The Minster Practice, Lichfield

As a general rule information on this page is NOT appropriate for pregnant (click here for diet in pregnancy) or breast feeding mothers or for children. If you are taking any medication or have health problems that may involve foodstuffs, seek our advice whether the information applies to you.

Click here for herbs, plants and flowers

Adverse reactions to food
The Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) has investigated adverse reactions to food due to allergy and also to food due to intolerance.
20-30% of the UK population think they have a "food allergy" or some adverse reaction to food. However, objective research demonstrates a prevalence of adverse reactions of 1.4-1.8%. Most of these are actually to natural foods rather than synthetic additives (0.03%) and contaminants like pesticides etc.
However, up to 8% of infants and young children suffer from adverse reactions to food and food ingredients.
Most allergic reactions are caused by a limited number of foods.

Aviva range of foodstuffs: Do they work? This range of foodstuffs includes items said to benefit the heart, bone and digestive systems. The evidence is not as good as Benecol and other ingredients complicate the picture, e.g. Aviva wholewheat biscuits do contain a good supply of fibre but the sugar and saturated fat content is very high.

Benecol: Does it work? Clinical trials have shown that if  Benecol is taken in the quantities recommended then the level of bad cholesterol is lowered by between 10 and 14%. There is no point in using Benecol if a strict cholesterol lowering diet is not being followed and care must be taken with total calorie intake.

Organic Food: Is it healthy? Not necessarily. The term organic refers to food grown without the use of pesticides, weedkillers, fungicides and chemical fertilisers other than those listed on the European Union's 4 page list of approved compounds. The list includes copper salts, sulphur and insecticides such as Derris dust and pyrethroid insecticides. Contamination with animal fertilisers can usually be solved by careful washing.
However, a bigger problem can occur with processed  foods. Heating and pasteurisation may significantly decrease vitamin and mineral content. Also the sugar and saturated fat content  is often as bad as non-organic processed foods. The labels must be studied as carefully as for non-organic foods.
Organic food for children: Finding organic food that children will eat can be difficult. http://www.miniscoff.co.uk and http://www.babyorganix.co.uk are worth a visit.

Vegetarians may suffer deficiencies of iron, zinc, selenium, B complex vitamins and proteins in general.  The more strict the vegetarian the greater care needed to ensure that the lack of protein, vitamins and trace elements is made up from other sources. Plus calcium for strict vegans avoiding dairy produce. Iron can be found naturally in dried apricots, almonds, lentils, peas and spinach but is often poorly absorbed so supplements should be taken.

Send mail to webmaster @minster.org.uk with questions or comments about our website. N.B. Website is for practice patients ONLY.
Copyright © 1997-2007 Dr Michael Causer Click here for full copyright notice & site warning.
Homepage last modified: August 25, 2008.