Health&Beauty SIMPLY THE BEST

Shire’s nutrition expert Dr Tanja Harrison has a way to keep your tummy and your tastebuds happy – and an easy recipe you can try yourself at home

Fermenting has been around for thousands of years – it’s one of the very earliest methods of preserving fresh foods and is still widely used in traditional (and modern) cuisine around the world. Fermented products are becoming increasingly popular in the UK too, not only for their enhanced taste but for their health properties.

Sourdough bread, kefir (milk-based or water-based), sauerkraut and Korean kimchi (both cabbage-based) are just a few examples. There are different ways of starting the process of fermentation. Take shredded cabbage, for example: you can massage it with salt to draw out water from the cell walls, until there’s enough liquid to fully submerge it (no longer exposing it to the air). This is known as lactic

Myth Buster

acid fermentation, and results in a pleasant tang due to the bacteria involved. Left several weeks to mellow, sauerkraut develops a quite buttery taste. Whilst the smell might be an acquired odour (my husband will vouch for this!), the richness of flavour is a treat.

Starter’s orders

Other fermented products, such as kefir, require a starter culture, which you can buy online. Or you make your own starter (as for sourdough), a process that takes several days. If produced carefully and under good food hygiene conditions (clean hands and equipment!), these products are an excellent source of beneficial microorganisms that are good for our gut. And by helping to keep our gut bacteria well-fed and happy, they might also have beneficial effects for those suffering from irritable bowel syndrome, excess weight and cardiometabolic diseases.

If you don’t immediately take to the taste, start by adding a tablespoon to other meals.

This time we’re debunking popular myths around a common childhood a iction: nits. Let’s sort the nonsense from the need-to-know…

Nits only live in clean hair

Myth! Children found to have head lice (often called nits, although that is actually a term for their eggs) are often reassured by being told lice prefer clean hair. It might make kids feel better but this is not true. Realistically, a head louse has only one preference and that is for a warm

Lice hop from head to head

This one is also false. Head lice are tiny, wingless insects – they cannot fly, and their six

When buying fermented foods, pay attention to the label. If a product has been pasteurised, it will have undergone heat treatment to increase its shelf life, reducing the beneficial bacteria. To get the full benefits, look for raw unpasteurised products. Why not try making sauerkraut at home? Follow Justine Pattison’s recipe at www.bbc. co.uk/food/recipes/sauerkraut_19958

Dr Tanja Harrison is a registered nutritionist and lecturer in Public Health Nutrition at the University of Chester legs are not very good for jumping. They can only crawl from one head to another, which is why kids putting their heads together while playing or working side by side in the classroom is a common way to spread head lice.

You can catch nits from pets

No, you can’t. Obviously cats and dogs, as well as other household animals, have their own issues with fleas or mites that may infest them – but these creatures stick to their hosts. The theory that you can catch lice from animals is just not true – a head louse is specifically evolved to live on a human head and the same goes for a common cat or dog flea.

Headlice are 2-3mmlong