The Scottish Government and local authorities have a number of policies and strategies aimed at improving the healthfulness of eating habits. However, results from the Scottish Health Survey indicate that further work still needs to be done if the desired changes in food practices are to be realised.
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Mycotoxins are naturally occurring toxins produced by fungal infection of agricultural crops. Several hundred mycotoxins have been characterized in a wide range of food crops around the world, and new mycotoxins and mycotoxin metabolites are continuously discovered. Mycotoxins can cause adverse health effects in humans including cancer, gastrointestinal disturbances or suppression of the immune system.
Michelle is the Head of Knowledge Exchange, Impact and Communications at the Rowett Institute, University of Aberdeen. She is also the SEFARI Gateway knowledge exchange broker for the food and drink research delivered by SEFARI.
Background
Dietary fibre is only found in plant derived foods like wheat, beans, fruit and vegetables but not meat, fish eggs or dairy produce. In Scotland the average intake of wholegrains and plant-based foods, including peas, beans and pulses, is low. For example, the recommend daily intake of dietary fibre is 30g/day for good health but the population, on average, consumes just over half of this amount.
We all know that eating fish is good for health. Fish represents a great source of lean protein, unique omega- 3 fatty acids and bioavailable micronutrients which are often lacking in plant-based diets.
Food production and agro-industrial processing generate high levels of waste and by-products (such as peels, hulls and leaves), causing a negative environmental impact and significant expenses. Our global food system is highly inefficient with losses or wastage of food amounting to between 30 and 50% of all food produced. Around 220 million tons of food is estimated to be wasted every year, the equivalent of the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa (Food and Agriculture Organisation).
Dietary patterns in Scotland remain unhealthy and this has an impact on health. In particular, the health harms associated with carrying excess body weight are well documented, with obesity now the second-biggest preventable cause of cancer, behind smoking. Furthermore, people who live in more deprived areas tend to be most impacted and significant inequalities in the levels of obesity persist between people living in the least and most deprived groups in Scotland.
After an introduction by Annie McRobbie (SSERC) the event began with Lee Innes (Moredun Research Institute) outlining resources covering a range of different topics relating to infectious diseases, immunology, diagnostics, vaccination, parasitology, biodiversity, climate change, food security and food safety. Moredun have developed several different educational resources and activities for secondary (and primary) school children working in collaboration with teachers and colleagues at SSERC.
The focus of some of our recent dietary research has been in the area of gut microbiology and the influence that the bacteria in the gut have on human health. These gut bacteria, also known as the microbiota, can be affected positively or negatively by what we eat.