Effie Schultz

 Nutrition
The science behind traditional eating - nutrition demythologized …

The near universal adoption of industry-promoted unhealthy dietary practices has contributed significantly to the current pandemic of chronic diseases or as they are now called non-communicable diseases. Geo-political forces now determine the food that people can chose and afford to eat. Agribusiness and the food industry ensure the production and distribution of cheap, processed, and packaged energy dense and nutrient deficient, artificially flavoured, sweetened, salted, and addictive stuff purporting to be food. These have replaced healthy traditional cuisines. The industry also influences research on nutrition, the content of national and international guidelines on diet, and lay and professional knowledge of and attitudes to food.

I have read extensively on many aspects of food so as to be able with confidence to counter these negative influences when recommending a healthy diet to my patients.

I attempted to write up my thinking three times. The first draft, part of a manual on primary care, was destroyed in a fire at our home, the second attempt looked too much like a text-book and was abandoned, and the third, a set of slides, has been more than 10 years in the making. Although initially directed at the relationship between food and cardiovascular diseases, its scope is comprehensive.

In the process I was challenged to understand what fibre is and where it is found. The outcome of my search is presented in a set of slides and a rather long monograph, long because of the inclusion of data on the many compounds that constitute fibre as well as polemics on its definition and its relationship to food additives and starch.

Dietary Fibre — summary in slides
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Dietary Fibre — discussion
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The whole document is, however, still not ready. The further delay is due in part to the need to incorporate the on-going mini-avalanche of validating new data some of which now manages to bypass corporate obfuscation and obstruction.

Diet and Cardiovascular Disease — slides
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In 2007 in response to a call from the Department of Health in South Africa, I submitted comments on its draft regulations on the labelling and advertising of food..

Summary - SA Food Labels 2007
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Comments on SA Food Labels 2007
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In 2014 the South African Department of Health concerned about the escalating prevalence of non-communicable diseases and aware of its association with current dietary practices, decided to amend the regulations, and I have again submitted comments. I recommend a people-centred approach that does not advantage the food industry. Health and nutrition claims on all food labels and related displays should therefore be prohibited and quantitative data (with associated warnings where applicable) on ingredients, nutrients, and food additives should be prominently displayed in three separate tables. Health and nutrition messages prepared and sanctioned by the Department of Health should be mandatory on all labels.

Comments on SA Food Labels 2014
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Regulations Relating to the Reduction of Sodium in Certain Foodstuffs and Related Matters – July 2012

The South African government is belatedly planning to introduce regulations to reduce the amount of sodium in marketed food. My comments on the proposed regulations were submitted in response to a public call by the South African Department of Health.

My recommendation that the maximum daily sodium intake should not exceed the RNI (Reference Nutrient Intake) value of 1.6 g equivalent to 4 g sodium chloride for adults with lower age-related levels for children is lower than used elsewhere, but consistent with other entries on my website: items 1, 7, 8, 9, and 11 in chronic disease care. The strategies to promote effective implementation proposed were also outlined in Comments on SA Food Labels (above), and in my Proposal on Food and Diet for the Southern African Hypertension Society.

Comments submitted to the South African Government
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