SNORW-tag

Cooking fumes can create respiratory problems for chefs

Cooks live less long on average than people in most other occupational groups. Changes in their working environment could result in better health for many.

Pensioners unknowingly subsidise groceries for young and wealthy

High-income families in Oslo get cheaper food at the expense of those in rural areas who are unable to use apps or unwilling to disclose their consumer habits. Apps that give discounts create new economic disparities.

Sports drinks from fish heads

In a couple of years you might drink some fish parts after exercising at a gym.

Deciphering the confusing language of food expiry dates

The world wastes a staggering 1.3 billion tonnes of edible food annually, some of which is due to confusion over expiry dates. ScienceNordic helps you figure out what to eat and what to toss.

Why omega-3 lowers risk of disease

Norwegian scientists have uncovered new information about how omega-3 fatty acids actually work. Proteins that are misfolded accumulate like garbage in body cells and they can lead to diseases. Omega-3 helps cells remove such harmful proteins.

Could we eat like scavengers?

Dogs eat all kinds of nasty things, and vultures eat carcasses that are long dead. Could we eat rotten food if we heat treated it beforehand?

Milk is a poor preventer of osteoporosis

Elderly people with calcium-rich diets are not better protected against broken bones.

Danes devise the draught beer app

Danish students have come up with a smart phone beer app they call “Ghostbar”.

When science promoted sugar as healthy

Studies in the 1970s showed that people couldn’t get overweight or develop cardiovascular diseases from consumption of carbohydrates such as sugar. A Norwegian professor thinks we are still paying for this mistake.

Doctor of hollandaise

Not too much heat, whisk well, and make sure you use enough water. Then you’re on your way to a good butter sauce.

For Norwegians, healthy food and animal welfare are more important than prices

They want the incomes of farmers to be in line with other social groups – and they shy away from GMOs.

Food security hinges on climate adaptation

Climate change can have a devastating effect on agriculture in many regions. But much can be done to ensure future food supplies for everyone.

Arctic agriculture needs new crops

Countries in the far north need to cultivate new varieties of crops if they hope to main local food production.

More fish found deeper in the ocean

The amount of fish in the world is being reassessed upwards. Some ten billion tonnes of fish that live at depths down to a kilometre are not fished at all. A University of Bergen professor thinks this biomass will be much more important for humankind in the future.

Spawning cod packed with vitamins

Cod migrate from the Barents Sea to the Lofoten Islands in North Norway to spawn every winter. The fishing season for these large spawning cod, called skrei in Norwegian, is currently open. A traditional North Norwegian serving of the fish is a super source of vitamin D.

Jolly porkers not a Norwegian priority

Cheap meat means that Norwegians eat more of it, particularly racks of pork spareribs at Christmas. Yet few Norwegian consumers seem to care about the real cost of their pork dinners, especially when it comes to animal welfare.

Low-carb diets hold sway short-term

Cutting sugar and adding fat to our daily diets is more effective for losing weight short-term than maintaining a low-fat diet.

Does meat make vegetarians ill?

People sometimes say that vegetarians get sick if they begin eating meat again. Research doesn’t back them up.

Getting men to eat their greens

Men tend to eat high levels of saturated fat and refined carbohydrates, without sufficient amounts of fruits and vegetables.

Better health with a Nordic diet

Switching to a healthy Nordic diet might save your life, as it is shown to improve cholesterol values and reduce the risk of developing heart disease.

Pregnancies can alter eating disorders

A pregnancy can entail either a risk or a hope for women with eating disorders. Many get rid of the disease for long time. For others, pregnancy is the beginning of their problems.

Nordic food makes immigrants sick

They tend to overdo the fatty foods and carbohydrates. Immigrants from South Asia suffer from the unhealthy diets they adopt in Norway.

Innards are out

Norwegian dinner tables used to include dishes made of hearts, lungs, liver and kidneys. Today such innards are no longer eaten.

Prospecting herring waste

The messy leftovers from herring processing could be put to better use. Enzymes from the fish parts can soon wind up in detergents or even in juice.

Warmer climate prolongs mushroom season

The wild mushroom season has grown longer the last 40 years in Norway and elsewhere in Europe. More chanterelles, certainly, but the changes can be challenging.

Norway and India collaborate for versatile farming

Millions of peasants in India need new techniques to ensure crop security. A collaboration between India and Norway targets agriculture that is better adapted to climate changes.

Edible vaccines can be grown everywhere

In the future, local farmers the world over could be growing broccoli, potatoes or lettuce that can protect against diseases such as rabies and dengue.

Brewing Stone Age beer

Beer enthusiasts are using a barn in Norway’s Akershus County to brew a special ale which has scientific pretensions and roots back to the dawn of human culture.

Growing fatter on a GM diet

Rats being fed genetically modified food eat more and grow fatter than those on a non-GM diet.

Why did the Romans recline while feasting?

The discomfort from stuffing yourself with a large meal might be eased by lying down. But only on one side.

Why do vegan cats need white canes?

“People who want to give their pets vegetarian food should have rabbits,” says an expert in animal behaviour.

Pull, push and kill cabbage root flies

Cabbage root flies can devastate fields of cabbage and broccoli. But a clever defence has been developed using fungi, Chinese cabbage and clover.

Cheap hamburger could be choice steaks

Little Norwegian beef ends up being served as steaks. With new feeding and butchering techniques the country’s cattle could provide more whole cuts and less minced or ground beef.

Convenience food – easy to eat and hard to swallow

Time-squeezed Norwegians gobble up ready-to-eat meals like crazy. But not without guilt pangs.

The chemistry of cake baking

Most cakes contain eggs, milk, flour and sugar. Now there’s a way to make them without one or more of these ingredients.

Farmed salmon retains good fats

Norwegian farmed salmon is still a good source of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, even though these fish are now fed more vegetable oils than previously.

Low carb diets rocked in the Stone Age

The Neolithic population of Northern Europe maintained a diet based mainly on hunting and fishing even after agriculture became well established.

Mums are main key to healthy kids

Fresh figures show that mothers mean more for young Norwegians’ health choices than fathers do, and that parents’ level of education is a crucial factor regarding healthy consumption.

Focus on the locus

Large corporations have started producing organic foods, but American consumers are moving their focus on locally produced food. In Norway people might be too well off for such a revolution.