Day 298 - 11 Nov 96 - Page 39


     
     1        about what the leaflet says by getting out the leaflet.
     2        So he appears to be accepting what is stated in the Cancer
     3        Education Coordinating Group's leaflet about avoiding
     4        cancer.
     5
     6        The first reference, in case I did not give it, to that
     7        that leaflet, was page 12, line 19.
     8
     9        Sorry, I remembered that I was allowed to sit down and now
    10        I have gone too quiet.
    11
    12        Miss Brophy also referred to the Guide to Healthy Eating
    13        published by the Health Education Authority, which stated
    14        that fibre rich foods are very important for good health.
    15        They help prevent constipation and they may help protect
    16        against bowel problems, including cancer of the bowel,
    17        which is one of the most common cancers in Britain.
    18
    19        The pamphlet also stated there were two problems related to
    20        eating too much fat.  Firstly, that the fat was loaded with
    21        calories and that too many calories leads to overweight and
    22        obesity, which obviously, as we know, increases your risk
    23        of cancer and diabetes.  Secondly, that too much saturated
    24        fat is linked with a higher risk of heart disease.
    25
    26        The pamphlet also goes to say that sugar promotes tooth
    27        decay and obesity, but also that adding sugar to food makes
    28        it easier for us to eat too much, partly because our taste
    29        buds have been trained to crave for sugary food.  That is
    30        the government's own advice on the subject.  That was on
    31        page 12, line 45.
    32
    33        With reference to the point about the use of the phrase
    34        "balanced diet" and whether or not that is a helpful term,
    35        Miss Brophy agreed with the NACNE report, on page 14, which
    36        set out how the term "balanced diet" came about, and went
    37        on to recommend a new approach which avoided using the term
    38        "balanced diet"; and that suggested that the term "a
    39        healthy, varied diet" would be better.  That was page 13,
    40        line 43.
    41
    42        Miss Brophy went on to say that people need to be given
    43        guidelines in terms of what foods they should be eating
    44        more of, what foods they should be eating less of, and that
    45        a balanced diet, the phrase "a balanced diet", can mean
    46        almost anything to anyone and can be interpreted in
    47        whatever way people chose, and that "a health promoting
    48        diet" or "a healthful diet" are more useful terms.  That
    49        was page 14, line 28.
    50
    51        We went on to the recent report in the British Medical
    52        Journal about salt intake.  With reference to something
    53        that was raised in that report, Miss Brophy said: "One of
    54        the problems in promoting healthy eating is that basic
    55        cooking skills are in decline and people are eating more
    56        processed food", and that was it was difficult to reduce
    57        people's salt consumption when they are relying more and
    58        more on processed foods.  Obviously, McDonald's are a part
    59        of that, both in the food they sell and the fact that they
    60        are encouraging people to eat more and more of it, with

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