* After the cigarette manufacturers, it has become the turn of the food processors to suffer the attacks of those who would have us lead a healthy life. Sometimes you have the feeling that almost everything you eat is liable to damage your brain, clog your arteries, ulcerate your stomach, or impact your intestine. On the other hand, it is certainly true that there is nothing like reading the list of ingredients on the back of a cereal packet or a pot of jam to put you off your breakfast.
| | |
* One dietician writes of pork pies as follows: "People wouldn't buy a pork pie if chemicals had not been designed into them. A pork pie can contain as much as 50 per cent of highly saturated fat which is bad for the heart and arteries. A perfectly good pork pie could be made from reasonable ingredients but it is cheaper to make it with additives because less meat is then needed. The additives in the pie do little harm in themselves. The fat is made acceptable by a perfectly safe emulsifier. Added colour makes the fat look like meat. The additives in it deceive our senses and persuade us to eat too much fat. Even if the additives themselves are considered to be relatively safe, the nutritional consequences are appalling."
| | |
* Since a study by Johns Hopkins Medical Centre, Baltimore, in the mid-eighties, coffee has been on everyone's blacklist. According to the study: "Regardless of the measure of coffee consumption used, analyses found that heavy coffee drinkers were almost three times more likely to have coronary disease than were non-drinkers. Even one or two cups of coffee a day appear to be associated with a small extra risk of heart disease - a one-third increase over non-drinkers." The one piece of good news appears to be that the risk decreases rapidly once a person stops drinking coffee.
| | |
* Few arguments create greater passion among medical experts than the supposed link between diet and heart disease. Some doctors, however, refuse to accept any connection between the two. They have argued that diets which cut back on dairy produce, although unlikely to cause physical harm, could lead to malnutrition, particularly among children. They are appalled that breakfast, that traditional British meal, should be under attack by the spectre of disease. Come between some doctors and their bacon and eggs and feelings will run high.
| | |
* The nutritionists have fought back. They remain convinced that sugary, fatty foods lead to preventable ill health. One doctor argues that a fibre-rich diet is only of use to those who suffer from diabetes. Rubbish, say the nutritionists, and go on to point out that "over one third of British adults are constipated. At least one in seven takes laxatives. And dietary fibre is of proven value in the treatment of constipation."
| | |
* Yet another doctor argues that dental decay should really be seen as a disease which results from a lack of fluoride. What we need to do is clean our teeth like crazy, have them coated with sealants, and take fluorides daily. The nutritionist blasts back by pointing out that you might as well say that headaches are caused by a lack of aspirin.
| | |
* What we do know is that nutrition does affect health. Too little food and too much food are both bad for you. In Britain, poor boys tend to be two inches shorter on average than rich boys.
| | |
