She was a selfless and dedicated scientist who among her many accolades in 60 years of research co-wrote the pioneering text The Composition of Foods (still the leading resource in food science), was responsible for the first compulsory food additive for health (calcium in bread) and preserved the health of the country in difficult times, overseeing the rationing of food in Britain during and after World War II.

In December last year the Royal Society of Chemistry awarded Chemical Landmark status to the Elsie Widdowson laboratory at MRC Human Nutrition Research in Cambridge. I attended the plaque unveiling, which followed a lovely talk by the Director of the facility Dr Ann Prentice, and had the chance to chat with people who knew and worked with Dr Widdowson (“oh please, call her Elsie”, I was berated). They all spoke of her passion for science, her warmth and her empathy.

Elsie was delighted to have the building named after her, and cut the first sod in 1999, but sadly passed away at the age of 93 before its completion in 2001. Her long life may have been down in part to her nutritional expertise, but is astounding considering her experimental prodcedures: she would always try experiments on herself before asking anyone else.

She said in her biography: “We did not believe that we should use human subjects in experiments that involved any pain hardship or danger, unless we had made the same experiments on ourselves.”

Elsie gained a degree in chemistry and PhD from Imperial College London in 1928, studying the carbohydrate content of apples for her thesis. When observing large-scale cooking in a hospital kitchen, she met a doctor studying cooked meat named Robert McCance. Their common interests led to an MRC research grant for both to work together, the first venture of a 60-year scientific partnership.

The pair shortly realised the need for a single authoritative source of composition data for food, so set about writing one in 1934. The first edition of  “The Composition of Foods” was published in 1940 and is more commonly now known simply as “McCance & Widdowson”. Now in its sixth edition, the book is published by the RSC and endorsed by the Food Standards Agency.

As war began in Europe in 1939, McCance and Widdowson studied the effects of rationing food, with a view to determining the bare essentials for a healthy population. As ever they began with themselves, living on a meagre diet for three months then undertaking a 36-mile walk through the Lake District in 12 hours! The two deduced that calcium supplements (delivered in bread) would be important for the wartime dairy-restricted diet, and consequently they were made responsible by the Government for national wartime and post-war rationing. It’s often said that under their rationing Britain had the healthiest diet it has ever had.

After the war they worked in Germany for a few years, after which they were both elected Fellows of the Royal Society. Moving back to England they continued their studies on malnutrition. Elsie was appointed Head of Infant Nutrition Research at the Dunn Nutrition Laboratory, and after a brief spell of retirement moved to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge in the Department of Investigative Medicine.

Elsie was made President of the Nutrition Society, Neonate Society and the British Nutrition Foundation, awarded many other medals and awards, appointed CBE in 1977 and in 1993 made a Companion of Honour, a fitting recognition of a lifetime dedicated to science. The UK owes Elsie its continued health after devastating war, and her rigour and fairness of scientific method should be an aspiration of all scientists.

[I originally wrote this on tumblr, here: jonedwards.tumblr...]

So let us look now to the most famous of sticky sauces, Lyle’s Golden Syrup. Everyone knows the century-old design: a round tin can with a lid you prise off with a knife; racing green bodywork with the golden words arching over a central picture of… of what is it again? A lion or something?

Look closely. It’s a lion alright, but a dead, rotting lion, and emanating from its stomach is a pestilential-looking swarm of bees. A more grotesque image for a foodstuff one can hardly imagine!

Under this disturbing logo are the words: “Out of the strong came forth sweetness”, a reference by its strongly-religious creator Abram Lyle to a scene in the Bible. Samson (of Delilah fame) saw in the desert a lion carcass which housed a honeycomb. For some reason Lyle thought this an appropriate way to sell his pancake topping.

Lyle's Golden Syrup - the most disturbing brand ever?

This marketing incongruity has puzzled us at the RSC. Clearly a household name and well-respected brand, Lyle’s Golden Syrup is as ubiquitous as Nike or Coca-Cola ever will be. EDIT: Our anonymous tipster below reports Lyle’s is “Britain’s oldest brand” according to the Guinness Book of Records. So the lion corpse definitely hasn’t done them any harm!

But have you ever even noticed that dead lion on the front? Now that you’ve seen it, does it put you off buying golden syrup? Is there a hidden champion of food producers with disgusting marketing that could tip Lyle’s to the title? Tell us below in the comments.

As reported in today’s Metro, we’re appealing to the public on this contentious issue: should you reboil or refill a kettle for that second cuppa? The best answer wins a trip down to London for two people to indulge in a British instution: tea at the Ritz.

There’s a huge body of opinion that maintains a bad-tasting brew is inevitable if you reuse water once boiled – some say it rids the water of taste-enhancing dissolved oxygen gas. There are others who heard from their grannies that reboiled water causes cancer.

But some say that the difference in taste and composition is minimal, and a new draught of water is just a waste of a precious resource – not to mention more expensive. Still others say it makes no difference at all!

Arguments about limescale, dissolved gases… surely this is just chemistry, yes? So there must be a scientific explanation for all this.

Explain your choice of reboiled or reused water, in a clear and scientific manner, in a comment to this post. The answer we judge to be the best will win a trip for two to London, and tea at the Ritz hotel on Piccadilly – incidentally just a few steps down the road from home of the RSC, Burlington House.

We’ll be closing comments on 30 June, so pull up your favourite search engine, give your granny a ring and present your theory below!

Click here if you can’t see the comments box.

Today saw people flooding in to Burlington House’s courtyard from Piccadilly to try the RSC’s authentic Dickensian gruel. Held to order by the terrifying Mr Bumble, the public tucked into their traditional 1850s London workhouse cuisine.

The gruel was cooked up by our own chef Fabien Aid, and received mixed opinions: most thought the gruel itself was a tasty porridge, but the addition of onions certainly ruined a few officer-workers’ afternoons – or at least their colleagues’.

Giving out gruel – and thereby feeding the masses – serves to highlight the RSC’s upcoming report on food, “The Vital Ingredient“, which is launched later this month, and the RSC’s theme of food for 2009.

The pictures below were taken for the Press Association. Click each thumbnail to see the larger image, and the wide variety of faces people pulled while eating the gruel!

And if photos aren’t enough for you, here’s the news footage that appeared on Virgin news, MSN news and Daily Mirror videos… follow this link (goes to MSN News Videos).

Garlic: the saviour for diabetics?

The new drug, based on allixin, a compound found in garlic, can be administered orally – perhaps as a tablet – and effectively lowers the blood glucose level of type 1 diabetic mice, the study has found.

Type 1 diabetics currently stick to a daily regime of self-injection with insulin, whereas type 2 diabetics are treated with oral drugs, sometimes leading to undesirable side-effects.

This is a great story from the first round of Advance Articles from our new journal, Metallomics, the first issue of which will be published next year.

The article itself, by Hiromu Sakurai and colleagues at the Suzuka University of Medical Science, Japan, is available free here.

Personally I wonder if a garlic-based drug would give you bad breath… any other opinions on this?

EDIT 2: The amended recipe is now included in this post.

EDIT the third!: to complete the chemistry-perfected roast dinner, you could check out chemically-perfect gravy

The RSC made the bold proclaimation today that Yorkshire puddings simply aren’t up to scratch unless they rise to four inches or higher.

With the collaboration of Dr John Emsley – chemist, RSC author, and proud Yorkshireman – the RSC established that the perfect Yorkshire stands at just over four inches, with a light, fluffy texture and crisp exterior.

It all started with a chap called Ian Lyness, who called the RSC to complain about his lack of Yorkshire success in Boulder, Colorado. “Is it the pressure difference?” he asked us. An investigation is under way.

Incisive science writer and Twitter giant David Bradley told us the American equivalent for the famous Northern stomach-filler is a “popover“. Curious.

This is just the beginning for the RSC in the kitchen. 2009 will see the RSC focus its energies on a food theme, a year-long campaign with food-related events and exhibitions to highlight the importance of chemistry in food.

If you’ve been having trouble with this savoury delight, try the experts’ recipe below.

EDIT: This has been scaled up to nicely fit a 10″x8″ tin.

The Royal Society of Chemistry Yorkshire Pudding

Ingredients

100 g polysaccharide powder, kitchen grade (flour)
1 g sodium chloride, NaCl, table grade (salt)
2 medium eggs
Solution of 100 cm³ reduced-lipid bovine lactate (milk), 50 cm³ H₂O (water)

Method

Put flour in a bowl, make a well in the middle, add the egg, stir until the two are combined then start gradually adding the milk and water combining as you go.

Add the liquid until the batter is a smooth and thin consistency.

Stir in half teaspoon of salt and leave to stand for 10 minutes

Put beef dripping into Yorkshire pudding tins or into one large tin but don’t use too much fat.

Put into hot oven until the fat starts to smoke.

Give the batter a final stir and pour into the tin or tins.

Place in hot oven until well risen – should take 10 to 15 minutes.

Serve

Always serve as a separate course before the main meal and use the best gravy made from the juices of the roast joint. Yorkshire housewives served Yorkshire pudding before the meal so that they would eat less of the more expensive main course.

NB: When the batter is made it must not be placed in the fridge but be kept at room temperature.