The Perspective

Do you hanker after fried food but keep controlling yours urges because of the numerous advertisements that link the use of cooking oil to heart disease? If that is the case, you need not worry any more.

A study published in the British Medical Journal has found no association between the frequency of fried food consumption — when olive or sunflower oil is used — and the incidence of serious heart disease and premature death.

The Spanish study says it is a myth that regularly eating fried food can lead to cardiac complications, provided fresh olive oil or sunflower oil is used. Well, fried food is part of many traditional Indian delicacies; and the use of sunflower oil for cooking too is quite common. [Read more...]

A glass of juice in the morning is believed to be the healthy way to start a day, but Australian scientists have claimed that some fruit juices contain so much sugar that they actually increase the risk of certain cancers, rather than preventing them.

They said, in fact, by the time the drink has been processed and packaged, many of the ingredients in fruit that protect against tumours have been lost, the Daily Mail reported.

The researchers wanted to establish how effective different fruits, vegetables and juices were at preventing the development of bowel cancer. [Read more...]

Everyone knows that junk food is injurious to health, but still, who among us can resist that juicy burger or that refreshing cola? The ads make them look so tempting too. But it is those same ads that might actually be the problem. German researchers at the Max Planck Institute say those glossy pictures of junk food trigger hormones that make the viewer hungry and this may be the cause of increasing obesity.

This once again puts the focus on what health specialists in many countries have been trying to do: restrict certain kinds of junk food ads. In Canada, recent surveys have shown support for an outright ban on ads of products with high sugar, high fat or high salt content. A bit drastic, perhaps, but with child obesity becoming a growing problem, the day may not be far off when burger packets will carry warnings saying “Junk food can be injurious to your health”. Europe has imposed heavy taxes on such products and have even stopped their sale in schools. [Read more...]