Seventy years ago, when the coldest thing in your house was a pantry, most of the food we ate was harvested, sent straight to the shops and would have been on our plates before it started to go off. However, the advent of the home freezer and advances in various preservation techniques changed all of that and now we’re used to eating what we want, when we want, regardless of the time of year when the food is actually grown. So how do they keep the food for so long? And does the quality stay the same?
One in five families eat convenience foods at least three times a week and a government survey showed only one in six mothers cook from scratch every day. In the first of four food programmes over the next fortnight, the Tonight programme investigates why some of us can’t cook or won’t cook and what can be done to get Britain back in the kitchen. The UK has the largest consumption of ready meals in Europe. It’s no surprise; they are cheap, convenient and easy. A few minutes in a microwave and dinner is served. But for some families the ready meal isn’t always the first choice, it’s sometimes the only choice.
2014 • Health
With more research being done into the link between what we eat and how we feel, the health-food industry is booming, and so-called superfoods are leading the way. Many people admit to buying such products because they believe they make them feel significantly better - but is this true? Jonathan Maitland investigates whether superfood claims are fact or fiction
2014 • Health
Seventy years ago, when the coldest thing in your house was a pantry, most of the food we ate was harvested, sent straight to the shops and would have been on our plates before it started to go off. However, the advent of the home freezer and advances in various preservation techniques changed all of that and now we’re used to eating what we want, when we want, regardless of the time of year when the food is actually grown. So how do they keep the food for so long? And does the quality stay the same?
2014 • Health
By 2050 the world’s population is estimated to reach over 9 billion, 30% larger than it currently is. If we continue to farm and eat the way we do today, we’d potentially need an additional landmass the size of Europe to produce enough food to meet the growing demand. So what does the future of food look like and how will we grow enough food for us all to eat in the years to come? In Tonight’s programme we visit some of the urban ventures that are maximising the use of public space to grow fruit and vegetables and teach the next generation how to farm. We speak to the owner of an indoor miniature farm housed inside a small shop about the new aquaponic technology he uses, and we go 100 feet below ground to see how one entrepreneur is growing high-value salad crops in old WWII bomb shelters, four storeys beneath the London Underground!
2014 • Health
By the middle of January many people struggle to keep up their resolutions to be more active. The result is that the UK wastes nearly £600 million a year on unused gym memberships. But new science has the answers. Medical journalist Michael Mosley teams up with scientists whose latest research is turning common knowledge about fitness on its head. They reveal why 10,000 steps is just a marketing ploy and that two minutes of exercise is all a person needs each week. They discover how to get people to stick to their fitness plans and what exercise can actually make everyone more intelligent. Whether it is for couch potatoes who hate the thought of exercise, someone too busy to consider the gym, or even for fitness fanatics who are desperate to do more - science can help everyone exercise better.
2020 • Health
Fresh or processed, white or red - how does meat measure up? It's been getting a lot of bad press recently with new links to cancer and heart disease. But 98 per cent of us in the UK are still meat eaters. Chris Bavin, a greengrocer by trade and a carnivore by nature, wants to know if he can keep meat in his diet and stay healthy. He teams up with top scientists to put meat under the microscope and examine it as never before. They follow 40 volunteers on a groundbreaking study to find out exactly how much meat is good for us, test whether paying more for chicken makes it any better for us, discover a way to dramatically reduce the health risks associated with processed meats and reveal an unlikely lean supermeat that won't break the bank.
2016 • Health
This time, we meet a man who feels no pain, a woman who can smell Parkinson's disease, a man who can remember every face he has ever seen and a survivor of a head injury who woke up to find he could suddenly play the piano. These remarkable cases are shedding new light on one of the most mysterious parts of the human body - our brain.
3/6 • Incredible Medicine: Dr Weston's Casebook • 2017 • Health
This brings viewers the most complete picture of the process of organ donation and transplantation ever put on screen. Based at The Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, one of Europe's leading multi-organ transplant centres, the film follows a group of seven patients ranging in age from eight months to 56 years old, all in desperate need of a new heart.
2018 • Health
Beneath your ribs, you’ll find, among other things, the pancreas -- an organ that works a lot like a personal health coach.
Could a machine replace your doctor? Dr Hannah Fry explores the incredible ways AI is revolutionising healthcare - and what this means for all of us. This film chronicles the inside story of the AI health revolution, as one company, Babylon Health, prepare for a man vs machine showdown. Can Babylon succeed in their quest to prove their AI can outperform human doctors at safe triage and accurate diagnosis?