Episode 3 Food: Truth or Scare

Today, we're settling an age-old argument as well as revealing why

the latest celebrity-backed food fad isn't all it's cracked up to be.

You know, it's been called a superfood, but believe me,

there's nothing super about it and that's just one of the headlines

in today's programme that you'd be better off ignoring completely.

Every day, we're bombarded with conflicting information

about our favourite foods.

One minute we're told something's good for us, the next, it's not.

And we're left feeling guilty about what we're eating.

But we've been wading through the confusion

to separate the scare stories from the truth

so you can choose your food with confidence.

Hello and welcome to Food: Truth Or Scare?

Now, this is a series that referees those endless arguments

in the papers and online

about how the food we eat really affects our health.

And today, we'll be getting to grips

with two things that we often read about in the papers -

a celebrity-endorsed food fad

and that regular claim that when it comes to our diet,

things are a lot worse than they used to be.

But if, like us, you're fed up of reading doom-laden stories

about how badly we eat

and how our choices are going to put us in an early grave,

you'll be delighted to hear that in today's programme,

as well as settling an argument that's been raging for years,

we've got a bit of good news as well.

Thank goodness for that.

Coming up... It's the trendiest fat on the supermarket shelves,

but I've been investigating the dark side of coconut oil.

I've got friends who have done all kinds of things with coconut oil,

thinking it's going to help with all kinds of problems

and actually, it's probably not.

And which generation of the same family has the best diet?

We'll see if today's teens really eat as badly as the headlines suggest.

I do sort of fall victim to a lot of, like, toast or spaghetti hoops.

Now, Chris, you know that the foods we choose to eat every day

keep us nice and healthy and fit,

but we hear a lot about foods with supposed superpowers.

You can't believe it. They apparently transform our health

almost single-handedly,

and those claims are made all the more convincing

when they're being made by a high-profile celebrity.

Well, there seems to be a new one every January

as the post-Christmas health drive kicks in

for so many wanting to get over their festive indulgence.

And all it takes is for a big name to get behind a food fad

and suddenly it's everywhere.

Now, one of the latest fads that you simply can't have missed

is that of coconut oil.

You know, so much has been written about it in recent years,

you'd be forgiven for thinking it really does have superpowers.

So I wanted to find out whether there's any truth in the claims

that have been sending the nation coco-nuts and, I'm afraid,

I've discovered a very big coco-but.

It's the hottest food trend in years.

My daughter is into health foods and she's introduced us recently

to using it more in our diet.

Coconut oil has been credited with just about everything

from boosting the immune system to improving your memory...

Coconut oil, yeah, is a healthier one than a lot of them out there.

..lowering your blood pressure to preventing heart disease.

Well, I use coconut oil for cooking,

although I'm not sure what the long-term benefits are,

or any benefit, really. It's just something I've read about

and, you know, I have been using it.

Judging by the headlines

and endorsements from celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow,

coconut oil is a bona fide superfood.

I was in the Caribbean and every person I spoke to was constantly

going on about how much coconuts were very good for you.

-Even when it was in a cocktail, presumably.

-Yes. Even in a cocktail.

But despite those headlines extolling its virtues,

there are plenty of others determined to knock the coconut off its pedestal.

Now, I have to admit there is a jar of coconut oil

in my kitchen cupboard too.

My husband bought it after he heard

how amazing it was supposed to be.

But before we could use it,

we read some of those more damning headlines.

As a result, it's sitting there unopened and, honestly,

I don't really know what to do with it.

So to find out whether my jar of coconut oil deserves a place

in my kitchen cupboards or my kitchen bin,

I meeting someone who's been using it all her life.

-Hi, Priya.

-Hi.

-How are you doing?

-Good, thank you.

Dietician Priya grew up in Sri Lanka,

where coconut is used a lot in cooking.

And she's watched with interest

as coconut oil has taken Britain by storm.

Now, Priya, suddenly we seem to have coconut everything,

and coconut oil, you know, just being such a fad, really.

How do these things build up?

It definitely seems to be the trendy thing to do to, you know,

put coconut in absolutely everything that you possibly can.

I've got friends who have done all kinds of things with coconut oil.

So, they've been swilling it around their mouths

and thinking it's going to help with all kinds of problems,

and actually, it's probably not.

So, just for the record, let's analyse exactly what coconut oil is.

So, coconut oil is a solid fat

that then, when you heat it up,

it becomes a liquid and you can use it for cooking.

And it also comes like a cream, really, like a lard.

Yes, absolutely, it's a very similar consistency to lard.

But presumably, given all those headlines,

you'd expect it's going to be better for us.

Now, as a nation, we've become used to

seeing our favourite fads go in and out of fashion.

In the '70s, we fell out of love with lard.

In the '80s and '90s,

as we all learned that saturated fat was bad for the heart,

we swapped vegetable oil for olive oil and butter for low-fat spread.

Then, a few short years ago, coconut oil arrived with a bang.

But is it any better than the fats that came before it?

Well, Priya and I have a test for these shoppers

to see which household fat they think is the most healthy.

And do you know? They might be in for a big surprise.

What we'd like you to do is to pour into the test tube

the amount of liquid that you think represents the saturated fat.

The level of saturated fat is a key indicator of how healthy

or indeed unhealthy a fat is.

So we're asking our volunteers to fill up these tubes to show us

what percentage of saturated fat they think is in

not just coconut oil, but also lard, butter and first up, olive oil.

OK. So this is...

-Like, 15%.

-About 15%.

That's now 30%.

OK, so you think 20%.

-So that's 20%.

-OK.

It's not a bad guess. Pretty good. Actually, it's 13%.

So, there's less saturated fat in olive oil than our shoppers guessed,

but will they do any better with the butter?

How much saturated fat in the butter?

I would say probably more like 25%.

-OK. So, again, 30%.

-30%.

You're taking it up further.

25.

-25%, OK.

-25%, OK.

In fact, this butter is made up of around 49% saturated fat.

So what about the lard?

It's actually 46%.

-Now, I was surprised at that.

-46?

So that's 46% saturated fat in lard,

49% in butter and 13% in olive oil.

With coconut oil's supposed health benefits,

surely it's going to be even lower,

and certainly, that's what our shoppers thought.

5% there, maybe.

5%. Now, why did you go for 5%?

-Less.

-Yeah, it's five. Yeah.

Do you think it is really healthy?

-I think so.

-Yeah.

-OK.

-On saturated fats, it should be less than all the others.

Less than all the others. OK.

-Ready?

-Here we go.

Keep watching, Maria.

No!

No!

No way!

-92%.

-92%.

So, it's not so healthy.

Oh, my goodness. Now, most experts agree

that eating too much saturated fat is one of the causes

of heart disease, and I, for one, am gobsmacked

that the oil that we're all told is supposedly healthier

than the rest actually has almost double the saturated fat of lard.

I think there is this overriding idea

that coconut oil is really healthy and we should be using it,

but when you actually look at the amount of saturated fat in it,

it's quite a showing, isn't it?

And do you think it's a psychological thing

because it's the coconut, and we imagine a coconut,

just fallen from the tree, it's got to be healthy?

I think it's actually the information

that's been out there on social media and in the media

that there's been all this information and all these headlines,

saying, coconut is really good for you.

And therefore people equate that with,

it can't be very high in saturated fat, then.

Well, one person who's definitely bought into those headlines

and social media messages saying coconut oil is good for us

is yoga instructor Kat Allen from Tunbridge Wells.

I first started using coconut-based products about five years ago

when I read about all of the research about how healthy

it was meant to be for you. I really like coconut oil.

I like the taste and I like cooking with it

and I like the health benefits that it's meant to have.

Keen to learn more about coconut oil,

Kat's agreed to meet Priya at her home.

I understand that you're really into using coconut products.

Yes. I cook everything in coconut oil for myself and my husband.

So, for some people,

they choose coconut products because they think they're healthier.

Is that something that you've ever thought about?

I have read that it's healthier, yes.

Kat's love of coconut oil is based on widespread reports

that it can increase our good cholesterol,

which has been associated with a reduced risk of heart disease.

But Priya says it's not that simple.

When we look at what happens when you eat coconut oil,

we know that it raises the levels of your good cholesterol,

which is your HDL cholesterol.

So, some people would say, well, that's a good thing.

However, it also raises the levels of your total cholesterol,

which is the one that's not so good for you.

Now, that doesn't mean Priya thinks

coconut oil should be banned from Kat's kitchen altogether.

As someone who grew up eating it, she knows it can taste great.

But Priya says that, if Kat has chosen coconut oil for health reasons,

she's plumped for the wrong fat.

I think coconut oil is something to use sparingly and in moderation,

so if you're cooking something where you want the flavour,

then, yes, it gives a really lovely flavour.

But if you're just doing everyday cooking

and you don't want that coconut flavour

and you're thinking about your heart health,

then olive oil is going to be a better choice.

And, of course, as I found out earlier,

that's because coconut oil contains so much saturated fat.

They both contain fat, but coconut oil is 92% saturated fat

and olive oil is only about 13%.

-Oh, yeah, that's a lot less.

-It is, isn't it?

But after years of using coconut oil in place of almost

every other fat, thinking it was healthier, can Kat be convinced?

Well, Priya's going to show her a simple recipe

that would be a lot better for her if she used olive oil instead.

But while they get cooking, I'm interested in the harm

that the army of devoted coconut oil fans might be doing to themselves

by using something with such a high level of saturated fats.

Victoria Taylor is a senior heart health dietician

from the British Heart Foundation

who thinks this is a food craze that's gone just too far.

Now, Victoria, we see all the time

coconut oil being marketed

and being written about in the headlines as a healthy oil.

So, what is the British Heart Foundation's take on all of that?

Yeah, I mean, the marketing is very alluring.

It makes it sound like it's going to help you to live forever, almost.

And coconut oil is a saturated fat

and 75% of the type of saturated fat in it

is the kind that will raise your LDL cholesterol levels.

That's the bad cholesterol. And coupled with that, it's a fat,

so it is one of the most energy-dense nutrients there is.

And we know that obesity is a risk factor for heart disease,

as is raised cholesterol levels.

I have, though, read other headlines that suggest

that coconut oil in terms of cholesterol

is proportionally better for you than some of the other oils.

Now, is there any truth in that at all?

So, there is some suggestion that it might be

better than other saturated fats

in terms of what it does to your cholesterol levels.

I would say that we're not there yet

in terms of the quality of the evidence

that that suggestion is based on.

And other experts would say there simply isn't the evidence

to substantiate other reported benefits of coconut oil -

from claims it can help digestive problems

to reports it can help insulin resistance in diabetics.

Ultimately, the consensus is that despite the headlines,

coconut oil is a fat and not an especially good one.

Is there anything good in coconut oil?

I think there are things like polyphenolic compounds,

which are kind of antioxidants

and they are found in the extra virgin coconut oil,

but they will also be in other oils.

They will be in fruit and vegetables, you know,

a whole range of other foods can have them.

So it really goes back to having this varied and balanced diet

and not just focusing on a single food.

And back in Priya's kitchen,

that's just the message she's been giving to coconut oil devotee Kat,

who otherwise eats very healthily.

Priya says that Kat shouldn't be cooking every meal in coconut oil,

but even without the health benefits, Kat still loves the taste.

So can a pair of stir-fries -

one cooked in olive oil and one in coconut oil - change her mind?

Right, so, coconut oil.

Yeah, nice flavour.

And then the olive oil.

So, a definite difference between the two.

I like them both.

Probably a slight preference for the coconut oil.

But the olive oil is good too.

But the main reason Kat used coconut oil

is because she thought it was healthier.

Now she knows it isn't, maybe she'll be tempted to switch.

In terms of taste preference,

you would be fine having more olive oil in your diet?

I would. Because it's a good case you've made.

-Is it?

-Yes.

-I've argued it well.

This might be a result.

It was really surprising how much fat content there is in coconut oil.

And I'd never appreciated

that it was about five times more fat than olive oil,

and that's a lot.

So, in the future, perhaps I won't be using it quite as often.

You've got a nice big family, Gloria, haven't you?

Yeah, we have, actually, including ten grandchildren between us.

-That keeps us busy.

-I bet it does.

But which generation would you say has the best diet?

I've often pondered that and on reflection,

I think maybe my parents, because everything was cooked from scratch,

everything grown in the garden, so it was organic,

and then, on the other hand, one of my grandchildren, one of the ten,

he's 19 and he's doing a bit of modelling in the gap year.

So conscious about health and food, knows so much, and he'll say to me,

"I've had my 12 a day before breakfast today."

That sounds brilliant, but unfortunately,

-I think he might be the exception rather than the rule.

-Probably.

Because you can't move for headlines like this

saying that the young today eat terribly. This one here,

"Teenagers lead the retreat from a healthy five a day."

And the implication is always

that our diet is worse today than it was before.

But I'm not entirely convinced that's the case,

so I've recruited a family of three generations

all living under the same roof to help me find out,

once and for all, not just which one has the healthiest diet today,

but over the years, which generation has eaten the best.

There's a fair few mouths to feed in the Jerome household in Bristol.

The youngest is 11 and the eldest is 90.

Three generations of the same family all living under one roof.

They live together and they eat together.

But which generation has the best diet?

I'm paying them a visit to find out.

-Hello.

-Hello, Chris. Come in out of the cold.

-How are we?

Mealtimes are a big deal in this house,

but Sunday is one of the rare occasions they all sit down

at the same table to eat the same thing.

The rest of the week, they've all got their own favourites.

I'm pretty partial to steak and chips.

I'm also pretty partial to anything that goes with a decent red wine.

There's dad Simon and mum Jo, both in their 50s,

their kids, 11-year-old Josh and 18-year-old Alice.

And then, head of the table is 87-year-old Grandma June

and finally John, who's 90 years old.

So, which of the generations around this table has the best diet?

Because according to headline after headline,

one of them couldn't be eating worse.

18-year-old Alice and her mates are in the age group

that's said to drink a bath full of sugary drinks a year,

eat junk food twice a day and could be on the road

to developing some very serious health problems as a result.

So, will the Jerome family's favourite meals give me a clue

to who eats best and indeed worst in this house?

Well, I like Jo's bolognese.

I like steak and chips.

Steak and chips?

Anything kind of covered in cheese sounds good to me.

And as for who they think eats the healthiest?

On the count of three, can we all point to the person

that we think has the most healthy diet?

Ready? One, two...

three.

Well, it's almost unanimous.

Everyone here is pretty sure it's Josh.

Why do we think young Josh has got the best diet?

I think that he's learned from everybody, all the generations,

in terms of what's good to eat.

He tries everything, but also eats salad.

But to see if they're right, and to find out a bit more

about whether the Jeromes are typical of the rest of the nation,

I'm setting them a little challenge.

What I want you all to do, if that's OK,

is to keep a video diary of every meal you have for the next week.

Is that OK? Shall we do that? Yeah?

In a week's time, their food diaries will undergo expert scrutiny

to see who really has the healthiest diet.

And don't modify your diets for the next seven days.

I don't want to see everybody going,

"Yeah, I'm just sitting down to another quinoa salad."

Even though Josh came out top of the family's straw poll,

he'll soon join big sister Alice in a generation that,

according to all those reports, eats especially badly.

There are more overweight and obese teenagers now than ever before

and less than one in ten young people get their five-a-day.

Yvonne Bishop-Weston is a nutritionist

who has studied family diet, and for teens, it's not good.

Is this generation of teenagers eating a worse diet

than generations of teenagers before?

It is looking like this generation of teenagers are faring the worst

and there are lots and lots of possible reasons

why that is the case. We don't know why it's the case.

The biggest argument that comes across is self-selection.

In other words, as soon as some kids are out of the house,

they head straight for pizzas, burgers and chips

and those habits can be hard to shake.

Once we get to sort of secondary school age,

then that's what's going to determine largely your future

and there's all sorts of nutrients which have a direct correlation

with how our brain is going to function,

how we're going to concentrate and also, it's now been proven,

how we behave.

That's related to what we eat and so this is a time when actually,

you're going to put the groundwork from childhood into place

and those sort of 11-19 age groups

are where all that important stuff is really happening.

But does any of that ring true for the Jerome family back in Bristol?

If Yvonne is right,

Alice and her friends will be eating pretty poorly

and she admits that when she's left to her own devices,

she lets things slip.

50% of the time, my mum does the cooking, which is really nice.

She cooks a lot of, like, healthy food, varied diet.

But when I go to work and I cook for myself,

that's when, kind of, trouble starts.

I do sort of fall victim to a lot of, like, toast or spaghetti hoops.

And for many of her friends, it's all too easy

to reach for the bad stuff.

It's only my friends and especially my friends' boyfriends,

when it gets to late at night,

they go to a lot of fast-food chains.

Any sort of, like, quick burgers

and chips and stuff or pizzas, they're big, big fans of.

And that can be several times a week.

So, will 11-year-old Josh,

who, for now, everyone thinks eats really well,

head down the same path towards junk food

the moment he becomes a teenager? Well, the signs aren't promising.

At school, what sort of things are people eating at lunchtime?

There's normally about three choices.

There's, like, a sandwich choice.

-Yeah.

-Or there's, like... there's sometimes, like, pies.

-Yeah.

-And on Wednesdays, we have, like, a roast.

What are your schoolmates... what sort of things do they eat?

When we're waiting for the bus,

they sometimes, like, order takeaway pizza.

So they order takeaway pizza and, what, get it delivered where?

-Or do they pick it up?

-Where we wait for the bus, normally.

They get it delivered to the bus stop?

Yeah. Sometimes.

And lots of people go and, like, buy food.

Mostly, like, sweets and stuff.

Yvonne says the evidence shows a bad diet has become

a rather depressing rite of passage for today's teenagers.

In your teenage years, you've got to grow some independence, haven't you?

You've got to move away from being sort of protected and cared for

and find your own way in the world,

so you're going out there and choosing your own options,

but more than ever before,

there are so many options available which are not ideal.

So they are self-selecting and there is a huge availability

of processed and junk food

and a lot of it is cheap and within their budget.

So if, as Yvonne says,

the shocking headlines about teenage eating habits are right

and British teams really do eat worse than any other generation,

then which of the age groups eats best?

Later in the programme,

we'll meet grandparents 87-year-old June and 90-year-old John

to see how their diet has kept them as fit as a fiddle into old age.

Now, in the ranks of healthy eating, there is one food group

that normally is pretty close to the top, and that's protein.

Things like meat, eggs, fish, nuts.

It's supposed to make up at least 15% of our daily diet.

It's fuel for growing bones and muscles

and it's right at the centre of lots of weight loss regimes.

I can sense a "but" coming up here.

There's a big but. Well, that's because recently some headlines

declared that low protein was the key to living a long life.

And then that high protein was particularly dangerous

for heart disease for women over the age of 50.

-Would that surprise you?

-That is surprising, actually.

I was under the impression that protein made up an essential part

-of a balanced diet.

-And I think you're right.

It's important for all sorts of things, even hair.

But, you know, there is of course one group of people who use protein

more than any other and that's athletes.

They've long relied on it to help repair and build muscle,

so who better to find out whether it's as dangerous as some of

these headlines actually suggest than Paralympian Steve Brown?

When I was captain of the British wheelchair rugby team,

like most good athletes,

I knew the difference eating well could make to my performance.

Nice transition, Dave.

If I hadn't eaten properly,

I would never have made it to the London 2012 Paralympics.

One of the cornerstones of my diet was protein,

but it's not just athletes

for whom getting the right amount of it counts.

Even before I took up sport professionally,

my dad used to tell me you need protein for two things -

to grow up and to grow old.

Protein's essential for muscle growth, so it's crucial for kids.

And there's a long-held belief that you need it as you grow older too.

But in September 2016, one study made headlines around the world

saying that if we wanted to live a long and healthy life,

then we should opt for a low-protein diet.

And it was closely followed by further reports that said

a high-protein diet could actually increase the risk of heart failure.

The studies' findings are so different from traditional wisdom.

I want to find out more and see if

we need to start looking at protein differently.

It's agreed that kids need protein to grow and develop.

But I wonder how many of us see it as quite so vital as we get older.

How important do you see protein being?

I have to say, I'm a meat eater.

So, you know, I get protein from that.

But I just try to keep it as varied as possible.

I think protein is very good for you.

I'm 78 now and I've eaten meat all my life,

so it's not done me any harm, you know what I mean?

I think I eat quite a bit of protein.

Probably too much, because you've got

protein in all sorts of different things.

It is quite important, yeah, and I do try.

We always start the day on an egg.

It's long been known that as we get older,

we naturally lose muscle mass

and the best way to minimise this

is with a combination of exercise and protein.

But what's confusing are those headlines

that say a low-protein diet is the key to a long life.

Now, I've got to say, I find that really hard to believe.

70-year-old Lorelie Fox is taking part in a study

run by researchers here at Leeds Beckett University

into the very positive effect protein has on an ageing body.

I do want to keep mobile and I do have a very arthritic knee

and I don't want to have it replaced

and so the way to keep going is with...

with my original knee, is to keep moving.

And I love moving. Yes.

Yeah. I'm not sit-arounder.

I'm a get-up-and-doer.

Part of the study monitored Lorelie's muscle mass,

because by her age, we can expect

to have lost anything up to a quarter of it.

And by the age of 80, that muscle mass loss could be as much as half.

That can lead to a loss of strength and in turn, falls and injuries.

In fact, it's estimated that around 35% of people over the age of 60

will suffer a fall and need to go to hospital.

That's a growing cost for the NHS as the population gets older.

Why is the protein so important in this whole testing system?

If we don't take adequate protein through the diet,

it's more likely that we're going to lose muscle mass further,

and we do know from a number of research studies

and some of the studies that we've conducted here

that older people, they are in need for high protein intakes.

As part of the study, Lorelie had to stay active

and consume almost twice the amount of protein

that's normally recommended for adults.

Theo and his team then regularly checked her muscles for any change.

So, do you think that maybe an increase in protein intake

for Lorelie would make a difference for her?

Yeah, we believe it would make a difference for two reasons.

The first one is because we will be able to minimise further losses

in muscle mass, but ideally, what we would like to achieve

is to help her increase further the muscle mass

and ultimately strength, functional performance of daily activities.

So it's never too late to get stronger?

No, it's never.

While staying active might be easy for Lorelie,

consuming as much protein as Theo wants her to really isn't,

especially when you see

how the 90 grams he's recommending stacks up.

So, Theo, please talk me through this feast in front of us.

You can see almost a litre of milk here.

Four to five eggs, beef and nine slices of white bread.

So, this is the equivalent of approximately 30 grams of protein.

Why is the 30 grams important, of protein?

It's because research findings suggest

that you need to be getting approximately 30 grams per meal

at this age for this to be more effective,

because we become less responsive to protein as we get older.

So we need relatively high amounts, higher amounts, per meal.

Even when it comes to foods we often think of as high in protein,

like eggs, it can take a fair amount to reach the 30 grams

that Theo would like Lorelie to eat at every meal.

A litre of milk or nine slices of bread could be daunting too,

especially as, like many people in their 70s,

Lorelie doesn't have much of an appetite.

Lorelie, how on earth do you eat and drink this much every meal?

I find it absolutely terrifying.

I don't eat meat anyway.

I hardly ever eat bread.

I don't like milk...

And I think the maximum I've ever eaten is a three-egg omelette.

Looking at five, I'm going, "No, I don't think so."

So instead, Theo has devised a high-protein bar

which is easier for Lorelie to manage,

and it's hoped this combination of protein and exercise

will keep her active for many years to come.

Everything I've seen today makes me think

my dad was right to say we need protein to grow old.

But it's strange the newspapers are saying we don't need so much protein.

It's a controversial claim I've asked dietician Linia Patel to look into.

Linia, it's saying here, low protein, high carb is the key to long life.

Which is almost backwards from what I heard.

Now, you're the expert. Can you help me out here?

Well, this headline is just not true.

We know that as you get older,

you need more protein to make sure that you're not losing

that very, very important muscle mass.

After closer examination of the research behind the story,

Linia spotted that it's only related

to a tiny part of a much bigger study,

and what's more, only to mice.

A wider study conducted on humans produced far less clear-cut results.

What's interesting about this study, the bottom line goes back to, well,

actually, following the Mediterranean diet

which does not have a low protein intake.

Actually, it's a very much moderate protein intake.

So it looks at the amount of protein and types of different protein,

so you can't just isolate it to one thing.

It's, again, in the context of a healthy, balanced diet.

But when it says low protein, high carbs,

that's a reference to an amount.

What is a low-protein diet?

How much are you saying maybe you should be having?

The government guidelines for protein intake are

that we need to take 0.7 grams per kilogram body weight,

so that's the government recommendation.

So, low protein intake would be anything below that.

So, an average woman weighing 70 kilograms

needs about 50 grams of protein a day.

And an average 85 kilogram man needs about 60 grams of protein.

And don't worry if you've no idea

how much you'd need to eat to get it right.

Linia's got what you might call a rule of thumb

to help you work it out.

We all have a very clever way of doing that,

which is using your hand.

So, if you use the palm of your hand and the thickness of your palm,

that would be your portion that you need to eat

when you're eating chicken or red meat.

For white fish, a good portion would be your whole hand.

That equals one portion or about half your daily amount

when it comes to foods high in protein, like fish or lean meats.

But for foods with higher fat contents,

Linia's got a much smaller measure.

OK, now, the portion of sausages that you can eat

-would be the size of your middle finger.

-Right.

Because, to be honest, a sausage is not really a good source of protein.

-No.

-It's got more fat than it does protein,

so what we need to do then is really limit the portion.

So, it would be the size of your middle finger.

This is cheese, thumb.

So we have a thumb of cheese.

-Yeah.

-A palm of chicken.

A hand of fish.

-Yeah.

-And a finger of sausage.

Finger of sausage! Spot on.

Linia reckons, if you eat a balanced diet,

you should already be getting the right amount of protein,

but as an athlete, I was always told

having extra protein was essential to repair my muscles

and make them stronger.

I've also seen headlines which say that the extra supplements

I used to take could have helped with that.

Even now I'm retired, I still have extra protein,

but from what Linia says, I might not need to.

And I'm guessing the professor I'm about to meet

may well agree with her.

This morning, I had a breakfast cereal with added protein.

-Any need?

-No, no need at all.

You could have had muesli or porridge.

That would have done. If you have milk with it,

that will give you some good quality protein as well,

so just ordinary breakfast cereal's quite enough.

So I didn't need those supplements and extra proteins

whilst I was an athlete and in training.

Then I certainly don't need them now?

No. No, I don't think you do at all.

I think what people don't realise,

that there is an adequate amount of protein in the food we eat.

If you eat real food - and real food I would take things like bread,

pasta, rice as real food - and you're eating, you know,

nuts and beans and stuff and some meat, you'll be fine.

-A balanced diet.

-Balanced diet.

Don't take a bad diet to a good diet by taking supplements

and if you've got a good diet,

taking extra supplements isn't going to turn it into a super diet.

So it turns out that my old dad was right after all.

We do need protein to grow up and to grow old.

But a balanced diet will do the job.

Even to help rebuild muscles

thrashed by a good game of wheelchair rugby.

For recipes inspired by some of

the stories in today's programme, visit...

..where you'll also find other ideas relating to some of the topics

we're looking at throughout the series.

Earlier in the programme,

we met the Jerome family in Bristol who are helping me find out

which generation eats best and which eats worst.

I've already met 11-year-old Josh and 18-year-old Alice,

but do their grandparents,

87-year-old June and 90-year-old John,

eat better or worse than them?

When they were teenagers, post-war mealtimes were all pretty healthy.

On a Sunday, it would be the roast dinner.

That would last up to about the Wednesday, to Thursday.

Sometimes in a stew.

It was all very nourishing to my way of thinking.

I mean, I always felt we were well fed.

Though these days they have more processed stuff too,

June and John still eat plenty of home-cooked food.

And they say that for the younger generation of the family,

things aren't all as bad as we've been told.

What do you think about the diet of people today?

Well, it's different, isn't it?

I think they're very aware

of what they should eat and what they shouldn't eat now, really.

-OK.

-Because my grandson, you know,

he knows all about calories and he loves his greens and all that.

I think it's healthier food now.

They have more fruit to eat.

I mean, when I see all the fruit my daughter buys out for her family...

I know Jo tries to buy, like, all the fruits that's good.

As a greengrocer, that's music to my ears.

So it's high time I found out more

from the people who cook for the whole household, Jo and Simon.

Who would you say eats the most veg out of everybody?

Getting Josh to eat a Brussels sprout is a challenge.

Out of this, what sort of thing would Josh go for?

There's a big pile of fruit in the front which he's very keen on.

That's his big thing.

-That's his.

-Pomegranates at the moment are his latest phase.

Certainly, the fish fingers.

Jo and Simon's weekly shop is packed with a whole host of foods,

both fresh and processed.

And while this lot will feed all the family,

they can keep a closer eye on what young Josh eats

because they make almost all his meals.

How much control or input would Josh have on the food that he eats?

Quite a lot, I think, because, you know,

we want to feed him what is good for him and also what he likes.

As long as he's involved in the cooking, and I think sometimes

having children involved in cooking means

they have some ownership and therefore would like to eat it.

And understand why we're cooking it.

And that's been a big part of what we've tried to do.

A Sunday roast with meat and veg

is a regular event in the Jerome household

and it's the type of meal that's changed very little since Jo,

Simon and even John and June were growing up.

But which generation had it best when they were teenagers?

John and June, who were teens just after the war,

or Jo and Simon in the early '80s?

Sophie Klassens is an expert in the history of the British diet

and she says when it comes to food, World War II had a positive legacy.

The golden era was the post-war rationing time

because the typical healthy foods

like fruits and vegetables weren't rationed at all

and we were actively encouraged

to eat lots of healthy fruit and vegetables

which nowadays we tend to see as expensive products

that take more preparation.

Post-war, we were getting plenty of fruit and vegetables.

The majority of us were getting our five a day, if not even more.

Whereas nowadays, in 11- to 18-year-olds,

so our teenagers,

potentially only about 8% of them are getting their five a day.

We might eat a bigger variety of fruit and veg now,

but it's never made up as much of our diet as it did after the war.

After rationing ended and the country became wealthier,

lifestyles changed and there was a wider variety of food.

In the '70s, work became more sedentary

whilst fast food and snacking between meals

changed the way we ate.

By the 1980s, when more women were at work,

microwaves and ready meals both grew in popularity

and over the decades, our waistlines just got bigger.

Obesity has greatly increased over the last 50 years.

Back in the '60s,

obesity was only at 1% or 2% of the population

whereas now it is closer to 25% of the population,

so there's been a real increase in obesity as has there been

an increase in diabetes which both continue to increase.

But do the habits of the Jerome family reflect the national picture?

Well, for the past week, they've been keeping a video diary for me.

This morning's breakfast just consists of

one piece of white toast with honey on it.

-What do they call that? Couscous?

-Green beans.

-Green beans.

-For tonight's supper, I've minced up Sunday's beef

and I'm just making some mashed potato to put on top.

But if we scoot back over to Josh, with a mouth very full

because he has just eaten a chocolate biscuit

and there are crumbs on his mouth to prove it.

Nutritionist Yvonne Bishop-Weston has analysed

what each of the three generations has eaten.

Hello, everybody.

-Hello.

-Hi.

-Hi.

And now she's reporting back on how they've all done.

So, the day starts really well, doesn't it, Josh?

With some granola and some extra almonds.

-Yeah.

-We've got lasagne one day, steak and chips one day,

roast dinner... And then chicken curry.

And proper dinner every night, which is brilliant,

so the only advice here on Josh's diet, which is good,

would be to get more vegetables in there.

Next is 18-year-old Alice.

Hers isn't too bad considering she's a teenager.

In Alice's diet, there were some really nice things

like some sushi and when she was going out and eating,

some bean burgers rather than beefburgers.

And some home-made food.

But sometimes missing meals and just having toast for tea.

And while Jo, Simon, John and June sat down

to freshly cooked evening meals every day,

there was a word of warning from Yvonne.

Over the whole family,

not enough veg was coming through quite strongly.

Most people not getting to their five a day

most of the time was coming through.

Does it surprise you that you're not getting your five a day?

I think when we sit down at the weekend on a Sunday or whatever,

piles of veg and no-one eats it.

During the week, it just becomes a little bit more difficult

to sort of... to fit it in around the meal.

But the question is, who amongst the three generations of this family

does Yvonne think eats the most healthily?

So, if I had to push you, if we had to pick a winner,

which of these lovely people would you say has the best diet?

-Do you know, I would probably pick Josh.

-Yeah?

Because at his age, a lot of the meals are not within his choosing.

They're not with in his control. Especially school lunch.

The fact that he's adding some almonds to his granola

and he's choosing fruit after school...

I think I'm going to choose Josh.

There we go. Are you pleased with that, Josh?

The crown!

Josh might be on the cusp of being a teenager

and joining the generation with the worst diet, but for now,

he's still enjoying the best diet of all,

that of our very youngest generation.

The children are doing the best, thank goodness!

We're looking after our children properly

and they mostly get the nutrients that they need.

That's thanks to parents

who know more about nutrition than ever before,

healthier school meals, lower levels of sugar in lots of foods

and a strong healthy-eating message.

Of course, who knows if Josh and his friends will take all that with them

as they grow up?

His mates will need to ditch those takeaway pizzas, for starters.

But here's hoping his generation will go on

to buck the trend of terrible teen eating.

Now, since doing this programme,

I've really got used to seeing that there can be a lot more

to some of these headlines than meets the eye.

But I must say, I was quite shocked to discover just how much

off the mark the supposed benefits of coconut oil turned out to be.

And, you know, after making that film, I went straight home

and I threw away that big jar that we had

lurking at the back of the fridge.

Well, I'm certainly not going to rush out and buy any coconut oil,

that's for sure. And one thing I was relieved to discover

is that even if the headlines about bad teen diets are true,

we're at least feeding younger kids well, so let's hope that continues

-as they grow up.

-Absolutely right.

Now, that is where we have to leave it for today, I'm afraid.

But we're going to be back to discover the truth

behind more of the scare stories about food very soon.

But for now, thank you very much for your company and from both of us,

-bye-bye.

-Goodbye.