Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Palm Oil & NHS: Lesson too late!


Now, authors of an Agricultural Research Service(ARS)-supported study published in early 2006 have addressed the question of whether palm oil, whose functional characteristics are similar to trans fats, would be a good substitute for partially hydrogenated fat.
Trans fatty acids (trans fats) are created during a hardening process called hydrogenation, which serves to make oils suitable for use in products that require solid fats, such as baked goods and breakfast bars. The clinical trial was designed to compare—on heart disease risk—the effect of four different oils as they are commonly consumed.

The findings suggest that consuming either of the diets enriched with equivalent high amounts of palm oil or partially hydrogenated soybean oil would result in similar unfavorable levels of LDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein B (a protein, attached to fat particles, that carries bad cholesterol throughout the bloodstream). That's when compared to consuming either of the diets enriched with canola and soybean oils high in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, respectively.

The results suggest that palm oil would not be a healthy substitute for trans fats by the food industry, the authors wrote.                                              Myocardial Infarction



Well, it turns out that eating everything slathered in Nutella  isn't the healthiest thing for you.

The manufacturers of the chocolate-hazelnut spread, Ferrero, have agreed to a $3 million settlement in a lawsuit calling foul on the product's purported health benefits.

If you were led to believe such claims, which is what a new class action lawsuit alleges, you may be entitled to some cash. The suit, filed by California mom Athena Hohenberg, invites others who feel wronged by the sugary product to join along.

Nutella is made from sugar, modified palm oil, hazelnuts, cocoa, skimmed milk powder, whey powder, lecithin, and vanillin. Nutella contains 70% saturated fat and processed sugar by weight.


Kit Kat is switching to palm oil! 



NHS:
Attempts to change our beloved NHS may indeed be met with the same failure experienced by some other well known brands, sometimes at great cost.

Perhaps politicians can learn from this: you can say all the bad things about the NHS and you can quote how badly we are doing but we still love our NHS for all its short comings.

Just look at the faith we have in our A&E departments to the point that Roy Lilly suggested:

inner city solution; close P'care and put GPs in A&E just like Detroit


There is even argument that GPs cannot do A&E work and A&E doctors cannot do GP work. What has gone wrong with medical training?

There is a very discrete attempt to change the name of A&E to ED.

Wow! Do people never learn from history?

No!!! NHS and A&E. Original please   

So if politicians have not been so interfering and allow us doctors, nurses and patients to make things work together we may indeed have a better NHS. All the analysis on the reform is clear about one thing: someone is going to make money and that means less money for actual health care.

Kit Kat should look at the following:


Outraged shoppers have criticised cereal company Kellogg's for changing the recipe of Special K for the first time in 30 years.
Hundreds of negative comments about the low-fat breakfast choice have been posted on Facebook since the change in recipe.
             

Flora margarine has made an embarrassing U-turn after a consumer backlash by shoppers who launched campaigns protesting at a change in the taste of their favourite spread.  

Brand owner Unilever is bringing back the old flavour 17 months after spending £29 million on a reformulation aimed at making the product healthier and tastier. 

But the new recipe sparked a surge of complaints from shoppers who took to internet forums to voice their dislike of the relaunched version of the margarine.


Earl Grey tea is back. After complaints from customers about its tampered-with new blend, which was rebranded as The Earl Grey and made with extra bergamot and lemon for a more citrussy taste, Twinings has said it's bringing back the old blend. 



But after 116 years of being produced to a carefully guarded recipe, the brown sauce which famously bears a picture of the Houses of Parliament on the label has been secretly altered at the request of Government health chiefs.

...... John Northey, from the Isle of Man, contacted Heinz to complain. In a letter to a newspaper, he wrote: 'Gone was the familiar tang and the sauce seemed bland and sickly. Heinz has spoiled a product enjoyed by generations, adversely affected its keeping qualities and, incidentally, increased the calorie count at a time when we're all being warned about obesity.'



Coca-Cola’s now famous attempt to change the taste to New Coca-Cola was met with such a consumer backlash that the management swiftly return to the Classic formula and eventually New Coca-Cola was dropped. Or did they!!! In fact the Diet Coke’s flavour is that of the New Coca-Cola that never was. In the States, the Classic Coca-Cola is not all that classic either as it uses HFCS instead of cane sugar. In Mexico & Europe and the Far East, they still use sugar. There you have it!!! 


NHS
The PLOT to kill off the NHS Original started with Fundholding and since then every single government tried! Often in the name of improving health care.

The NHS has its faults but the fixing of it is not by bringing in privateers as they will be gaming for public money; nor would competition and choice work. We only need to look at the number of times the average household change utility providers.

But the government is pretending that Southern Cross would go away very quickly. The same with Four Seasons. We have no idea if there were any secret behind the scene deals so that the likes of Southern Cross will not hit the headlines as the HCSB tried to wriggle through parliament.
No we want the old NHS!!! NHS Classic!!! NHS Original!!! No mercury or manganese please.

Perhaps politicians can learn from this: you can say all the bad things about the NHS and you can quote how badly we are doing but we still love our NHS for all its short comings and perhaps if politicians have not been so interfering and allow us doctors, nurses and patients to make things work together we may indeed have a better NHS. All the analysis on the reform is clear about one thing: someone is going to make money and that means less money for actual health care.

Because, reading between the lines, that is what it is. If government can have its way the ordinary citizens who cannot afford health care insurance will get inferior care in a society that needs to ration its skilled medical professionals. It is no good trying to pretend it is any other way.



Our generation had the best of the NHS.  We had the best of the welfare state including free education, free health care and above all freedom from fear of health care bills.  Now it is up to your generation to fight for what we are in danger of destroying. The BMA are considering taking a legal challenge against the government, you should add your voices. Ultimately the battle for the NHS is a political battle and unless you make your voices heard then the NHS will be lost. Not one citizen in England can afford to lose their NHS; the scale of the public health casualties will be too great if the Bill is passed.  The abolition of the NHS should not be our legacy to your generation for how can you care properly in the knowledge that so many will go uncared for.  Its your NHS but only for so long as you care enough to fight for it.

NHS A&EUnpredictableUnruly & Ungainly

It's a lesson too late for the learning
Made of sand, made of sand
In the wink of an eye my soul is turnin'
In your hand, in your hand

Are you going away with no word of farewell
Will there be not a trace left behind
Well, I could've loved you better, didn't mean to be unkind
You know that was the last thing on my mind


©2014 Am Ang Zhang

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