§ Mr. Foulkesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what research is known to his Department on the effects of thiamin deficiency in elderly people.
§ Mr. John PattenThe Department has carried out several surveys of elderly people involving estimates of seven day dietary intake, haematological, biochemical and medical examinations. No evidence of clinical thiamin deficiency has been found although, in a small proportion of the subjects, biochemical values relating to thiamin have been outside what is considered to be the normal range.
§ Mr. Meadowcroftasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what information he has as to the extent to which thiamin is present in food in the average diet.
§ Mr. John PattenThe contribution of various nutrients made by groups of foods to the diet of representative households can be calculated from the information on household purchases of food provided by the national food survey. The extent to which thiamin is present is about 120 per cent of the recommended daily amount.
§ Mr. Meadowcroftasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what information the National Advisory Committee on Nutrition Education makes available to the general public, health visitors, nurses, dieticians, doctors and the media about the vitamin content of basic foodstuffs; and whether any information has been issued about the incidence of thiamin in such foodstuffs.
§ Mr. John PattenThe national advisory committee on nutrition education is not a Government organisation. I am not aware that it has made any information available about the vitamin content of basic foodstuffs. The amount of thiamin in such foodstuffs can be found in McCance and Widdowson's "The Composition of Foods" produced for the Medical Research Council and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office.