SAY
CHEESE
www.foodtechnology.co.nz 21
KIWIFRUIT TO
THE RESCUE?:
Can kiwifruit reduce exercise-induced stress
in active women?
Massey University researchers are
investigating whether kiwifruit –
which is high in vitamin C – can
reduce the stress response triggered
by exercise in women and implicated
in menstrual dysfunction, infertility and osteoporosis
in later life. Lead researcher Dr Noha Nasef from the
Riddet Institute Centre of Research Excellence says
several supplements are known for their beneficial
effects on immunity and exercise-induced stress, most
notably antioxidants such as vitamin C. However, little
attention has been paid to whole foods rich in vitamin
C, such as kiwifruit. The first links that have been made
between food and health came from observations
of communities with specific dietary patterns
associated with a reduced risk of disease. “From these
observations, researchers began to focus on isolating
and testing the food derived compounds from the
natural food instead of looking at the food as a whole,”
she says. “This resulted in many studies showing
inconclusive and sometimes negative results. To better
understand the link between food and health, we need
to study the natural food as a whole. In the context
of this study, the efficacy of antioxidant-rich whole
foods, grown locally in New Zealand, in alleviating
the stress and immune response to exercise, is
largely unknown.” Nasef says women, particularly
athletes, suffer long-term consequences of exercise
like osteoporosis and menstrual dysfunction, “and we
think this is linked to the stress response. Vitamin C
is known to reduce the stress response after exercise
and so what we want to determine is whether vitamin
C works better when it is eaten as a natural food like
kiwifruit,” she says. The study is being funded by
the Massey University Research Fund and the Riddet
Institute Centre of Research Excellence.
It’s official…Timaru is the
Southern Hemisphere’s
largest producer of natural
mozzarella cheese.
Fonterra’s Clandeboye
site has fired up its third
new mozzarella line, and
now produces enough
of the stuff to top more
than half a billion pizzas
a year. Made from one of
the co-operative’s secret
recipes, the cheese is made
in hours rather than the
traditional months, and is
destined for pizzas across
the world – including China,
where Fonterra cheese
already tops around 50%
of all pizzas. Fonterra chief
operating officer global
operations Robert Spurway
says the new plant, which
was built in under two
years, is a great example
of moving more milk into
value-add products. “We’re
focussed on getting more
value from every drop of
our farmers' milk,” Spurway
says. The new plant will
double the site’s production
of mozzarella.
A new Good Mood
Food offering in five BP
sites across the greater
Auckland region will offer
Krispy Kreme doughnuts,
Häagen-Dazs ice cream
and Wishbone lunch and
dinner meals as part of a
new pilot.
New Zealand celebrity
chef Michael Van de Elzen
will be visiting schools
around the country talking
about where food comes
from, in an effort to tackle
child obesity from the
youngest up.
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