China Daily

"Survey shows excessive intake of aluminum"

Residents of northern China and those under the age of 14 may be ingesting more aluminum than healthy.

China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment has announced the results of a three-year survey.

The survey found excessive aluminum content in all 11 food items, including flour, steamed buns, youbing (deep-fried pancakes) and youtiao (deep-fried breadsticks), which are popular breakfast dishes in China.

The center said the aluminum in the food mainly came from additives, which are commonly used to aid dough fermentation and make food rise.

Researchers say people in the northern area have a much higher intake of aluminum than those in the south, as northern residents eat more flour products.

The survey also found that Chinese residents under the age of 14 ingested more aluminum.

It also showed more than 20 percent of the aluminum ingested by teenagers came from puffed snacks.

China Daily

"Beijing residents can 'expect 58 years in good health'"

Beijingers could live on average 58 years in full health, about 10 years fewer than the average in most industrialized countries.

Healthy life expectancy is a relative statistic that estimates the average number of years that a person can expect to live in full health.

Deng Ying, director of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, says a comparison of the healthy life expectancy and the expected life span shows that "people are struggling with disabilities or diseases in later life.

The survey found local males average a healthy life expectancy of 61 years, longer than the 56 years for females.

Additionally, Beijingers in downtown areas have a slightly greater healthy life expectancy than their counterparts in the suburbs.

In 2013, the average life expectancy reached 81.5 years among Beijing residents.

Channel News Asia

"Almost half of Singaporeans are dissatisfied with their jobs: Survey"

Employees in Singapore ranked second from bottom in the Asia-Pacific in a global quarterly survey measuring job satisfaction.

According to the Q2 Randstad Workmonitor survey, almost half of employees in Singapore say they are not satisfied in their current job, only behind Japan.

Employees in India ranked the highest, with 80 per cent saying they are happy where they are.

Of the more than five-thousand employees surveyed in Singapore, 75 per cent say they view their job only as a way to make a living and nothing more. The majority also said they would not hesitate to change jobs if they could make more money (80 per cent), improve their career opportunities (78 per cent) or if they found a job that better matched their educational backgrounds (71 per cent).

The study was conducted via an online questionnaire of respondents aged 18-65. They work a minimum of 24 hours a week in a paid job, who are not self-employed.

(Notes: Highest proportion of satisfied employees (Asia-Pacific):1.India 2.Malaysia 3.Hong Kong 4.China 5.New Zealand 6.Australia 7.Singapore 8.Japan)

The Telegraph

"Food labels 'fool us' into thinking products are healthy"

An academic has claimed shoppers are being misled by buzzwords such as "natural", "antioxidant" and "gluten-free" into believing that they are buying healthy foods.

Although consumers are increasingly aware of the need to choose healthier options at the supermarket, researchers found they are often lulled by marketing into thinking food is more nutritious than it is.

They discovered terms such as "wholegrain" tricked the brain into disregarding unhealthy ingredients.

Such buzzwords could even counteract warnings in nutrition fact boxes.

For example, Ribena advertises the antioxidant effect of vitamin C on its packaging, but the drink contains 10 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters.

Researchers randomly showed 318 volunteers images of food products either including health marketing words or with the words removed.

When one of the trigger words was present, they would rate the items as healthier.