My Meals

We have added a third section to the program called My Meals. Create recipes for your meal in My Recipes and save them. If you want to include cooked vegetables such as boiled spinach, add this as  a recipe too. And if you want a drink such as cup of tea, create a recipe for tea.

Now go to My Meals and add the recipes to create the meal. Save it and look at the nutritional information which shows the nutrients that are needed for a meal which can supply 30% of your daily intake. Remember that we eat throughout the day, so a meal is only a guideline but it can show if the meal is high in fat, sugar and salt and if you could improve any of the nutritional value by changing your recipes.

Here is the link to the resource mealanalysis which is a short introduction to help you get started.

GDAs for children

How can the Nutrition Program be used to calculate the GDA for children?

GDAs are guidelines for healthy children about the approximate amount of Calories, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, total sugars, protein, fibre, salt and sodium required for a healthy diet. Guideline Daily Amounts for children of different ages were developed in 2005. GDA values used for children are based on Dietary Reference Values for Food Energy and Nutrients for the United Kingdom, published by COMA in 1991 (HMSO, London)

Guideline Daily Amounts Children

GDAs for macronutrients for children use percentage food energy rather than total energy since alcohol should not be included in a child’s diet. These are:

• 35% of food energy from total fat
•  11% of food energy from saturated fat
•  50% of food energy from carbohydrate
•  20% energy from total sugars calculated as described by Rayner et al (2003)
• GDAs for protein are based on the Reference Nutrient Intakes for protein from COMA (1991)1

• Fibre: values are based on the mid-point (age 7.5 years) of the 1994 American Health Foundation recommendations. Single values are given for boys and girls for each age group based on both non-starch polysaccharide and AOAC analysed fibre
• Salt: Recommendations of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (2003)³ are used

In the Nutrition Program, there are no figures for children below the age of 5 years as the GDAs do not exist for this age group. You can use Diet Analysis to calculate the contribution that foods make to the diet.

Bills Cafe in Lewes

Bills cafe in Lewes

Bills cafe is famous for its fresh fruit and vegetables and delicious all day food served in the cafe.

I asked Bill today what he thought about having his recipes analysed to show their nutritional value. His reply went something like this:

‘Look love, we have specifications for our recipes, but we are creative here. See these tomatoes. Some of them need more salt than others and some need a hint of sweetness by adding honey. We don’t know until we are making the passata so the nutrition will change. We’re not like those big food chains where food goes into the factory all the same and comes out the same. Here we are different. If the supplier delivers different varieties of potatoes we cook them in ways which work best, and this changes the nutrition.  I’ve got one chef who makes the most spicy hummus and another that adds his own touch of flavour. We’re creative, and do things by taste and flavour.’

What about allergens Bill?

‘We know our recipes, so we know whether they contain wheat or milk. Nuts is a problem as everything is prepared in a small kitchen and we can’t guarantee nut free.’

Can I try and analyse one of your recipes Bill?

‘OK, I’ll sort one out – but I think taste matters, not the nutrition!’

Nutrition of organic foods

Is there a difference between the nutritional value of organic and non organic food? The answer from the Food Standards Agency  is ‘No’.

What about free range chickens and free range eggs? Again the answer is that there is no evidence supplied by scientists of any nutritional difference between those intensively raised and those that are free to roam. So on our food database we have not included organic or free range foods. The prices are different, so you will need to adjust those using the Edit button, and many people believe that these foods taste better, and the farming methods are more ethical.

DATA Conference Loughborough 2nd July 2009

Nutrition Program stand at DATA

We had a very busy day at the DATA conference and were able to show teachers how to use the program online. Teachers were very interested in the two latest textbooks, The Food Book and Examining Food and Nutrition which are for sale on our site.

Frequent questions included
1. Where do the prices for the ingredients come from and how often are they updated?
Answer – Sainsburys website and then others if the foods are not listed there. We update constantly and new foods are being added everyday. Angela, who is from a school on Guernsey, has to alter the prices as the cost of food is more on the island.
2. How can I design a lunch for a particular age group?
Answer – Put the data into the diet section when you have chosen the foods to use, but we will be working on this in the future.
3. Is the label really the same as a food label?
Answer – Yes, these labels are being used by a small food manufacturer who is constantly changing his specification and needs to show customers what the nutritional value and the allergens are.

Delegates were buzzing with all the valuable presentations that they attended. My friend Dr Marion Rutland was very excited about a recent conference she had attended on nanofoods at Leatherhead Food Research so no doubt more information will appear on that soon.