Welke friet het “ gezondst” is, hangt vooral af van de bereidingswijze en het vet waarin je bakt: ovenfriet of zelfgemaakte aardappelpartjes in de oven, met weinig olie, scoren duidelijk beter dan diepgefriteerde patat uit hard frituurvet. Zoete-aardappelfriet heeft een wat andere voedingswaarde, maar is zeker niet automatisch een healthfood.

Wie, wat, waar

Nederlanders behoren tot de grootste frieteters van Europa; een standaardportie uit de snackbar levert al snel 500 tot 600 kilocalorieën, exclusief saus. Officiële adviezen van onder meer het Voedingscentrum plaatsen friet nadrukkelijk buiten de Schijf van Vijf, in het rijtje “producten voor af en toe”. Gezondheidsorganisaties benadrukken tegelijk dat af en toe friet prima past in een verder gevarieerd voedingspatroon.

Wanneer wordt friet ongezond?

Friet wordt vooral ongezond door veel verzadigd vet, een hoge energiedichtheid en de vorming van acrylamide bij te hard bakken. Friet uit vast, hard frituurvet bevat aanzienlijk meer verzadigd vet dan friet gebakken in vloeibare olie of vloeibaar frituurvet. Een snackbarmaaltijd met friet, mayonaise en een snack tikt makkelijk de 1000 kilocalorieën aan, vergelijkbaar met de gehele energie-inname van sommige lichte eters voor een halve dag.

Welke frietsoort scoort beter?

Ovenfriet en zelfgesneden aardappelpartjes, besprenkeld met een beetje plantaardige olie en goudgeel gebakken, bevatten minder vet en vaak iets minder calorieën dan traditioneel gefrituurde friet. Per 100 gram komt “gewone” friet rond de 300 kilocalorieën uit, terwijl ovenvarianten daar meestal iets onder blijven, mede doordat ze minder vet opnemen. Zoete-aardappelfriet biedt meer vezels en bepaalde micronutriënten, maar bevat qua calorieën en koolhydraten geen wonderlijke voorsprong.

Hoe maak je friet toch iets gezonder?

Gezondheidsinstanties adviseren friet niet te bruin te bakken, maar goudgeel, om de acrylamidevorming te beperken. Bakken in vloeibare plantaardige olie, minder vaak een “frietdag” en zuiniger met saus – bij voorkeur de saus apart in een bakje – zijn eenvoudige ingrepen die een merkbaar verschil maken. Wie nog een stap verder wil gaan, kan kiezen voor groentefriet uit de oven, van bijvoorbeeld pastinaak of wortel, die duidelijk minder energie levert dan een traditionele puntzak.

Uiteindelijk is de gezondste friet dus niet een wonderknol, maar een combinatie van aardappel, oven, olie en mate.

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

alternative_right shares a report from ScienceAlert: If you consumed a wild mushroom and suddenly started seeing tiny people around you, you might reasonably assume it contained a familiar psychedelic. But that does not appear to be the case with Lanmaoa asiatica, known locally as jian shou qing, a mushroom species sold in markets in Yunnan, southwestern China. When eaten undercooked, the mushroom can produce vivid visions of miniature people -- not unlike Gulliver on his travels to Lilliput. To try and find out the root cause, University of Utah mycologists Colin Domnauer and Bryn Dentinger sequenced the genomes of 53 mushroom samples from across the wider Lanmaoa genus. And despite the reported hallucinations, they found no close matches to genes associated with psilocybin or ibotenic acid, two well-known mushroom hallucinogens whose biosynthetic pathways were specifically examined in the study.

"Biosynthetic gene mining of the L. asiatica genome found no close hits with any genes known in the production of mushroom psychoactive compounds," write the researchers in their published paper. "This supports our hypothesis of the presence of a novel unidentified metabolite responsible for the unique hallucinogenic properties of L. asiatica." [...] Whatever chemical pathways are causing these effects in the brain, the responsible compound appears to be something scientists have not yet identified. [...] By identifying 1,515 corresponding genes across the selected specimens, the researchers obtained a clearer answer to the question of what defines a mushroom species as part of the genus Lanmaoa. There are now 17 recognized species in the genus, including four that haven't been identified before, two of which the researchers specifically named here: Lanmaoa fallax and Lanmaoa carbonilivor. The researchers say the Lanmaoa family and evolutionary tree can now be more fully mapped out, and some existing specimens may need to be reclassified.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Makerfield MP considering northern base for PM’s office as part of measures to devolve power away from London

• UK politics live – latest updates

Andy Burnham is planning to move parts of the No 10 operation to Manchester as part of measures to devolve power away from London.

The Makerfield MP will say next week he wants to transfer parts of the prime minister’s office to the north should he become prime minister later this year.

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Bahrain Mujagata is just 21 years old and balances taxi driving with university studies and acting classes

“I’ve got T-shirts older than you!” The joke draws laughter from a table of black-cab drivers gathered in the Astral cafe on Regency Place in Westminster. Around the table, cabbies swap stories accumulated over decades behind the wheel: picking up the England World Cup hero Geoff Hurst, ferrying senior politicians around London, and navigating the capital long before smartphones and satnavs existed.

At just 21, Bahrain Mujagata is an anomaly among them. In late 2025, he became London’s youngest licensed black-cab driver after completing the Knowledge – the notoriously demanding test of the capital’s streets – in just two years and five months. Most candidates take three to four years to qualify, according to Transport for London.

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The British government wants "trusted" news sources to be made more prominent on social media in plans that seem set to cause controversy with free speech advocates. In a Green Paper published Tuesday, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) laid out its aim to improve access to reliable news sources on online platforms. This is part of broader reforms to the UK's public service media system, intended both to ensure it continues to serve the British public and to support an eventual managed transition to internet-based TV. DCMS observes in the report "Watch this Space: A new strategic direction for UK media" that there has been a shift in how people consume news. For 75 percent of young people aged 16-24, social media is their main source, while more than half of UK adults now include social media as one of the ways they get updates. As Reg readers are well aware, while social networks provide access to a greater range of news sources, they are also a superb conduit for misinformation and disinformation, with "the potential for less accurate material to replace trustworthy sources as content is increasingly shaped by algorithms and AI." Because of this, the government is inviting feedback on its proposals. These would require social media companies and video-sharing platforms to make sure that news content from public service media (PSM), which includes the BBC, ITV, STV, Channel 4, S4C, and Channel 5, plus other trustworthy providers, is "prominent and easy to find on their platforms." How this would be achieved is up for discussion. DCMS suggests that it could involve a range of national and local news publishers being given prominent placement in search results or recommendation feeds when people search for news. The government claims to be keeping an open mind on this, seeking views on whether it can be achieved voluntarily, whether all PSM content should be prominent, and which platforms ought to be in scope. The Green Paper says that PSM providers are held to higher regulatory standards than other content providers, and this in turn increases their costs. Historically, they were also more prominent to audiences, but "in a platform environment driven by algorithmic recommendations, media is frequently optimized for engagement rather than public value." The paper claims that the risk is stark, especially for young people, and that there is broad societal consensus that such audiences should have guaranteed access to "high-quality, safe and educational content." This is consistent with the government's recent actions to protect children online, it further claims. But critics will argue that the government is trying to control the narrative, forcing social media platforms to give higher prominence to news sources that may be seen as part of the establishment or less likely to be critical of the government itself. We can only imagine the reaction of X owner and "free speech absolutist" Elon Musk, for example, who has openly clashed with the UK government on numerous occasions. We asked X for comment on this article. Jemimah Steinfeld, chief exec of campaign group Index on Censorship, said the government proposals are a cause for concern. "While the proposal sounds well and good – we all want less mis and disinformation online – who gets to decide and define what is 'trustworthy' is ripe for abuse," she told The Register. "Just look elsewhere for evidence. In the USA, for example, Donald Trump calls CNN and other heritage news companies 'fake news.' Do we essentially want to give leaders more power to control what we do and don't see?" Social media news reforms must therefore be "transparent and proportionate," according to Hanna Basha, a partner at London law firm Payne Hicks Beach. "The government is right to consider how trusted and regulated news providers can remain visible and accessible to the public," she said. "However, any new prominence requirements will need to be carefully balanced against freedom of expression and existing obligations on platforms under the UK's online safety framework, while providing clarity about how trusted news sources are identified and promoted." Also part of the Green Paper consultation is the future of television. DCMS notes the TV landscape is undergoing "a profound shift" from traditional broadcast to online linear viewing, creating a hybrid landscape between IPTV, traditional digital terrestrial television (DTT), satellite broadcasting, and cable. While online-only access is growing, a significant number of viewers continue to rely on traditional broadcast platforms. But maintaining the DTT network beyond a certain point means broadcasters carry the costs of multiple distribution methods to an ever-shrinking number of households relying on DTT. It believes this point may come as early as 2034, but that the government will set out the plan for a managed switch-off of DTT services, either on expiry of current licenses on December 31, 2034, or following a time-limited extension to December 31, 2044. The Media Green Paper public consultation started on June 23 and will run for ten weeks until midnight on August 31. Those wishing to respond can do so here, or by sending an email to watchthisspace@dcms.gov.uk. ®

“It will take at least half a year to repair,” an industry source said of the damage to the refinery, which was attacked twice this month.

Ruim twee derde van alle Nederlanders heeft nog nooit nagedacht over hun digitaal nalatenschap. Dit kan tot schrijnende situaties leiden, waarschuwt de Alliantie Digitaal Samenleven. „Ga je voordat de kist gesloten is nog iemands vingerafdruk afnemen, zodat je in hun apparaat kan?”