Consumer advocacy group CHOICE recently announced the five winners for the 2024 Shonky Awards, that is, the "shonkiest products and companies". The winner in the Food category is: the Daily Juice Co Daily Juice Green Mix CHOICE researchers wrote: “…if we buy "green juice", we expect that juice … to at least have some sort of green vegetable in it – like spinach or celery … The Daily Juice Co's Daily Juice Green Mix … is made completely of fruit juices. There's not a single vegetable in it...

  Dr Robert Loblay has passed away. He was the director of the Allergy Unit at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital for over 40 years. Throughout his career, his research into food intolerances made him a leader in the field. He was a co- author of RPA’s Food Intolerance Handbooks and Friendly Food, a guide to managing common food allergies and intolerances. All of us in the Food Intolerance Network who used the RPAH elimination diet to discover exactly which foods were causing our problems...

Travel can be difficult if you are food intolerant. If you want a family holiday and your kids are old enough, trekking in Nepal can be relatively cheap, adventurous and very memorable for all of you at a reasonable price. Sue and I have completed some 28 treks in Nepal since 1971, several with family members, so we really know how to do it. What to expect Sleeping: there are hundreds of small lodges that provide a basic room and meals at frequent intervals on all main trails. Depending...

(blog 2 of 2 focusing on the effects of ribonucleotide flavour enhancers - see blog 1) In Australia and the UK, hospital admissions for severe allergic reactions called anaphylaxis increased dramatically from the mid-1990s. Australia is now the allergy capital of the world and experts don’t know why. Allergy is usually a quick reaction to proteins (think peanuts) and intolerance is usually a delayed reaction to chemicals (think additives) BUT … since 1994, our readers have been repor...

Children - and adults - like to do well at sport. We have been surprised by how many become exceptionally good at sport when they change their diet – from failsafers aiming for gold to a school sporting team of “normal, healthy children” who came out champions by avoiding additives. Reader stories Andrew Driffield’s quest for gold – equestrian “The most significant change in Andrews's life has been … use of the Fed Up diet and avoiding all intake of natural and artificial chemicals that...

(blog 1 of 2 focusing on the effects of ribonucleotide flavour enhancers - see blog 2) Eileen’s Courage Award story “In 2017 I broke out for the first time in hives and a rash after eating Hot Sauce curry chicken dish … It lasted for 6 months, I was put on antihistamines and steroids … did nothing for my symptoms ... I started a [low histamine] diet, got off all my medication … started to add back normal foods ... for over 6 years I would still get this rash and hives again I would have to ...

What are restless legs? Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a common movement disorder that causes uncomfortable sensations in the legs, usually with an overwhelming urge to move the legs. Symptoms are most likely to occur when sitting still or at night when trying to sleep, thus causing insomnia and sleep deprivation. How many are affected? It is thought about 2% of school-age children and 10% of adults in the US are affected. https://www.webmd.com/brain/restless-legs-syndrome/restless-le...

  The Food Intolerance Network advised the Australian delegation of a serious emerging issue for consumers ahead of the international food regulatory meeting held in China in April 2024. Codex Alimentarius is an FAO/WHO organisation meant to protect health and promote trade. We told them yet again that the food industry was responding to regulation by hiding the additives. Industry increasingly hides them as INGREDIENTS under their Clean Label strategy, denying consumers choice and evadi...

Violence is increasing in children, adults and against women (1) At the same time, ultra processed food (UPF) consumption has been increasing. While UPFs have been linked to many adverse health effects including obesity, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, early death from all causes, and depression, recently, Brazilian researchers have found a connection between UPFs and domestic violence (2).

50 years ago, most people had never heard of autism or ADHD in children, let alone dogs. Now, studies show that dogs can have symptoms resembling either of those conditions. Called CDB (Canine Dysfunctional Behaviour), the condition is considered to be idiopathic – that is, experts don’t know what causes it. Autism in rodents However, scientists have already shown that propionate preservatives can cause autistic type behaviours in laboratory rats (1), as you can see for yourself in the follo...