Optimum Nutrition Spring 2019 PREVIEW

THIS ISSUE
20
“Banned to brilliant”
Physician, researcher and author Dr Terry Wahls talks about multiple sclerosis, research projects, criticism and praise
08
A taxing problem
Last year, proposals were made for a UK
tax on red and processed meat. Alice Ball
finds out how raising prices may benefit
human health and the environment
18 One bed for veg
We don’t always need lots of space to
grow food at home. Find out how one
raised bed is all you need, and how to
grow food from scraps on a windowsill
10
Cake sales are a great way to support
charities, but experts have suggested they
encourage unhealthy eating. We look at
some alternative ideas
23
Coffee and cake?
Little lives
Are free fruit and vegetables turning
children off healthy food? Amelia Glean
writes; and Catherine Morgan says why
we need to switch off to reconnect (p.28)
14
On your plate
Recipes from Dr Rupy Aujla’s new book
The Doctor’s Kitchen — Eat to Beat Illness;
demonstrating that food for health and
wellbeing can look and taste fantastic!
30
World cuisine
How traders and soldiers from Asia,
colonisers from Europe and America, and
a global diaspora have contributed to the
rich history of food from The Philippines
32 Research update
A look at polyunsaturated fatty acids
omega-3 and omega-6, and why the
western diet, which is typically low in
omega-3, may need to deliver more
44
All about
Researchers have said there is insufficient
evidence to legislate against the sale of
energy drinks to children, but have invited
voluntary action. James Billot writes
Contents
34 Different strokes
Research shows that yoga may ease
digestive problems and IBS. We speak to
registered nutritional therapist and yoga
instructor Charlotte Watts
46 Move it 50
UK bike week is set for 8-16 June so
Graeme Wilcockson gives a brief history of
the bicycle and sets out some tips on how
to get started with your own set of wheels
40 Food fact file
What are the benefits of a rainbow diet?
Lisa Patient looks at plus points behind
the colours, and we feature rainbow
recipes to inspire you this spring
Graduate story
Belinda Blake tells us how she progressed
from studying nutrition at ION to teaching
it, and why she thinks that nutrition
should be taught in schools, too
04 Comment / news | 26 Kids’ pages | 29 Book therapy
36 Product news | 38 Kitchen chemistry | 39 In season
SPRING 2019 | OPTIMUM NUTRITION
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ON YOUR PLATE
Dr Rupy Aujla was an NHS GP when he started his blog The Doctor’s Kitchen to inspire people to eat for better health. As a clinical
advisor to the Royal College of GPs, he is passionate about bringing the concept of ‘culinary medicine’ to the medical profession
worldwide. We feature three simple and delicious recipes from his new book The Doctor’s Kitchen — Eat to Beat Illness
Sweet Cajun salmon
“Salmon is a fantastic oily fish that
contains essential fatty acids to support
brain and heart health. Combined with
quinoa, watercress and sweetcorn, it’s a
delicious satisfying meal. The hot Cajun
spices contrast well with a small amount
of sweetness from dark sugar.”
Serves: 2
Ingredients
• 2 x 200 g salmon fillets (preferably
wild, line-caught)
• 200 g quinoa
• 500 ml water
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 150 g sweetcorn, sliced off the cob (or
frozen kernels)
• Sea salt and freshly ground black
pepper
• 150 g watercress, roughly chopped
For the Cajun marinade:
• 2 tbsp milled flaxseed (or wholemeal
breadcrumbs will work)
• 2 tsp Cajun spice blend
• Grated zest and juice of 1 lime
• 1 tsp brown sugar or coconut sugar
• 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
Method
Mix the marinade ingredients together in
a bowl. Add the salmon fillets and leave to
marinate for 20 mins. While the salmon
is marinating, soak the quinoa in a bowl of
water for the same amount of time.
Add the quinoa to a dry saucepan over
a medium heat and toast the grains for
a few mins. Boil the 500 ml water then
add it to the pan of quinoa along with the
paprika, sweetcorn and some salt and
pepper. Simmer for 15 mins then plate up
with the watercress.
Heat a frying pan over a medium-low
heat and place the marinated fillets in
the pan skin side down, pressing them
gently for the first 30 secs. Cook for about
6 mins until the top side begins to turn
opaque, then flip the fillets over and cook
on the other side for a further 3-4 mins
until cooked through.
Place the salmon on top of the quinoa
and watercress and enjoy.
14 OPTIMUM NUTRITION | SPRING 2019

INTERVIEW
When Dr Terry Wahls developed her protocol for multiple sclerosis (MS), a disease that causes
signalling problems in the nervous system, one organisation initially banned her as a speaker for
offering false hope. Now the same organisation is funding her research. Louise Wates writes
20 OPTIMUM NUTRITION | SPRING 2019

INTERVIEW
I
n 2014, a book called The Wahls
Protocol: How I Beat Progressive
MS Using Paleo Principles
and Functional Medicine landed on the
Optimum Nutrition desk. Inside, Dr Terry
Wahls, a clinical professor of medicine
at the University of Iowa, USA, described
how dietary changes reversed her MS
symptoms. A bold claim indeed. Although
there is a great deal of research into MS,
treatments have typically focused on
medical intervention with recent studies
even looking at drastic treatment to knock
out and reboot the immune system. A
dietary and lifestyle protocol was nothing
new, however; both the Swank Diet and
the Jelinek Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis
programme already existed. Yet in Wahls’
book there was something that seemed
almost miraculous about her recovery. At
her worst, she was in a wheelchair. Now
she cycles every day.
Yet despite Wahls’ seemingly fantastic
recovery, it proved difficult to get
somebody with MS to read the book
— such a viewpoint would have been
valuable. But in the words of one contact
who had lived with MS for 30 years,
she felt as though she had already tried
“everything” and didn’t believe Wahls had
anything new to say. Eventually we found
a young woman with a recent diagnosis
who was interested. She concluded that
it wasn’t just a book for MS sufferers; it
was a book for everyone. But she was not
prepared to put Wahls’ protocol in place —
yet. The thought of giving up grains, pasta
and potatoes was so unappealing she
would rather wait until her symptoms had
worsened.
When, by email, I ask Wahls to
comment on this response to her book she
is unsurprised. “Not everyone is ready,”
she says. “People [are] at varying stages
of interest in trying a therapeutic lifestyle.
Think of how many people are addicted
to tobacco, alcohol and will die earlier as
a result of their addiction. They know the
harms caused by their addiction, but they
are unable to stop.”
She acknowledges that lifestyle changes
are not always easy — her followers have
been dubbed “Wahls’ warriors”, she
explains, because what they do is not easy.
“They implement a therapeutic lifestyle
giving up sugar, processed foods [and]
sedentary habits, and sustain new
nutrient-dense diets and lifestyle habits,”
she says. “Sustaining a therapeutic diet is
very challenging — that is what behaviour
scientists will tell you.
“If it was easy, we would not have an
epidemic of chronic disease.”
Some who find it hard to change
behaviours, she says, may have “learned
helplessness” and might benefit from
cognitive behaviour therapy to help them
— if they wanted to change.
And for anyone used to a standard
western diet high in carbohydrates and
processed foods, the Wahls protocol is
not an easy option. There are different
levels to follow; at its strictest — the level
she herself follows — it involves staying in
ketosis; so eliminating sugar and starchy
carbs. At its very basic level, it involves
eliminating gluten, dairy and eggs, and
incorporating a wide range of vegetables
and fruit, meat and organ meats.
For Wahls, this is now her way of life.
After being diagnosed in 2000 with
relapsing remitting MS, and in 2003 with
secondary progressive MS, conventional
treatment was not enough. She underwent
chemotherapy in an attempt to slow down
the disease but was eventually forced to
use a tilt-recline wheelchair, to which she
was confined for four years. She believes
that she had been facing the prospect of
being bedridden.
According to the Multiple Sclerosis
Trust in the UK, an estimated 2.5 million
worldwide have the condition. Affecting
the myelin sheath (protective covers) of
nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain, MS
leads to signalling problems in the nervous
system, causing a range of symptoms
that often lead to disability. Relapsingremitting
MS is the most common form,
characterised by attacks during which
symptoms worsen or new symptoms
appear. Another form is primary
progressive MS, which is characterised
by slow onset and steadily worsening
symptoms. Because MS is considered to
be a degenerative disease for which there
is no cure, Wahls’ book was startling in its
claims — although she does not claim to
have been cured of all illness. Her website
says: “I am... a patient with a chronic,
progressive disease.”
So, whilst she keeps busy with her work,
she says she is committed to taking care
of herself.
Research
It was the question of how to take care
of herself that led Wahls to search for
ways to manage her condition. Just as
any of us might turn to books, journals
or the internet to cope with illness,
Wahls immersed herself in the latest
...one of the biggest changes for Wahls, however, was — as a
vegetarian — incorporating meat and organ meats into her diet
research; relearning biochemistry, cellular
physiology and neuroimmunology to make
sense of what she was reading. Yet she
knew that what goes on in laboratories can
take decades to impact human medicine,
so began taking supplements of nutrients
associated with brain health. But although
her physical decline slowed down, it did
not stop.
Dietary changes
Gradually, Wahls’ diet radically changed.
Many ordinary foods such as bread,
sugar, pasta and potatoes were dropped,
and a range of vegetables added in. Her
protocol excludes gluten, dairy and eggs.
Foods known as nightshades, which
include peppers, chillies, tomatoes and
aubergines, are also excluded for people
with rheumatoid arthritis or who haven’t
responded to the initial levels of the
protocol.
Perhaps one of the biggest changes for
Wahls, however, was — as a vegetarian
— incorporating meat and organ meats
into her diet. Having grown up on a farm in
Iowa, she had given up meat because she
believed that it was wrong to farm animals
for food and that it was environmentally
unsustainable. But after reading the work
of Dr Ashton Embry who recommended
a diet that included meat but excluded
grain and dairy, she considered it for
herself. It was not an easy decision. “It
took a great deal of prayer, meditation, and
a gradual process,” she says. In her blog
she describes adding meat to soups, after
which she began to feel stronger. Now,
although her diet is commonly described
as ‘paleo’, it is not focused on meat as that
label seems to imply. Emphasis is given to
a range of vegetables and fruit each day,
with small amounts of good-quality meat.
Whilst what works for one person
may not work for another, evidence
supporting Wahls’ protocol is based on
subsequent research and results from
SPRING 2019 | OPTIMUM NUTRITION
21

ALL ABOUT
Study authors have found insufficient evidence to make it illegal to sell energy drinks to
children, yet would welcome voluntary action including exclusion zones. James Billot writes
D
espite several supermarkets
imposing their own bans
on selling energy drinks to
under-16s, the Science and Technology
Committee’s Energy Drinks and Children
Report, published in December last year,
concluded that there wasn’t enough
“quantitative evidence” to warrant making
their sale to children illegal, potentially
halting any government plans for
legislation.
The report advised that it was currently
unclear whether energy drinks were
more harmful than other soft drinks.
Yet, despite this, it welcomed any
voluntary action — including exclusion
zones — taken by schools, retailers and
local communities that could reduce the
consumption of energy drinks by children.
It also recognised that despite its main
findings, that “it might be legitimate” for
the experiences of teachers and other
groups (“qualitative evidence”) to lead to
a statutory ban. 1
As a result, the government faces the
decision as to whether it should act now,
or wait for further evidence.
According to the report, children in
the UK are the largest consumers of
energy drinks in Europe. Between 2012
and 2017, the market ballooned by 19
per cent and globally it is predicted by
business analysts to increase by 3.7 per
cent year-on-year over the next five years.
But in spite of this rise, there has been
no long-term research into the effects of
energy drinks. Although warnings have
come from sources such as the European
Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the
World Health Organization (WHO), so
far only one country in the EU, Lithuania,
has banned the sale of energy drinks to
minors.
Main issues
The NHS defines energy drinks as soft
drinks with high levels of caffeine, taurine
(an amino acid) and vitamins. They also
contain high levels of sugar: while a 330
ml can of Coca-Cola has 32 mg of caffeine
and 35 g of sugar per can, a 473 ml can
of Red Bull has 151 mg of caffeine and
52 g of sugar. However, it is their high
caffeine content that the NHS, EFSA and
WHO links to a number of health and
behavioural problems.
“The main issues are the level of
sleep deprivation, hyperactivity and bad
behaviour in the classroom,” says Kawther
Hunt, a registered nutritionist at charity
group Action on Sugar. “But there is also
a link between risky behaviour and energy
drink consumption, which can include
under-age alcohol consumption and drug
use.”
Whilst risky behaviour in children such
as drinking alcohol and smoking was
found by the committee to be associated
with drinking energy drinks, there was
no evidence that one actually caused
the other. The committee also could not
confirm that children’s drinking habits
were significantly different for energy
drinks over other caffeinated drinks such
as tea or coffee. That is not to suggest
there is parity between the two: while a
250 ml cup of coffee contains 95 mg of
caffeine, a 550 ml can of Relentless Origin
44 OPTIMUM NUTRITION | SPRING 2019

MOVE IT
Get out your wheels!
UK Bike Week is set for 8-16 June, when Cycling UK urges us to
pedal for fun and fitness. To get us in the mood, Graeme Wilcockson
gives a brief history of cycling and tips on how to get going
46 OPTIMUM NUTRITION | SPRING 2019

MOVE IT
T
hey say you can’t reinvent the
wheel, yet it’s not been for the
want of trying. In 1817, when
Baron Karl von Drais created his ‘hobby
horse’, a gentleman’s plaything became
a two-wheeled solution to a four-legged
problem.
The 1815 eruption of Indonesia’s
Mount Tambora had catastrophic
global consequences; as what was the
largest explosion in recorded history
had deposited an ash cloud thousands
of miles across, impacting the climate
of Europe and North America. The
summerless year which followed saw
near-total crop failure, famine and the
mass starvation of livestock across
the entire Northern Hemisphere. This
included the world’s then favourite form
of transport: the horse.
Equine breeds of all kinds were in
desperately short supply, and von
Drais seized the opportunity. Stripping
weight from his quad-wheeled beast
and debuting a two-wheeled version, he
marketed the toy across Western Europe.
It was greeted with open arms — and
aching legs. The 50 lb monster was a far
cry from today’s ultra-light carbon fibre
speed machines, but they were snapped
up in droves. But it didn’t take long before
a law was passed, banning them from
pavements in England as a menace to
pedestrians. Interest waned, and it took
until the 1860s and the introduction of
the bone-shaking Penny Farthing to see
a resurgence. Pedals were introduced
within a few years, and various patent
battles were fought and lost. It was the
Olivier Brothers whose design endured
through mass production, and their
pedal-powered velocipede became a
blueprint for imitators across the globe,
particularly in England where appetite
was intense.
Of course speed creates the urge to
race, and so by the 1870s bicycle racing
clubs were all the rage. But with brakes
yet to be invented, sudden stops were
followed by impromptu flying lessons.
However, as roads improved and the
wheel was literally reinvented courtesy
of John Kemp Starley and his newfangled
spoke design, bicycles became
comfortable to ride. Women took
interest, and with it found a new sense of
mobility and independence. The wheels
of a million bicycles were in circulation
by 1900; workers could commute longer
distances, and with remote train stations
now accessible — the whole country was
on the move.
A little more than 100 years later, an
estimated one billion cycles are in use
across the globe. All shapes and sizes,
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