§ Mr. Squireasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement on the Government's 665W response to the report from the Chief Medical Officer's committee on the medical aspects of food policy about diet and cardiovascular disease.
§ Mr. FowlerI welcome this report. Heart attacks kill more men under 65 than any other disease—30,000 each year in England and Wales alone. This is an important scientific report based on a very careful study of all the available evidence on the relationship between diet and health. The Government are committed to increasing the amount of scientific knowledge on nutrition, diet and health and making this information widely available in an easily understood form so that people can decide for themselves what is the best food for them. I am now giving the report to the British Nutrition Foundation and the Health Education Council and requesting these two bodies to ask their joint advisory committee on nutrition education to turn the advice from the report into practical guidance on a sensible healthy diet for families throughout the United Kingdom: the Scottish Health Education Group would also be involved. The Government want to discuss with the relevant medical bodies how best to take forward the report's recommendations about special dietary advice for people most at risk. The Government have already begun talks with the food industry about fat content labelling and are considering the longer term recommendations to produce less fatty and less salty foods.