To pick up on Duncan’s answer, there are broadly four things that might be in food but shouldn’t be and could kill you:
i) fast acting poisons that will kills you quickly (like arsenic);
ii) slow acting poisons that will kill you slowly (like heavy metals and carcinogens – things that encourage cancer);
iii) micro-organisms that will infect you, grow and make you sick (like Salmonella);
iv) toxins left in the food by micro-organisms – it’s not that the micro-organisms grow in your body and kill you, it’s that their toxins that they left in the food when they grew kill you (e.g. botulism).
There’s some pleasant thoughts! That why we work so hard to make sure things that can kill you aren’t in food.
There are also things that are in food and should be, but if you eat too much, will kill you slowly and in nasty ways – particularly fat and sugar.
More positively, the most healthy thing you could do in terms of improving your diet is to eat more fibre. In that respect, porridge is probably one of the healthiest foods you can eat, although eating wholemeal bread will probably have a bigger benefit (because we eat more of it). More generally, to be healthy (with acknowledgements to the nutritionist Dennis Groden):
i) eat in moderation;
ii) eat a wide variety;
iii) eat more fibre;
iv) get some exercise.
Comments
rebeccamccabe commented on :
whats your view on the horse meat scandle?
Grant commented on :
To pick up on Duncan’s answer, there are broadly four things that might be in food but shouldn’t be and could kill you:
i) fast acting poisons that will kills you quickly (like arsenic);
ii) slow acting poisons that will kill you slowly (like heavy metals and carcinogens – things that encourage cancer);
iii) micro-organisms that will infect you, grow and make you sick (like Salmonella);
iv) toxins left in the food by micro-organisms – it’s not that the micro-organisms grow in your body and kill you, it’s that their toxins that they left in the food when they grew kill you (e.g. botulism).
There’s some pleasant thoughts! That why we work so hard to make sure things that can kill you aren’t in food.
There are also things that are in food and should be, but if you eat too much, will kill you slowly and in nasty ways – particularly fat and sugar.
More positively, the most healthy thing you could do in terms of improving your diet is to eat more fibre. In that respect, porridge is probably one of the healthiest foods you can eat, although eating wholemeal bread will probably have a bigger benefit (because we eat more of it). More generally, to be healthy (with acknowledgements to the nutritionist Dennis Groden):
i) eat in moderation;
ii) eat a wide variety;
iii) eat more fibre;
iv) get some exercise.
12barberd commented on :
like your q