 | 0:14:23 | |
about three and half grams a day, | 0:14:23 | 0:14:25 | |
which is roughly about the same as eating | 0:14:25 | 0:14:28 | |
one piece of salmon, | 0:14:28 | 0:14:30 | |
or probably two bits of mackerel, a week. | 0:14:30 | 0:14:34 | |
You see, I have an argument, | 0:14:34 | 0:14:35 | |
maybe I'm just trying to validate why I take so many vitamins... | 0:14:35 | 0:14:39 | |
Because...if I had a proper diet all the time, | 0:14:39 | 0:14:43 | |
I would accept a doctor's advice that says you don't need vitamins, | 0:14:43 | 0:14:46 | |
but the thing is that we all don't have a proper diet these days. | 0:14:46 | 0:14:50 | |
-Now, I know that you're sceptical, but I like the theory of taking them. -Yeah. | 0:14:50 | 0:14:53 | |
One of the problems I have, generally, about supplements | 0:14:53 | 0:14:57 | |
is that people are under the illusion | 0:14:57 | 0:14:59 | |
that the food we are eating now is inferior | 0:14:59 | 0:15:02 | |
to the food we have eaten in the past. | 0:15:02 | 0:15:04 | |
You know, maybe, actually, the food people ate in Victorian times | 0:15:04 | 0:15:08 | |
was great. It wasn't. It was dreadful! | 0:15:08 | 0:15:10 | |
They were all undersized, they didn't live long, you know, | 0:15:10 | 0:15:14 | |
survival was bad. | 0:15:14 | 0:15:15 | |
We are better nourished now than we have ever been, | 0:15:15 | 0:15:17 | |
and that's why people are living much longer. | 0:15:17 | 0:15:19 | |
Even if I didn't eat any oily fish, the professor would still prefer me | 0:15:21 | 0:15:25 | |
to look for other natural sources of omega-3, | 0:15:25 | 0:15:28 | |
which he says will give me the benefits that supplements might not. | 0:15:28 | 0:15:32 | |
If you don't like oily fish, and you're a vegetarian, | 0:15:32 | 0:15:36 | |
then make sure you use rapeseed oil and eat nuts. | 0:15:36 | 0:15:40 | |
Like, walnuts are a very good source, | 0:15:40 | 0:15:42 | |
and eggs are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. | 0:15:42 | 0:15:47 | |
But I'm not sure I'm ready to break the habit of a lifetime yet. | 0:15:47 | 0:15:51 | |
The jury is still out. | 0:15:51 | 0:15:53 | |
Now, I'm going to argue the point for this. | 0:15:53 | 0:15:56 | |
I think I'm going to keep on taking them | 0:15:56 | 0:15:58 | |
because I know I'm not getting, probably, in the average week, | 0:15:58 | 0:16:01 | |
the right amount of oily fish. | 0:16:01 | 0:16:03 | |
I don't see any harm in taking a fish oil supplement | 0:16:03 | 0:16:07 | |
as an insurance policy but I can't say I can promise you | 0:16:07 | 0:16:11 | |
it's going to deliver any benefit. | 0:16:11 | 0:16:13 | |
Do you think it does you some good? | 0:16:13 | 0:16:16 | |
Probably. | 0:16:16 | 0:16:18 | |
So, whether it is better you get it from a supplement or, | 0:16:18 | 0:16:21 | |
as the professor says, from oily fish itself - | 0:16:21 | 0:16:23 | |
which is where he and I actually agree to disagree - | 0:16:23 | 0:16:26 | |
it's clear that, however you take it, omega-3 does have real benefits, | 0:16:26 | 0:16:30 | |
and those headlines suggesting that it doesn't just aren't true. | 0:16:30 | 0:16:33 | |
For a host of quick and easy ideas for cooking oily fish | 0:16:42 | 0:16:45 | |
like salmon, mackerel and sardines, | 0:16:45 | 0:16:47 | |
all you have to do is go to... | 0:16:47 | 0:16:50 | |
..where you'll also find plenty of other recipes | 0:16:51 | 0:16:54 | |
for some of the topics we're covering in this series. | 0:16:54 | 0:16:56 | |
Now, as important as what we eat, is how we cook it, | 0:17:02 | 0:17:06 | |
and that's especially true with our meat. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:08 | |
Tony's a local butcher here. | 0:17:08 | 0:17:10 | |
Tony, can you tell me a little bit more about what we've got? | 0:17:10 | 0:17:12 | |
Yeah, we've got prime cuts of steak, | 0:17:12 | 0:17:14 | |
sirloin, fillet, ribeye, steak bone, frying. | 0:17:14 | 0:17:18 | |
And when you are serving your customers, | 0:17:18 | 0:17:19 | |
do they ask you how do they cook it? | 0:17:19 | 0:17:21 | |
Yes, they do, yes. How long to cook it for. | 0:17:21 | 0:17:23 | |
A steak, people like it cooked well-done, medium, rare, | 0:17:23 | 0:17:27 | |
so I give them the times that they want. | 0:17:27 | 0:17:29 | |
So, purely a preference, as far as you are concerned? | 0:17:29 | 0:17:32 | |
It's got nothing to do with food safety? | 0:17:32 | 0:17:34 | |
No, none at all. It is how you prefer your meat. | 0:17:34 | 0:17:37 | |
OK. And what about other meats? Would you say it is true of those? | 0:17:37 | 0:17:40 | |
Lamb can be served pink or well-done, | 0:17:40 | 0:17:43 | |
but with chicken and pork, I would say cook it through. | 0:17:43 | 0:17:46 | |
Well, we are not all lucky enough to have a good friendly local butcher | 0:17:46 | 0:17:49 | |
on hand to tell us whether the meat we're eating is safe, | 0:17:49 | 0:17:51 | |
so we have enlisted the help of two thoroughly different meat eaters | 0:17:51 | 0:17:54 | |
to put their different preferred cooking types to the test. | 0:17:54 | 0:17:58 | |
Every day, in restaurants all over the country, | 0:18:01 | 0:18:04 | |
countless waiters ask the same question... | 0:18:04 | 0:18:06 | |
"How would you like your meat cooked?" | 0:18:06 | 0:18:08 | |
And we've all got our own particular response. | 0:18:08 | 0:18:11 | |
I wouldn't eat pink pork. Erm... | 0:18:11 | 0:18:14 | |
Pink beef, lamb, yes, but I'd be very particular | 0:18:14 | 0:18:16 | |
about where I bought it from. | 0:18:16 | 0:18:18 | |
Meat, I like medium, | 0:18:18 | 0:18:20 | |
I like it a bit red in the middle, but not too red | 0:18:20 | 0:18:22 | |
where the blood's dripping all over the place. | 0:18:22 | 0:18:25 | |
I just like to be always on the safe side with it. | 0:18:25 | 0:18:28 | |
I know a lot of people like it nearly rare | 0:18:28 | 0:18:30 | |
but it's not for me, that. | 0:18:30 | 0:18:32 | |
I used to like the blood running, | 0:18:32 | 0:18:34 | |
when you cut it and the blood follows the knife, | 0:18:34 | 0:18:37 | |
I used to like the beef like that. | 0:18:37 | 0:18:39 | |
For me, a great steak is medium, | 0:18:41 | 0:18:43 | |
and any other meats just have to be cooked through. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:46 | |
But it appears that advice, from newspapers to restaurants, | 0:18:46 | 0:18:49 | |
and even the people who set the rules, all seem to be different. | 0:18:49 | 0:18:52 | |
So, while one paper will warn that a rare gourmet beefburger | 0:18:52 | 0:18:56 | |
might be harbouring dangerous bugs, | 0:18:56 | 0:18:59 | |
another will declare it's apparently safe to eat, | 0:18:59 | 0:19:01 | |
but only in restaurants and not at home. | 0:19:01 | 0:19:03 | |
So, with an increasing number of restaurants revelling | 0:19:05 | 0:19:08 | |
in serving red meat pink, | 0:19:08 | 0:19:09 | |
I want to find out what's safe and what's not. | 0:19:09 | 0:19:12 | |
And as I can't rely on the papers to give me a clear answer, | 0:19:14 | 0:19:18 | |
I'm recruiting two enthusiastic carnivores | 0:19:18 | 0:19:20 | |
with very different approaches to cooking | 0:19:20 | 0:19:22 | |
to settle this quandary once and for all. | 0:19:22 | 0:19:25 | |
First, there's Sarah Neild from Cheshire, | 0:19:26 | 0:19:28 | |
who takes her love of rare meat to the extremes. | 0:19:28 | 0:19:32 | |
I think pork, beef and lamb | 0:19:32 | 0:19:34 | |
are safe to eat down to raw | 0:19:34 | 0:19:37 | |
because people eat them that way across the world. | 0:19:37 | 0:19:41 | |
So, I think that's safe. | 0:19:41 | 0:19:43 | |
Well, she's certainly braver than me. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:47 | |
Next up is someone who couldn't disagree with Sarah more, | 0:19:47 | 0:19:50 | |
Nomsa Masamvi from Salford. | 0:19:50 | 0:19:52 | |
It has been about five minutes, but it's got a little bit longer to go | 0:19:52 | 0:19:55 | |
because it's still quite undercooked in the middle. | 0:19:55 | 0:19:58 | |
She simply hates the sight of blood in her meat. | 0:19:58 | 0:20:02 | |
Nomsa's worried that unless she cooks it for a long time, | 0:20:02 | 0:20:05 | |
she won't kill off the harmful bacteria | 0:20:05 | 0:20:07 | |
that she fears could give her food poisoning. | 0:20:07 | 0:20:09 | |
And you can understand her concerns, especially after newspaper reports | 0:20:11 | 0:20:14 | |
saying that some meats and meat products contain dangerous bacteria | 0:20:14 | 0:20:18 | |
that can only be killed off when the meat's thoroughly cooked through... | 0:20:18 | 0:20:21 | |
which is exactly the way Nomsa does it. | 0:20:21 | 0:20:24 | |
Because it's still undercooked, I still think that there is still | 0:20:26 | 0:20:29 | |
some bacteria in the meat, and that might cause me | 0:20:29 | 0:20:32 | |
to have food poisoning or get ill in some way. | 0:20:32 | 0:20:35 | |
It is pretty clear that Sarah and Nomsa are polar opposites | 0:20:35 | 0:20:38 | |
when it comes to how they like their meat cooked. | 0:20:38 | 0:20:41 | |
But is either of them right? | 0:20:41 | 0:20:43 | |
I've asked them to help me investigate which meats | 0:20:43 | 0:20:45 | |
it's safe to eat pink and which might leave them | 0:20:45 | 0:20:47 | |
with a nasty bout of food poisoning. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:51 | |
I hope you don't mind, but I've taken the liberty | 0:20:51 | 0:20:52 | |
of ordering some food for you. | 0:20:52 | 0:20:54 | |
'So, let's see how pink these two are prepared to go.' | 0:20:54 | 0:20:57 | |
So, we've got a lamb chop, a nice piece of steak and a burger. | 0:20:59 | 0:21:02 | |
So, if we start with the steak. | 0:21:02 | 0:21:05 | |
Reasonably rare. Maybe sort of medium-rare, I would say, actually. | 0:21:05 | 0:21:09 | |
How does that look to you? Appetising, or is that...? | 0:21:09 | 0:21:13 | |
No, terrible. When you look at the blood, you think, | 0:21:13 | 0:21:16 | |
"Oh, is this safe enough for me to eat?" You know? | 0:21:16 | 0:21:19 | |
So, that's kind of off-putting for me. | 0:21:19 | 0:21:22 | |
Even if you were really hungry? | 0:21:22 | 0:21:23 | |
No! Maybe I'll eat the veg but not the meat. | 0:21:23 | 0:21:26 | |
So it's a no from Nomsa, | 0:21:28 | 0:21:29 | |
and, perhaps unsurprisingly, a resounding yes from Sarah. | 0:21:29 | 0:21:33 | |
I would expect it a little bit bloodier than that. | 0:21:33 | 0:21:36 | |
-I'd eat that, and it looks very appetising... -Yeah. | 0:21:36 | 0:21:38 | |
..but that's probably a tad over where I would want it. | 0:21:38 | 0:21:41 | |
To see how rare Nomsa will go, | 0:21:42 | 0:21:44 | |
I have ordered the lamb chop only slightly pink. | 0:21:44 | 0:21:46 | |
OK, I mean, that's... I think that's... | 0:21:48 | 0:21:50 | |
That's not particularly pink, is it, for lamb? | 0:21:50 | 0:21:53 | |
-No. You would eat that one? -I would eat that, yeah. | 0:21:53 | 0:21:56 | |
-You'd eat...? Oh. -Yeah, that one's not as bad. | 0:21:56 | 0:21:58 | |
-Not as bad. -No! | 0:21:58 | 0:22:00 | |
-High praise indeed(!) -SHE LAUGHS | 0:22:00 | 0:22:02 | |
'Next up is the dish that keeps headline writers busy - the burger. | 0:22:02 | 0:22:06 | |
'Is it or is it not safe to eat pink? | 0:22:06 | 0:22:09 | |
'Well, I, for one, am a bit nervous about blood in my burger.' | 0:22:09 | 0:22:13 | |
I wouldn't eat a burger like that. | 0:22:13 | 0:22:15 | |
With the beef I'm fine, but with the burger I'm maybe a little bit more | 0:22:15 | 0:22:18 | |
apprehensive - what about you? | 0:22:18 | 0:22:21 | |
How would you get on with that? | 0:22:21 | 0:22:22 | |
-With this one, it definitely needs a little more cooking. -Yeah. | 0:22:22 | 0:22:25 | |
Well, I'd eat it. It's actually pinker than I thought it would be. | 0:22:25 | 0:22:29 | |
-Yeah. -But, yeah, I'd eat it. | 0:22:29 | 0:22:31 | |
While Nomsa's worries are all to do with the bugs and bacteria | 0:22:31 | 0:22:35 | |
that might be in the meat, | 0:22:35 | 0:22:36 | |
Sarah thinks that if you are confident about where it comes from, | 0:22:36 | 0:22:39 | |
there's no need to worry. | 0:22:39 | 0:22:41 | |
-I buy from our local butcher... -Mmm. | 0:22:41 | 0:22:43 | |
-..and their food is all traceable... -Yep. | 0:22:43 | 0:22:46 | |
..so, I would cook their mince into a burger | 0:22:46 | 0:22:50 | |
and have it pink at home without any qualms. | 0:22:50 | 0:22:54 | |
But I wouldn't do that with a lot of... | 0:22:54 | 0:22:57 | |
Certainly not with a pre-made supermarket burger. | 0:22:57 | 0:23:00 | |
And Sarah's confidence even extends to the one wildcard dish | 0:23:00 | 0:23:04 | |
I've kept for the end - pork. | 0:23:04 | 0:23:06 | |
While the Food Standards Agency says it's a meat | 0:23:06 | 0:23:08 | |
that absolutely must be cooked through, | 0:23:08 | 0:23:11 | |
restaurants all over the country are now serving it pink too, | 0:23:11 | 0:23:14 | |
and leading food magazines are even suggesting | 0:23:14 | 0:23:17 | |
it can be eaten pink at home. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:20 | |
No prizes for guessing Nomsa isn't convinced, | 0:23:20 | 0:23:23 | |
but Sarah does eat pink pork. | 0:23:23 | 0:23:25 | |
-Why is that? -Because it'll be moister. | 0:23:25 | 0:23:27 | |
-I just think pork goes dry so quickly... -Yeah. | 0:23:27 | 0:23:30 | |
..that I'd rather err on the side of it being juicier. | 0:23:30 | 0:23:34 | |
But for me, | 0:23:34 | 0:23:36 | |
undercooked or pink pork would... | 0:23:36 | 0:23:38 | |
Would scare the pants off of me, I think. | 0:23:39 | 0:23:41 | |
-HE LAUGHS -So, let's have a look at this. | 0:23:41 | 0:23:43 | |
Prepare to be scared, then, I think. | 0:23:43 | 0:23:45 | |
-Would you eat that? -No. -Would you eat it? | 0:23:45 | 0:23:48 | |
-Aww... -You're hesitant, aren't you? | 0:23:48 | 0:23:50 | |
Do you know what? I think I probably would. | 0:23:50 | 0:23:53 | |
But that would be the... | 0:23:53 | 0:23:54 | |
-That would be your limit. -Would you have it any less cooked than that? | 0:23:54 | 0:23:57 | |
Em... | 0:23:57 | 0:23:59 | |
Well, I probably would. | 0:23:59 | 0:24:01 | |
Pork is not a meat I eat an awful lot. | 0:24:01 | 0:24:03 | |
I'd certainly be happy to eat that, and it looks lovely. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:06 | |
'But while Sarah's confident about the pork sold by her local butcher, | 0:24:06 | 0:24:10 | |
'she wouldn't be quite so gung ho buying from a supermarket | 0:24:10 | 0:24:13 | |
'where she doesn't know where the meat came from. | 0:24:13 | 0:24:16 | |
'Last summer, the MRSA superbug was found in pork on sale | 0:24:16 | 0:24:20 | |
'in two British supermarkets, | 0:24:20 | 0:24:22 | |
'and while it was only found in very small amounts, | 0:24:22 | 0:24:25 | |
'it certainly made me think about how to make sure | 0:24:25 | 0:24:27 | |
'all the meat I eat is actually safe.' | 0:24:27 | 0:24:30 | |
I, for one, would very much like to | 0:24:31 | 0:24:33 | |
go and seek more advice from an expert. | 0:24:33 | 0:24:35 | |
-Would you like to come along? -Yes, we would. -Yes, that would be great. | 0:24:35 | 0:24:38 | |
Brilliant. Let's go. | 0:24:38 | 0:24:40 | |
'Even though the three of us all have different ideas about | 0:24:40 | 0:24:43 | |
'what's safe to eat, our concerns are all based on the same thing - | 0:24:43 | 0:24:46 | |
'the question of whether bugs or bacteria in the meat | 0:24:46 | 0:24:49 | |
'are killed when we cook it.' | 0:24:49 | 0:24:51 | |
A week ago, I asked Dr Chloe James from the University of Salford | 0:24:53 | 0:24:58 | |
to test out just that. | 0:24:58 | 0:25:00 | |
She lathered three steaks with high levels of listeria and E. coli | 0:25:00 | 0:25:04 | |
to see whether cooking the meat would kill enough bacteria | 0:25:04 | 0:25:07 | |
to protect us from the nasty effects of eating them. | 0:25:07 | 0:25:10 | |
If that particular type of E. coli | 0:25:10 | 0:25:12 | |
was on the beef, for example, it produces a highly potent toxin. | 0:25:12 | 0:25:16 | |
It causes a lot of haemorrhage, a lot of damage in the kidneys. | 0:25:16 | 0:25:20 | |
Listeria can lead to fever, diarrhoea, | 0:25:20 | 0:25:24 | |
vomiting, muscle aches. | 0:25:24 | 0:25:26 | |
One of the steaks was cooked until it was well done, | 0:25:27 | 0:25:30 | |
one was cooked in the style usually called blue, | 0:25:30 | 0:25:33 | |
for about 90 seconds on each side, | 0:25:33 | 0:25:35 | |
and the third was left completely raw, so not cooked at all. | 0:25:35 | 0:25:39 | |
Next, she sampled the surface of the meat, | 0:25:40 | 0:25:42 | |
and left those samples to grow cultures. | 0:25:42 | 0:25:45 | |
Now, the vast majority of meat bought in butchers and supermarkets | 0:25:45 | 0:25:48 | |
isn't contaminated with anything like the amount of bacteria | 0:25:48 | 0:25:52 | |
Chloe laced our steaks with. | 0:25:52 | 0:25:53 | |
So, will cooking kill it all off? | 0:25:53 | 0:25:55 | |
-Nice to meet you. -Hi, Nomsa, nice to meet you. -I'm Sarah. | 0:25:56 | 0:25:59 | |
Sarah, Nomsa and I have come to get the results. | 0:25:59 | 0:26:02 | |
What do the test results show? | 0:26:02 | 0:26:03 | |
I've got some plates that I can show you, here. | 0:26:03 | 0:26:05 | |
Yeah, please, yeah. | 0:26:05 | 0:26:06 | |
'So, this is the plate showing the level of E. coli bacteria | 0:26:06 | 0:26:09 | |
'found on the uncooked steak. | 0:26:09 | 0:26:11 | |
'Unsurprisingly, it's almost completely dark, | 0:26:11 | 0:26:14 | |
'meaning the plate is covered in bacteria. | 0:26:14 | 0:26:17 | |
'But after cooking, even just for 90 seconds on each side, | 0:26:17 | 0:26:21 | |
'a massive proportion of the bacteria was killed.' | 0:26:21 | 0:26:24 | |
So, the blue steak, you can see it's a significant reduction, | 0:26:24 | 0:26:28 | |
from about a quarter of a million cells on the raw steak, | 0:26:28 | 0:26:33 | |
there are about 4,000 cells here, | 0:26:33 | 0:26:35 | |
that is about a 98% reduction in the number of E. coli cells. | 0:26:35 | 0:26:39 | |
So, if cooking the steak for such a short period of time | 0:26:40 | 0:26:43 | |
has killed off most of the E. coli, | 0:26:43 | 0:26:46 | |
no prizes for guessing what Chloe found on the well-done steak. | 0:26:46 | 0:26:50 | |
Absolutely nothing grew whatsoever. | 0:26:50 | 0:26:52 | |
The same goes for listeria. | 0:26:52 | 0:26:54 | |
None at all survived on the surface of the well-done steak, | 0:26:54 | 0:26:57 | |
and only a tiny amount of listeria was left on the rare steak. | 0:26:57 | 0:27:01 | |
After cooking for a minute and a half each side, | 0:27:01 | 0:27:05 | |
you can see a single listeria cell has survived. | 0:27:05 | 0:27:10 | |
Chloe says that such a tiny amount of listeria is very unlikely | 0:27:10 | 0:27:13 | |
to have any adverse effects if it was eaten. | 0:27:13 | 0:27:16 | |
I would still be happy to eat a steak | 0:27:17 | 0:27:19 | |
that was cooked rare. | 0:27:19 | 0:27:22 | |
I don't think it would pose any particular harm. | 0:27:22 | 0:27:25 | |
So, even though there are still traces of both | 0:27:25 | 0:27:28 | |
listeria and E. coli on the blue sample? | 0:27:28 | 0:27:32 | |
-Absolutely. -Not to the level that you think | 0:27:32 | 0:27:34 | |
we should be concerned about eating it. | 0:27:34 | 0:27:37 | |
The reason I am not worried from the results of this experiment | 0:27:37 | 0:27:40 | |
is that we started with an | 0:27:40 | 0:27:41 | |
incredibly high number of E. coli cells | 0:27:41 | 0:27:43 | |
but it's highly unlikely that that number of cells, | 0:27:43 | 0:27:46 | |
particularly the number of E. coli O157 cells, would be present. | 0:27:46 | 0:27:50 | |
And so I don't think that's particular cause for concern. | 0:27:50 | 0:27:54 | |
OK, so, I mean, that must be music to your ears, Nomsa, mustn't it? | 0:27:54 | 0:27:57 | |
-I am smiling all the way. -So, yours is completely safe. | 0:27:57 | 0:28:00 | |
How do you feel, Sarah? Because you are a big fan of rare steak. | 0:28:00 | 0:28:05 | |
Yeah. When it's infected, clearly there's an issue | 0:28:05 | 0:28:08 | |
if you have got an E. coli infection on the surface of meat, | 0:28:08 | 0:28:11 | |
but that's why it's important to source your meat well. | 0:28:11 | 0:28:16 | |
With steaks, the harmful bacteria is only present | 0:28:16 | 0:28:19 | |
on the surface of the meat. | 0:28:19 | 0:28:20 | |
It doesn't penetrate inside, so is killed when the surface gets hot. | 0:28:20 | 0:28:24 | |
But Chloe says the same isn't true with pork, | 0:28:24 | 0:28:27 | |
so while it may have become fashionable for restaurants | 0:28:27 | 0:28:30 | |
to serve it pink, Chloe really wouldn't advise it. | 0:28:30 | 0:28:33 | |
The pork can be tenderised and be injected with things | 0:28:33 | 0:28:37 | |
-so that anything on the surface... -Could be pushed in. | 0:28:37 | 0:28:39 | |
-..could be introduced into the pork muscle as well. -Yes, yes. | 0:28:39 | 0:28:42 | |
So, pork is very important to cook thoroughly as well. | 0:28:42 | 0:28:45 | |
And that advice is echoed by the Food Standards Agency, | 0:28:45 | 0:28:49 | |
the government body responsible for setting guidelines | 0:28:49 | 0:28:52 | |
on how we should cook our food. | 0:28:52 | 0:28:54 | |
It says, "Wherever you buy it from, | 0:28:54 | 0:28:56 | |
"any kind of pork should be cooked through until the juices run clear." | 0:28:56 | 0:29:01 | |
But the FSA's advice on burgers isn't quite so straightforward, | 0:29:01 | 0:29:05 | |
which is what's led to some of those confusing headlines saying | 0:29:05 | 0:29:08 | |
some burgers are OK to eat pink when others aren't. | 0:29:08 | 0:29:11 | |
So, we asked the FSA's Steve Wearne to put the record straight. | 0:29:11 | 0:29:15 | |
When you're cooking burgers at home, you should cook them until they're | 0:29:15 | 0:29:19 | |
done all the way through, there's no pink, the juices run clear, | 0:29:19 | 0:29:23 | |
and that it's piping hot. | 0:29:23 | 0:29:25 | |
The reason is that burgers simply aren't the same as steak. | 0:29:25 | 0:29:28 | |
If you think about a steak, the bugs are on the outside, | 0:29:28 | 0:29:31 | |
so if you sear the steak you kill the bugs. | 0:29:31 | 0:29:33 | |
If you then make a burger from that same piece of steak, | 0:29:33 | 0:29:37 | |
you're mincing it up, so what was on the outside is now on the inside, | 0:29:37 | 0:29:41 | |
and so you need to cook it thoroughly, all the way through. | 0:29:41 | 0:29:43 | |
So, if that's true, how come some restaurants | 0:29:45 | 0:29:47 | |
are able to serve their burgers pink | 0:29:47 | 0:29:49 | |
without giving us all food poisoning? | 0:29:49 | 0:29:52 | |
Well, it depends on how each restaurant makes their burgers, | 0:29:52 | 0:29:55 | |
and if they can prove that it's safe to serve pink. | 0:29:55 | 0:29:59 | |
We know that there are some restaurants | 0:29:59 | 0:30:01 | |
who have controls in their kitchens, | 0:30:01 | 0:30:05 | |
and all the way up the food chain where they source from, | 0:30:05 | 0:30:08 | |
where the slaughterhouses have taken particular precautions, | 0:30:08 | 0:30:12 | |
and we say that eating a burger less than thoroughly cooked | 0:30:12 | 0:30:17 | |
in a restaurant is unacceptable | 0:30:17 | 0:30:20 | |
unless there are those controls all the way through the chain. | 0:30:20 | 0:30:24 | |
But we do also say that children and people who are elderly or vulnerable | 0:30:24 | 0:30:29 | |
shouldn't eat raw burgers or rare burgers anywhere. | 0:30:29 | 0:30:32 | |
If you're uncertain about the restaurant that's serving you | 0:30:33 | 0:30:36 | |
a pink burger, just ask them to explain how they can be sure | 0:30:36 | 0:30:39 | |
it's safe, or ask for it to be a little bit more well-done. | 0:30:39 | 0:30:44 | |
Like beef, lamb is OK to eat rare if it's a whole piece of meat | 0:30:44 | 0:30:47 | |
that's been seared on the outside, but again, if it's been minced | 0:30:47 | 0:30:50 | |
it needs to be cooked through. | 0:30:50 | 0:30:53 | |
Back in Manchester, and time for me to catch up with Sarah and Nomsa | 0:30:53 | 0:30:57 | |
to see if they have changed their minds over how to cook meats. | 0:30:57 | 0:31:01 | |
-So, I thought that was really interesting. -Yeah, it was really interesting. | 0:31:01 | 0:31:04 | |
What did you think about the pork - did that make you change your mind? | 0:31:04 | 0:31:07 | |
Erm... It's made me think I want to look into it some more. | 0:31:07 | 0:31:10 | |
-Mh-hm. -Yes, definitely. | 0:31:10 | 0:31:12 | |
And the burger, did that make you think? | 0:31:12 | 0:31:14 | |
Ew, I wouldn't be eating any medium-rare burgers. | 0:31:14 | 0:31:18 | |
I will get them well-done, | 0:31:18 | 0:31:19 | |
and if they come served without them asking me, you know, | 0:31:19 | 0:31:22 | |
"How do you like it done?" then... | 0:31:22 | 0:31:23 | |
-It's getting sent back. -Yeah, exactly. | 0:31:23 | 0:31:26 | |
So, I suppose the million dollar question is... | 0:31:26 | 0:31:28 | |
how are you going to order your steak? | 0:31:28 | 0:31:31 | |
Blue, please. | 0:31:31 | 0:31:32 | |
-Blue. -Can I have mine well-done, no blood? | 0:31:32 | 0:31:35 | |
So, no change. I'll have mine medium, please. | 0:31:35 | 0:31:38 | |
-Thank you very much. -Thank you. -Thank you. | 0:31:38 | 0:31:41 | |
So, there you have it, it's not just a case of preference after all. | 0:31:49 | 0:31:52 | |
Some meat really is not safe to eat rare, | 0:31:52 | 0:31:55 | |
and that is what today's programme is all about, | 0:31:55 | 0:31:57 | |
finding out the truth behind those very confident headlines | 0:31:57 | 0:32:01 | |
that aren't necessarily quite what they seem. | 0:32:01 | 0:32:03 | |
And while we were given a bum steer by the ones we saw earlier about | 0:32:03 | 0:32:07 | |
oily fish being bad for us, that is nothing compared to the impression | 0:32:07 | 0:32:11 | |
you might get when you read this next headline. | 0:32:11 | 0:32:13 | |
It says, "Beware of cutting back on salt, | 0:32:13 | 0:32:16 | |
"it could even give you a heart attack." | 0:32:16 | 0:32:19 | |
Now that story was reported in lots of the papers | 0:32:19 | 0:32:21 | |
and they all seem to say roughly the same thing, | 0:32:21 | 0:32:24 | |
that while too much salt can lead to conditions like heart disease, | 0:32:24 | 0:32:28 | |
too little might be just as bad for you. | 0:32:28 | 0:32:31 | |
-So, confusing. -Yeah, that is really hard to believe. | 0:32:31 | 0:32:33 | |
And when we saw that headline we just had to get to the bottom of it, | 0:32:33 | 0:32:37 | |
so we asked Paralympic gold medallist Danny Crates | 0:32:37 | 0:32:39 | |
to investigate. | 0:32:39 | 0:32:41 | |
Even before I won my medal in the Paralympics, I always loved running. | 0:32:47 | 0:32:51 | |
And I still do. | 0:32:51 | 0:32:53 | |
But short distances are my thing. | 0:32:53 | 0:32:55 | |
So I must confess, what this lot are about to do fills me with dread - | 0:32:58 | 0:33:02 | |
an epic 30-mile ultramarathon. | 0:33:02 | 0:33:05 | |
It's on cold days like this that I am certainly glad I have hung up my | 0:33:05 | 0:33:09 | |
running shoes. I definitely do not envy these athletes behind me. | 0:33:09 | 0:33:14 | |
But the reason I'm here today is, | 0:33:14 | 0:33:15 | |
whilst these competitors will be concerned about strains, sprains, | 0:33:15 | 0:33:19 | |
and whatever else this 30-mile, gruelling course will throw at them, | 0:33:19 | 0:33:24 | |
there may be something else going on in their bodies | 0:33:24 | 0:33:26 | |
and that could be dangerous. | 0:33:26 | 0:33:28 | |
And that is because tough endurance races like this one could see | 0:33:29 | 0:33:33 | |
the levels of sodium in their blood plunge to dangerously low levels. | 0:33:33 | 0:33:37 | |
Our blood sodium is controlled by the amount of salt we eat, | 0:33:37 | 0:33:40 | |
but when these runners stop for a drink en route, | 0:33:40 | 0:33:43 | |
they will dilute their sodium levels | 0:33:43 | 0:33:45 | |
and if they fall too far, it could lead to dizziness, headaches, | 0:33:45 | 0:33:49 | |
nausea and, in extreme cases, it could even be fatal. | 0:33:49 | 0:33:53 | |
Some runners aim to prevent this by eating a little more salt. | 0:33:53 | 0:33:57 | |
Now, normally that is a hugely controversial message | 0:33:57 | 0:34:00 | |
because, for years, we have been told salt is bad for us. | 0:34:00 | 0:34:04 | |
It raises the blood pressure, | 0:34:04 | 0:34:05 | |
which increases your risk of strokes | 0:34:05 | 0:34:07 | |
and heart disease. | 0:34:07 | 0:34:09 | |
So I can't be the only one | 0:34:09 | 0:34:10 | |
to have been amazed to read that | 0:34:10 | 0:34:12 | |
instead of worrying about eating too much salt, | 0:34:12 | 0:34:15 | |
we might actually be harming | 0:34:15 | 0:34:16 | |
our health by eating too little. | 0:34:16 | 0:34:18 | |
So while I try to find out | 0:34:19 | 0:34:20 | |
if I need to take these claims | 0:34:20 | 0:34:22 | |
with a hefty pinch of...well, salt, | 0:34:22 | 0:34:24 | |
Dr Stephen Mears from Loughborough University is going | 0:34:24 | 0:34:27 | |
to run some tests on these runners | 0:34:27 | 0:34:29 | |
to see what impact a gruelling race has on their sodium levels. | 0:34:29 | 0:34:33 | |
Would you expect many of the runners here today to suffer from salt | 0:34:34 | 0:34:39 | |
-loss? -We might see some, sort of, maybe 10% in ultra-races, | 0:34:39 | 0:34:43 | |
pushing up towards 20, 30% and they are the ones we need to look at | 0:34:43 | 0:34:46 | |
in case there's any serious problems. | 0:34:46 | 0:34:48 | |
The telltale signs of low sodium levels should be easy | 0:34:48 | 0:34:51 | |
for the runners themselves to spot during the race. | 0:34:51 | 0:34:54 | |
You might start seeing some bloatedness, | 0:34:54 | 0:34:56 | |
you might feel discomfort in your stomach. | 0:34:56 | 0:34:58 | |
You might vomit some water up. | 0:34:58 | 0:35:00 | |
You might start feeling dizzy, nauseous. | 0:35:00 | 0:35:02 | |
And this will gradually increase if you continue | 0:35:02 | 0:35:04 | |
at the same fluid ingestion rate. | 0:35:04 | 0:35:07 | |
You cannot underplay this. People do die. | 0:35:07 | 0:35:10 | |
Yes, there's been several deaths in the last 15-20 years. | 0:35:10 | 0:35:14 | |
But some of the runners I met were prepared. | 0:35:14 | 0:35:17 | |
I usually have a steak. | 0:35:17 | 0:35:19 | |
New potatoes, lots of salt on. | 0:35:19 | 0:35:21 | |
And on a longer run, about 60 miles, people just feed me potatoes, | 0:35:21 | 0:35:25 | |
with salt just sprinkled on. | 0:35:25 | 0:35:28 | |
Others, however, did not seem so worried. | 0:35:28 | 0:35:30 | |
Do you ever put any thought into sodium in your body - like too much, | 0:35:30 | 0:35:35 | |
too little? Do you have any thoughts on that? | 0:35:35 | 0:35:37 | |
I know about losing quite a bit through sweat. | 0:35:37 | 0:35:39 | |
I'm not sure I necessarily think about replacing the salt. | 0:35:39 | 0:35:41 | |
-ANNOUNCER: -Five, four, three, two, one, go. | 0:35:41 | 0:35:46 | |
Well, in a few moments, we'll see how a race like this one | 0:35:50 | 0:35:52 | |
can affect the levels of sodium in the runners' bodies. | 0:35:52 | 0:35:56 | |
Good effort. Keep going. | 0:35:56 | 0:35:59 | |
But, of course, not many of us run an ultramarathon in our spare time, | 0:35:59 | 0:36:03 | |
so the idea of not consuming enough salt is probably something | 0:36:03 | 0:36:07 | |
we never even thought could be a problem | 0:36:07 | 0:36:09 | |
until we read it in the papers. | 0:36:09 | 0:36:11 | |
Their story said that just like | 0:36:11 | 0:36:13 | |
eating too much salt, | 0:36:13 | 0:36:15 | |
a diet that is low in it | 0:36:15 | 0:36:16 | |
could cause a heart attack | 0:36:16 | 0:36:18 | |
and one report even declared | 0:36:18 | 0:36:19 | |
salt is healthy. | 0:36:19 | 0:36:21 | |
What is the truth? I'm sure it is not just me | 0:36:21 | 0:36:24 | |
that really needs to know. | 0:36:24 | 0:36:26 | |
But I must confess, ever since I competed in Celebrity MasterChef | 0:36:26 | 0:36:31 | |
in 2015, I have gone to town with salt in my cooking. | 0:36:31 | 0:36:33 | |
Perfect. | 0:36:35 | 0:36:36 | |
Professional chefs do the same and I can see why | 0:36:36 | 0:36:39 | |
because it is a taste I love. | 0:36:39 | 0:36:41 | |
But as a result, I'm fairly sure that I eat too much. | 0:36:41 | 0:36:44 | |
So to see if I am overdoing it, | 0:36:49 | 0:36:51 | |
I'm going to meet nutritional therapist Dee Brereton-Patel. | 0:36:51 | 0:36:55 | |
-Hi, Dee. How are you doing, are you all right? -I'm good, thanks. | 0:36:55 | 0:36:57 | |
Good to meet you, Danny. | 0:36:57 | 0:36:59 | |
Dee, I love salt, you know? I put it on my food. | 0:36:59 | 0:37:01 | |
How much should I really be putting in my body each day? | 0:37:01 | 0:37:05 | |
The government guidelines say that for adults we should be taking in | 0:37:05 | 0:37:09 | |
no more than 6g of salt per day. | 0:37:09 | 0:37:11 | |
That is equivalent to a teaspoon. | 0:37:11 | 0:37:14 | |
So when you put it like that it doesn't sound like very much. | 0:37:14 | 0:37:17 | |
It is a sum of all our salt, | 0:37:17 | 0:37:19 | |
so it is the salt that is already present in the food we buy, | 0:37:19 | 0:37:23 | |
plus the salt we add to foods at home. | 0:37:23 | 0:37:26 | |
On average, we each eat around 8g of salt a day. | 0:37:26 | 0:37:30 | |
So, if six is the recommended limit, | 0:37:30 | 0:37:32 | |
we're eating a third more than we should. | 0:37:32 | 0:37:34 | |
So, Dee, this teaspoon of salt is roughly 6g. | 0:37:34 | 0:37:37 | |
That is my daily allowance. | 0:37:37 | 0:37:38 | |
-That's right. -I have to be honest, I would probably put that on one meal. | 0:37:38 | 0:37:43 | |
But even before you have sprinkled on any extra, | 0:37:43 | 0:37:46 | |
there is salt in almost everything you eat. | 0:37:46 | 0:37:48 | |
A small tin of beans will give you about 1.2g of salt. | 0:37:48 | 0:37:51 | |
A chicken breast has 0.2g. | 0:37:51 | 0:37:54 | |
And this bowl of soup alone has 3g, | 0:37:54 | 0:37:57 | |
almost half our daily allowance. | 0:37:57 | 0:37:59 | |
But that's nothing compared to my favourite breakfast. | 0:37:59 | 0:38:02 | |
A bacon butty. | 0:38:02 | 0:38:04 | |
We know there's salt in bacon. | 0:38:04 | 0:38:06 | |
But the bread is all right, OK? | 0:38:06 | 0:38:08 | |
You'd be surprised. | 0:38:08 | 0:38:09 | |
One slice of bread has 0.4g of salt in. | 0:38:09 | 0:38:13 | |
So I would have three. | 0:38:13 | 0:38:14 | |
That is 1.2g of salt already. | 0:38:14 | 0:38:16 | |
That's right. Yeah. | 0:38:16 | 0:38:17 | |
You're getting about 2.25g of salt in those two rashers of bacon. | 0:38:17 | 0:38:22 | |
But I'm not just having two rashers of bacon. | 0:38:22 | 0:38:24 | |
-I'm probably up to four rashers of bacon... -OK. | 0:38:24 | 0:38:26 | |
-..to fill my three slices of bread. -Yeah. | 0:38:26 | 0:38:29 | |
So that is 4.5 there, 1.2 there, | 0:38:29 | 0:38:32 | |
you've pretty much reached your daily intake | 0:38:32 | 0:38:34 | |
-without putting any ketchup on. -Or butter. -Or butter. | 0:38:34 | 0:38:39 | |
Well, it's already pretty obvious | 0:38:39 | 0:38:41 | |
that I'm definitely having too much salt, | 0:38:41 | 0:38:43 | |
which makes me wonder what all those headlines about the risks of eating | 0:38:43 | 0:38:46 | |
too little were really going on about. | 0:38:46 | 0:38:49 | |
While it is easy to see how the ultramarathon runners might dilute | 0:38:49 | 0:38:52 | |
the sodium in their blood, | 0:38:52 | 0:38:54 | |
I find it really far-fetched to think the rest of us could | 0:38:54 | 0:38:57 | |
possibly eat so little salt it is bad for us, | 0:38:57 | 0:38:59 | |
as those headlines seem to suggest. | 0:38:59 | 0:39:02 | |
And as it turns out, I'm right to be sceptical | 0:39:05 | 0:39:08 | |
because Professor Franco Cappuccio from the World Health Organization | 0:39:08 | 0:39:11 | |
says that the study the papers are quoting | 0:39:11 | 0:39:14 | |
wasn't quite as simple as the reports made out. | 0:39:14 | 0:39:17 | |
The professor has big concerns about the size and health of the group | 0:39:17 | 0:39:21 | |
measured in the study, which in any case took a different approach | 0:39:21 | 0:39:24 | |
to what constitutes too little salt that most experts would recognise, | 0:39:24 | 0:39:29 | |
including in its sample | 0:39:29 | 0:39:30 | |
people consuming much more than the usual limit of 6g. | 0:39:30 | 0:39:34 | |
The low salt group that we are looking at is | 0:39:34 | 0:39:37 | |
about 7.5g of salt or less, far above the recommended values. | 0:39:37 | 0:39:43 | |
There is no other group studied below that, | 0:39:43 | 0:39:45 | |
so researchers haven't studied the lower levels. | 0:39:45 | 0:39:48 | |
Add to that, a confusion in some reports | 0:39:48 | 0:39:51 | |
between salt and sodium levels | 0:39:51 | 0:39:53 | |
and the professor says it is easy to see how coverage of the study | 0:39:53 | 0:39:56 | |
ended up sending a message very different | 0:39:56 | 0:39:59 | |
to the one we're usually told. | 0:39:59 | 0:40:01 | |
And while most of his criticisms are around the research itself, | 0:40:01 | 0:40:04 | |
he believes the reporters didn't properly understand | 0:40:04 | 0:40:07 | |
or check its conclusions, | 0:40:07 | 0:40:10 | |
which he reckons could have had a dangerous impact. | 0:40:10 | 0:40:13 | |
We are bombarded by contrasting news every day. Every day. | 0:40:13 | 0:40:18 | |
That might have serious consequences. | 0:40:18 | 0:40:20 | |
People could stop taking drugs because they read one thing. | 0:40:20 | 0:40:23 | |
Or questioning the wisdom that has been accepted for quite a long time. | 0:40:23 | 0:40:30 | |
The professor is in no doubt that when it comes to salt, | 0:40:30 | 0:40:33 | |
the accepted wisdom really is unshakeable. | 0:40:33 | 0:40:36 | |
So, outside of all the medical jargon, all the facts and figures, | 0:40:36 | 0:40:40 | |
what you are basically saying is it is common sense, eat less salt, | 0:40:40 | 0:40:44 | |
we will live a healthier lifestyle | 0:40:44 | 0:40:46 | |
and have reduced risk of hypertension, heart disease, stroke. | 0:40:46 | 0:40:49 | |
Absolutely. The evidence relating salt to blood pressure | 0:40:49 | 0:40:53 | |
is overwhelming. | 0:40:53 | 0:40:54 | |
If you reduce your salt intake, you reduce your blood pressure. | 0:40:54 | 0:40:57 | |
So, it is likely that if you reduce blood pressure, | 0:40:57 | 0:41:02 | |
you reduce a cardiovascular event, there is no argument about that. | 0:41:02 | 0:41:06 | |
And it's robust and probably the strongest possible evidence we have | 0:41:06 | 0:41:11 | |
in medicine and public health in modern times. | 0:41:11 | 0:41:13 | |
CHEERING | 0:41:13 | 0:41:16 | |
So it turns out the headlines were simply wrong | 0:41:18 | 0:41:21 | |
and we really don't need to worry about not getting enough salt | 0:41:21 | 0:41:25 | |
from our food but there's no escaping the fact | 0:41:25 | 0:41:28 | |
that for the runners of the ultramarathon, at least, | 0:41:28 | 0:41:30 | |
what they drink could end up dangerously reducing their sodium | 0:41:30 | 0:41:33 | |
levels during the race. | 0:41:33 | 0:41:34 | |
So I'm back in Yorkshire to check on their results. | 0:41:34 | 0:41:37 | |
I have to admit these athletes are a tough breed. | 0:41:37 | 0:41:40 | |
They've just endured a gruelling 30-mile race. | 0:41:40 | 0:41:44 | |
But I'll be really interested to see what effect it has had on their | 0:41:44 | 0:41:47 | |
sodium levels. | 0:41:47 | 0:41:48 | |
The good news is that Stephen's blood tests gave most of the runners | 0:41:50 | 0:41:54 | |
the all clear. | 0:41:54 | 0:41:55 | |
I'm ruined. Everything hurts. | 0:41:58 | 0:42:01 | |
We're just taking a capillary blood sample, | 0:42:02 | 0:42:04 | |
so we can take a small amount of blood | 0:42:04 | 0:42:06 | |
and then we can measure the amount of sodium | 0:42:06 | 0:42:08 | |
that is in the blood. | 0:42:08 | 0:42:10 | |
You've got good numbers, in normal ranges again. | 0:42:11 | 0:42:14 | |
Results were good. | 0:42:16 | 0:42:18 | |
Serum sodium, the blood sodium concentration was | 0:42:18 | 0:42:20 | |
within normal ranges. | 0:42:20 | 0:42:22 | |
In fact, as it was such a cold day, | 0:42:22 | 0:42:24 | |
very few runners here drank excessive amounts of water. | 0:42:24 | 0:42:27 | |
So on this occasion, there were no big falls in blood sodium levels. | 0:42:27 | 0:42:31 | |
Would you have expected to see different sets of results | 0:42:31 | 0:42:34 | |
had the weather been hot? | 0:42:34 | 0:42:35 | |
Yeah, we probably would've seen completely different results | 0:42:35 | 0:42:38 | |
if it was hotter. | 0:42:38 | 0:42:39 | |
People would have thought, "I need to drink more." | 0:42:39 | 0:42:41 | |
So it's that perception of how much they drink. | 0:42:41 | 0:42:43 | |
So thinking, "It's hot today, I need to get more fluids on board." | 0:42:43 | 0:42:47 | |
So, while the dangers of getting too little salt might make | 0:42:50 | 0:42:53 | |
great material for headline writers, | 0:42:53 | 0:42:55 | |
it seems that, in reality, no diet, | 0:42:55 | 0:42:57 | |
and not even this 30-mile endurance race, | 0:42:57 | 0:43:00 | |
can see your sodium levels plummet so low that it might be dangerous. | 0:43:00 | 0:43:04 | |
For this lot, there is something many of them really do need now | 0:43:04 | 0:43:08 | |
and it is not salt. | 0:43:08 | 0:43:10 | |
I have been waiting for a cup of tea for about the last 20 miles. | 0:43:10 | 0:43:14 | |
Now, let's face it, I've been around long enough to know | 0:43:19 | 0:43:21 | |
that we shouldn't believe everything that we read in the papers. | 0:43:21 | 0:43:24 | |
But, you know, those salt headlines really did take me by surprise. | 0:43:24 | 0:43:28 | |
I know. It would have been so easy for people to see them and think | 0:43:28 | 0:43:31 | |
it's safer to eat more salt when the opposite is true, | 0:43:31 | 0:43:34 | |
but I guess the same goes for your oily fish, doesn't it? | 0:43:34 | 0:43:36 | |
It sure does. And by the way, you can find a whole host of delicious | 0:43:36 | 0:43:39 | |
recipes and lots of ideas for cooking with oily fish. | 0:43:39 | 0:43:42 | |
That's at... | 0:43:42 | 0:43:43 | |
We'll be back to debunk some more headlines very soon. | 0:43:46 | 0:43:49 | |
But for now, though, that is all we have got time for. | 0:43:49 | 0:43:51 | |
-Thanks for joining us. Until next time, goodbye. -Bye-bye. | 0:43:51 | 0:43:54 |