On page 268 it states: “In general nutrition experts, including the Food Standards Agency and the British Dietetic Association, recommend that you invest your time and money in eating meals and snacks that supply the nutrients you need in a balanced, tasty diet.”

As for your well-made points, people usually get around that by either providing all the food (very expensive research) or keeping them in a controlled setting (even more expensive research). The cheaper research option (as you know) is relying upon people’s recall by asking them to keep food diaries (always dodgy, no independent verification). I think for supplements, the usual technique is that the researchers provide them and then ask for all the left-overs at various waypoints so that you can estimate how many were taken.

It will be interesting if Catherine Collins or someone similar can comment on good design here.

I’ve noticed that more commenters and researchers are now referring to the Indo-Mediterranean diet as particularly healthful.

I must look out for the book as that sounds like an interesting survey.

Presumably you could four groups: (1) those eating a horrible diet; (2) those eating a horrible diet with supplements; (3) those eating a healthy diet full of fish, nuts, fresh fruit and vegetables but no supplements and (4) those eating a healthy diet with supplements.

I am not sure how such an experiment would work in practice. I would feel rather bad about imposing it on children. Perhaps some student volunteers could be recruited?! How would you check people stuck to the required diet? Presumably they would have to be kept in a clinical setting for several months? Are there any research scientists or professional dieticians out there such as Catherine Collins who could advise on how such an experiment would be carried out?

I suppose part of the reason we find it difficult to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables is that we are so divorced from the land. We don’t recognise real food. Nonetheless, there are grounds for optimism. The town where I live has a popular monthly Farmers’ Market and the supermarkets seem to be promoting healthy eating that they used to.

You mentioned France and Italy. Dietary fads seem to come and go, but the Mediterranean Diet seems to have stood the test of time. It would be interesting to know the numbers of French, Greek and Italian people taking supplements. A survey quoted in the excellent “Nutrition for Dummies” stated that 47% of British women and 35% of men use vitamine and mineral supplements.

Lee

Absolutely. In adults, supplement pills don’t appear to have the same effects as eating the vitamins in fruit, veg etc. (e.g. certain antioxidant supplements are associated with increased mortality). It seems unlikely that supplement pills will do children nearly as much good as healthy food.

Also, part of the problem with unhealthy eating isn’t ‘just’ a lack of nutrients – but too much of certain things. e.g. too much ‘bad’ fat, refined sugar, too calorific a diet, etc. Supplements won’t offer a solution to this.

It is usually said that the notion of a 5-a-day is neither here nor there in many cultures, from all the usual comparisons, children in France, Italy and much of India don’t have any problem meeting this quota. Why is this such a problem in the UK and (presumably) the US?

Do you really want to take your nutritional advice from somebody who can’t communicate simple results correctly: e.g., the efficacy of vitamin C in reducing ‘cold’ days for children?

Couldn’t agree more with LeeT that children need to know that the major source of their micronutrients should come along with their macronutrients – in other words, they should get it from the food that they eat, in the absence of any contraindications.

If we are handing out advice to each other, might I suggest that you might benefit from considering the links and advice here, especially LeeT’s comments, rather than badmouthing others for alleged badmouthing?

Before you reply you might like to take a look at the following information on The Food Standards Agency website regarding vitamin supplements

http://www.food.gov.uk/healthiereating/healthycatering/healthycatering06/#h_287049

Look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best wishes,

Lee