A Unique Child: Nutrition - Recipe for disaster

Hard to believe now, but English food was once glorious, and famous even in France! It was hundreds of years ago of course - in the time of the Plantagenets. Henry VIII gave us our first setback. Wanting to throw out everything Catholic, he banned 'Catholic', 'frenchified' food, and so under the new Protestantism, food became plainer. Cooking the great dishes of yore could cost you your neck, and they were eventually forgotten. However, many people still ate pretty well, using their own crops and animals.

The real disaster came with Enclosures and the Industrial Revolution from the late 18th century. As the lords enclosed the common land, there was nowhere for villagers to graze their animals or grow crops. Facing starvation, thousands fled to the burgeoning industrial towns in search of jobs in the new factories and mines. But the housing there was appalling, with no sanitation, no land and often no kitchens.

Gradually, near-deserted villages fell into ruin, and the diet and health of the new factory workers plummeted. In just a few generations, traditional recipes and cooking skills became lost.

Other countries fared better: they industrialised later and could learn from our mistakes, and in many European countries the new industries tended to be only in certain areas, leaving life elsewhere largely unaffected. This meant that, unlike here, recipes and food knowledge continued to be passed down through the generations without a break, often to the present day.

Mass production

During World War II and its aftermath, the disappearance of all but the most basic ingredients caused more of our food knowledge to erode. But there were also changes in the way our food was actually being produced, which were to have huge repercussions. Because of the very real wartime danger of starvation caused by enemy siege, the government took charge of farming and food production and geared it to producing as much food as possible by using new 'intensive' and mass-production methods.

As the war ended and the 45 year-long Cold War began, the threat continued, and intensive farming methods and industrial food production became firmly established. This regime created the food and landscape we have now, despite concerns being raised early on.

Intensive farming depended on the newly developed chemical fertilisers and pesticides. (It also used huge new farm machinery, which required much larger fields, causing widespread destruction of hedgerows, trees and wildlife.)

Traditional farming, with crop rotation, composting and manuring, had fed the soil with essential nutrients that plants absorbed. But chemical fertilisers were designed only for rapid plant growth. They did not feed the soil, which slowly deteriorated, making crops increasingly less nutritious and tasty. In addition, modern agriculture preferred varieties that cropped heavily, travelled well and were disease-resistant, sidelining flavour and nutritional value.

Even more worrying was that despite official assurances, pesticide residues could remain in food, and that young children were especially vulnerable to any ill effects. Every year, 31,000 tons of pesticides are now sprayed on to UK farmland. In just the past decade, nearly 40 pesticides previously declared perfectly safe have been withdrawn or banned, two in the last year. A 2006 EU report said that long-term exposure to pesticides could lead to problems such as cancer, birth defects and immune system disturbances.

The composition of meat gets changed in intensive production. For example, it is more fatty than that of animals allowed to range freely and feed on grass, and the fat is more saturated. Mass-produced chickens are actually reared to put on fat so they look a better colour under supermarket lights! They can now be more fatty than beef. Another worry is that intensively-reared animals are often routinely fed antibiotics - eventually consumed, of course, by us.

As for food factories, they have been allowed free rein to sell us all manner of foodstuffs, many of extremely low nutritional value. 'Shelf-life' helps industry profits, so long-lasting items like sugar, salt and hydrogenated fats abound in the processed 'convenience' foods.

Thousands of chemical additives also appeared. These can disguise foods' defects and also carry their own risks. In particular, certain food colourings have been repeatedly shown to cause a range of physical and behavioural problems in susceptible children. Some countries such as Norway banned all artificial food colours years ago.

Research at Great Ormond Street Hospital showed that two of the 'top ten' causes of intractable migraine turned out to be the coal-tar dye tartrazine (E102) and the preservative benzoic acid (E110). In fact, tartrazine was the second most common single cause after cows' milk. But dyes and benzoates are so common in processed food and drink it's hard to avoid them, and they can trigger a range of conditions.

Many present-day ills can be linked to diet. Physical effects are fairly well-known (obesity, diabetes, tooth decay, diseases of the digestive system, strokes, heart disease and some cancers), but curiously, the mental effects are less well-known. But without a good supply of nutrients, notably zinc, magnesium, chromium, iron, vitamins B, C and E, and, especially, omega-3 oil (fish oils), the brain can't develop or function properly.

Professor of brain chemistry at London Metropolitan University, Michael Crawford, says that without more of these essential nutrients, we are likely to become increasingly violent, sick, depressed and, possibly, stupid. According to Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University, if present trends continue, the cost of mental illness will soon outstrip the already huge costs of physical illness. Depression is already the leading cause of disability worldwide.

Better diets

There is, however, extensive evidence that improving diet can have spectacular results. For example, removing chemical additives from school meals and removing soft drinks from vending machines has produced great improvements in pupils' behaviour.

Perhaps the most compelling evidence for the effect of diet on behaviour has come from trials with young offenders in prison. In these trials, simply giving prisoners supplements containing government-recommended daily amounts of vitamins, minerals and fatty acids produced amazing improvements in behaviour as well as in physical growth and appearance.

Children are at the sharp end of poor diet because they are still growing. The widespread UK diet seriously compromises their health, and as for the effect on their behaviour, they are caught in a trap: on the one hand they are going short of nutrients that are brain-nourishing and calming, and on the other they are swallowing quantities of sugars, fats and additives that are brain-damaging and excitatory.

Professor Derek Bryce-Smith, scientific advisor to some youth trials, believes that malnutrition is now widespread, with serious implications for both health and behaviour. In fact, our current diet is so far removed from what we evolved on that it would be amazing if it didn't cause problems. At this point in our history, we have lost almost all our food culture, our connection with producing and preparing food has been severed, and dietary changes have increasingly been making us ill.

We need urgently to ditch our processed food culture and get back to food that will build health, whereupon we can rediscover some of the delicious dishes we have lost. The challenge for us all is how soon can we do it.

Further information:

- Colin Spencer, British Food: An extraordinary thousand years of history (Grubb Street, 2002)

- Gesch, Bernard et al, 'Influence of supplementary vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids on the anti-social behaviour of young adult prisoners; randomised, placebo-controlled trial', British Journal of Psychiatry, vol 181, July 2002, pp22-28.

- Soil Association, tel: 0117 314 5000, www.soilassociation.org

- Geoffrey Cannon, The Politics of Food (chapter 4), (Century, 1987).