Day 266 - 20 Jun 96 - Page 14
1 diseases in Britain. Other diseases with an important
2 nutritional component have developed despite the widespread
3 use of the "balancing" concept in nutrition education.
4 With Government committees and international groups of
5 experts now advocating a change in the diet of people
6 living in the United Kingdom and other affluent societies
7 it is suggested that a new approach which avoids the
8 "balanced diet" in the traditional sense is appropriate.
9 The introduction of a greater variety of foods is unlikely
10 to help alter disease patterns. The present need is to
11 alter the proportions of the food items consumed and to
12 introduce new food products whilst still encouraging the
13 consumption of many different types of food.
14
15 "Several terms have been suggested to indicate this new
16 approach to health education. The term "prudent diet" has
17 found favour in the US but has connotations of discipline
18 and restriction, which may be unhelpful. Perhaps, "a
19 healthy, varied diet" would be a better term encompassing
20 the need for variety but including a different idea with a
21 positive message. Alternatively, the Food and Nutrition
22 Board of the National Academy of Science suggests the term
23 "healthful diet." Would you, generally speaking, agree
24 with what is written there?
25 A. Absolutely. I think it is very relevant to nutrition
26 education today, but just talking in terms of a balanced
27 diet does not really tell people what they should be
28 eating. People need to be given guidelines in terms of
29 what foods they should be eating more of, what foods they
30 should be eating less of and a balanced diet can mean
31 almost anything to anyone and can be interpreted in
32 whatever way people choose. I think the important message
33 is here, whatever the term is used a health promoting diet,
34 a healthful diet are more useful term.
35
36 Q. Right. If I just get you to -- well, your statement we
37 have read through that. Do you stand by the statement? Are
38 you happy for it to be taken as your evidence? It is just
39 like a formality?
40 A. I am happy, yes, absolutely. I wrote it and I would
41 agree with all I wrote at the time, and if I could do it
42 now I would probably add a lot more evidence as well. Yes.
43
44 Q. OK. There is just a couple more points to deal with.
45 There is a recent report in the British Medical Journal
46 about salt intake.
47
48 MR. MORRIS: I have a spare copy. I handed one up yesterday.
49
50 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, I have it. Thank you.
51
52 MS. STEEL: We are actually going to go through this thing, as
53 the Plaintiffs have admitted that there is a causal link
54 between sodium intake and high blood pressure and... I
55 cannot remember what else -- obesity, high blood pressure
56 and heart disease. But there was just some figures that we
57 wanted to refer to. On page 1240, under 'salt and blood
58 pressure revisited', there is in the first paragraph a
59 statement that says that three-quarters of the presently
60 consumed salt is well hidden in processed food and that
