FOOD PATTERNS IN THE BRITISH-ISLES

Food supply statistics can show the general dietary pattern in European countries. However, their energy content is 50% or more above physiological needs, and because the wastage of each food will be different within a country as well as between countries, comparisons between their nutrient content and a country's mortality may be unreliable. The types and amounts of food brought into the home are closer to what people eat, and this paper describes the main dietary changes which have occurred in Britain at this level since 1970. During a time when life expectancy increased and mortality from coronary heart disease fell, the main characteristics of the diet remained British, but it became more prepackaged. Many recent changes were in the direction advocated by nutritionists, but, because of a decline in sugars and starches as well as in fat, the proportion of energy derived from fat remained at about 42%. Intakes of several other nutrients also declined, but the ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids doubled to 0.37.