Top 10 food facts

Pepsi Cola, first introduced in 1898, was named after pepsin (enzyme) and kola (nuts). In 1931, the company entered bankruptcy and changed hands. The new owners changed the recipe to resemble more Coca-Cola.

Since the ancient times, a black carrot has been grown in Asia (var. Atropururea), which was also brought to Europe during the Middle Ages. Through seventeen centuries, almost all of the carrots that were grown were violet. The modern carrot, a result of mutation, was first grown in the Netherlands. As it was sweeter and bigger, it quickly replaced the violet variety.

In the 1990s several cod stocks collapsed due to overfishing. With the large predatory fish removed, their prey have undergone population explosions, and the capture of lobster has tripled since 1970.

Water buffaloes provide 11% of the world's milk, which is much more than goats (2%, third place). Buffalo's milk contains higher levels of total solids, crude protein, fat than cow milk; it gives therefore more cheese, butter and other dairy products. The top buffalo milk producers are India and Pakistan.

Aspartame produces 4 kilocalories of energy per gram when metabolized, sucrose (table sugar) produces 3.9 kilocalories. However, aspartame is approximately 200 times sweeter than sucrose, so it is consumed in much smaller doses.

The story of coconut water being similar to human blood plasma originated during World War II when British and Japanese patients were given coconut water intravenously in an emergency because saline was unavailable. Since then, this rehydration technique has been used only for short-term emergency situations in remote locations where plasma is not available.

Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of the saffron crocus. It takes about 150 000 of flowers to harvest 1 kg of stigmas used as spice.

Lactose is a disaccharide sugar that makes up around 2-8% of milk. Lactose intolerance is not an allergy. It is the inability to digest lactose due to insufficient levels of lactase, the enzyme that metabolizes lactose into glucose and galactose.

The normal coloration of lobster is dark bluish green to greenish brown, redder on the body and claws, and greener on the legs. An estimated one in 2 million lobsters are blue. All of them turn red after cooking.

The letters M stand for M&M's creators: Forrest Mars, Sr. (the son of Chicago candy maker and Snickers bar creator Franklin Clarence Mars) and Bruce Murrie (the son of William Murrie, president of the Hershey Company). The idea for the candy was copied by Mars from British soldiers during the Spanish Civil War.