SECOND OPINION:People already have too much saturated fat in their diet
THIS WEEK, people in receipt of social welfare payments will have, on average, €8 less per week to spend on food and other essential items. Never mind, they always have the Department of Agriculture’s free cheese scheme to fall back on. This scheme will soon be up and running again for 2011 and thousands of 1kg packs of cheese will be given free of charge to social welfare recipients. While this might seem like a good idea, we need to ask ourselves is this good government policy from a health impact perspective or are there other ways of helping people already on the breadline improve their health?
If we were to ask any Irish citizen, “What do you need to change about your diet in order to improve your health?” the last thing they would say is, “I need to eat more cheese”. Pretty much every survey of eating habits of the Irish population in the past 30 years has shown that we eat too many high-fat foods and not enough fruit, vegetables or cereals. Less well-off people are much more likely to have a high-fat diet than the better off in society. This is true, not just of Ireland, but of all the developed world. Virtually all chronic illnesses, for example, obesity, diabetes and heart disease, are related to poor nutrition and lack of exercise.
The EU free cheese scheme for Ireland is worth about €800,000 or the equivalent of 167 tonnes of cheese. A single portion of cheese is 1oz and is about the size of a matchbox, so a 1kg block of cheese is equal to about 35 servings from the milk, cheese and yogurt food group. The recommended serving from this group is three portions per day for all except pregnant women and adolescents who need five per day. A 1kg block of cheese therefore provides enough servings for a family of four to have one serving every day for nine days.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Irish cheddar cheese which is a very good food, but I would not eat a portion a day. I like to buy a half a pound at a time which lasts about a week in my house. As it is unlikely that people will eat cheese every day, a 1kg block might last up to three weeks, by which time it will probably have gone mouldy.
The amount of cheese eaten has to be measured in the context of the overall amount of fat products consumed every day. What is most worrying about this free cheese scheme is that Irish people already have too much saturated fat in their diet and less well-off people have more saturated fats in their diet than the average Irish person. The free cheese is Irish cheddar which is very high in saturated fats and we all should be eating less of this food group.
Irish people, and in particular the less well-off, need to eat a lot more cereals – pasta, rice and bread – and a lot more fruit and vegetables. If we were to ask poorer families if they get their required five servings of fruit and vegetables or their six servings of breads, cereals and potatoes every day, they would probably say no. The quantity of fruit and vegetables required for a family of four every week is the equivalent of 28 pieces of large fruit such as apples, or 56 pieces of small fruit like plums; 112 dessert spoons of vegetables or salad including peas and beans; 28 bowls of vegetable soup; and 28 glasses of fruit juice. In addition, the family of four requires the equivalent of 28 bowls of breakfast cereal, 56 slices of wholemeal bread, 168 dessertspoons of cooked pasta or rice, and 28 potatoes! The family also requires 56 portions of eggs, fish and meat every week. If there is a pregnant woman in the family or teenagers, then even more is required.
Think about how difficult it must be to provide this quality diet for the family if you’re in receipt of social welfare or on a low wage. In fact, people on low incomes know that buying chips in a fast-food outlet for their families, particularly when there are special offers, is cheaper than cooking potatoes from scratch.
Supplying free full saturated fat cheese is really not a good idea. If the Government wants to improve health through the distribution of subvention or surplus products, then supplying a bag of spuds and vegetables each week, or free rice and pasta would be a much better option. This would be good for agriculture, good for the environment (less methane produced) and good for population health.
* Quick tip: Store your root vegetables and potatoes in an enamel bread bin – they will keep for much longer.
Dr Jacky Jones recently retired as regional manager of health promotion at the HSE