How to improve your knowledge of human nutrition and be able to make value judgements on issues affecting your health, lifestyle and food habits

Dear New Reader, From time immemorial, humankind had been almost continually preoccupied with how to obtain food. There had been, in that long period of time, adverse conditions which caused severe food shortages. But in spite of them, human populations, being guided by experience, instinct and resourcefulness, succeeded in procuring foods that satisfied their body […]

How old are you?

Dear Reader

, May I start off this letter by asking you this simple question: How old are you?  But before you answer, to yourself, let me remind you that there are three broad aspects to the question. The first is your chronological age.  It measures how old you are in terms of calendar years. The […]

Food: Its significance during ageing

B A Ochia Food, like sex, is regarded as one of the sources of pleasure that stay with us throughout our lives. The idea of using food to modify or influence human longevity has fascinated the public for a long time. The mass media has capitalised on this with great interest by featuring controversial topics […]

Osteoporosis

B A Ochia Over the past decade osteoporosis has become universally recognised as a major health-care problem in many Western countries, affecting the lives of a large number of individuals.  It has been estimated that in the UK alone about 150 000 fractures associated with osteoporosis occur every year. Economically speaking, this has dire financial […]

All we are saying is: Give genetic modification of plants a chance

On August, 10, 1998 a World in Action television programme mentioned experiments performed by Arpad Pusztai at the Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen. Dr Pusztai had apparently demonstrated that rats fed on genetically altered raw potatoes had impaired growth and immune responsiveness. When asked whether he would eat foods produced from genetically modified crops, Dr […]

Paracelsus – Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombast(us) von Hohenheim

Part One – His early life and career Bartholomew A Ochia The beginning of the sixteenth century ushered in an era of free thought, an epoch when people could express novel ideas and conceptions without fear of retribution from established authorities. The mental turpitude that characterised the Middle Ages  was being brushed aside with alacrity. […]

It is the daftest form of prejudice to be prejudicial against which one will oneself become” – Alex Comfort  

Bartholomew A Ochia 109 Hamilton Place, Aberdeen, AB15 5BD, Scotland We, as mortals, are subjected to biological ageing which is measured in terms of our previous lifestyles, and the effects of these lifestyles on the cellular processes which have occurred in our bodies. This biological ageing expresses itself in such changes as slow decline in […]