As a nutrition student, I am obviously more interested than most people in the ingredients that make up the foods we regularly consume. This label-checking has become more than an occasional habit, and some people suggest it has become a little obsessive of late.
My obsession began when, on one of our family holidays abroad, I happened to keep the packaging from an internationally recognised candy brand. Upon buying the same brand in the UAE, I was surprised to see that although the bright packaging and smiling happy faces on the wrapper were identical, the listed ingredients were not.
I later discovered that the difference in ingredients was due in particular to six additives commonly used to colour food. In the European Union and North America, the use of these six additives has been controlled. Regulations require products using them to carry a warning label, and in the UK their use has been phased out altogether.
These additives have become internationally famous in the food world and are known as the "Southampton Six": Tartrazine (also known by its food identification number, E102), Quinoline Yellow (E104), Sunset Yellow (E110), Carmoisine (E122), Ponceau Red (E124) and the enticingly named Allura Red (E129). A packet of the same sweets bought in the capital at the weekend listed E110, E129 and E102, in that order, among its ingredients.
The restrictions on the additives' use, and their phasing out by some nations, is based on good science, specifically well-controlled research undertaken at Southampton University in the UK. This research showed very convincingly that the consumption of these additives caused hyperactivity in young children. So, limiting the Southampton Six is a reasonable and responsible decision, unless you value hyperactivity in young children.
The use of additives has a long history. Colorants have been added to food products for decades. As early as the 1880s, additives in the form of synthetic dyes were used to make food more compelling and eye-catching. Additives carry out a variety of useful functions and play a key role in maintaining the food qualities and characteristics that consumers desire.
Colorants are particularly useful when trying to catch the eyes and hearts of young children.
Cast your mind back a few years to the fad for unconventional colours, such as Heinz's EZ Squirt ketchup, which, in 2000, appeared in Blastin' Green.
The product was such a hit it increased the company's total sales of ketchup by more than five per cent, which led to the creation of other oddly coloured ketchups, such as Funky Purple, Stellar Blue and Mystery Colour.
OK, children like fun and children like colourful foods, but at what cost? For the UK government, at least, the line is drawn at hyperactivity and the child's long-term well-being.
But why should our children eat these additives and experience the consequences while children in the UK do not? In these days of globalisation, how can one global brand use different ingredients in different markets and pass the product off as the same thing? Is this something we should be concerned about? As part of my final-year research project I decided to find out.
What I wanted to find out was just how common the Southampton six are in the products we buy for our children from the country's supermarkets, petrol stations and general stores.
To explore this, I undertook an audit of the products on the shelves that would traditionally be consumed by children - sweets, soft drinks and crisps. In addition, I also looked at the food products going into the lunch boxes of my young nieces and nephews (nine children, aged eight to 14 years old).
The results amazed me and my project supervisor.
From my supermarket audit of 515 child-orientated products, 223 contained one or more of the Southampton Six, which works out to 43.3 per cent.
The worst category was candies, with 64.4 per cent of the products containing one or more of the Southampton Six.
The conclusion is clear - our children are routinely eating additives that are known to produce hyperactivity in youngsters.
We wonder in puzzlement at the behavioural decline in schools - perhaps diet plays a part.
Furthermore, the lunch box audit of my nieces and nephews spanned three consecutive school days and revealed that each child consumed at least four items over that period with one or more of the Southampton Six. There was not one day that any of my young family members did not consume an additive that has been phased out in other nations.
As a nutrition student about to graduate from Zayed University, I want to work towards ensuring continuous improvements in the health and well-being of our nation. Closer scrutiny and controls over the foods we eat has to be one key objective.
* The National
The specs
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The cost of Covid testing around the world
Egypt
Dh514 for citizens; Dh865 for tourists
Information can be found through VFS Global.
Jordan
Dh212
Centres include the Speciality Hospital, which now offers drive-through testing.
Cambodia
Dh478
Travel tests are managed by the Ministry of Health and National Institute of Public Health.
Zanzibar
AED 295
Zanzibar Public Health Emergency Operations Centre, located within the Lumumba Secondary School compound.
Abu Dhabi
Dh85
Abu Dhabi’s Seha has test centres throughout the UAE.
UK
From Dh400
Heathrow Airport now offers drive through and clinic-based testing, starting from Dh400 and up to Dh500 for the PCR test.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
SPECS
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How to tell if your child is being bullied at school
Sudden change in behaviour or displays higher levels of stress or anxiety
Shows signs of depression or isolation
Ability to sleep well diminishes
Academic performance begins to deteriorate
Changes in eating habits
Struggles to concentrate
Refuses to go to school
Behaviour changes and is aggressive towards siblings
Begins to use language they do not normally use
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
