Food habits

How do they make so many Jelly Bean flavours?
Hint: the answer lies in Gas Chromatography

If you are a fan of jelly beans you will know that there are many, many flavours to choose from. But just how do they manage to capture flavours like Apple Pie or Birthday Cake?

Flavours come from the brain, nose and mouth working together. The flavours you taste are due to the chemicals in the substance you are eating reacting with receptors in your nose and mouth and sending a signal to the brain. The brain then interprets this signal and assigns the food with a flavour -a combination of taste and smell.

The majority of the information the brain processes is contributed by the nose and, since smell plays such an important role in taste, smells can be analysed to recreate flavours. Gas Chromatography is the best method for analysing smells and everything from jelly beans to medicines have benefited from chromatographic analysis.

Once the flavour markers are identified, flavour experts work on synthesizing the flavour in the laboratory and, once perfected, the flavour can be added to things like jelly beans.

Some flavours can be mimicked in surprising ways. For example, a chocolate flavour can be created by using substances that taste or smell like peaches, cooked cabbage, and meat. How odd!

A plant-based diet is based on foods that come from plants with few or no ingredients that come from animals. This includes vegetables, wholegrains, legumes, nuts, seeds and fruits.

vegetarian vegan and plant based diets bowl of salad
You may choose a plant-based diet for a variety of reasons. These could include concern about animal welfare, health benefits, environmental concerns or personal preference.

Plant-based diets can support healthy living at every age and life stage. But as with any diet, you should plan your plant-based eating to meet your nutritional needs.

Those who follow plant-based diets are categorised as:

Lacto-ovo vegetarians: eat dairy foods and eggs but not meat, poultry or seafood
Ovo-vegetarians: include eggs but avoid all other animal foods, including dairy
Lacto-vegetarians: eat dairy foods but exclude eggs, meat, poultry and seafood
Vegans: don’t eat any animal products including honey, dairy and eggs
Pescatarians: eat fish and/or shellfish
Semi-vegetarians (or flexitarians): may eat some meat, seafood, poultry, eggs and dairy
How can I eat with this in mind?
Diets centred on a wide variety of plant foods offer affordable, tasty and nutritious options. Plant-based diets rich in beans, nuts, seeds, fruit and vegetables, wholegrains (such as oats, barley and quinoa) and minimally processed foods can provide all the nutrients needed for good health.

The exception is vitamin B12. This nutrient is not available from plants. You will need to get this from fortified foods or a supplement.

Plant-based eating is recognised as an intervention to improve health outcomes. They could reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and some cancers and may help you manage your weight.

If you are reducing foods that come from animals, or cutting them out altogether, there are a few nutrients that you need to pay attention to.

Protein
You can easily meet protein needs by eating protein-rich foods.

These include lentils, beans, chickpeas, seeds, nuts and nut butters (e.g. peanut butter), tofu and tempeh. Eggs and dairy are also good sources if you eat these.

Meat substitutes like soya burgers and soya sausages, mycoprotein (sold as Quorn), and seitan (from wheat) are high-quality protein sources and can be useful for those adapting to a plant-based diet. However, these can often be high in salt and fat so you should use them in moderation.

Some meat substitutes contain animal ingredients such as eggs, milk derivatives and honey. If you are trying to follow a vegan diet, you will need to read the labels carefully.

Long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids
These fats are important for your health.

The richest source is oily fish e.g. pilchards, salmon and mackerel. If you don't eat fish, the body can convert the essential fats found in plant-based foods, such as walnuts, flaxseeds (linseeds) chia seeds and h**p seeds, into long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.

Oils such as rapeseed (usually labelled as vegetable oil), h**p, and flaxseed oil provide essential omega-3 fats. They are preferable to corn, sesame and sunflower oils, which are lower in omega-3.

Omega-3 supplements made from algae are also available and are suitable for vegans. Find out more about this in our omega-3 food fact sheet.

BREAKFAST SLIDERS 😍 Don't Lose This♥
INGREDIENTS
2 (12 oz) pork sausage rolls
12 Hawaiian dinner rolls
8 large eggs, scrambled
6 slices pepper jack cheese
8 slices American cheese
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup maple syrup
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Warm large skillet over medium heat. Form sausage into 12 patties, slightly larger than one dinner roll. Add sausage to skillet and cook until completely cooked through.
Meanwhile, using a serrated knife, cut rolls in half lengthwise (without breaking apart). Place bottom half of rolls in 7x10-inch or 9x13-inch baking dish; set tops aside.
Scoop scrambled eggs onto bottom rolls; top with pepper jack. Place sausage on top of pepper jack and top with American cheese. Carefully top with top buns.
Combine melted butter and maple syrup in small bowl. Brush over tops of rolls allowing sauce to drip down sides and into bottom. Use entire amount.
Bake 15-20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and melted. Serve and enjoy!

How Does Food Impact Health?

Тhe food we eat gives our bodies the "information" and materials they need to function properly. If we don't get the right information, our metabolic processes suffer and our health declines.

If we get too much food, or food that gives our bodies the wrong instructions, we can become overweight, undernourished, and at risk for the development of diseases and conditions, such as arthritis, diabetes, and heart disease.

In short, what we eat is central to our health. Consider that in light of Webster's definition of medicine: "The science and art dealing with the maintenance of health and the prevention, alleviation, or cure of disease."

Food acts as medicine--to maintain, prevent, and treat disease.
What does food do in our bodies?
The nutrients in food enable the cells in our bodies to perform their necessary functions. This quote from a popular textbook describes how the nutrients in food are essential for our physical functioning.

"Nutrients are the nourishing substances in food that are essential for the growth, development and maintenance of body functions. Essential meaning that if a nutrient is not present, aspects of function and therefore human health decline. When nutrient intake does not regularly meet the nutrient needs dictated by the cell activity, the metabolic processes slow down or even stop."

- Perspectives in Nutrition, Wardlow and Insel Get examples of food as information

In other words, nutrients give our bodies instructions about how to function. In this sense, food can be seen as a source of "information" for the body.

Thinking about food in this way gives us a view of nutrition that goes beyond calories or grams, good foods or bad foods. This view leads us to focus on foods we should include rather than foods to exclude.

Instead of viewing food as the enemy, we look to food as a way to create health and reduce disease by helping the body maintain function.

Whether man-made or not, food can have some fascinating back stories.
For instance, white chocolate isn't actually chocolate at all and scientists can turn peanut butter into diamonds.
Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Our food system is fascinating. From scientists making diamonds out of peanut butter to grapes exploding into plasma fireballs in the microwave, Insider has rounded up some of the strangest and most fascinating food facts that you probably never knew.

Keep reading to educate yourself and impress friends at your next dinner party.

Many shredded cheeses and cereals contain cellulose (wood pulp).
shredded mozzarella cheese
Shredded cheese. Peter Hermes Furian/Shutterstock
Per Eater, cellulose, which is essentially sawdust, is often used in various shredded cheese products and cereals to prevent them from clumping.

Green, yellow, and red bell peppers are not actually the same vegetable.
red green bell peppers
Green and red bell peppers. Thankakornbb/Shutterstock
These vegetables are not always the same plant. Though some green peppers are unripe red peppers, green, yellow, orange, and red peppers are all unique plants with their own seeds.

Ketchup was once believed to have medicinal qualities that could cure, among other ailments, diarrhea.
ketchup
Ketchup. Adam Berry/Stringer/Getty Images
In the early 1800s, tomatoes were believed to have medicinal qualities. Per Fast Company, a doctor in Ohio in the 1830s claimed that tomatoes could treat diarrhea and indigestion, publishing recipes for a kind of tomato ketchup that he soon turned into a concentrated pill.

Some foods, like ranch dressing or coffee creamer, can contain titanium dioxide, which can also be found in paint, plastic, and sunscreen.
coffee creamer
Coffee creamer. lighthunteralp/Shutterstock
Titanium dioxide is a food additive that can be found in a variety of foodstuffs, like ranch dressing, coffee creamer, icing, and powdered sugar. It is often used to make whites appear whiter. However, for this same reason, it can also be found in items like paint, sunscreen, and laundry detergent.

While the FDA considers it safe, research has linked the chemical to inflammatory bowel diseases, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified it as "possibly carcinogen to humans."

In April 2019 France said it would ban titanium dioxide starting in 2020.

A typical ear of corn has an even number of rows.
Girl eating ear of corn at county fair.
A girl eating an ear of corn at a county fair. Siobhan Connally/Getty Images
Ears of corn generally have an even number of rows, which is usually 16.

One burger patty can contain hundreds of different cows.
Eating burger
A burger.
According to the Washington Post, "hamburgers are almost always a mishmash of many animals. The ground beef we buy at the supermarket is made of an unknown collection of muscle tissues."

Scientists can turn peanut butter into diamonds.