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Judy Buttriss of the National Dairy Council describes some results from an on‐going survey into the opinions of consumers and health professionals.

The term ‘oxygen free radicals’ often appears in articles these days but what are they, are they dangerous, where do they come from and how are they controlled? In two articles, in this and our January '89 issue, Judy Buttriss SRD, PhD, attempts to answer these questions and to provide an overview of current knowledge of the involvement of free radicals in disease and their relationship with certain nutrients

Judy Buttriss PhD, SRD describes the functions, dietary intakes and absorption of this important mineral and discusses some of the difficulties in recommending a daily allowance to cover the needs of different groups of people

Virtually all the milk sold for liquid consumption is heat treated by one of three methods — pasteurisation, sterilisation or ultra heat treatment (UHT). The purpose of heat treatment is two‐fold: to ensure that milk is perfectly safe to drink and to extend its keeping quality.

Cream is basically an emulsion of oil‐in‐water and in commercial production, is separated from milk by centrifugal force in a mechanical separator. Generally, milk is first preheated to about 50°C to facilitate separation. It is then fed to a separator which rotates at between 3,000 and 6,000 rpm, although the most usual speed employed for separating cream is 5,000 rpm.

Intakes of calcium are falling in Britain according to the National Food Survey and this has been attributed to decreases in the consumption of dairy products and cereals. The recently published and controversial DHSS report on the eating habits of schoolchildren shows that certain groups of children have low intakes of calcium, especially those who are slimming or eating cafe lunches.

The term ‘elderly’ is often used to refer to men and women of pensionable age. But this group of people represents a cross section of the population, varying greatly in age, health, living situations, marital status, education and dietary habits. The size of the pensionable population — women aged over 60 and men over 65 — in the United Kingdon has grown rapidly in recent years. In 1901 there were 2½ million pensioners (6% of the population). By 1981, this had increased to almost 10 million (18% of the population). The greatest increase has been in the number of individuals over 80 years of age — from 218,000 to 1½ million in the same 80 year period. The over‐eighties now represent 15% of the pensionable population. More women than men are reaching very old age. The ratio of men to women is 2:1 at age 80 and nearly 3:1 at age 85.

There are about thirty vitamins and minerals (micronutrients) required by the body (table 1). Although some of these nutrients are required in very small amounts they are, nevertheless, essential for life.

Hard cheeses Cheese has been made in this country for at least 2,000 years. Until the middle of the 19th century, cheese was made on the farm, using the unpasteurised milk from a single herd of cows and very simple equipment. However, due to the amount of cheese consumed in Britain today, 80 per cent is now produced in creameries.

There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that some of the nutrients discussed in the previous article, possibly by virtue of their antioxidant effect, have a role to play in the prevention of a number of diseases, including cancer and coronary heart disease. The induction of the cancer process involves, among other things, damage to DNA. There is much evidence that this type of damage can be evoked by free radicals and so the possible role of free radicals must be considered seriously as a factor in the initiation of cancer.