Diet N.Z. killer?

Press, 13 May 1981, Page 6

Diet N.Z. killer?

NZP A Brisbane Scientists do not have enough proof yet to recommend a change to the Western diet which may be slowly killing Australians and. New Zealanders. Two papers presented at the Congress of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science in Brisbane yesterday said there was no i conclusive link between diet and disease. The congress was told 1 New Zealand had one of the ! highest incidences of bowel . cancer in the world, while overweight and sedentary I men remained the most j likely candidates for heart i attack. 1

A senior lecturer in medi- ■ cine at the University of I Queensland, Dr Mark Bas- I sett, said: “In spite of a large , amount of research on diet and gastrointestinal disease I in the last decade, very few I diseases have been conclu- ■ sively demonstrated to be ! caused by diet.” !

The theory that low-fibre diets might be a significant cause of digestive disease had not yet been supported by rigid scientific tests. “A big probleni which faces health and tmedical authorities is how) much scientific evidence iis required linking disease: with diet before advice should be given to the general popular tion to alter their diets,” Dr Bassett said. 1

A professor of medicine at the University of New South Wales, Professor R? B. Blacket, said that there was conflicting evidence about links between diet and some diseases. i If some conclusions were to be believed, he : said, “Maybe we should encourage some 60 per cent of our population to fatten up and. disregard the multiplicity of hazards. ”

“Clearly we need to know more,” he said. " “My own belief is that for the apparently healthy, dietary modification should be used like any other medical intervention, only when indicated and acceptable. This is the current position taken by the National Heart Foundation of Australia.

“The modifications jn fat intake needed to reduce blood cholesterol levels of the entire population to those in Third World countries where coronary disease is rare are much greater than the public, the politicians, and the food industry will accept. “The need to make such a drastic change has not been demonstrated. Less drastic change may have a beneficial effect but this too is unproven,” Professor Blacket said.

Professor Blacket is director of medicine at the Prince Henry and Prince of Wales Hospitals, Sydney.