It would seem that the nation’s health is in a somewhat critical state. Hardly a day goes by without a food-related issue coming to the fore and it would appear that many consumers are finally waking up to something that has been known for centuries - that what we eat has a direct impact on our health.
The fresh produce industry has not been slow to catch on. Debates over food additives, pesticide residues and other such food ills continue to rage, and many in the industry have launched their own promotional initiatives. While health issues have never left the produce agenda, new research has enabled many to launch specific claims as to the disease preventative qualities of given products. The Watercress Alliance, for instance, has long highlighted the general nutritional benefits of watercress. With health issues now so topical its latest research project by Ulster University, got underway this January specifically to investigate watercress’s anti cancer potential in relation to colorectal cancer.
Although marketing budgets are often low, concerns for health offer a real opportunity for the produce industry. The British Sprout Growers’ Association (BSGA) was formed in 2000 to highlight the benefits and versatility of home-grown sprouts. Since then it has focused its efforts into creating an awareness of the many virtues of sprouts, which invariably suffer more than other vegetables because of their long-held dowdy reputation. “Sprouts are one of the healthiest vegetables,” says the association’s spokesperson Julie Frankland. “They are packed full of vitamin A and beta carotene and antioxidants but more than that they contain a chemical known as Sinigrin.”
Last month the Institute of Food Research (IFR) announced a breakthrough in research when it revealed that plant chemicals created during the preparation of some vegetables could kill colon cancer cells in a similar way to some cancer drugs. When certain brassica vegetables are chopped, chewed, cooked, processed and digested the plant chemical allyl-isothiocyanate (AITC) is created. AITC is a breakdown product of Sinigrin, a chemical compound found in brassica vegetables including mustard, cabbage, horseradish, cauliflower, sprouts, swede, kale and wasabi.
“This is not a miracle cancer cure but it does show that preventative dietary measures can be discovered and exploited in the same way as drugs,” says Professor Ian Johnson, head of the IFR team. “We have known for many years that Sinigrin breakdown products kill cancer cells. But by uncovering a previously unknown part of the process working in a similar way to some anti-cancer drugs, we hope to show how important diet can be in your personal anticancer armoury.”
Plant breeders at Norwich Research Park are producing new strains of broccoli that are high in glucoraphanin, the chemical parent of sulphoraphane. Broccoli evolved from wild cabbages and other strains are being recruited into the breeding programme with the aim of having a new commercial variety of broccoli within five years which means that in the future, new varieties of Brussels sprouts and broccoli may contain guaranteed high levels of anti-cancer compounds.
The IFR has conducted a great deal of research into links between diet and disease and even on a less specific level - the case for eating your greens is good. “One portion that would count towards 5-a-day is just 80g of sprouts,” says Frankland, “and that is only four sprouts. But still, we are trying to encourage greater consumption in two specific ways. We have tried to promote sprouts on a healthy-eating level and we are also emphasising versatility. For a long time sprouts have suffered from a negative image so we are trying to get consumers to look at them in a different way - and I think the message is working.”
By working with other vegetable products Frankland believes the health message can be stronger. “Broccoli and tomatoes for instance have both gone out on a kick, and tomatoes in particular have benefited from a rise in interest because of health issues.”
According to Gerry Hayman, scientific advisor at the Tomato Growers’ Association (TGA), tomatoes are one of the most valuable additions to the human diet. Antioxidants such as lycopene have been linked to a reduction in the onset of several chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and several cancers - although he admits that more detailed epidemiological studies and fundamental chemical and biological research are needed to establish the direct health benefits and to clarify the complex mechanisms at work.
“I have carried out a research project on lycopene in tomatoes that established that we can achieve much higher levels than previously reported in ripe British tomatoes, according to the variety, and these levels can be considerably higher than in imported long-life types,” he says.
To further strengthen the links between diet and good health the TGA is now allied with the Cancer Research Campaign - a wise move, since according to Cancer Research UK, unsuitable diet is responsible for up to 80,000 cases of cancer ever year. Dr Tim Key, a principal scientist on the European diet study EPIC, says that around a third of these can be put down to alcohol and obesity alone, however the exact causes of the remaining two thirds are largely unknown. Based at Cancer Research UK’s Epidemiology Unit in Oxford, Dr Key says: “Research suggests that diet is second only to smoking as a cause of cancer. But the effects of our eating habits are complicated and we are only beginning to understand which foods contribute to the disease.
“What we do know is that alcohol consumption and obesity are important causes of cancer and, while alcohol consumption is increasing in UK women, obesity is on the rise in both sexes.”
Obesity is thought to cause five per cent of cancer cases, often contributing to cancers of the breast, womb, kidney and bowel. Although other foods such as red meat and salty foods are also thought to contribute, the relationship between them is not yet clear.
What is certain though is that the EPIC study represents a major step forwards. It began in the 1990s and enrolled half a million people in ten different countries including 90,000 in England. It has already been able to measure large differences in diet across Europe and in the next five to 10 years it will compare the diets of those who get cancer with those who do not. Research is already suggesting potential links and as time passes the project will reveal more.
“The EPIC study is a very valuable project,” says Cancer Research UK’s director of clinical and external affairs, professor Robert Souhami. “It is beginning to tell us exactly which foods can help to prevent cancer and which should be avoided.”
Perhaps the most shocking aspect of recent health reports is the fact that increasing amounts of UK children are now classified as obese. In response to this, there have been many calls for the government to develop a national consumer education campaign with the aim of promoting weight management as part of a healthy lifestyle, and to prevent the marketing of unhealthy foods to children.
The Food in Schools (FiS) programme is a joint venture between the Department of Health (DoH) and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). Its aim is to bring together all food-related initiatives in schools to assist them in developing sustainable programmes to promote healthy eating among children.
The FiS programme has strong links with the 5-a-day initiative and has launched various schemes including healthier breakfast clubs and healthier vending machines of which Supajus, the first orange juice drink enriched with Omega-3 DHA will no doubt be a welcome part.
Undoubtedly there are huge profits at stake in cornering the childrens’ market and in attempting to change negative eating patterns it is better to educate children from an early age.
“There is often a sense that we are preaching to the converted,” says Frankland, “and so this year we are planning to go into inner city schools to get the message across there. Kids often imagine that they do not like sprouts but in some cases they have never even tried them. If you can convince children that green vegetables, and sprouts in particular, taste nice, then you are half way there. We give out recipe leaflets that they then give to their parents. I think it is important to catch children at an early age so they grow up with sprouts and a pattern of consumption has been created.”
These days sprouts are harvested as button sprouts instead of when they are larger and because of this they have a nuttier, crunchier and sweeter taste. “If consumers know what to do with sprouts and appreciate the many ways in which they can be used then they soon begin to become fond of the taste,” she says.
Taking its product into schools has worked well for Fresh Growers. The company’s Martin Evans says: “We are now doing baby carrots for the 5-a-day scheme which is very good news for us. You do have to go back a generation in order to change peoples eating habits and an industry, the carrot sector has to continue to look at new ideas and to get new people on board to help us move forward in the market. If baby carrots are a success in school then we have proved that we can compete with fruit and that we are a good snack food - an idea which I believe should be taken further.”
The TGA is registered with, and supports the 5-a-day campaign. Cherry tomatoes are now one of the items accepted for the Fruit for Schools programme. “We carry out activities in schools directly,” says Hayman, “and we also talk to consumers including children at shows and other events.”
According to the Processed Vegetable Growers’ Association (PVGA) more than a million Britons never eat vegetables and to redress this imbalance it has launched the Yes Peas! campaign with three events scheduled in the next six months. Mr Pea will make his debut at the Royal Show (July 4-7) where the pea growers of Britain take their first ever stand on Sixth Street. Celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson is supporting two national cooking competitions and on November 23, secondary school children from across the country will compete in the Grab 5! School Menu Challenge, devising a main course and pudding for primary schoolchildren with a budget of £2 to include five pieces of fruit and vegetables including peas.
As the link between diet and health becomes ever stronger, many groups are calling for diet to be better deployed in reducing the cancer risk in the UK since food is a major and underused anti-cancer weapon.
“With dietary interventions, we have the potential to prevent around a third of all cancers,” says Dr Ian Gibson MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on cancer. “In the long term, we could also save some of the £2.4 billion to £3.5bn annual cost to the NHS of cancer.”
At present there is overwhelming epidemiological evidence that many cancers are preventable but despite this, 70 per cent of cancer treatment money is spent during the terminal stages with less than 10 per cent of total cancer research funding focused on prevention.
“The biological mechanisms of cancer prevention through diet can be discovered and exploited in the same way as new curative drugs,” says Professor Johnson. “Scientific advances should be as vigorously applied to prevention strategies as they are to drug development.”
This needs to be accompanied by an investment in public awareness of the links between food and cancer prevention. Research has shown that they are often poorly understood. For example, an IFR study of beliefs among low-income women found that foods were not generally linked to cancer prevention. What connections were made between food and cancer revolved around beliefs that food processing might cause cancer. However, “the strongest association between diet and cancer in the western world is the protective effect of a high intake of fruit and vegetables”, says Johnson.
By current thinking, it will take a lot more than an apple a day to keep the doctor away, but when your parents told you to eat up your greens they were right.
“In the next Cancer Plan, let us try to get it right for the sake of the economy, the long-term future of the NHS, and the health of the next generation”, says Dr Gibson. And as Souhami concludes: “After giving up smoking, having a healthy diet and lowering alcohol intake are the most important ways of reducing the risk of cancer.”
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