As a bid to cut their carbon footprint, the NHS has pledged to provide more meat-free meals.

Dr David Pencheon, director of the NHS sustainable development unit, told the Guardian “we should not expect to see meat on every menu. We’d like higher levels of fresh food, and probably higher levels of fresh fruit and veg, and more investment in a local economy.” This is terrific news not only for the environment but also for the nation’s health.

A Which? survey in 2007 found that one in three people were unhappy with hospital food. A quarter of the 1000 patients surveyed said the food was so bad they had to buy their own; one patient also reported their horror at being served pie and chips when they could hardly even manage to drink fluids due to tonsillitis and an abscess.

As if the food served in the hospital canteens are not bad enough (often serving pizzas, pies, chips and burgers) there are even some hospitals which have a Burger King within the grounds, such as Southampton general hospital, Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge, Mayday University hospital in Croydon and Rotherham general hospital. Visiting these hospitals could actually increase your risk of life-threatening conditions such as heart disease and cancer!

Has your hospital visit increased your risk of disease?

Considering the release of the World Cancer Research Fund report in 2007 which gave the stern warning that there is no safe level of processed meat consumption with regards to cancer risk, it is shocking to discover that any hospital would allow a Burger King outlet anywhere near their patients. In particular, Addenbrooke Hospital has an Oncology Centre, linked with six other cancer units in the region.

So, let’s hope that this news from the NHS will result in lots of fresh, healthy fruit, vegetables and whole grains appearing on hospital plates from now on, and happier, faster healing patients as a consequence (not to mention a healthier planet as well of course).

Find out more about food choices that are sustainable, equitable and environmentally responsible.

“It’s like having a live, wriggling, muscular eel poking its head through your anus the wrong way, having a quick peer round your rectum, and then swiftly exiting with a pop you can feel, although thankfully not hear” - the digital rectal examination as described by Jonathan Margolis on The Times Online website.

He was having a check up for prostate cancer, and rightly so considering there are 35,000 new cases of prostate cancer per annum in the UK, and it kills 10,000 British men a year.

According to The NHS Direct website, vegetarians are half as likely to get prostate cancer as meat-eaters, so we all know what you need to do if you’re not a fan of ’wriggling eels’ in your rectum!

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