British Diet

admin on 07 29, 2009

I have recently raised questions about how much we really know about our diet in the UK and the nutritional values of this diet.

We all know that we should try and eat at least five servings of fresh fruit or vegetables daily and yet how many of us really know what is meant by a “serving”? (it’s 80g).  How many of us when challenged could really define “A balanced diet”? and yet it’s a term you hear used every day.   I can only liken it to the off side rule in football, we all have our own interpretation of what this is, but they are rarely the same.

In recent years The Nutrigold Education Team have carried out some in depth research into what the average British person eats and the nutritional values of these foods.   Even without addressing the issues of high sodium and concerning levels of heated fats, the results make for concerning reading.   It’s reported that only approximately 15% of women and 13% of men achieve the goal of consuming the suggested five a day, so what about the other 85% of the nation?  Surely it’s a ticking time bomb… and yet with the proper education surely people would take greater care to make sure they get the right nutritional values daily.

We all live very busy, often stressful lives and so it’s not always possible to do everything by the book and although you can never substitute the need to consume your five a day of fresh fruit and vegetables, there is certainly a growing number of people in the U.K who acknowledge the need to give some extra nutritional support to their families in the way of an appropriate food supplement.  Interestingly it has been reported that 23% of adults in the U.K have taken some form of food supplement in the past twelve months).  We should consider this important issue because It’s well known that having the correct nutritional values can help in so many ways,  supporting energy levels, weight control, supporting moods, supporting IQ and the ability to learn and retain information, let alone the concerning issue that one in six couples in the UK are unable to conceive a child, and yet good nutritional pre conceptual care has been shown to have a staggering 78.4% success rate compared to 22.6% via IVF.  Surely its time to think again…

Many of you are unlikely to  be consuming anything quite like the average British Diet, but the same basic principles apply even when you are taking an improved version of this diet. Unless of course you are taking the greatest of care every day to check not only what you eat, but also how it has been grown, harvested, process and cooked.  Remember our recommendations are not as so often seen in the industry  the RDA for a nutrient (minimum levels) but they are set to deliver more like the optimum nutritional level, so as to achieve optimum results. Which in turn are nothing to do with the upper toxic level where they would become unsafe.

Please find attached some startling facts about our diets that hopefully will really make us all sit up and think about what we are doing as a nation and ideally make some informed decisions for our family and friends.  Please also feel free to hand this on to friends and family, as the more we can help the nation the better for everyone

I hope you enjoy the read.

Best wishes

Andrew Wren
Managing Director
Nutrigold Ltd

Further reading
Do we really need to take food supplements or are they all just a waste of time? – Download PDF

Surviving the British Diet – Download PDF

Citrizorb – The Truth about Mineral Supplementation – Download PDF

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