TOPIC: Food and diet
#18: In an average meal, you eat around 150 000 km of DNA. read more
#34: Jelly containing fresh pineapple, papaya and kiwi won't set as the proteases in them break down the protein gelatin in the jelly. The proteases also digest some of the proteins in your mouth and tongue when you eat these fruits, causing tingling and stinging. read more
#67: More than 100 000 cancers - equivalent to one-third of those diagnosed in the UK each year - are caused by smoking, unhealthy diets, alcohol and excess weight. read more
#70: In the UK, 28 million pints of beer are consumed every day, which equates to 100 litres per person every year. read more
#66: Staff and students at Askham Bryan College near York are working to create an 'ark' where the tansy beetle can feed on its sole food source, the tansy plant. read more
#39: World Health Organization figures suggest 25-70 per cent of European adults are overweight (depending on the country) and 5-30 per cent are obese. read more
#38: Wimbledon's seats are 6 cm wider than the original 1922 models. read more
#37: The 4.5 kg increase in weight of the average American between 1990 and 2000 caused aircraft to burn 350 more gallons of fuel, at a cost of $275 million, per year. read more
#36: UK households throw away 8.3 million tonnes of food (£680 per family) per year - the same as one in three bags of shopping going in the bin. read more
#35: Research has shown a strong relationship between the weight of children and the body mass of their biological parents but not between the weight of children and the body mass of their adoptive parents. read more
#33: Research has found that people tend to associate sweet and sour tastes with high-pitched sounds and umami (savoury) and bitter tastes with low-pitched ones, and that people enjoy food more than 'matching' music is played during eating. read more
#32: Eating soup makes you feel full for longer than eating solid food with a glass of water. Why? Water mixed with solids (e.g. soup) stays in the stomach longer than water alone. read more
#31: Grapefruit juice contains compounds that block enzymes involved in metabolizing a range of drugs, so drug levels stay higher for longer. These drugs include calcium-channel blockers used to treat high blood pressure. read more
#30: Fifteen minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per day cuts obesity risk by 50 per cent. read more
#29: The average spend per person on eating out was 26 per cent of their total food spend in 2005, compared to less than 10 per cent in 1955. read more
#28: A 20-year-old obese man can expect to live for 13 years less than average. read more
#17: Most living things can make vitamin C, but some that can't - including humans, other primates, guinea pigs and bats - rely on their diet to get it. read more
