Six Australians have developed acute liver failure after purchasing counterfeit weight loss peptides online. The TGA and the Victorian Department of Health have both issued urgent warnings this week. And yet these products are still a Google search away from anyone who wants them.
If you have seen retatrutide or any weight loss peptide being promoted on TikTok or Instagram, or you know someone who has bought one through a gym contact, a beauty clinic, or an online supplier, this episode is essential listening.
Leanne and Susie cover the full picture this week: what these peptides actually are, why buying them outside of a prescription is genuinely life-threatening, and what you should do instead if weight loss medication is something you are considering.
In this episode:
- The breaking Australian story: six people in acute liver failure after purchasing counterfeit retatrutide, what happened, how they obtained it, and the urgent warning now issued by the TGA and the Victorian Department of Health
- What retatrutide actually is, where it is in the clinical trial process, and why it is not approved in Australia regardless of what you have seen promoted online
- Why buying weight loss peptides outside of a prescription is not a grey area: the comparison to buying illicit drugs off the street, what contaminants and counterfeit ingredients can do, and why there is no coming back from liver failure
- The right way to access weight loss medication in Australia if it is appropriate for you, what a proper prescription process looks like, and why doing it correctly is not as difficult or expensive as people assume
- New research from over 83,000 people published in the Journal of Nutrition: which of the five most well-regarded healthy eating patterns performs best for people with high blood pressure, and why the result confirms what dietitians have been saying for decades
- What the DASH diet actually requires in terms of fruit and vegetable intake, why most people who think they are following it are not eating anywhere near enough plant food, and the sodium-to-potassium ratio that makes the biggest difference to blood pressure
- The Campbell's Gut Goodness Bone Broth reviewed: 20 grams of protein per pack, Monash low FODMAP certified, acacia prebiotic fibre, less than 300 milligrams of sodium per serve, and a clean ingredient list that genuinely impressed both Leanne and Susie
- Thaumatin: what it is, where it comes from, why it sounds more alarming than it is, how it compares to stevia and monk fruit, and whether it is safe to consume
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Chances are you know someone who is using weight loss medication.
You may even know someone who has tried peptide injections
to help them lose weight. On today's episode of The
Nutrition Couch, we discussed the pros and cons of weight
loss medications, particularly for the growing range of off label options,
and shares some pretty significant warnings about buying such products online. Hi,
(00:25):
I'm Susie.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Burrow and I'm Leanne Ward.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
And together we bring you The Nutrition Couch, the weekly
podcast that keeps you up to date with everything you
need to know in the world of nutrition, as well
as all things weight loss injections. We look at some
new research that investigates what is the best diet if
you have high blood pressure. We have a brand new
suit base to share with you that has some outstanding
nutritional qualities, and our listener question is all about a
(00:49):
new sweetener doing the rounds now.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Leanne.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I don't know about you, and we have touched on
this briefly before certainly doing the rounds. On my social
media is a lot about peptide injections and specifically buying
specific peptides for weight loss. And it was interesting because
a friend of mine's brother had a shoulder reconstruction recently,
(01:13):
and he lives in the States, and he had access
to recommended peptides through I'm not sure who peptides that
were supposed to support I guess collagen regeneration and repair,
and indeed he had some excellent results from it. But
the issue, of course is that a lot of these
products are not approved. And I had thought to myself, oh,
(01:39):
it sounds good in theory. You read all about the benefits,
and you know you don't have to worry about a
weight loss injection. You can just go and buy one
of these peptides. But alas, over the weekend we had
a news report come through from Melbourne to say that
five or six people had been buying a counterfeit version
of one of these peptides, which had been labeled as retrotruetide,
(02:04):
which is the one that's sort of been sprouted as
having these superior or similar effects to a GLP one.
In a way, you can just buy and inject yourself,
and these poor women, I'm assuming they're women, it doesn't say,
are now in liver failure. And basically, once you stuff
your liver up, it's pretty difficult to get it right.
(02:25):
Again because they're buying basically some dodgy drugs that aren't
doing what they say they're going to do, and they've
basically poisoned their body. Now, because this is becoming so mainstream,
I feel like we're just going to see more and
more and more of it, and I think it just
shows the seriousness of it and using weight loss medication
(02:45):
should never be taken lightly. And based on that, I
would be saying, you know, if you it's like buying
drugs on the street, you know, you just don't know
what you're going to get, and most people are probably
going to be okay, but you don't want to be
the one who's not. Because ultimately, these drugs in their
purest form of stimulating the pancreas, even though we use
them in tiny amounts, like we're talking zero point two
(03:07):
five of a meal, this is how powerful hormones and
peptides are in the body. And it just is a reminder,
you know, if you're not buying a brand from a chemist,
it's very very dangerous to be buying stuff online that
you don't know where it comes from. Because there's no
coming back from liver failure. You often they'll need a
liver transplant and if you don't get it, you just die.
Like it's pretty brutal, but that's the reality of it.
(03:30):
So it's just a reminder that we need to be
super careful and whilst there's plenty of discussion and chat
around these peptides and just everyone should be taking these,
these are serious drugs and it's not to be taken
lightly and don't get sucked in by a recommendation at
the gym or from someone who's buying it from someone's friend,
because you don't want to be the one who gets
the dodgy product.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Yeah, I couldn't say it better myself. And it's interesting
because Redder, which is upply called all of a TikTok
and Instagram, it's it's certainly having its moment and it
is going through experimental clinical trials at the moment.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
So what is a legitimate drug.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
It's an obesity medication, particularly in America, there's been a
lot of clinical trials and indeed they do show impressive
weight loss results. But the kicker is though it's still
going through their experimental clinical trials and it has not
been approved in Australia yet, So no matter what, whoever
is marketing at you in Australia. At the time of recording,
(04:25):
it has not been approved, and so the Victorian Department
of Health and the TTA have both come out this
week to basically issue a really urgent warning after six
people developed acute liver failure and injuries using basically products
sold as Redda essentially, so you'll see it every way.
It's all over tik doc, it's all over Instagram, but
(04:45):
it is not actually approved in Australia. And I'll just
read a little snippet of the article if Bykean Suzi,
because this just goes to show, I guess, potentially how
desperate people are, or how willing people are to just
take things off the advice of others. In the article
talks about a lady who went in to liver failure
and will call her m And basically she became interested
(05:07):
in rheta after seeing all of these videos of women
losing weight on TikTok and Instagram and I think a
lot you know, from America as well, and then she
was looking it up and couldn't find anywhere to buy it,
so then she kind of forgot about it. And then
it says late last year and went to her beauty appointment,
and then she just happened to mention to her beauty
clinician that she was interested in this drug called RHTTA
to lose weight, but she couldn't find it anywhere. So
(05:30):
then her beauty technician, whoever she is, says that she's
got a selection of off market peptides bought very high
quality from a Chinese manufacturer, and she said, if you
pay cash, I can basically supply it. And that is
the issue, Susie, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Like?
Speaker 3 (05:44):
I do hope that there's actually some legal ramifications for
these people selling these peptides, because certainly they're not registered.
I don't know where they're getting or obviously China, but
you know what I mean, These aren't doctors, you're not
writing a prescription, you're not buying them from a chemist.
So that in itself sets of multiple red flags in
my brain. I'd run a million miles away, but I'm very,
(06:04):
I guess, cautious when it comes to these things. So
there are certainly weight loss medications that work. There are
certainly weightless medications that are very safe, but you need
to have a proper script from your doctor, and you
need to know where these things are coming from, because
otherwise you're basically just paying like roulette, really, aren't you?
Like it's it can have very dire consequences, and I
think that this is why the Victorian government and the
(06:25):
Isterraine government and the TGA have all come out this
week to say be very very careful where you're buying
these peptides from, because it's not just weight loss. People
are using them for you know, beauty and anti aging
and longevity. Like there's a whole range of different peptides
out there, and they're absolutely they're going crazy in America.
They're everywhere, and they're very easy to access as well.
(06:46):
But just because they're easy to access doesn't necessarily mean
that they're safe and they're effective as well. So I
think a little bit of due diligence does go a
long way, doesn't it. Well.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I'm hearing a lot about them at the gym, so
personal trainers and Jim Brows are having access. And the
truth is it could be from anywhere, like it could
be from a reputable agency like I saw online that
there's some science slubs in the Australas selling them direct and
they say for experimental purposes, for research, but there's obviously
no control over it. And this is the problem with
government agencies because this, as you describe, this has been
(07:17):
going rife on TikTok for months, if not years. You know,
we've been hearing about these, so you know, young people
in particular are hearing about these years in advance, and
they're hearing that they're available overseas and they're wanting it
here and we've got no regulation. Really, we're so delayed.
You know, you can absolutely go on and buy these
peptides online now and have them at your house tomorrow.
(07:37):
So I think our job is to remind everyone these
are serious molecules, and you know, in many cases you
might be okay, but as I said, the consequence is
a dire if you get the wrong one. So what
I would say is, if you're someone who would never
go and inject heroin off the street, you probably shouldn't
go and pick up some peptides and give it a go,
(07:57):
because it's that dangerous because if you take the wrong
way and you could be dead and have liver failure.
Like it's not to be sneezed out like I think,
because it's weight loss and skin held we think that
it's it's not as dangerous, but it's every bit as
dangerous as a list of drugs if it gets in
the wrong hands. That's how powerful these molecules are. So
don't you know, if you've got some hot trainer or
buffed up PTE telling you how great they are, go
(08:17):
back to the steroid days of the eighties and nineties,
you know, I just don't take the risk. It's too important.
You don't get another liver. So you know, there are
ways you can get approve weight loss medications. It's actually
not overly difficult. Now I've got clients going to GPS
and being readily offered them. If it's the right decision
for you, go and do it the right way, because again,
(08:38):
they're not that cheap. They're hundreds of dollars. It's not
like you're getting a bargain, so you know you will
pay for it. So just take that due diligence and
just you know. They are super dangerous if they're wrong
and they're not what they say they are, or even
if they're contraindicated for you. So I think we'll see
more of this, We'll see deaths, et cetera from it,
because it's so rife out there. If you can just
(08:58):
go online and get it and without the education and
think that it's saved or trust the person you're getting
it from, you only need one bad batch and then
you're in big, big trouble.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
And I will say that the authorities believe these are
six cases of liver toxicity. Actually they think it's been
linked to contaminants or counterfeit ingredients. So they do sort
of believe that RHTA itself is safe. But the problem
is when you're buying it from you know, some beauty
technician who's sourced QTE unquote high quality from China, it
could have contaminants in it, it could have counterfeit ingredients
(09:29):
in it. You don't actually know what it is. So yeah,
if you're going to do it, we are not anti
weight loss medications on the podcast, not at all, but
we are about getting it the right way through the
correct sources that are actually legal and safe in Australia
and TGA approved. That's probably the most important thing. So
don't do it as a way to think, oh, I'll
save money, because you might save money, but it might
(09:49):
not save your liver in the long run. So you've
got to do it if you're going to do it properly,
pay the price, get the appointment, get the prescription, and
get it from a reputable chemist. That's sort of the
bottom line on the nutrition coutch, isn't that it is?
Speaker 1 (10:01):
It is absolutely and ultimately, as we also know ly end,
there's no easy way to lose weight, even though you
can try these medications or try these peptides, if you
don't do the work ultimately of eating less and moving more,
it will platau out eventually. So I think we're about
to see a whole lot of that, even more so now.
So it's a fascinating time, but you know, interesting times
(10:21):
for the regulators. They need to get a hurry on
about managing some of these online sites because I just
think it's so easy, Like I just googled it and
about five came up. You know, how can the TJ
not be able to put a stop to that straight away? Like,
you know, it shouldn't be that easy. But that's what's
going on out there. So it's tricky times all rightly.
And well, in the last few months, I've had quite
a few clients come through who are managing high blood
(10:43):
pressure with medication, and I thought it's a common issue
relatively as we get older, people might have familial hypertension
or have always been managing high blood pressure. And we
have a brand new, big study looking at what is
the latest on the science when it comes to manage
blood pressure with dietary intervention.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Definitely, yeah, high blood pressure is definitely a topic of interests.
We get questions on it all the time. And there
are many many healthy diets out there. Right, You've got
just standed healthy eating, You've got something like a Mediterranean diet,
you've got a plant based art, you can have an
anti inflammatory style of eating. So when it comes to
actually lowering your blood pressure, how do we know what's
actually the right diet for us or the right type
(11:25):
of eating for us. So we have known for quite
a while that there is a certain dietary pattern, which
I'll get into in a minute, but this is just
really nice to basically confirm what as dietitians we tell
our clients is still accurate and still the most up
to date evidence. So there was a very large scale
study published over eighty thousand people, which is very significant,
(11:46):
published in the Journal of Nutrition, so a very reputable journal,
and it basically compared five really well regarded dietary patterns.
So they were the DASH so the dietary approaches to
stop hypertension, the AHEI dietary pattern, the AMED dietary pattern
which is like a Mediterranean diet, the PDI which is
(12:06):
the plant based diet index, and also the EPID more
of an anti inflammatory diet pattern.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
So they basically.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Compared that diet pattern and looked at dietary patterns from
those diets within people with high blood pressure. So they
had eighty just over eighty three thousand people from the
biobank in UK, and all of these people had high
blood pressure, however, they had no prior heart disease. And
they took every person's diet in the study and they
(12:36):
scored it against these five established healthy eating dietary patterns,
and they basically gave them different scores. Now, all of
these diets had to focus on what we would call
healthy eating right, lots of fruits, lots of vegetables, whole grains,
low fat, dairy, leaner proteins, things like fish and chicken,
nuts and legumes, and they all seemed to kind of
limit that overly processed food, sodium added sugar, saturated fat.
(13:00):
So all of these diets were what we would say
as dietitians, would be healthy eating patterns. Researchers then took
these people and tracked their heart disease outcomes and overall
mortality over time. So the most interesting thing here is
susy that the DASH diet, which stands for Dietary Approaches
to Stop Hypertension, that DASH diet outperformed every other healthy
(13:22):
eating diet when it came to heart disease risk and longevity.
So basically, people who followed the DASH diet the least closely,
they compared those to people who followed it the most closely,
and those people who followed the DASH diet the most
closely had a fifteen percent lower risk of heart disease
and a twenty two percent lower risk of dyeing from
(13:42):
any cause. So they're actually pretty significant numbers in a
group that already had like an elevated cardiovascular risks. Basically,
so across all five dietary patterns, fifteen to twenty two
percent or cause mortality, which is a really really strong association.
And in that population group, the Mediterranean diet and also
(14:03):
the plant based diet, it also did not appear to
be associated with a heart disease risks. So we already
know that both of those dietary patterns have positive health outcomes.
They appear to reduce the risk of chronic diseases. But
for blood pressure specifically, the DASH diet was actually the
most like mostly associated with better blood pressure outcomes than
most of the other popular healthy eating patterns. So that's
(14:26):
really good because as dieticians, we've known for a long time,
like we've had decades of research that shows that the
DASH diet is always the gold standard approach for dietary
intervention when it comes to high pertension and high blood pressure. However,
this is just another study, a very large study in
a very reputable journal that basically confirms that. So if
you have high blood pressure, the bottom line is the
(14:47):
best style of eating for you is the dietary approaches
to stop hypertension or what is formally called or basically
called the DASH diet.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
DASH. So interesting, Susie.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
But not new, Like, it's not any new research really,
it just kind of confirms what we have known for
a while that the DASH diet is very very effective
for high blood pressure.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
True, and you can get about ten percent I think
that's the data set reduction in blood pressure from following
that diet. And it's like people think that they eat
the Dash diet, but they don't eat anywhere near the
volume of plant foods required to get those benefits. So
I think it comes back down to super loading the
fresh fruits and vegetables. You want ten seven to ten
serves per day because they're extremely high and potassium, which
(15:29):
helps to buffer the sodium. The legum component is big,
as well as the dairy food and limiting the ultra
processed foods because when you look at foods that are
particularly high in sodium, it really as soon as you
eliminate ultra process fast type foods like meal deals and
eating out, that's where we get the bulk of sodium from.
It's super interesting. So yeah, we can't just take out
(15:52):
the bits of the diet we like and ditch the rest.
It's about the overall keeping it as least processed as possible,
well go a long way, and keeping your overall ratios
of sodium, potassium and such a positive ratio as they
are when it comes to the Dash diet. All right, Leanne, Well,
I've been shopping because it is soup season and my
(16:12):
tail was wagging when I came across a whole new
range of bone broths and soups in the supermarket. Campbell's
have released a whole new super range of soups. Now,
anyone who follows my content will know that I am
a soup lover from way back. I'm about to go
to the States and one of the things I love
there is when you go to the diners, they have
(16:33):
these amazing soups like chowder and mushroom and all these
just amazing soups with a sandwich.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
There would be very few weeks in my house go
pass when I don't make a soup. I find it
a great lighter option in the first half of the week.
I find that if I get sick of eating vegetables,
just I can have a bowl of soup. I've done
a brand new green soup. I do a bean and
my famous detox soup. I'm so over myself. But very
very popular is just getting those veggie serves and you
(17:00):
know you're in Queensland. It's not as cool as it
is in the Southern States, but it's certainly soup season.
And the one I picked up particularly to review on
the podcast is one lean that's right up your alley
because it's all about digestive health. So that my tail
started wagging a little bit more when I saw that,
because this real bone broth they're going to a review
today is called gut Goodness, and I thought, oh, that's
(17:22):
a very interesting concept. And the call outs on the
front of pack include contained prebiotics, five chosen the chicken,
it's free range chicken, contains collagen, and then twenty grams
of protein per pack, which is actually massive because normally
in a stock or in a bone broth, you wouldn't
get such high amounts of protein, Like twenty grams in
five hundred mili is huge, Like you're adding that into
(17:44):
your soup. Fantastic when it comes to creating really well
balanced meals. And then as well, it's monash low fodmap approved,
which is a topic that will be of interest to
some of our listeners because if you've got irritable BAU
and a avoiding fodmap, you'll know that soup's can be
tricky because if they've got an onion garlic base, they
can upset tummies. Whereas this is a low fodmap approved
(18:06):
stock or I should say, bone broth, not a stock.
So yeah, what is a bone broth? Well, basically, a
bone broth is a base which has been made with
the actual bones, and the benefit of that means that
in this instance you're getting a higher protein base. But
from a nutrition perspective, one of the areas we'll talk
(18:26):
about is when it's got a bone base, you're getting
a molecule called carnosine, which is an amino acid, and
that specifically has been shown to have benefits when it
comes to immune function. So when you hear you know,
if you're on well have chicken soup, it actually comes
from a science which is interesting, so it can basically
improve the body's immune response. So there's three of these,
(18:48):
but I've chosen this gut goodness because I work on
a podcast with Leanne Warden. She's a digestive health expert.
So I'll read you the ingredients. So the first ingredient
is free range chicken bone broth, which includes water, free
range chicken bones, vegetable fiber which is your prebiotics, the
acacia gum am I saying that right, acacia glucose, salt pepper,
(19:10):
natural antioxidant, and if I look at the nutritionals as expected,
any kind of base to a super stock or a
bone broth would be pretty low. So based on a
single serve, it's fifty one calories ten grams of protein,
which is two hundred and fifty mili half the packet,
and it has got less than one grammar sugar, less
than one grammar carbohydrate, two point three grams of dietary
(19:32):
fiber coming from that acacia gum, and two hundred and
ninety four milligrams of sodium, which is actually incredibly low
as well, because if you are using stocks, there can
be eight hundred one thousand milligrams of sodium, whereas this
bone broth, it's getting all of the flavor primarily from
their actual bone, so they're not needing to add a
whole lot of sodium to it. So I just thought,
(19:52):
oh my god, how fantastic, like super superfood, super addition
to soups and bases, and a very easy way in
the case of for people who have fod MAP issues
to have a stock that's gut friendly. But there's also
a chicken wine I think, and a beef one as
well for different flavors. Generally, when I'm making soup, I
like a chicken flavor. But if you want something more hardy,
(20:12):
there's a meat version. But yeah, taking bone broth to
the next level. Campbell's top marks from me, have you
seen it?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (20:20):
I know, yeah, no you sander to me, shout out
to Campbells. This is really solid product, like and then
when you sent me it, I was like, oh, yeah, yeah,
And I actually looked into it because on the front
of the packet says gut goodness, and that's normally like
an eye roll from me difficult impressed. Let me tell you, well,
I am.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
I am impressed. This is me being impressed right now.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
So on the front of the pack it says it
contains Prebodix, free range chicken, contains collagen, twenty grams of protein,
and my little ears are wag and I thought, how
do they get twenty grams of protein in that? So
I think it's fabulous. Well done to Campbells, what are
great product. And the other thing I thought was, oh,
this is going to be super high in sodium, and
coming off the back of a blood pressure research review,
it's actually really nice to see that that is actually really,
(21:04):
actually quite low. We even say it's low for a
very bone prods, Like she said, most stocks eight hundred
like six. Even if you were to use the entire packet,
it's still less than six hundred milligrams of sodium, which
is significant. And then you're getting your twenty grams of protein.
And if you were to use the full five hundred
mill packet, but the recommended serving size is half of that,
(21:24):
So ten grams of protein for fifty calories is significant,
and I really like that when they actually say, you know,
gut health, it's actually got some added probotic fiber in it.
And one of my favorite things is a Casey fiber,
which we actually use in a designed by Dietitian digestive
protein blend. Is actually one of my favorite prebotic fibers
because I've got a little bit of a sensitive tummy.
I st a lot of women out there, and when
(21:45):
I see prebotic fiber, my first thought is always, oh, no,
they've gone and whacked in a ton of inulin or
a ton of tricky root fiber, and that for a
lot of people really just sets off their gut symptoms.
So I normally don't love it when I see like
a big bulk of prebotic fibrim but the fact that
they've kept the fiber really low. It it's two point
two grams to serve, and they're using the acac gum,
which I love. It's actually one of my favorite types
(22:07):
of prebotic fibers. It gets a big ticket of green
light from me, and that's why it's really got the
Monash to give approval as well. And it's good for
sensitive tummies too, So I actually can't fault this product,
Susie and I don't say that very.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Often, no, And that's why we're so quick to see
great pots. Like we're always throwing products around between us.
You know, we found another disaster. So when I found
this and I have cooked with it, and I only
just thought it actually, but I didn't season with as
much salt. Because one of the interesting things is soup
is if I put a pre made soup online, people
(22:40):
are on rare you should be making soup from scratch,
and I think, well, sure, you know you can, but
it can be expensive and time consuming, and if you're
cooking for just one or two people, it can be
quite a lot of work to make a soup, Whereas
you can buy a number of good options in the supermarket. Actually,
most soup, even Tinge, is actually pretty good in the
ground scheme of nutrition for the cost point. But my
(23:02):
argument back to those people is don't act like you
don't season your soup with heaps of salt, because if
you're making it at home, you're probably using a stock
which is loaded with salt, whether you're using cubes or
a general stock, or you're seasoning it to make it
taste good. So don't act all virtuous like your homemade
soup doesn't have any salt in itt We will have
quite a lot too, because soup doesn't taste good without
a bit of seasoning. But when I made a soup,
(23:25):
I've made a bean soup and I actually didn't season
it as much because I use this and so it's
got a good flavor. So that's the other thing. So yeah,
top marks. I'm super impressed with it. And they're all
extremely strong nutritionally and is a way of getting a
little bit more protein naturally into a soup to make
it a bit more hearty and filling if you're like
me and prefer a veggie based soup. So yeah, big fan.
(23:46):
So I found them in woolies. I think some coals
I have seen I haven't seen it in my coals,
but doesn't stock well my coals, But I found the
whole range in Woolies, so check it out. Let us
know what you think.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
I'll also just quickly say that it's not just soups.
You could use this in casroles, curry, local good meals,
like as a base. You could even do it if
you're cooking if your kids do a little bit older,
not baby babies because you've got to watch the sodium
for really little babies, but toddler's little kids, fussy kids.
You could use it as a base for your spaghetti bolonnaise.
It's actually really quite versatile, so not just soups. Don't
be limited soups. You could actually use it as a
(24:18):
base for most warm meals.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Well, I have got a marry me chicken I've been
doing and I use stock for that, or if I'm
doing pie so like a chicken pie, or if I'm
doing the seasoning for that, I'll use always a stock.
So it's one of the only seasonings that I use.
And in this case it's pretty low though, like that's
less than three hundred milligrams of sodium, so that's even
First of all, kids, pretty good compared to like spag
(24:41):
bowl what you'd be adding in the sauces. So yeah,
check it out. Let us know what you think.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
And for our final.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Segment of the Nutrition Couch, this is a listener question
that came through on our social media and it is
I have seen mentions of a new sweetener. Is it okay?
And I'm going to get liand to pronounce it. I
had not heard of it.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Well, I don't even know if I'm saying this right,
but I'm pretty sure it's thormaton. So the sweetner is thormaton,
and I'm sure you have heard of it because we
actually discussed using it in our design by Dietitian range,
where we actually ultimately decided to use stevia, which is
a natural plant sweetener. But thormaton is one of my favorites.
And I also really like monk fruits. So in terms
of natural sweeteners plant based or from fruits, my three
(25:22):
favorites estivia, thormaton, and also monk fruit. So very quickly, yes,
I'm happy with it. It's safe, it's fine to use. But
in a little bit more depth, it is a naturally
sweet sweetener which grows in West Africa, and it comes
from a fruit. So Fizan's which is the Food Standards
Australia and New Zealand has basically approved it full use
(25:43):
in foods and drinks and it's considered very safe, so
it's a long history of being safe. It does sound
like a chemical name, and I think that's why it
turns off a lot of people because it it doesn't
sound natural.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
However, it is very natural.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
As I said, it's from a fruit in in West Africa,
so it is very very sweet. It's about two to
three times as sweet as sugar, meaning that brands and
manufacturers only need a really really tiny amount of sweetened foods.
If you normally put a teaspoon or two of sugar
in your coffee, do not do that if you're using
this as a sweetness, because it is it is very
very sweet. It can also help to mask a bit
(26:15):
of flavors. So what brands will use thermiton a lot
for is things like protein powders, electrolyte drinks, different types
of supplements, a lot of like low sugar type products
as well, So I wouldn't be worried or concerned about it. Again,
everything in moderation as long as you're being sensible with it.
You're not using kilograms of it to make, you know,
baked goods and sweets and cookies and biscuits all the time.
(26:37):
But as long as you're using it in moderation, I
wouldn't have a concern about it at all. It's been
approved as being safe in Australia.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
I've used it before.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
It doesn't have that sort of really chemical aftertaste that
a lot of the artificial sweetness have, but it is
one of those lesser known sweetness. It is probably one
of the newer ones on the market. It doesn't have
a huge amount of evidence behind it like some of
the other ones. But I would be happy if a
client said to me, could I use this? Is it safe?
My antser would be yes and yes in moderation.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I haven't seen it in any food here.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
What have you seen it in?
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Yeah? A lot of different supplements and stuff online, so
a lot of like the e commonline type products as
I said, protein powders, electrolyte drinks, different types of supplements,
particularly those with that sort of bit of taste like
it might be like a magnesium or something with the
kind of that metallic undertone.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
A lot of brands are using it for.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Not so much food more I would say supplements and drinks.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Okay, all right, well maynh. A world of knowledge as always,
and that brings us to the end of the Nutrition
Couch for another week. If you would like to support
the podcast, you can check out our range of science
backed supplements at design bidietitians dot com created by Leanne
Wood and myself to make healthy habits and getting adequate
nutrients just a little bit easier. And we will see
(27:48):
you next week.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Thanks for listenings.
Chances are you know someone who is using weight loss medication.
You may even know someone who has tried peptide injections
to help them lose weight. On today's episode of The
Nutrition Couch, we discussed the pros and cons of weight
loss medications, particularly for the growing range of off label options,
and shares some pretty significant warnings about buying such products online. Hi,
(00:25):
I'm Susie.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Burrow and I'm Leanne Ward.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
And together we bring you The Nutrition Couch, the weekly
podcast that keeps you up to date with everything you
need to know in the world of nutrition, as well
as all things weight loss injections. We look at some
new research that investigates what is the best diet if
you have high blood pressure. We have a brand new
suit base to share with you that has some outstanding
nutritional qualities, and our listener question is all about a
(00:49):
new sweetener doing the rounds now.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Leanne.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I don't know about you, and we have touched on
this briefly before certainly doing the rounds. On my social
media is a lot about peptide injections and specifically buying
specific peptides for weight loss. And it was interesting because
a friend of mine's brother had a shoulder reconstruction recently,
(01:13):
and he lives in the States, and he had access
to recommended peptides through I'm not sure who peptides that
were supposed to support I guess collagen regeneration and repair,
and indeed he had some excellent results from it. But
the issue, of course is that a lot of these
products are not approved. And I had thought to myself, oh,
(01:39):
it sounds good in theory. You read all about the benefits,
and you know you don't have to worry about a
weight loss injection. You can just go and buy one
of these peptides. But alas, over the weekend we had
a news report come through from Melbourne to say that
five or six people had been buying a counterfeit version
of one of these peptides, which had been labeled as retrotruetide,
(02:04):
which is the one that's sort of been sprouted as
having these superior or similar effects to a GLP one.
In a way, you can just buy and inject yourself,
and these poor women, I'm assuming they're women, it doesn't say,
are now in liver failure. And basically, once you stuff
your liver up, it's pretty difficult to get it right.
(02:25):
Again because they're buying basically some dodgy drugs that aren't
doing what they say they're going to do, and they've
basically poisoned their body. Now, because this is becoming so mainstream,
I feel like we're just going to see more and
more and more of it, and I think it just
shows the seriousness of it and using weight loss medication
(02:45):
should never be taken lightly. And based on that, I
would be saying, you know, if you it's like buying
drugs on the street, you know, you just don't know
what you're going to get, and most people are probably
going to be okay, but you don't want to be
the one who's not. Because ultimately, these drugs in their
purest form of stimulating the pancreas, even though we use
them in tiny amounts, like we're talking zero point two
(03:07):
five of a meal, this is how powerful hormones and
peptides are in the body. And it just is a reminder,
you know, if you're not buying a brand from a chemist,
it's very very dangerous to be buying stuff online that
you don't know where it comes from. Because there's no
coming back from liver failure. You often they'll need a
liver transplant and if you don't get it, you just die.
Like it's pretty brutal, but that's the reality of it.
(03:30):
So it's just a reminder that we need to be
super careful and whilst there's plenty of discussion and chat
around these peptides and just everyone should be taking these,
these are serious drugs and it's not to be taken
lightly and don't get sucked in by a recommendation at
the gym or from someone who's buying it from someone's friend,
because you don't want to be the one who gets
the dodgy product.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Yeah, I couldn't say it better myself. And it's interesting
because Redder, which is upply called all of a TikTok
and Instagram, it's it's certainly having its moment and it
is going through experimental clinical trials at the moment.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
So what is a legitimate drug.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
It's an obesity medication, particularly in America, there's been a
lot of clinical trials and indeed they do show impressive
weight loss results. But the kicker is though it's still
going through their experimental clinical trials and it has not
been approved in Australia yet, So no matter what, whoever
is marketing at you in Australia. At the time of recording,
(04:25):
it has not been approved, and so the Victorian Department
of Health and the TTA have both come out this
week to basically issue a really urgent warning after six
people developed acute liver failure and injuries using basically products
sold as Redda essentially, so you'll see it every way.
It's all over tik doc, it's all over Instagram, but
(04:45):
it is not actually approved in Australia. And I'll just
read a little snippet of the article if Bykean Suzi,
because this just goes to show, I guess, potentially how
desperate people are, or how willing people are to just
take things off the advice of others. In the article
talks about a lady who went in to liver failure
and will call her m And basically she became interested
(05:07):
in rheta after seeing all of these videos of women
losing weight on TikTok and Instagram and I think a
lot you know, from America as well, and then she
was looking it up and couldn't find anywhere to buy it,
so then she kind of forgot about it. And then
it says late last year and went to her beauty appointment,
and then she just happened to mention to her beauty
clinician that she was interested in this drug called RHTTA
to lose weight, but she couldn't find it anywhere. So
(05:30):
then her beauty technician, whoever she is, says that she's
got a selection of off market peptides bought very high
quality from a Chinese manufacturer, and she said, if you
pay cash, I can basically supply it. And that is
the issue, Susie, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Like?
Speaker 3 (05:44):
I do hope that there's actually some legal ramifications for
these people selling these peptides, because certainly they're not registered.
I don't know where they're getting or obviously China, but
you know what I mean, These aren't doctors, you're not
writing a prescription, you're not buying them from a chemist.
So that in itself sets of multiple red flags in
my brain. I'd run a million miles away, but I'm very,
(06:04):
I guess, cautious when it comes to these things. So
there are certainly weight loss medications that work. There are
certainly weightless medications that are very safe, but you need
to have a proper script from your doctor, and you
need to know where these things are coming from, because
otherwise you're basically just paying like roulette, really, aren't you?
Like it's it can have very dire consequences, and I
think that this is why the Victorian government and the
(06:25):
Isterraine government and the TGA have all come out this
week to say be very very careful where you're buying
these peptides from, because it's not just weight loss. People
are using them for you know, beauty and anti aging
and longevity. Like there's a whole range of different peptides
out there, and they're absolutely they're going crazy in America.
They're everywhere, and they're very easy to access as well.
(06:46):
But just because they're easy to access doesn't necessarily mean
that they're safe and they're effective as well. So I
think a little bit of due diligence does go a
long way, doesn't it. Well.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I'm hearing a lot about them at the gym, so
personal trainers and Jim Brows are having access. And the
truth is it could be from anywhere, like it could
be from a reputable agency like I saw online that
there's some science slubs in the Australas selling them direct and
they say for experimental purposes, for research, but there's obviously
no control over it. And this is the problem with
government agencies because this, as you describe, this has been
(07:17):
going rife on TikTok for months, if not years. You know,
we've been hearing about these, so you know, young people
in particular are hearing about these years in advance, and
they're hearing that they're available overseas and they're wanting it
here and we've got no regulation. Really, we're so delayed.
You know, you can absolutely go on and buy these
peptides online now and have them at your house tomorrow.
(07:37):
So I think our job is to remind everyone these
are serious molecules, and you know, in many cases you
might be okay, but as I said, the consequence is
a dire if you get the wrong one. So what
I would say is, if you're someone who would never
go and inject heroin off the street, you probably shouldn't
go and pick up some peptides and give it a go,
(07:57):
because it's that dangerous because if you take the wrong
way and you could be dead and have liver failure.
Like it's not to be sneezed out like I think,
because it's weight loss and skin held we think that
it's it's not as dangerous, but it's every bit as
dangerous as a list of drugs if it gets in
the wrong hands. That's how powerful these molecules are. So
don't you know, if you've got some hot trainer or
buffed up PTE telling you how great they are, go
(08:17):
back to the steroid days of the eighties and nineties,
you know, I just don't take the risk. It's too important.
You don't get another liver. So you know, there are
ways you can get approve weight loss medications. It's actually
not overly difficult. Now I've got clients going to GPS
and being readily offered them. If it's the right decision
for you, go and do it the right way, because again,
(08:38):
they're not that cheap. They're hundreds of dollars. It's not
like you're getting a bargain, so you know you will
pay for it. So just take that due diligence and
just you know. They are super dangerous if they're wrong
and they're not what they say they are, or even
if they're contraindicated for you. So I think we'll see
more of this, We'll see deaths, et cetera from it,
because it's so rife out there. If you can just
(08:58):
go online and get it and without the education and
think that it's saved or trust the person you're getting
it from, you only need one bad batch and then
you're in big, big trouble.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
And I will say that the authorities believe these are
six cases of liver toxicity. Actually they think it's been
linked to contaminants or counterfeit ingredients. So they do sort
of believe that RHTA itself is safe. But the problem
is when you're buying it from you know, some beauty
technician who's sourced QTE unquote high quality from China, it
could have contaminants in it, it could have counterfeit ingredients
(09:29):
in it. You don't actually know what it is. So yeah,
if you're going to do it, we are not anti
weight loss medications on the podcast, not at all, but
we are about getting it the right way through the
correct sources that are actually legal and safe in Australia
and TGA approved. That's probably the most important thing. So
don't do it as a way to think, oh, I'll
save money, because you might save money, but it might
(09:49):
not save your liver in the long run. So you've
got to do it if you're going to do it properly,
pay the price, get the appointment, get the prescription, and
get it from a reputable chemist. That's sort of the
bottom line on the nutrition coutch, isn't that it is?
Speaker 1 (10:01):
It is absolutely and ultimately, as we also know ly end,
there's no easy way to lose weight, even though you
can try these medications or try these peptides, if you
don't do the work ultimately of eating less and moving more,
it will platau out eventually. So I think we're about
to see a whole lot of that, even more so now.
So it's a fascinating time, but you know, interesting times
(10:21):
for the regulators. They need to get a hurry on
about managing some of these online sites because I just
think it's so easy, Like I just googled it and
about five came up. You know, how can the TJ
not be able to put a stop to that straight away? Like,
you know, it shouldn't be that easy. But that's what's
going on out there. So it's tricky times all rightly.
And well, in the last few months, I've had quite
a few clients come through who are managing high blood
(10:43):
pressure with medication, and I thought it's a common issue
relatively as we get older, people might have familial hypertension
or have always been managing high blood pressure. And we
have a brand new, big study looking at what is
the latest on the science when it comes to manage
blood pressure with dietary intervention.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Definitely, yeah, high blood pressure is definitely a topic of interests.
We get questions on it all the time. And there
are many many healthy diets out there. Right, You've got
just standed healthy eating, You've got something like a Mediterranean diet,
you've got a plant based art, you can have an
anti inflammatory style of eating. So when it comes to
actually lowering your blood pressure, how do we know what's
actually the right diet for us or the right type
(11:25):
of eating for us. So we have known for quite
a while that there is a certain dietary pattern, which
I'll get into in a minute, but this is just
really nice to basically confirm what as dietitians we tell
our clients is still accurate and still the most up
to date evidence. So there was a very large scale
study published over eighty thousand people, which is very significant,
(11:46):
published in the Journal of Nutrition, so a very reputable journal,
and it basically compared five really well regarded dietary patterns.
So they were the DASH so the dietary approaches to
stop hypertension, the AHEI dietary pattern, the AMED dietary pattern
which is like a Mediterranean diet, the PDI which is
(12:06):
the plant based diet index, and also the EPID more
of an anti inflammatory diet pattern.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
So they basically.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Compared that diet pattern and looked at dietary patterns from
those diets within people with high blood pressure. So they
had eighty just over eighty three thousand people from the
biobank in UK, and all of these people had high
blood pressure, however, they had no prior heart disease. And
they took every person's diet in the study and they
(12:36):
scored it against these five established healthy eating dietary patterns,
and they basically gave them different scores. Now, all of
these diets had to focus on what we would call
healthy eating right, lots of fruits, lots of vegetables, whole grains,
low fat, dairy, leaner proteins, things like fish and chicken,
nuts and legumes, and they all seemed to kind of
limit that overly processed food, sodium added sugar, saturated fat.
(13:00):
So all of these diets were what we would say
as dietitians, would be healthy eating patterns. Researchers then took
these people and tracked their heart disease outcomes and overall
mortality over time. So the most interesting thing here is
susy that the DASH diet, which stands for Dietary Approaches
to Stop Hypertension, that DASH diet outperformed every other healthy
(13:22):
eating diet when it came to heart disease risk and longevity.
So basically, people who followed the DASH diet the least closely,
they compared those to people who followed it the most closely,
and those people who followed the DASH diet the most
closely had a fifteen percent lower risk of heart disease
and a twenty two percent lower risk of dyeing from
(13:42):
any cause. So they're actually pretty significant numbers in a
group that already had like an elevated cardiovascular risks. Basically,
so across all five dietary patterns, fifteen to twenty two
percent or cause mortality, which is a really really strong association.
And in that population group, the Mediterranean diet and also
(14:03):
the plant based diet, it also did not appear to
be associated with a heart disease risks. So we already
know that both of those dietary patterns have positive health outcomes.
They appear to reduce the risk of chronic diseases. But
for blood pressure specifically, the DASH diet was actually the
most like mostly associated with better blood pressure outcomes than
most of the other popular healthy eating patterns. So that's
(14:26):
really good because as dieticians, we've known for a long time,
like we've had decades of research that shows that the
DASH diet is always the gold standard approach for dietary
intervention when it comes to high pertension and high blood pressure. However,
this is just another study, a very large study in
a very reputable journal that basically confirms that. So if
you have high blood pressure, the bottom line is the
(14:47):
best style of eating for you is the dietary approaches
to stop hypertension or what is formally called or basically
called the DASH diet.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
DASH. So interesting, Susie.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
But not new, Like, it's not any new research really,
it just kind of confirms what we have known for
a while that the DASH diet is very very effective
for high blood pressure.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
True, and you can get about ten percent I think
that's the data set reduction in blood pressure from following
that diet. And it's like people think that they eat
the Dash diet, but they don't eat anywhere near the
volume of plant foods required to get those benefits. So
I think it comes back down to super loading the
fresh fruits and vegetables. You want ten seven to ten
serves per day because they're extremely high and potassium, which
(15:29):
helps to buffer the sodium. The legum component is big,
as well as the dairy food and limiting the ultra
processed foods because when you look at foods that are
particularly high in sodium, it really as soon as you
eliminate ultra process fast type foods like meal deals and
eating out, that's where we get the bulk of sodium from.
It's super interesting. So yeah, we can't just take out
(15:52):
the bits of the diet we like and ditch the rest.
It's about the overall keeping it as least processed as possible,
well go a long way, and keeping your overall ratios
of sodium, potassium and such a positive ratio as they
are when it comes to the Dash diet. All right, Leanne, Well,
I've been shopping because it is soup season and my
(16:12):
tail was wagging when I came across a whole new
range of bone broths and soups in the supermarket. Campbell's
have released a whole new super range of soups. Now,
anyone who follows my content will know that I am
a soup lover from way back. I'm about to go
to the States and one of the things I love
there is when you go to the diners, they have
(16:33):
these amazing soups like chowder and mushroom and all these
just amazing soups with a sandwich.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
There would be very few weeks in my house go
pass when I don't make a soup. I find it
a great lighter option in the first half of the week.
I find that if I get sick of eating vegetables,
just I can have a bowl of soup. I've done
a brand new green soup. I do a bean and
my famous detox soup. I'm so over myself. But very
very popular is just getting those veggie serves and you
(17:00):
know you're in Queensland. It's not as cool as it
is in the Southern States, but it's certainly soup season.
And the one I picked up particularly to review on
the podcast is one lean that's right up your alley
because it's all about digestive health. So that my tail
started wagging a little bit more when I saw that,
because this real bone broth they're going to a review
today is called gut Goodness, and I thought, oh, that's
(17:22):
a very interesting concept. And the call outs on the
front of pack include contained prebiotics, five chosen the chicken,
it's free range chicken, contains collagen, and then twenty grams
of protein per pack, which is actually massive because normally
in a stock or in a bone broth, you wouldn't
get such high amounts of protein, Like twenty grams in
five hundred mili is huge, Like you're adding that into
(17:44):
your soup. Fantastic when it comes to creating really well
balanced meals. And then as well, it's monash low fodmap approved,
which is a topic that will be of interest to
some of our listeners because if you've got irritable BAU
and a avoiding fodmap, you'll know that soup's can be
tricky because if they've got an onion garlic base, they
can upset tummies. Whereas this is a low fodmap approved
(18:06):
stock or I should say, bone broth, not a stock.
So yeah, what is a bone broth? Well, basically, a
bone broth is a base which has been made with
the actual bones, and the benefit of that means that
in this instance you're getting a higher protein base. But
from a nutrition perspective, one of the areas we'll talk
(18:26):
about is when it's got a bone base, you're getting
a molecule called carnosine, which is an amino acid, and
that specifically has been shown to have benefits when it
comes to immune function. So when you hear you know,
if you're on well have chicken soup, it actually comes
from a science which is interesting, so it can basically
improve the body's immune response. So there's three of these,
(18:48):
but I've chosen this gut goodness because I work on
a podcast with Leanne Warden. She's a digestive health expert.
So I'll read you the ingredients. So the first ingredient
is free range chicken bone broth, which includes water, free
range chicken bones, vegetable fiber which is your prebiotics, the
acacia gum am I saying that right, acacia glucose, salt pepper,
(19:10):
natural antioxidant, and if I look at the nutritionals as expected,
any kind of base to a super stock or a
bone broth would be pretty low. So based on a
single serve, it's fifty one calories ten grams of protein,
which is two hundred and fifty mili half the packet,
and it has got less than one grammar sugar, less
than one grammar carbohydrate, two point three grams of dietary
(19:32):
fiber coming from that acacia gum, and two hundred and
ninety four milligrams of sodium, which is actually incredibly low
as well, because if you are using stocks, there can
be eight hundred one thousand milligrams of sodium, whereas this
bone broth, it's getting all of the flavor primarily from
their actual bone, so they're not needing to add a
whole lot of sodium to it. So I just thought,
(19:52):
oh my god, how fantastic, like super superfood, super addition
to soups and bases, and a very easy way in
the case of for people who have fod MAP issues
to have a stock that's gut friendly. But there's also
a chicken wine I think, and a beef one as
well for different flavors. Generally, when I'm making soup, I
like a chicken flavor. But if you want something more hardy,
(20:12):
there's a meat version. But yeah, taking bone broth to
the next level. Campbell's top marks from me, have you
seen it?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (20:20):
I know, yeah, no you sander to me, shout out
to Campbells. This is really solid product, like and then
when you sent me it, I was like, oh, yeah, yeah,
And I actually looked into it because on the front
of the packet says gut goodness, and that's normally like
an eye roll from me difficult impressed. Let me tell you, well,
I am.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
I am impressed. This is me being impressed right now.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
So on the front of the pack it says it
contains Prebodix, free range chicken, contains collagen, twenty grams of protein,
and my little ears are wag and I thought, how
do they get twenty grams of protein in that? So
I think it's fabulous. Well done to Campbells, what are
great product. And the other thing I thought was, oh,
this is going to be super high in sodium, and
coming off the back of a blood pressure research review,
it's actually really nice to see that that is actually really,
(21:04):
actually quite low. We even say it's low for a
very bone prods, Like she said, most stocks eight hundred
like six. Even if you were to use the entire packet,
it's still less than six hundred milligrams of sodium, which
is significant. And then you're getting your twenty grams of protein.
And if you were to use the full five hundred
mill packet, but the recommended serving size is half of that,
(21:24):
So ten grams of protein for fifty calories is significant,
and I really like that when they actually say, you know,
gut health, it's actually got some added probotic fiber in it.
And one of my favorite things is a Casey fiber,
which we actually use in a designed by Dietitian digestive
protein blend. Is actually one of my favorite prebotic fibers
because I've got a little bit of a sensitive tummy.
I st a lot of women out there, and when
(21:45):
I see prebotic fiber, my first thought is always, oh, no,
they've gone and whacked in a ton of inulin or
a ton of tricky root fiber, and that for a
lot of people really just sets off their gut symptoms.
So I normally don't love it when I see like
a big bulk of prebotic fibrim but the fact that
they've kept the fiber really low. It it's two point
two grams to serve, and they're using the acac gum,
which I love. It's actually one of my favorite types
(22:07):
of prebotic fibers. It gets a big ticket of green
light from me, and that's why it's really got the
Monash to give approval as well. And it's good for
sensitive tummies too, So I actually can't fault this product,
Susie and I don't say that very.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Often, no, And that's why we're so quick to see
great pots. Like we're always throwing products around between us.
You know, we found another disaster. So when I found
this and I have cooked with it, and I only
just thought it actually, but I didn't season with as
much salt. Because one of the interesting things is soup
is if I put a pre made soup online, people
(22:40):
are on rare you should be making soup from scratch,
and I think, well, sure, you know you can, but
it can be expensive and time consuming, and if you're
cooking for just one or two people, it can be
quite a lot of work to make a soup, Whereas
you can buy a number of good options in the supermarket. Actually,
most soup, even Tinge, is actually pretty good in the
ground scheme of nutrition for the cost point. But my
(23:02):
argument back to those people is don't act like you
don't season your soup with heaps of salt, because if
you're making it at home, you're probably using a stock
which is loaded with salt, whether you're using cubes or
a general stock, or you're seasoning it to make it
taste good. So don't act all virtuous like your homemade
soup doesn't have any salt in itt We will have
quite a lot too, because soup doesn't taste good without
a bit of seasoning. But when I made a soup,
(23:25):
I've made a bean soup and I actually didn't season
it as much because I use this and so it's
got a good flavor. So that's the other thing. So yeah,
top marks. I'm super impressed with it. And they're all
extremely strong nutritionally and is a way of getting a
little bit more protein naturally into a soup to make
it a bit more hearty and filling if you're like
me and prefer a veggie based soup. So yeah, big fan.
(23:46):
So I found them in woolies. I think some coals
I have seen I haven't seen it in my coals,
but doesn't stock well my coals, But I found the
whole range in Woolies, so check it out. Let us
know what you think.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
I'll also just quickly say that it's not just soups.
You could use this in casroles, curry, local good meals,
like as a base. You could even do it if
you're cooking if your kids do a little bit older,
not baby babies because you've got to watch the sodium
for really little babies, but toddler's little kids, fussy kids.
You could use it as a base for your spaghetti bolonnaise.
It's actually really quite versatile, so not just soups. Don't
be limited soups. You could actually use it as a
(24:18):
base for most warm meals.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Well, I have got a marry me chicken I've been
doing and I use stock for that, or if I'm
doing pie so like a chicken pie, or if I'm
doing the seasoning for that, I'll use always a stock.
So it's one of the only seasonings that I use.
And in this case it's pretty low though, like that's
less than three hundred milligrams of sodium, so that's even
First of all, kids, pretty good compared to like spag
(24:41):
bowl what you'd be adding in the sauces. So yeah,
check it out. Let us know what you think.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
And for our final.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Segment of the Nutrition Couch, this is a listener question
that came through on our social media and it is
I have seen mentions of a new sweetener. Is it okay?
And I'm going to get liand to pronounce it. I
had not heard of it.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Well, I don't even know if I'm saying this right,
but I'm pretty sure it's thormaton. So the sweetner is thormaton,
and I'm sure you have heard of it because we
actually discussed using it in our design by Dietitian range,
where we actually ultimately decided to use stevia, which is
a natural plant sweetener. But thormaton is one of my favorites.
And I also really like monk fruits. So in terms
of natural sweeteners plant based or from fruits, my three
(25:22):
favorites estivia, thormaton, and also monk fruit. So very quickly, yes,
I'm happy with it. It's safe, it's fine to use. But
in a little bit more depth, it is a naturally
sweet sweetener which grows in West Africa, and it comes
from a fruit. So Fizan's which is the Food Standards
Australia and New Zealand has basically approved it full use
(25:43):
in foods and drinks and it's considered very safe, so
it's a long history of being safe. It does sound
like a chemical name, and I think that's why it
turns off a lot of people because it it doesn't
sound natural.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
However, it is very natural.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
As I said, it's from a fruit in in West Africa,
so it is very very sweet. It's about two to
three times as sweet as sugar, meaning that brands and
manufacturers only need a really really tiny amount of sweetened foods.
If you normally put a teaspoon or two of sugar
in your coffee, do not do that if you're using
this as a sweetness, because it is it is very
very sweet. It can also help to mask a bit
(26:15):
of flavors. So what brands will use thermiton a lot
for is things like protein powders, electrolyte drinks, different types
of supplements, a lot of like low sugar type products
as well, So I wouldn't be worried or concerned about it. Again,
everything in moderation as long as you're being sensible with it.
You're not using kilograms of it to make, you know,
baked goods and sweets and cookies and biscuits all the time.
(26:37):
But as long as you're using it in moderation, I
wouldn't have a concern about it at all. It's been
approved as being safe in Australia.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
I've used it before.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
It doesn't have that sort of really chemical aftertaste that
a lot of the artificial sweetness have, but it is
one of those lesser known sweetness. It is probably one
of the newer ones on the market. It doesn't have
a huge amount of evidence behind it like some of
the other ones. But I would be happy if a
client said to me, could I use this? Is it safe?
My antser would be yes and yes in moderation.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I haven't seen it in any food here.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
What have you seen it in?
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Yeah? A lot of different supplements and stuff online, so
a lot of like the e commonline type products as
I said, protein powders, electrolyte drinks, different types of supplements,
particularly those with that sort of bit of taste like
it might be like a magnesium or something with the
kind of that metallic undertone.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
A lot of brands are using it for.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Not so much food more I would say supplements and drinks.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Okay, all right, well maynh. A world of knowledge as always,
and that brings us to the end of the Nutrition
Couch for another week. If you would like to support
the podcast, you can check out our range of science
backed supplements at design bidietitians dot com created by Leanne
Wood and myself to make healthy habits and getting adequate
nutrients just a little bit easier. And we will see
(27:48):
you next week.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Thanks for listenings.
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