Q: I thought that oatcakes were a healthy snack, but was surprised to see that the nutritional information on the packet shows them to be high in calories, fat and particularly saturated fat.  They are even labelled as red for fat under the traffic light scheme.  Should I avoid them and can you suggest any alternatives?

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A: Depending on the brand of oatcake they can include different ingredients.  Although they are a savoury food some will even contain sugar.  And then of course the fat content will change if cheese has been added to the oatcake.  In general, one oatcake is only 43 calories which is not a lot at all when you think that the guideline daily amount for women is 2000.  The oatcakes I have at home contain sunflower oil which is unsaturated but also palm oil which is saturated.  The guidelines for saturated fat is that a product is high (red traffic light) if it contains more than 5g of saturated fat per 100g.  100g of oatcakes which is nearly half the box contains 4.4g per 100g, so it is on the high side., but it is also the amount you eat of that food that is also important. 

There has been controversy over whether the saturated fat in palm oil can increase the risk of heart disease but research has shown that palm oil on its own does not increase cholesterol. But if the diet also contains trans fats (as well as the palm oil) then total cholesterol increases along with LDL (‘bad’) cholesterol and HDL (‘good’) cholesterol decreases.

Oatcakes do have a low glycemic index , which means that they are release energy slowly and do not cause fast rises in blood sugar so I would suggest that you continue to eat them, but as with anything, in moderation. 

 

Pears are full of fibre, with 100g – roughly half of one large pear – providing 3.g, which is a generous 17% of your daily recommended amount. Fibre-rich diets have been shown to lower the risk of diverticulitis, an inflammation of the intestine that is extremely common as we get older, and epidemiological studies have identified an inverse correlation between vegetable, fruit and whole-grain intake, plant-food intake and the risk of rectal cancer. The soluble fibre, pectin, found particularly in the peel also helps to reduce ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol and can lower the risk of dying from heart disease by around a third.

Pears are also an excellent source of copper, with 0.082mg/100g – that’s nearly 7% of your daily intake from just half a pear. Copper is an essential mineral which has an antioxidant effect in the body. It helps to produce red and white blood cells, triggers the release of iron to form haemoglobin, is important for the immune system and plays an important role in the operation of many enzymes.

 

One of particular interest is superoxide dismutase (SOD): this neutralises the superoxide radicals which are a by-product of metabolism and can damage cell membranes, but deficiencies in copper levels mean that SOD cannot work efficiently. Research has shown a link between high blood levels of SOD and protective effects of death from cancer, while scientists also think that low levels of copper could be a contributory factor in the development of colon cancer. Copper also needs zinc to function in the SOD enzyme, and pears provide 0.1mg/100g – 3% of your daily needs.

 

Antioxidant vitamin C is also abundant in pears. Just 100g of pear provides 4.2mg, which is 10% of your daily recommended intake, helping to boost your immune system and keep your bones, teeth and collagen healthy.

 

Pears have a low glycaemic index which helps to keep blood sugar and therefore insulin levels stable. Low GI diets can ward off weight gain and, in the long-term, conditions such as type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome. Interestingly, a study which examined the effect on weight loss of adding fruit into the diet, found that women who ate three pears or apples a day had a ‘significant’ weight loss at the end of the three-month trial.

 

 

A new study from Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital has found that women can dramatically reduce their chances of dying earlier by adopting simple diet lifestyle rules.

 

The key to a healthier and longer life is to eat healthily, exercise regularly, stop smoking and manage your weight.  The study shows that the more of these habits a woman adopts the lower her risk of diseases such as cancer and heart disease. Breaking each of these rules can increase the risk of cancer three fold; the risk of heart disease eight fold and the risk of dying young from any cause four fold. The research also indicated that more than half of women who die young could have lived longer if they took better care of their health.

 

Lifestyle studies in the past were often based on men but this one, published in the British Medical Journal, looked at the diet and lifestyle of 80,000 women aged between 34 and 59, who were healthy at the start of the research. Over the next 25 years around 9,000 women died – about 4,500 from cancer and 1,790 from heart disease. The study showed that being overweight increased the risk of death by 18 percent and being obese by 67 percent. Smoking up to 14 cigarettes a day increased the risk of death by 94 percent and smoking more than this had more than a two fold increase. Having one alcohol drink a day decreased the risk but more than this saw it increase.

 

Eating five portions of fruit and vegetable a day, one serving of nuts and cereal a day – and red meat less than twice a month – cut the risk of early death by 35 per cent. Women who exercised for up to two hours a week reduced the risk of death by 16 percent but this increased to 23 per cent if they exercised up to 3.5 hours a week.

 

This research proves without a doubt that simple diet and lifestyle changes can have a massive impact on reducing the risk of dying early.