Correct food ‘could save $250 million’

Press, 29 September 1988, Page 6

Correct food ‘could save $250 million’

Wellington reporter and PA New Zealand could save $250 million on treating heart disease if its people ate less high cholesterol food, the Minister of Health, Mr Caygill says. He told a crowd that gathered in the Beehive at lunchtime yesterday to launch the heart food festival that New Zealanders placed too much emphasis on “money” as the answer to good health. “We are locked into the idea of health as a curative process,” he said. “But the greatest improvement in our health status is going to come — not from cardiac surgery or lithotripsy or cancer therapies — but from

stopping smoking and improving our eating habits. And exercising,” Mr Caygill said. He described the heart food festival as a “brilliant” way of getting the message across to people. The National Heart Foundation of New Zealand opened its campaign which is aimed at helping the public identify healthy food through a system of stickers. Food stickers will show if a product has a high fibre content or is low in fat, sugar or salt, the foundation said. The 1988 Heart Food Festival will not be restricted to supermarkets. Hundreds of industrial canteens and restaurants have submitted menus and recipes for approval.