The Wheele of Five by Weston Price
There is a new ‘Food Guide’, in which the government and the Nutrition Centre set out their views on how the population ‘should or ought to eat’. It is a guide with a moral compass, as key drivers behind this …
All posts filed under: History
Vorzugsmilch, a quiet death
Vorzugsmilch, RIP Vorzugsmilch, or raw milk suitable for young children, the milk that healed, milk that was used for milk cures, milk that was recommended by doctors, was first mentioned around 1900 and resulted in legislation (Vorzugsmilchgesetz) around 1930. In …
Listen to Pasteur
Take home message Louis Pasteur and heating The concept of “pasteurisation” is attributed to Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), although as early as the beginning of the 19th century, there were people who advocated heating milk to make it safe for consumption (Westhoff, 1978). Nowadays, milk is heated before consumption almost everywhere. The combination of temperature and time determines whether a product has been heated sufficiently to be classified as safe. For example, at start pasteurisation of milk was …
Escherichia coli
The word “bacteriology” did not exist in the early 1880s. With people such as Louis Pasteur (France) and Robert Koch (Germany), a new field of study emerged. Between 1870 and 1890, many bacteria were discovered, described and given names. Robert Koch discovered the tuberculosis bacterium (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) and the cholera bacterium (Vibrio cholerae). The same applies to Escherichia coli, named after its discoverer Theodor Escherich (1857-1911). Bacteriology opened up a completely new window to observe the world …
Rules, trust and boundaries
Without rules, you are powerless and lost, whether you are a human being, an animal or even the earth itself. Without agreements, you cannot trust other people. Suddenly changing agreements makes you an unreliable fellow human being or government. Rules …
Fear for bacteria or environment?
Take home message It is an age-old contradiction: bacteria or environment, nature or nurture, genetics or epigenetics/nutrition/lifestyle? Where do you start when it comes to controlling infectious diseases? Diseases such as tuberculosis have been brought under control in Western countries …
Dairy consumption by early humans
Take home message How to find out, what people ate since the Stone Age? When did milk become part of their diet and to what extent? How fast did milk consumption develop across Europe? There are several methods to gain …
Why (not) feeding palm oil to cows?
Take home message Changing dietary fat Due to (mis)interpretation by nutrition researchers like Ancel Keys (1904-2004), in the 1950s and 1960s, our fat consumption changed dramatically. Mortality from cardiovascular disease among middle-aged white American men was the main reason for …
Raw, pasteurised and sterilised milk: Impact on growth
Take home message The first half of the 20th century saw a great interest in the significance of vitamins for health. Rickets played a role in dark industrial cities like London, and young children developed bone deformities due to lack of vitamin …
Water, milk or cola?
Take home message Six months diet of milk or Coca-Cola? A Danish study (Maersk et al., 2012) looked, how two types of Coke (regular Coca-Cola and Diet Coke) had effects on weight development and physiological and body parameters around Metabolic …
