Wider education needed to improve health

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33777, 25 February 1975, Page 6

Wider education needed to improve health

Education in better eating habits at home and at school is the key to improving health standards in New Zealand, says Dr D. W. Beaven, professor of medicine at the Christchurch Clinical School.

Dr Beaven aroused considerable public awareness of dietetics when he told the recent conference of the Association of Home Science Alumnae in Christchurch that two-thirds of New Zealand’s population was dying of diseases that could be directly related to nutrition. “If we could prevent, people from becoming overweight, by putting greater emphasis on the need to, (maintain the right weight) (when young, with healthy [ eating habits, then we would: not have this major problem of obesity,” he said yesterday.

He would like to see nutrition embodied in an overall framework of teaching human biology with health in the schools. And he be-

lieves that both the Ministers of Health and of Education could supply staff to set up proposals for such a programme and find out how it could be implemented.

More teachers should be trained in human biology, nutrition, dietetics and health maintenance to teach the, young now to improve the health of their gen-

'eration and of those to come, he said. But it was necessary to get the public to accept and want such health education or the schools would not teach it. Starts at home Training in healthy eating habits and moderation 'should begin in the home' with small children. Parents should teach their I (families to realise that they (do not need sweets or fatty [foods and guide their children’s choice in what thev (eat. I The young “sweet-tooth”: (should be helped to under-; stand that the countries which have the highest ratdi of atheroma, a fatty sludg-( ng of the arteries, and of! obesity also have the highest intake of refined sugar. (New Zealand leads the world in intake of sugar and dairy products.) Cholesterol intake If New Zealanders did not; eat any butter or eggs they would still get enough cholesterol from their meateating habits, he said. As it is, the intake of saturated fat in the average home was about twice as much as necessary.

About 300 milligrams a day was the optimal intake of cholesterol for the average person and more than: 500 milligrams a day was I excessive, he said. (One egg 1 contains 250 milligrams). “We could use polyunsaturated oils in place of fats if they were cheaper. Should- not these be subsidised?” he questioned. The average man or teenage boy should not need more than two eggs and one rasher of bacon a week. But women could eat five to six eggs a week and bacon several times a week, because their biological make-up projected them against some of (the factors recognised in ; producing atheroma in men, [he said. I The high calorie content of sugar, however, quickly puts on weight in either sex. Subsidies

Dr Beaven suggested that mothers might try to use their influence to have subsidies removed from sugar land dairy products and put on fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts, fish and wholemeal and wholewheat breads, which are expensive now for families on limited budgets. “I would take the subsidy off milk, except for children and people over 60 who [need its calcium and protein,” he added. “Adults between these two groups need very little milk and I think 'milk of low fat content [could be made available to them.” I If the subsidies were re(moved from sugar, eggs and 'milk the Government would (save $5O million a year, Dr [Beaven estimated. This; amount could be spent on subsidising the more nutritious food items he men-( tioned and if still morel monev was needed for ex-| panded health education pro-; grammes Dr Beaven said he would suggest putting a progressive tax on cigarettes. “I say ‘progressive tax’ to be fair to tobacco growers and enable them to diversify,” he said. Dr Beaven would like to see more stimulation given to the growing of nuts, citrus fruits and Kiwi fruit to help replace refined (sugar! . “This is the kind of thipgi [that a Government, con-; cerned about nutrition,; [should be doing,” he said.