Day 253 - 21 May 96 - Page 15


     
     1        there is no conclusive evidence of this that they actually
     2        do but it is a possibility.
     3
     4   Q.   Well, bearing in mind what you have just said about
     5        vegetarian diets, for example, would you accept that, by
     6        and large, if people are eating a lot of fruit and
     7        vegetables, they are more likely to be filled up and so
     8        less likely to over eat in terms of energy intake?
     9        A.  Yes, if people were prepared to eat really large
    10        amounts of fruits and vegetables, it could conceivably have
    11        an effect.  We are talking about a radical effect in
    12        people's dietary habits which the majority of the
    13        population, I suspect, would not be willing to accept or,
    14        more importantly, could afford.
    15
    16   Q.   When you talk about "really large", I do not know what you
    17        are talking about here and perhaps you could explain?
    18        A.  Yes.  Well, if you think about the average person who
    19        does have a healthy well balanced diet, he does or she
    20        does, eating fruit and vegetables but not in such
    21        quantities as to affect appetite, in other words, you do
    22        not eat four apples, you eat one apple.  If you have two
    23        helpings of vegetables with your main course, you do not
    24        decide to have four instead.  This is a radical change in
    25        eating habits.  People are very resistent to dietary
    26        change.
    27
    28   Q.   Right.  You seem to go going through extremes but, for
    29        example, there are recommendations that we should eat at
    30        least 5 pieces of fruit and vegetables a day and, generally
    31        speaking, people do not eat that many, as far as I am
    32        aware; is that correct?
    33        A.  Certain sections of the population eat very much less
    34        than that.
    35
    36   Q.   That is that quite large sections in the population where
    37        people eat less than that?
    38        A.  It is, yes.
    39
    40   Q.   If people increased their intake of fruit and vegetables to
    41        at least 5 portions a day, that does not include potatoes,
    42        does it, as I understand it?
    43        A.  I do not think it does which I find strange since
    44        potato is a vegetable.
    45
    46   Q.   Right.
    47        A.  With fibre in it.
    48
    49   Q.   Yes, but, anyway, it is five fruit and vegetables with
    50        potatoes on top, and if they were eating more grain and so 
    51        on, cereals, then they would be more likely to be filled up 
    52        without eating lots of high fat and high energy dense food 
    53        products?
    54        A.  That is the theory.  Unfortunately, the section of the
    55        population in which we find the greatest instance of
    56        obesity, the greatest instance of cardio-vascular disease,
    57        hypertension and so on, is the poorest section.  We are
    58        looking at the Register of General Social Classes IV and V
    59        and there you have by far the highest instances of these
    60        degenerative diseases.  You also have the lowest in terms

Prev Next Index