I have just returned from Health Ingredients Europe in Amsterdam. A trip to HIE always results in ingesting some strange substances, but this year manufacturers seem to be getting quite adept at this product formulation thing. Most of what I ate was very pleasant indeed, as well as being good for me. I also saw more than one chart that plotted out where different ingredients were on the spectrum of sweet, bitter, etc. And the word on the street is: snackification. Eat your healthy food on the move, everyone.

Researchers are realising that it’s not just a matter of replacing sugar and fat with the products they make – different ingredients have different flavour profiles depending on source and growing conditions. This is particularly true as most of the ingredients come from plant or animal sources. As a result, they are doing the groundwork for processors in the labs. It all adds up to good business.

The highlight of the visit (or low point, depending on how fat I feel), was getting my body composition analysed at the Carbery stand. I still feel that Ms Halliham did not give me enough credit for my very heavy clothes (from the result, I can only assume I was unknowingly carrying around lead bars), but it was an interesting execise. Apparently my right arm is more muscley than my left arm, which I guess shows that I am right-handed. And my metabolic age is two years older than what it says on the birth certificate.

I was feeling gloomy about the results, until my colleagues also went and got themselves analysed. They are much younger than me, but the result showed we’re all kind of the same age group, metabolically. I cheered right up after that. Misery loves company!