Author: kaitiscotland

Adapted from Which Magazine July 2026

It is certainly debatable whether there is such a thing as a healthy crisp. We all know that crisps are bad for our waistlines and health. They can be very moreish and can be difficult to consume in small amounts. In recent times alternatives made from other vegetables such as lentils have hit the market. But are they any healthier at all?

Which scored 66 crisp products out of 100. The rating was based on how much fat, salt, sugar, fibre and protein was contained in the crisp, using the Nutrient Profiling Model and a University of Oxford equation. These systems are used by the government and various health groups. 63 or above was considered a pass and under this was considered a fail.

Brands often advertise using a single positive attribute that their product has or doesn’t have. They use this “halo effect” to urge you to buy their crisps. The trouble is that the single redemptive feature doesn’t usually make for an overall healthy product.

For instance, Mini Cheddars scored 20, the lowest of the series. These are baked rather than fried, but they still contain a lot of saturated fat. (My comment: I’m not concerned by eating saturated fat but it is a metric used in the evaluation.)

Also scoring rather low at 36 was Proper Chips Barbecue Lentil Chips. A problem was that although lentils do have more fibre than potatoes in their natural state, the processing to make chips takes a lot of this out, and they still have high sugar and salt levels.

Fried crisps like Tyrrells score relatively highly because the manufacturers remove some of the oil.

Here were the best scoring items:

Kettle Chips Lightly Salted 74

Holland and Barrett Carrot and Beetroot Lightly Sea Salted Crisps 72

Holland and Barrett Simply Roasted Sea Salt and Cider Vinegar Crisps 72

Tyrrells Sour Cream and Onion Lentil Crisps 72

Tyrrells Sweet Chilli and Red Pepper Lentil Crisps 72

These scores don’t appear on the packets, so keep your eyes open as to what you are buying and eating when you see crisps marketed as a healthy option.

Adapted from Which Magazine June 2026

Tinned fish is a simple, affordable way to boost your intake of high quality protein and nutrients including vitamin D and B12. Oily fish are also high in omega-3 fats which are essential for heart, immune and lung health.

Mackerel, sardines, and salmon are the top three fish for dietary omega-3s. From 80 tins of fish, Which researchers found that the best sources seem to be mackerel, then sardines, then salmon. It should be noted that mackerel is being overfished.

Fish in tomato sauce or spring water are lower in calories and salt than those in sunflower oil or brine. Richly sauced options such as sweet chilli flavour, were found to have high amounts of added sugar and salt.

Eating “with bone” varieties give more calcium. Smaller fish species such as sardines naturally accumulate less mercury than bigger fish like tuna.

The UK government recommend at least two portions (140g) of fish a week, one of which should be oily. The NHS advises that girls and women planning a pregnancy should not eat more than two portions of oily fish a week. Everyone else can have up to four portions of oily fish a week.

Which’s top picks are:

Mackerel: Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference smoked Scottish mackerel with black pepper. This contains 4,700mg of omega-3 per 100g and costs £3.20 for a 110g tin.

Sardines: Fish4ever sardines in organic piri piri sauce contains 4,200g per 100g and costs £3.35 for a 120g tin from Ocado.

Salmon: Marks and Spencer’s wild Alaskan red salmon contains 2,000mg of omega-3 per 100g. This costs £.3.65 for a 213g tin and Sainsbury’s wild pacific red salmon contains the same omega-3 and costs £3.50 for a 212g tin.

Adapted from BMJ 2-9 May 2026

If a child from parents who have psychiatric or behavioural problems is adopted into a favourable home environment, this has lasting benefits for that child, but also for the children of that child.

Researchers in Sweden used national registers to compare full siblings and half maternal siblings born between 1950 and 1980 who were adopted before the age of ten, compared with their biological siblings who were not adopted. The children of these children were also compared. The outcomes included psychiatric, social, educational, cognitive and non-cognitive measures.

Adopted children showed a lower risk of psychiatric disorders: 29.8% compared to 36.1%.

Fewer criminal convictions: 26.1% compared to 34%

Fewer social welfare recipients: 37.8% compared to 48.5%

Higher mean intelligence scores: 4.5 compared to 3.8

Better cognitive skills scores: 4.8 compared to 3.9.

More likely to attend university: 26% compared to 15.2%.

The measures between the future offspring were less marked but still showed some improvement with higher psychosocial functioning. Regarding psychiatric disorders the figures were 29.6% compared to 32.3%.

The early environment in early life plays a central role in shaping health, educational, and labour market outcomes over the life course. Disadvantaged children who suffer from poverty, poor neighbourhoods, and who don’t get good nursery or maternal care have worse outcomes in adulthood.

Sweden has a particularly good social welfare system so results could be different in other countries. The results do seem to indicate that if a child’s environment can become more stable, and adequate resources and support are given to caregivers, the child’s outcome should improve.

My comments: I wondered how these figures compared with “normal families”. I asked ChatGTP.

Around 25% of working age adults have some form of criminal conviction. This includes minor offences such as motoring offences or not having a television licence. When these are excluded the figures are 25% of men and 10% of women have some sort of conviction.

In the UK 22-23% of adults of working age get some sort of disability or health related support, get benefits due to low income, receive housing assistance or are carers. 10% of UK adults get some sort of health support.

About 50% of UK adults go to university. 40% go immediately after school and the rest go later. More women go than men. 42-46% of working age adults have a higher education qualification such as degrees, HNDs or nursing qualifications.

These figures tend to indicate that children adopted from difficult home circumstances still don’t do as well as “average” children, although the UK is a different country and the times periods are not directly comparable.

Adapted from BMJ 21-28 March 2026

Estimates of the genetic contribution to human lifespan have been surprisingly low and often show rates of 20% or less.

A re-analysis of Scandinavian twin cohort studies now puts this figure at 50%.

The reason for lower figures is that mortality rates are distorted by external causes that often have a familial effect such as infection, violence and other unintentional harms such as eg road traffic accidents or natural disasters or building collapses.

When these deaths are excluded the heritability of the intrinsic life span rises to around 50%.

This is similar to other complex traits such as body mass index, blood pressure and general cognitive ability.

My comments: Recently a friend who is adept at trawling ancestry sites discovered information about my family tree. There was a great deal of poverty and early death. I added up the ages of death of my parents and grandparents and divided the figure by six. According to this, my heritable life expectancy is 54.8 years. I’ve already lived 12 years longer than this. Here is a list of the ages and causes of death:

Women: Jeannie, my mother’s mother : Age 38 Lobular pneumonia and heart failure due to Pneumococcal Pneumonia – now has effective anti-biotics and vaccination. Ellen my mother: Age 46 Myocardial Infarction due to Ischaemic Heart Disease – now would have substantial chance of success after a stent operation and modern drugs. Sarah my father’s mother : Age 71 Heart Failure due to Pernicious Anaemia- now treatable with vitamin injections and drugs.

Men: Thomas, my father’s father: aged 29 Burns and Pneumonia due to Industrial Accident- chances of this very much reduced now with Health and Safety at Work Legislation. Robert, my mother’s father aged 66. Head injury due to fall from a height at work due to Industrial Accident – chances of this very much reduced due to Health and Safety at Work Legislation and practices around scaffolding. Tommy my father aged 79: Cardiac Failure due to Hypertension. Would still have died of this but modern drugs slow down the progression and he could possibly have added up to a further five years of life, though not without debility.