At a recent International Consumer Sciences research conference, organised by the Institute of Consumer Sciences, some interesting results were reported.

Some 80% of 400 14-16 year-olds who took part in a survey of their eating and dieting habits, said it was important to be slim to attract the attention of boys and achieve self-confidence.

One girl said: Lads will always go for the skinny looking blonde first; many saw a flat stomach and long legs as being the optimum body shape.

More than 7 out of ten (72%) said they were not satisfied with their current body shape/weight and wanted to be slimmer. And 46% thought themselves overweight even though visual observation indicated that they were not; 49% reported they had dieted to lose weight with 38% currently on a diet.

The survey by Elaine Mooney, a Home Economics lecturer at St Angela ™s College in Sligo and a doctoral student at UU, revealed that pop icons like Britney Spears, Posh Spice and Beyonce were the role models of many Irish teenagers.

These young girls know in minute detail the eating and dieting regimes of such celebrities after reading about them in teenage magazines, such magazines carry articles and pictures featuring the dieting practices of celebrities.

The teenagers regarded the Atkins diet as old hat ™ and no longer cool ™. One young girl said: On Atkins you get really bad breath. I would sooner have cancer. The GI diet was now the slimming plan of choice.

Dr Chris Strugnell, a senior lecturer in Consumer Sciences at UU and Elaine ™s supervisor, said: These results are a real concern. This is an important time in the life of adolescent girls and they are not only indulging in poor food choices and practices but, more worryingly, are missing important and essential nutrients at this point in their lives.

Home Economics/Consumer Studies has an important part to play in delivering consumer education to young people via the school curriculum.

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GM has undoubtedly been a controversial technology in the UK and Europe if not elsewhere, not least because of the major role played by large multinational corporations. But now we have an excellent opportunity to make transgenic technologies work for the benefit of the world ™s poor.

It has taken private funding to do this, and we are delighted that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has recognised the importance of this project in overcoming one of the major challenges to global health.

Cassava is the fourth-most important crop in Africa. A fully-grown cassava plant can stay in the ground for up to two years and needs relatively little water to survive. The starchy roots are a key source of carbohydrates for subsistence farmers in Africa.

Dr Beeching ™s laboratory will focus on the molecular basis and control of accelerated post-harvest deterioration in cassava roots. Earlier work by Dr Beeching has shown that oxidative stress in cassava roots within three hours of harvesting triggers a rapid deterioration in the quality of the vegetable and that antioxidant enzymes and molecules play a major role in controlling this stress response.

They hope that by targeting some of the enzymes involved in this process they can increase the shelf life of the cassava once it has been harvested.

Cassava that is available in this country has been dipped in wax to prevent deterioration of the vegetable, but clearly this is not a feasible option for people who are struggling to survive said Dr Beeching.

Cassava is an excellent crop, but it has problems cannot be simply overcome. It has to be prepared and cooked in order to stop it producing cyanide, it will deteriorate in 72 hours in storage and it is of low nutritional value to the people who eat it to survive.

We have the world ™s top people working on these problems and we hope that within the next ten years we will be ready to hand over our first improved cassava crop to subsistence farmers and make a real difference to the lives of millions of the world ™s poorest people.

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