A Touch of Malta

Nanna Clara’s Maltese Kitchen is a small business that are passionate about bringing homemade Maltese food to life. It was established in 2018 by Jenny Aquilina.

“I was inspired by the way that the Maltese community embraces the love of food and how they share their family time around the dining table” explained Jenny to the District Gazette.

“Maltese love the traditional way of cooking. With so many people living busy lifestyles, I thought it was time to share my love of cooking Maltese food the way my Nanna showed me” she added.

The name of the food business did indeed come from Jenny’s grandmother, paying homage to her much loved Nanna Clara.

“Nanna Clara is my grandmother’s name. When I was young, I used to watch her cook in the kitchen and, of course, sampling the food as she cooked. So, I named my food van after her” Jenny smiled.

It’s no secret that Nanna Clara’s Maltese Kitchen’s pastizzis are popular.

“What can I say, I have the best pastizzi here in Sydney. I also sell the well known corned beef pie. I even have the privilege of coming in the Top 5 in Australia for this” she said.

Maltese doughnuts are always a crowd favourite. Baked Macaroni and Baked Rice are on the menu. The Ravioli is all made by hand. She also sells Peppered Cheese.

“The beauty of being a mobile business is that Nanna Clara’s Maltese Kitchen can attend all the Maltese festas in and around Sydney. If you can’t come to me, follow our social media pages and drop me a DM” Jenny replied.

“I am available to do any function you may have. You can even surprise your Nanna or Nunnu with the memories of the good old days back in Malta, with the love of home cooked meals” she ended. Grazzi!

Health Matters

P: 0418 166 269

Ulcerative Colitis - Could Oral N-Acetyl-Cysteine Supplementation Help Patients?

Scientists can induce an ulcerative colitis (UC) like condition in rats and pigs by intrarectal administration of acetic acid. The acid damages the colonic epithelial (lining) cells. Damaged cells release inflammatory chemicals in order to inform/warn surrounding tissue cells and bring immune cells into the area to investigate and deal with the cause/s of cell damage. Eventually, the death of epithelial cells leads to ulcer formation in the rectum and colon. How acetic acid induces colitis is still unclear, but reactive oxygen species produced by the activated immune system cells plays a significant role.

Glutathione (GSH) is a tripeptide (i.e., a tiny protein). GSH is made in the liver, which acts as a GSH reservoir. GSH is made from the essential amin acid cysteine. Being ‘essential’ means that cysteine, unlike many other amino acids, can’t be made by our bodies but must be gotten from the diet. Once made, GSH is delivered via the blood stream to all body cells. Inside body cells, it plays a critical role in protecting them against cell damage from:

1. immune-system-generated (microbe killing) free radicals.

2. free radicals generated during energy production by mitochondria.

3. many other toxins made inside body-cells.

4. toxic agents from external sources e.g., pollution related chemicals a. Nitric oxide b. sulphur oxide c. cigarette smoke compounds, etc

GSH quickly neutralises these toxic agents.

The maintenance of excellent GSH levels inside cells is key to overcoming harmful effects of immune system generated free radicals, which can damage and kill cells such as colonic epithelial cells in UC.

So, could cysteine supplementation such as N-Acetyl-Cysteine (NAC) help treat UC?

When acetic acid is used to induce ulcerative colitis, giving animals high (500mg/kg) daily oral doses of NAC inhibits:

1. colonic epithelial cell death

2. breakdown of normal epithelial layer structure

3. ulcer formation

4. formation of: a. free-radical producing enzymes (and damaging free-radicals) b. cell death promoting signals and raises the local hormone EGF, which promotes colonic epithelial cell survival, proliferation, growth, and migration to speed ulcer healing.

UC patients given NAC (800mg/day), plus mesalazine (2.4 g/day), the standard of care for UC, improved clinical response rates by 50% i.e., 44% of patients responded with clinical improvement with mesalazine-only, while 66% responded to mesalazine plus NAC.