Day 252 - 20 May 96 - Page 21
1
2 Q. Which report on salt and hypotension are you talking about
3 there?
4 A. There was a British Nutrition Foundation one on salt
5 and hypotension, which was very similar to other ones that
6 have come out in its conclusions.
7
8 Q. What was the conclusion of that report then?
9 A. Well, very much as I have stated in my own report and,
10 that was that the intake of salt, salt consumption in this
11 country and in most countries, is very much greater than
12 our physiological requirements. Whether that is a good or
13 bad thing is the matter that is in dispute. The only way
14 you can determine that is to look at the effect of reducing
15 salt consumption, and the general conclusions that have
16 come out of intervention studies where people have been
17 persuaded to reduce their salt consumption seem to show
18 that in normal tensive people, people with normal heart,
19 normal blood pressure, changing salt intake has no
20 appreciable effect on their blood pressure. On people who
21 suffer from heart disease, a change in salt intake, a
22 reduction in salt intake, may prove beneficial, but this
23 appears to be very much related to one's genetics. Some
24 people respond to salt and some people do not, and that is
25 really the present situation.
26
27 Q. Did you say what the Food and Drink Federation were?
28 A. Food and drink federation? No, this is a body that
29 represents the food industry as a whole and they tend to
30 respond to statements that are coming out from Government,
31 directives that are coming out from Brussels, for example,
32 and they have a considerable input into the deliberations
33 of committees in Brussels and in Government and these can
34 be very useful because the food industry is looking at the
35 practical side of producing food, distributing it to
36 people, and hopefully educating people, whereas bureaucrats
37 in Government or in Brussels do not have the same
38 experience. They could make a recommendation, for example,
39 that was totally impracticable. So, this is a feedback
40 virtually through the food industry, through the Food and
41 Drink Federation and, again, like the BNF they have a
42 scientific advisory committee.
43
44 Q. Are you paid for being on those committees?
45 A. No, no.
46
47 Q. Is your income in part or in total from the food industry?
48 A. No. No, it is not. My income, now that I have
49 officially retired, is from my official university
50 pension. I also have a consultancy in the food industry.
51 I have very few consultancies because to do the job
52 properly takes a lot of time, and as an academic very much
53 involved in research I did not have a great deal of time to
54 spend on it. I do have two consultancies with the food
55 industry.
56
57 Q. Right. And you will be paid by them for that?
58 A. Yes, yes. I think it is important to recognise that a
59 consultant is somebody who provides information and advice
60 to the food industry and, hopefully, they take it. It is
