The Malaysian Insider :: Food
The Malaysian Insider :: Food |
| Eating healthy — only possible for the wealthy? Posted: 05 Dec 2013 06:23 PM PST Researchers carried out an overview of 27 previously published investigations into dietary patterns that had solid data about what people ate each day and how much it cost. The studies were carried out in eight advanced economies and two middle-income countries, Brazil and South Africa. Diets were rated according to healthiness: eating more fruit, vegetables, fish and nuts ranked higher than consuming more processed foods, meats and refined grains. On average, a day's worth of the healthiest diet cost about $1.50 (RM4.84) more than the least healthiest, the analysis found. "This research provides the most complete picture to date on true cost differences of healthy diets," said Dariush Mozaffarian of Harvard Medical School. "While healthier diets did cost more, the difference was smaller than many people might have expected." Compared to the economic costs of diet-related conditions such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease, which have gained epidemic proportions in some countries, the difference is "very small", said Mozaffarian. The gap between unhealthy and healthy eating is mainly explained by high-efficiency, high-profit systems to farm, make and sell processed foods, according to the paper. This "inexpensive, high volume" approach could conceivably be applied to healthier foods, too, to bring down prices, it suggested. "Over the course of a year, $1.50 (RM4.84) per day more for eating a healthy diet would increase food costs for one person by about $550 (RM1,773.47) per year," said Mozaffarian. "This would represent a real burden for some families, and we need policies to help offset these costs." Of the 27 studies used in the review, 14 were conducted in The United States, six in Europe (France, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden), two each in Canada and New Zealand and one each in Brazil, Japan and South Africa. The paper is published online in BMJ Open, part of the British Medical Journal stable of publications. - AFP, December 6, 2013. |
| Unesco adds new entries to “intangible heritage” list Posted: 05 Dec 2013 04:38 PM PST Envoys picked the new listings of traditional cultural activities worthy of preservation at a meeting in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, Unesco said in a statement late Wednesday. They include the traditional use of the abacus in China and a Christian festival in the French region of Limousin that involves holy relics being paraded before worshippers once every seven years. South Korea hailed the addition of "kimjang", the making and sharing of the country's traditional kimchi dish. The foreign ministry said it would seek legislation to ensure that kimjang remains "part of our precious cultural heritage and as a part of South Koreans' lives". Kimchi, a spicy dish of picked vegetables, is so much part of Korean life that a festival and even a museum are devoted to it. "I can't live without kimchi," wrote one online commentator in response to the listing. Japan warmly welcomed the addition of its washoku cuisine. "I feel genuinely happy," said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a statement. "Together with the Japanese people I want to pass on to the next generation our cherished culinary culture." Other additions are Belgian horseback shrimp fishing, the annual pilgrimage to the mausoleum of Sidi Abd el-Qader Ben Mohammed in Algeria, Taureg Imzad music, Jamdani weaving in Bangladesh, the Cirio de Nazare religious festival in Brazil, Sankirtana music from the Vaishnava people in India, a central Italian Catholic procession, an Orthodox holiday in Ethiopia and a Kyrgyz epic poem. A naming tradition common among the people of Western Uganda and Mongolian calligraphy also made the list. Established in 2008, the Intangible Cultural Heritage list comprises some 100 traditional events from around the globe and is designed to "help demonstrate the diversity of this heritage and raise awareness about its importance", according to Unesco. - AFP/Relaxnews, December 6, 2013. |
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