SA Footy

Foods kept in cold storage then sold as 'fresh' can contain end products known to adversely affect kidney function, Australian researchers warn.

Associate Professor Josephine Forbes, head of Glycation and Diabetes Research at Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, suggested food from cold storage could be harmful to the kidneys in at-risk people, and “perhaps contribute to the development of diabetes”. The effect was related to the presence of Advanced Glycation end products (AGEs), she said – found in foods that are processed and contain high levels of sugar and fat, but also in foods that have been in cold storage for many months. Professor Forbes told Endocrinology Update her team’s research, due to be published this year, showed “dramatic differences” in insulin sensitivity and also in insulin secretions related to the effects of AGEs in obese people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

The study participants were put on a short-term diet that was low in AGEs, and then after a wash-out period they were put on another diet high in AGEs.
According to Professor Forbes, the study found AGEs affected a number of inflammatory processes in the cohort.

“We’re trying to get the message across that if you’re obese and you’re trying to eat healthily you may still unwittingly be taking in AGEs [in ‘fresh’ foods],” she said. “Our ultimate goal is to make overtures to the government to change regulations about length of cold storage and labelling of processed food for AGEs,” she said.

dedja wrote:Well, Woolies are rooted now ...

FlyingHigh wrote:

dedja wrote:Well, Woolies are rooted now ...

Does this refer to how Woollies and Coles store their produce or the controlled atmosphere (CA) that farmers and cold store co-ops use?
How will the small family farmers go, particularly pear and apple growers, who rely on cold storage so they can sell their produce for 9 months of the year?

FlyingHigh wrote:

dedja wrote:Well, Woolies are rooted now ...

Does this refer to how Woollies and Coles store their produce or the controlled atmosphere (CA) that farmers and cold store co-ops use?
How will the small family farmers go, particularly pear and apple growers, who rely on cold storage so they can sell their produce for 9 months of the year?

dedja wrote:

FlyingHigh wrote:

dedja wrote:Well, Woolies are rooted now ...

Does this refer to how Woollies and Coles store their produce or the controlled atmosphere (CA) that farmers and cold store co-ops use?
How will the small family farmers go, particularly pear and apple growers, who rely on cold storage so they can sell their produce for 9 months of the year?

There is naturally some produce that requires cold store, no doubt ... but the big supermarkets take it to the nth degree.

heater31 wrote:People will just have to make do with out them or pay exorbitant prices for imported goods.


Or could science trick these trees into bearing fruit when needed via controlled conditions????

Psyber wrote:There once was an "eat only food that is currently in season" culture.
It was really only during the 1960s or so that we began to expect to have our favourite foods all year round.

FlyingHigh wrote:

heater31 wrote:People will just have to make do with out them or pay exorbitant prices for imported goods.


Or could science trick these trees into bearing fruit when needed via controlled conditions????

Psyber wrote:There once was an "eat only food that is currently in season" culture.
It was really only during the 1960s or so that we began to expect to have our favourite foods all year round.

If we take the pear industry in the hills, for example, these days picking is all wrapped up in 6-8 weeks by the end of March, and it really is only the duchess pears that ripen quickly, whilst most other varieties are picked not quite ripe and kept in storage. Vaguely remember being told of picking pears in the hills going into June before storage.
I suppose storage in the old days was done by preserving jars?