Day 269 - 25 Jun 96 - Page 24


     
     1        competed with its own brands of saturated fat margarines.
     2        It is relevant to know how and why this happened.
     3
     4        Unilever at its headquarters in Vlaardingen, Holland,
     5        established a major biomedical research programme to test
     6        the accumulating evidence on the causative role for
     7        saturated fats and the protective effect of polyunsaturated
     8        fats.  The Vlaardingen research group established an
     9        international reputation for its in-depth and impartial
    10        work which it shared with the international science
    11        community.  One of the spin offs from this work was the
    12        discovery that prostaglandins, important regulators of
    13        blood vessel behaviour homeostasis and cell adhesion, were
    14        derived from arachidonic acid, itself a metabolite of
    15        linoleic acid (the parent omega 6 fatty acid referred to
    16        before).  Many felt that the Unilever author of this work,
    17        Professor David van Dorp should have shared the Nobel prize
    18        given to Sir John Vane, Bengt Samuelsson and Sune Bergstrom
    19        in 1982.  Importantly, it was this 'in house' work which
    20        persuaded the Unilever board to encourage the development
    21        of flora.
    22
    23        By the beginning of the 1970's 'flora' was becoming
    24        established in the marketplace.  By 1981 it had cornered
    25        60% of the Australian market.  There was close cooperation
    26        Unilever's scientists with others and in the UK the flora
    27        project was created to explain to the professional and
    28        general public the need to act on the medical advice.
    29        Flora is now a market leader.  Other margarine
    30        manufacturers and super-market own brands have followed the
    31        lead and the sales of saturated fat butters and margarines
    32        have fallen.
    33
    34        Although the total fat eaten in the UK has remained the
    35        same, the ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fat (P/S
    36        ratio) has risen three fold over this period. (i.e. a fall
    37        in the proportion of saturated fat and a rise in
    38        polyunsaturated fatty acids).  There has been a similar
    39        shift in the USA and Australia and some believe that the
    40        rise in P/S ratio has contributed to the decline in heart
    41        disease since the end of the 1980s.
    42
    43        Similarly, the milk producers, initially seriously
    44        antagonistic to the evidence, responded by making low fat
    45        and semi-skimmed milk available.  The bakers, at first also
    46        resistant to what would be a radical change, introduced
    47        whole meal and whole seed loaves. There is now a wide range
    48        of breads available whereas in the 50s, 60s and even
    49        through to the 70s, bread was dominated by whitened flour.
    50        Other sectors of the food industry, Kellogs for example,
    51        have similarly responded.
    52
    53        It is interesting to speculate what might have happened had
    54        McDonald's followed a similar policy.  As with the changes
    55        in bread, margarine and milk, this would require radical
    56        re-thinking of their position.  This re-thinking would be
    57        of special importance to their expansion in developing
    58        countries.  It would have been then and is still possible
    59        now for them to do so.
    60

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