Eat away infecton
The British Nutrition Foundation outlines key nutrients that can help children and parents fight off illnesses. LISA SALMON looks at where you can find them
HAVING a healthy immune system is vital for both children and adults – and what we eat plays a major part in this. To make it clearer to parents which foods can help keep children and young people’s immune systems healthy, the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) has put together a list of the key nutrients for the job.
As well as protein and omega-3 fats, a number of vitamins and minerals have key roles in supporting the immune system.
The BNF says they are:
VITAMIN A
Found in: Eggs, cheese, whole milk, liver. The body can also make vitamin A from beta-carotene, found in dark green leafy vegetables, orangecoloured fruits and vegetables (eg. carrots and melon).
VITAMIN B6
Found in: Poultry, fish, fortified breakfast cereals, chickpeas, soya beans, some fruit and vegetables (eg. bananas, avocados, green peppers), nuts and seeds.
A banana offers around a third of the vitamin B6 needed for a four to 10-year-old. A snack of walnuts (20g, or six halves) provides around 10% of the recommended daily vitamin
B6 requirement for teens and adults.
VITAMIN B12
Found in: Meat, fish, milk, cheese, eggs, fortified breakfast cereals, fortified milk alternatives.
Two tablespoons of tuna in a sandwich can provide all the vitamin B12 a child needs for the day, and two poached eggs will cover adults and teens’ daily B12 needs.
VITAMIN C
Found in:
Citrus fruits, berries, kiwi fruit, green vegetables, cauliflower, peppers, tomatoes.
Broccoli is a good vitamin C provider – five small steamed florets will provide under 11s with the vitamin C they need for the day.
COPPER
Found in: Wholegrain breakfast cereals, wholewheat pasta, couscous, quinoa, shellfish, pulses, dried fruit.
Baked beans are an easy source of copper that children enjoy. For teenagers and adults pulses used in soups, stews, and curries are good way to boost intake.
VITAMIN D
Found in: Oily fish, eggs, some fortified breakfast cereals, some fortified dairy and dairy alternative products (check labels).
FOLATE
Found in: Green vegetables (eg. broccoli, cabbage, spinach), chickpeas, oranges, berries, cheese, wholemeal bread. Green veg are packed with folate, whether it’s peas, plenty of lettuce or pak choi in stir fries.
IRON
Found in:
Red meat, pulses, nut butters and seed pastes like peanut butter and tahini, fortified breakfast cereals, wholemeal bread, dried fruit.
Surveys suggest around half of teenage girls and a quarter of women may have low iron intake. Vitamin C can help the body absorb iron, so try a glass of orange juice with fortified breakfast cereal.
SELENIUM
Found in: Nuts and seeds (particularly Brazil nuts, cashews and sunflower seeds. For children under five years, nuts and seeds should be offered ground or as a nut butter/ seed paste to reduce the risk of choking), eggs, poultry, fish, shellfish.
Fish is a great selenium provider – teens and adults should eat at least two portions a week, one of which should be oily (salmon, sardines).
ZINC
Found in: Meat, poultry, cheese, nuts and seeds, some shellfish (like crab and mussels), wholegrain breakfast cereals, wholegrain and seeded breads.
Lean beef mince is a good source of zinc, so favourites like chilli, meatballs and cottage pie will all boost zinc intake. Wholegrains are also a source of zinc so try a cheese sandwich on wholegrain bread.
THE restoration of one of the rarest Aston Martins in the world has reached the halfway point as people around the world continue to follow the progress of the painstaking Bulldog project.
The restoration of the only Aston Martin Bulldog by Classic Motor Cars in Bridgnorth, Shropshire is being followed by thousands of people worldwide on social media, in motoring magazines and newspapers.
The Bulldog is one of the rarest cars ever produced by Aston Martin.
It was styled by William Towns in the 1970s but never went into production.
The avant-garde wedgeshaped Bulldog was designed in the late seventies to show off the capabilities of Aston Martin’s then new engineering facility in Newport Pagnell.
The vehicle produced was a one-off concept car as Aston Martin attempted to prove it was not only a small company of renowned motoring artisans but that its engineering prowess was also world class.
The aim was to produce the fastest production car in the world and have a limited production run.
Aston Martin hoped that the car would be capable of reaching a top speed of more than 200mph.
When fully restored the seventies supercar is to be driven to its intended top speed - a feat it never achieved at the time.
After the launch of the car, and its abortive run to reach 200mph to claim the production car speed record, it disappeared into obscurity.
The Bulldog was officially launched on March 27 1980 at the Bell Hotel at Aston Clinton.
Richard Gauntlett, son of the late Victor Gauntlett (former CEO and chairman of Aston Martin) is project managing the restoration.
He said: “The Bulldog became something of a mythical beast, lots of people knew about it and wondered where it was after it was sold by Aston Martin to an owner in the Middle East. It then disappeared from general view.
“There were sightings all over the world, In the late 1980s it was spotted in a lock up in Arizona, it was back in the Middle East in the 1990s but it was RM Sotheby’s who tracked it down in Asia.”
He added: “With top restoration company, CMC being chosen to carry out the 18 months-plus restoration and get the car ready for its 200mph run, the Bulldog was coming home. The car had come full circle not only geographically but in terms of its history. While the physical restoration has been going on at CMC, a huge amount of work continues to be done forensically piecing together the full history of where the car has been.”
RM Sotheby’s car specialist Alexander Weaver said: “Our team of Car Specialists is always on the hunt for unique, elusive or obscure cars on behalf of our clients and the Aston Martin Bulldog fit that bill perfectly.
“We found this one-of-akind concept within an exceptional collection where it had quietly resided for decades.
As one would expect we were keen to facilitate its sale knowing the interest in it would be strong.”
He added: “After extensive discussions and negotiations, the owner agreed to part with the long hidden Bulldog and we were able to facilitate a sale to our client and friend Phillip Sarofim, through our private sales division.
“We are certainly excited to see the car undergo the restoration to its former glory and I’m personally eager to see the Bulldog crack 200mph, as it was intended and came so close.
Nigel Woodward, managing director at CMC, said: “Bulldog has been with us for nearly a year and in that time, we have carefully dismantled the car, meticulously recording every detail of its construction.
“We have peeled back some of the later additions and modifications that had been carried out to the car after it left Aston Martin, and the process is now well underway to return the car to its former glory.”
CMC has been at the forefront of classic car restoration for the last 25 years starting with Jaguar and then moving on to other marques, including Aston Martin.
CMC is carrying out a nut and bolt restoration of the Bulldog, after which the owner plans to run the car at over 200mph and then take it on a world tour.
Restoring the Bulldog to its original specification will involve about 3,500 hours of work over an 18-month period.
Although the Bulldog was built in the UK, it is left-handdrive. The Bulldog featured five centre-mounted, hidden headlamps, as well as gullwing doors.
It was powered by a 5.3-litre V8 with twin turbochargers that produced 600bhp. Inside, the interior was upholstered in leather and used LED buttons like the Lagonda.
Aston Martin planned to build 15-25 Bulldogs but testing and development were curtailed with the car tantalisingly close to its intended top speed, having achieved 192mph miles per hour in testing at the MIRA test track in Nuneaton.
When Victor Gauntlett became chairman of Aston Martin in 1981 he decided the project would be too costly and the Bulldog was shelved.
In 1984 Aston Martin sold the only Bulldog to a Middle Eastern collector for £130,000.
The Bulldog was later sold to an American collector and spent some time in the States.