John Crown (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegates. I am sorry I was not present for the entire presentation.

I am a doctor and practise cancer medicine. In our field in the past decade there has been a greatly increased focus on diet and obesity. It is now appreciated that it is one of the great unappreciated risk factors for a number of cancers. Statistics have emerged which show that if there was a substantial reduction in the obesity rate, there would also be a substantial reduction in the incidence of cancer. Surprisingly, I have also seen data that indicate that if one has cancer, the chances that one will do better with treatment are higher if one is not obese.

It could be argued that it is, after smoking, the second biggest cancer risk factor our population is facing. The key factors appear to be calorie and fat intake and its metabolic effect on us. I speak with some personal authority in this regard because three or four years ago I made a concerted effort to talk to people about weight and counsel them in a big way. This is something cancer doctors often skip over. Of course, the fact that there are so few of us does not help, but it does work. Recommendations from doctors carry more authority than something seen in an advertisement on television. We need a major increase in emphasis on nutritional education in our medical schools, of which we have so many. We should try to do this.

I am now 25 kg lighter than I was ten years ago. I had reached a crossroads in my life and decided it was unhealthy to be so heavy. In fact, a brave young woman who was a patient of mine and a triathlete and raising funds for us said to me, "You know, you are very overweight. I don't know if you are going to save my life, but I am going to save yours." She forced me into a programme of exercise and diet. Sadly, she is no longer with us. Anne Burns was a wonderful woman whom I recall crying when I told her she could not take part in the run in a triathlon because she had secondaries in her spine. She was an extraordinary woman about whom we have spoken in public on many occasions.

The lesson I learned which may not sit with what the delegates are saying is that there is really no food that is dangerous if we eat it in moderation and that no food is safe if eaten to excess. Simply banning salt, sugar or chips would not work. We must get the message across that the total volume, multiplied by the number of calories, and the efficiency with which we absorb food are what make the difference. I am a scientist and hate being unscientific, but I have observed that many of my patients who are middle-aged ladies with breast cancer and have weight problems never eat sugar. They made a decision to give up sugar in tea and coffee and do not eat cake or chocolates, but they cannot understand why they are fat. When I ask what they have for dinner, they tell me they eat healthily and have a little chicken and potatoes. I then discover they are having a great bowl of carbohydrates - either potato, rice or pasta.

We have a much bigger job on our hands. I have not got my head straight on whether we should have a sugar tax or a fat tax. I am not sure about this.