Day 055 - 25 Nov 94 - Page 47


     
     1        diet -----
     2
     3   Q.   Please, I do not want to be impolite, but leave "diet" out
     4        of it.  It may be that "healthy food" or "healthy meals"
     5        are a kind of a shorthand.  I am not concerned with that.
     6        What I want to know is whether you agree with me that it
     7        makes no sense to talk of healthy food or healthy meals as
     8        items in themselves?
     9        A.  The point I would like to make ---
    10
    11   Q.   Very well.
    12        A. --- is that it is primarily healthy foods which go to
    13        make up a healthy diet.
    14
    15   Q.   What do you mean by "healthy foods"?
    16        A.  The kinds of foods which I would say are healthy are
    17        those which are not high in fats or high in sugars, which
    18        do not include large amounts of salt, and which contain
    19        suitable amounts of micro nutrients, such as vitamins and
    20        minerals within them.
    21
    22   Q.   Which is, surely, only a shorthand way of saying:  "Do not
    23        eat too many of such foods or you will have an unbalanced
    24        and, therefore, possibly unhealthy diet"; is that right?
    25        A.  Yes.  Those foods that do not fall within that
    26        classification that I have given, generally, are foods
    27        which should be eaten less regularly than foods that one
    28        may provide the shorthand of "healthy".
    29
    30   Q.   You see, the reason I am asking you these questions is not
    31        that I perceive you to hold yourself out as a nutritional
    32        expert.  I know that you do not.  It is this:  you are a
    33        member of an organisation which has for, it appears, at
    34        least ten years campaigned -- and I do not use that word in
    35        any pejorative sense at all -- to improve the eating habits
    36        of the citizens of this country; would that be fair?
    37        A.  Yes.
    38
    39   Q.   Would you disagree with this proposition, that, leaving
    40        aside foods which are naturally toxic or unnaturally
    41        contaminated, it does not matter a row of beans (if may use
    42        an unfortunate pun) what food you eat, so long as you eat
    43        it in balance and moderation?
    44        A.  It matters inasmuch as food and the balance that is
    45        provided by those foods is one that is going to promote
    46        well-being and health rather than be detrimental to it.
    47
    48   Q.   If you say to me that it depends what you mean by
    49         "balance", of course I entirely agree with you -- and,
    50        indeed, what you mean by "moderation". 
    51 
    52        Ms. Dibb, how is The Food Commission to be distinguished in 
    53        our mind from The National Food Alliance?
    54        A.  The Food Commission is a member organisation of The
    55        National Food Alliance.  I read out yesterday the aims and
    56        objectives of The National Food Alliance.  It is an
    57        alliance; it has a large number of members.
    58
    59   Q.   I see -- of which The Food Commission is merely one?
    60        A.  Yes.

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