Dr. Dilis Clare:

I also have a retail business and I also manufacture. Those who come for health food supplements might not have an adequate diet, partly because there is an evidence-proven reduction in constituents in the food we are eating compared to 20 or 30 years ago. Also if we look at the survey of lifestyle, attitudes and nutrition, SLÁN, which is the Government's own information, there are serious deficiencies in what Irish people are eating. Only 35% of the population is eating the advised five servings of fruit and vegetables a day; 20% are eating three portions of dairy and 60% are not eating two portions of fish. There is a fantasy about how it would be if we all ate the right food, but we are not. Irish people are not eating our ideal diet. In the absence of proper health intervention and prevention, people are trying to do the best that they can. Many are addressing dietary deficiencies. Some 70% of first-time patients attending Cork University Hospital rheumatology department were deficient in vitamin D and 26% of them were seriously deficient. That is every patient who went for a first appointment to rheumatology.

As a GP, I can tell the committee they will no longer do vitamin D tests for general practitioners. There is a lot of scientific evidence showing that the medical supplements of vitamin D do not provide the adjuncts of vitamin K1, boron and magnesium. Many Irish people are also deficient in magnesium. Iron deficiency in toddlers is widespread. There are food supplements based on dried apricots and dried fruit, which they are not eating for their parents for one reason or another. That is the reality based on the Government's own health information in the SLÁN survey.