Day 253 - 21 May 96 - Page 20


     
     1
     2   Q.   So it is because they are taking that kind of comprehensive
     3        view?
     4        A.  Yes.  They are looking at all the nutritional problems
     5        throughout the world and what one might do about it.
     6
     7   Q.   We will leave it at that.  No further questions, thank you
     8        very much.
     9
    10                     Re-examined by Mr. Rampton:
    11
    12   MR. RAMPTON:  Professor Naismith, when Ms. Steel was asking you
    13        about the desirability of eating fruit and vegetables, you
    14        said: "Well, if you think about the average person who does
    15        have a healthy well balanced diet, he or she does eat fruit
    16        and vegetables but not in such quantities as to affect
    17        appetite".  Do you remember saying that?
    18        A.  Yes.
    19
    20   Q.   If that be right, can I ask you what, in your opinion,
    21        would be in broad terms the other constituent elements of a
    22        healthy balanced diet beside the fruit and the vegetables?
    23        A.  Well, if one thinks in terms of simply meeting the
    24        requirements for all the nutrients and energy, and when
    25        I say meeting energy requirements, that would include not
    26        exceeding them, one is going to have a variety of foods
    27        from all different sources.  This would include meat,
    28        because we are, by nature, omnivores.  It would include
    29        fish, fruit and vegetables and cereals, a mixed diet.
    30
    31        A variety in one's diet is more likely to ensure an
    32        adequate intake of all the nutrients than a limited diet,
    33        and a limited diet is very often the result of poverty and
    34        the results of an unbalanced diet which may have excesses
    35        of certain nutrients such as fat, but within a balanced
    36        diet, an infinite variety of foods can be incorporated.
    37
    38        As I have pointed out before, the quality of nutritional
    39        value of a single food is of no relevance.  It depends
    40        simply on what it contributes to the diet and how
    41        frequently you eat it.
    42
    43        An example of this, I might quote a positive one, is that
    44        parsley is a wonderful source of vitamin C, very rich
    45        indeed, but what does that contribute to your diet?
    46
    47   Q.   I am sorry, I am having difficulty in hearing you.  That is
    48        partly because you are indistinct and partly because I am a
    49        little deaf.  Do you think you could bellow at me?  Could
    50        you shout at me a bit, please, as I am having difficulty in 
    51        hearing you? 
    52        A.  Yes.  If one is thinking of not a diet but a single 
    53        food and what they contribute to a diet, one can say very
    54        positive things and very negative things about food.  For
    55        example, I cite the example of parsley, which is an
    56        extremely high content of vitamin C, but how much parsley
    57        does one eat?  It contributes practically nothing to the
    58        diet.
    59
    60        Another example might be olives, which are highly priced,

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