A cry from the Heart Foundation

Press, 7 October 1987, Page 25

A cry from the Heart Foundation

Dr David Hay, Medical Director of the National Heart Foundation, prefers to concentrate on the more positive aspects of his work. But with a little prompting he can reel off some frightening statistics.

Coronary diseases are responsible for 27 per cent of all deaths in New Zealand each year. Together with stroke statistics, they account for half the New Zealand death rate.

The Heart Foundation is making progress, though. Heart attacks are dropping by between 1 and Ift per cent every year, and since 197# the death rate for men has dropped by 25 per cent

Dr Hay says these statistics “encourage us to believe we’re doing reasonably well, but we could be doing better.” Doing better is what

the Heart Foundation hope to achieve by their new “Eat to Beat” campaign, which sets out to change the New Zealand diet. With its focus on meat and fatty foods, the traditional New Zealand dinner table is one of the main culprits in causing coronary disease. For the average New Zealander, fat forms 40 per cent of the daily food intake. According to Dr Hay, if we could reduce that to even 35 per cent there would be much less coronary disease. “Eat to Beat” promotes a varied and balanced diet, concentrating on a positive approach to health eating. As Dr Hay says, the Heart Foundation is “not trying to give people a list of what they shouldn’t do. There’s no food that’s totally bad — quantity and balance are what’s important.” The

emphasis is not on cutting out, but on cutting down. “Eat to Beat” centres on a food pyramid, with the foods which should be eaten most (bread, cereals, pasta, fresh fruit and vegetables), on the bottom layer, foods to be eaten in moderation (dairy products, eggs, lean meat, fish and poultry), on the layer above, topped with the foods which should be eaten least (salt, sugar, butter, margarine and oil). These guidelines, coupled with a healthy weight and a moderate alcohol Intake, lead the way to a healthy heart They are also a recipe for general good health, lowering the risk of many other food-related disorders.

Dr Hay sees a trend towards healthier eating developing already. Partly as a spin-off from

the export trade, leaner cuts of meat are becoming more common and more readily available, and there are a wide variety of breads and milk in our shops. The choices are there, it’s a matter of persuading New Zealanders to make use of them. The Heart Foundation has recently studied the eating habits of teenagers — and found the results not at all to their taste.

The Foundation intend to take a very close look at school canteens. Dr Hay believes the answer to bad teenage eating habits is to give them better choices. The National Heart Foundation and the “Eat to Beat” campaign are not preaching a diet of bran and natural yoghurt — far from it. The message is “that food can still be one of life’s pleasures as well as being healthy,” to quote the Foundation’s pamphlet And a healthy diet can include the occasional hamburger. Just don’t make a habit of it.