The Food Standards Agency (FSA) laid on free cardiovascular risk assessments the other day for lucky guests at the launch of its campaign on the dangers of eating too much saturated fat.
We were given this opportunity of finding out whether we were worthy targets for the initiative. The event was held at Borough Market, London - that famous paradise for foodies. On normal market days, much of what is on offer there is high in fat and salt.
Just the sort of foods that need to be eaten in moderation. But the prices are now so high that affordability is likely to limit the quantities consumed before you even consider their fat and salt content. Despite that, for many of us, a visit usually leads to buying too much out of sheer greed even though we may know just as well as the FSA that we shouldn't eat that amount of these delicacies.
Just as no-one can deny that Borough Market is a dangerous, though lovely place, no-one could disagree with the FSA's TV and print advertisements, which it launched that evening. But we should be left to pick and choose which advice to follow to achieve the right balance. Responding to the advice in the FSA posters, I will not grate my cheese, unless it's Parmesan. I will not use 1% milk in my coffee because I don't like it half-black, but I could bear it on cereal. But I will, as I do already, trim the fat from my meat; eat at least seven portions of fruit and vegetables a day; avoid eating sweets and biscuits as much as possible and eat low fat yoghurt twice daily.
I also eat balanced meals, although I pig out occasionally, especially on cheese. Incidentally, my blood test showed a level of bad cholesterol so low that it couldn't be detected by their equipment. And, taking my normal blood pressure into consideration, my coronary heart disease risk was so low that it wasn't even on the standard graph used to display the results. The beauty of this knowledge is that I can continue to have the same quantities of full fat cheese and serve it ungrated because the amount of saturated fat in the rest of my diet is low enough to compensate.
Yes, I know I'm only one lucky example. But it does demonstrate that, for some people at least, full fat cheese is not a junk food and moving from semi-skimmed to skimmed milk is not a prerequisite. That's at least as far as saturated fat control is concerned. The same rationale can be used for salt.
If you don't add it to your meat and veg you may still have your cheese - and grilled bacon. What's your poison? Clare Cheney director general Provision Trade Federation
clare.cheney@provtrade.co.uk