News Sept 10

School meals 'help fussy children try new foods'

Half of Britons get sunburnt, a survey shows

Drinking a glass of milk can stop garlic breath

School meals 'help fussy children try new foods'

School lunches can tempt fussy eaters to try new foods, a survey for the School Food Trust has suggested.

Researchers found that four out of five children in England who ate school lunches had tried food at school that they had not tried at home.

Half of parents questioned said their children had asked for foods they had eaten at school to be cooked at home.

The survey, of about 1,000 parents, found the most popular vegetables were carrots, sweetcorn and peas.

Aubergine, chickpeas and spinach were among the least popular.

Half of Britons get sunburnt, a survey shows

Nearly half of Britons got sunburnt this summer and many would be willing to do so again to get a tan, a survey reveals. The poll of 2,000 people found 46% had sunburn this year, and a third of these were tan-seekers. Of these tanners, more than a third said they did the same each year and a third said they would again, the Cancer Research UK and Superdrug study found. Experts warn sunburn is a sign of damage and raises skin cancer risk. Over the last 25 years, rates of malignant melanoma in Britain have risen faster than any other common cancer and now totals more than 10,300 new cases a year.

Physical exercise helps prevent obesity, which is a cancer risk factor.

The WCRF team stress in their report that it is the total time spent being active that is important. You do not need to set aside half an hour each day to exercise. Shorter bouts of activity will be just as beneficial as long as they add up to the same, the charity says.

About 10,000 cases of breast and bowel cancer could be prevented each year in the UK if people did more brisk walking, claim experts.

The World Cancer Research Fund scientists say any moderate activity that makes the heart beat faster should achieve the same.

For example, data suggest 45 minutes a day of moderate exercise could prevent about 5,500 cases of breast cancer.

Drinking a glass of milk can stop garlic breath

If you are worried about garlic breath, drink a glass of milk, say scientists who claim it can stop the lingering odour.

In tests with raw and cooked cloves, milk "significantly reduced" levels of the sulphur compounds that give garlic its flavour and pungent smell.

The authors told the Journal of Food Science it is the water and fat in milk that deodorises the breath.

For optimum effect, sip the milk as you eat the garlic, they say.