Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-cjp7w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-28T23:17:22.688Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Animal production and food: real problems and paranoia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

K. L. Blaxter  and
A. J. F. Webster
K. L. Blaxter
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Husbandry, University of Bristol, Langford House, Langford, Bristol BS18 7DU
A. J. F. Webster
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Husbandry, University of Bristol, Langford House, Langford, Bristol BS18 7DU
Get access

Abstract

The scientific and technological expansion of British agriculture between the mid 1930s and mid 1980s can be attributed primarily to the provision of favourable and stable prices and only secondly to government support of research and development. These conditions have changed. Most government-funded research in agriculture is now directed to the new biological sciences, molecular biology and transgenics. It is uncertain whether those at the frontiers of biotechnology are aware of the limits and constraints placed on animal production. Equally, it is uncertain whether the commercial supply services to agriculture will be prepared to meet the costs of transferring this new technology into production. These real problems facing agriculture are amenable to rational solutions. Of greater concern are food scares whipped up by pressure groups and government responses taken in the absence of, or in defiance of, scientific evidence.

Two examples are considered, one trivial, the other deadly serious. The first involves the recommendation that pregnant women ‘should not eat liver’ based on an unpublished report of a single case of birth defects. The second example chosen for discussion is the alleged causal relationship between the intake of saturated fatty acids (SFA) and coronary heart disease. The inadequacy of the simple distinction between saturated and unsaturated fats is briefly reviewed in the light of new knowledge relating to specific SFA, monounsaturates and the distinction between polyunsaturates of the linoleic and linolenic series. Evidence from large epidemiological studies is marshalled to demonstrate that there is no good case to support the conclusion of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy (COMA, 1984) that the nation's diet should be changed to reduce the proportion of saturated fats. The Department of Health is invited to recall COMA to reconsider their recommendations in the light of new evidence.

Keywords

heart diseasesmortalitysaturated fats
Type
Hammond Memorial Lecture
Information
Animal Production , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , December 1991 , pp. 261 - 269
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Assman, G. and Funke, H. 1990. HDL metabolism and atherosclerosis. Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology 16: suppl. 9, pp. S15–S20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonanome, A. and Grundy, S. M. 1988. Effect of dietary stearic acid on plasma cholesterol and lipoprotein levels. New England Journal of Medicine 318:1244–1248.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cockburn, E. O. 1962. John Hammond, the man. Animal Production 4:1–12.Google Scholar
Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy. 1984. Diet and cardiovascular disease. Department of Health and Social Security report on health and social subjects no. 28. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
Department of Health. 1990. Women cautioned: watch your vitamin A intake. Department of Health press release 18.10.90.Google Scholar
Gey, K. F., Puska, P., Jordan, P. and Moser, U. K. 1991. Inverse correlation between plasma vitamin E and mortality from ischaemic heart disease in cross-cultural epidemiology. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 53: 326S–334S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldstein, J. L. and Brown, M. S. 1983. Familial hypercholesterolaemia. In The metabolic basis of inherited disease (ed. Stanbury, J. B., Wyngaarden, J. B. and Fredrickson, D. S.), pp. 672–712. McGraw Hill, New York.Google Scholar
Gordon, D. J. and Rifkind, B. M. 1989. High density lipoproteins; the clinical implications of recent studies. New England Journal of Medicine 321:1311–1316.Google ScholarPubMed
Gordon, T., Kagan, A., Garcia-Palmieri, M., Kannel, W. B., Zokel, W. J., Tillotson, J., Sorlie, P. and Hjortland, M. 1981. Diet and its relation to coronary heart disease and death in three populations. Circulation 63: 500–575.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grundy, S. M. 1990. Cholesterol and coronary heart disease; future directions. Journal American Medical Association 264: 3053–3059.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grundy, S. M. and Denke, M. A. 1990. Dietary influences on serum lipids and lipoproteins. Journal of Lipid Research 31:1149–1172.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gunstone, F. D., Harwood, J. L. and Padley, F. B. 1986. The lipid handbook. Chapman and Hall, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gurr, M. I., Borlack, N. and Ganadra, S. 1989. Dietary fat and plasma lipids. Nutrition Research Reviews 2: 63–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hammond, J. 1927. The physiology of reproduction in the cow. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Hayes, K. C., Pronczuk, A., Lindsey, S. and Diersen-Schade, D. 1991. Dietary saturated fatty acids (12:0, 14:0, 16:0) differ in their impact on plasma cholesterol and lipoproteins in non-human primates. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 53:491–498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hegsted, D. M. and Ausman, L. M. 1988. Diet, alcohol and coronary heart disease in men. Journal of Nutrition 118: 1184–1189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
James, W. P. T., Duthie, G. G. and Wahle, K. J. 1989. The Mediterranean diet: protective or simply non-toxic? European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 43: suppl. 2, pp. 31–41.Google ScholarPubMed
Keys, A. 1970. Coronary heart disease in seven countries. Circulation 41: suppl. 1.Google Scholar
Keys, A., Anderson, J. T. and Grande, F. 1965. Serum cholesterol responses to changes in diet. 4. Particular saturated fatty acids in the diet. Metabolism 14: 776–787.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lush, J. L. 1945. Animal breeding plans. 3rd ed. Collegiate Press, Ames, la.Google Scholar
McCormick, J. and Skrabanek, P. 1988. Coronary heart disease is not preventable by population interventions. Lancet 1988(ii): 839–841.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNamara, D. J. 1990. Relationship between blood and dietary cholesterol. In Meat and health: advances in meat research 6 (ed. Pearson, A. M., Dutson, T. R.) pp. 63–87. London, Elsevier.Google Scholar
Martin, M. J., Hulley, S. B. and Browner, W. S. 1986. Serum cholesterol, blood pressure and mortality: implications from a cohort of 361,622 men. Lancet 1986(ii): 933–939.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menasché, P. and Piwnica, A. 1989. Free radicals and myocardial protection: a surgical viewpoint. Annals of Thoracic Surgery 47: 939–945.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mensink, R. and Katan, M. B. 1989. Effect of a diet enriched in monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acids on levels of low density and high density lipoprotein cholesterol in healthy women and men. New England journal of Medicine B21: 436–441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchinson, M. J., Ball, R. Y., Carpenter, K. C. H. and Parums, D. V. 1988. Macrophages and ceroid in atherosclerosis. In Hyperlipidaemia and atherosclerosis (ed. Suckling, K. E. and Groot, P. H. E.), pp. 117–134. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Muldoon, M. F., Manuck, S. B. and Matthews, K. A. 1990. Lowering cholesterol concentrations and mortality: a quantitative review of primary prevention trials. British Medical Journal 301: 309–314.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scientific Working Group on Anabolic Agents. 1987. Scientific report on anabolic agents in animal production. Veterinary Record 121: 389–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stehbens, W. E. and Wierzbicki, E. 1988. The relationship of hypercholesterolaemia to atherosclerosis with particular emphasis on familial hypercholesterolaemia, diabetes mellitus, obstructive jaundice, myxoedema and the nephrotic syndrome. Progress in Cardiovascular Disease 30: 289–306.Google Scholar
Steinberg, D. and Witzrum, J. L. 1990. Lipoproteins and atherogenesis: current concepts. Journal of the American Medical Association 264: 3074–3052.Google ScholarPubMed
Wood, P. D. P. 1981. A possible selection effect in medical science. Statistician 30: 131–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Health Organisation. 1986. European collaborative trial of multifactoral prevention of coronary heart disease: final report on the 6-year results. Lancet 1986(i): 869–872.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Health Organisation. 1990. Diet, nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases. Technical report series 797. WHO, Geneva.Google Scholar