Chair's Latest Comments
Socio-economic status is associated with epigenetic differences in the pSoBid cohort
01-02-2012 Hits:16 Chair's Comments Simon House
Conclusions - This study has indicated an association between epigenetic status and socio-economic status (SES). This relationship has direct implications for population health and is reflected in further associations between global DNA methylation content and emerging biomarkers of CVD. Key words - DNA methylation, epigenetics, socio-economic status. Abstract - http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/01/08/ije.dyr215.short Read more
Assisted reproduction treatment (ART) and epigenetic inheritance,
27-01-2012 Hits:27 Chair's Comments Simon House
Introduction . . some genes from babies conceived by means of IVF show a gene expression pattern that is different from naturally conceived children (Katari et al., 2009). . . this mechanism could put children conceived by means of assisted reproduction treatment (ART) at a greater risk of diseases, such as diabetes and obesity, later in life. Epigenetic deregulation already received increasing attention as a possible common cause of adverse ART outcomes, since the incidence of disorders that involve imprinted genes, especially... Read more
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Mary Langman Prize Essay 2011/2012
The ‘Mary Langman Prize’; is an annual £500 award for an essay that furthers the lessons learnt at the Pioneer Health Centre about the social, emotional and environmental determinants of...
Read moretweet and Twitter
Raising the profile of the work of Sir Robert McCarrison who believed that the most important factor in restoring health is healthy nutrition. We are venturing into the world of...
Read moreFrankenfish on your plate?
Update: Congress Unites Against FDA Approval of GE Salmon The biotechnology industry has genetically engineered a fish that grows at twice the normal rate, so it can get to market sooner...
Read moreDarwin’s original thesis, trashed by Weismann, restored by David Marsh.
Michael Crawford says: In an excellent meeting on 22nd November 2011, David Marsh, winner of the Cleave Cup for 2011, expounded on "The Origins of Diversity": In...
Read moreFirst Report: Mini-Conference: Cleave Award - Origins of Diversity
Held Tuesday 22 November 2011. See response by Prof Michael Crawford, President, McCarrison Society. David Marsh is awarded the Cleave Cup after presenting the lecture:"Origins of Diversity"; Co-author with Michael Crawford of...
Read moreWhy the food and alcohol industries need tougher regulation (Guardian…
From: Dr Myriam Wilks-Heeg, Liverpool Andrew Lansley's plans to tackle the UK's obesity crisis without imposing legislation on the food industry (Lansley's new obesity pan branded 'worthless rubbish', 14 October) is...
Read moreGetting Kids cooking
A new book, for 3-11 year-olds, with a foreword by Marguerite Patten, Cook School (link to commercial website) may be a useful tool. The review in the Daily Telegraph by...
Read moreCampaign against unsustainable deep water trawling - please sign!
from: Avaaz.org Our oceans are being systematically destroyed and we have little time to raise the alarm. The seafood industry uses long chains of heavy metal disks to drag nets across...
Read moreHouse of Lords debate on child poverty, 2010
Below are extracts from 2 speeches made in the House of Lords with regard to the Child Poverty Bill last year below. The speeches were made by Baroness Finlay and Lord...
Read moreReactions to BBC Horizon "The Nine Months That Made You" - Simon House
Chair, The McCarrison Society: This is the best and most valuable program I have seen on TV and should not be missed - viewable for 30 days on: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mgxf - or some can…
New debate on Human Brain Evolution
SUNDAY TIMES, 31ST July 2011 The Sunday Times 31st July 2011 front page has it that people at Cambridge University claim the brain human brain has reached the limit of intelligence!…
What toddlers eat really matters Thursday, 23rd June 2011 – 6pm
(Apologies for late posting of this event. Webmaster) Chatsworth House, Bakewell, Derbyshire. DE45 1PP Guest speaker Dr Alex Richardson, Founder/Trustee of FAB Research and Senior Research Fellow, University of Oxford. (Alex is…
Keep Kids Cooking!?
Does your MP support cooking lessons in schools? Find out now at http://www.sustainweb.org/childrensfoodcampaign/keep_kids_cooking/ The Children's Food Campaign wants to improve young people's health and well-being through good food…
Obesity: Britain is in crisis - TRAIN THE DOCTORS!
A new campaign from within the next generation of Doctors is launched and the McCarrison Society for Nutrition and Health is co-operating from the outset. Eat To Treat isn't the…
The Organic Elite Surrenders to Monsanto: What Now?
By Ronnie Cummins Organic Consumers Association, Jan 27, 2011 Straight to the Source…
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Fish Fight: how do we support it?
You may have noticed the popular TV food pundit's campaign on Channel 4 TV in mid January 2011. His first target is the Discard policy…
Welcome
Welcome! The Purpose of the McCarrison Society is to assemble scientific knowledge on nutrition and health that is free from economic and political pressures, to help secure the physical…
A Celebration of DHA: Report
by Rachel Gow 26th and 27th May 2010 Meeting Overview Forty years ago, experimental evidence began to appear showing a special role for docosahexaenoic acid…
Brussels 12th May 2006. The Conference took place in the Commission’s Charlemagne building, with closing addresses by Commissioner Kyprianou and US Deputy Secretary for Health and Human Services Alex Azar.
This is a time of public health crisis and significant, sustainable action must be taken which is commensurate with the severity of the problem. Governments are responsible for safeguarding the health of their populations and should make fundamental changes in the food environment, rather than focusing primarily on education programmes aimed at changing individual behaviour. No public health epidemic has ever been resolved by attention to individual responsibility alone. This one too will require government leadership, protections and changes to the structural environment.
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Experience from the USA and EU reveals that self-regulation of advertising and marketing has not demonstrated positive effects. In fact, diet-related disease has skyrocketed during the period of “self regulation.” The NGOs call for an immediate moratorium on the promotion of junk food (low nutritional value) to children, including health related claims on foods for young children, and a halt to all promotion of breastmilk substitutes. There should be no marketing of junk food on TV, Internet, in schools, or other new media venues including but not limited to viral, cell phones, and other emerging techniques.
All commercial activity by companies marketing foods of low nutritional value must cease in schools, including industry-funded ‘educational materials.’ which blur the boundaries between advertising, marketing and independent information and allow companies to gain the trust of parents, children and teachers while continuing to market products irresponsibly.
Public health authorities should establish targets for industry wide reductions in fat, sugar and salt in accordance with nutritional profiles established by public health authorities. Best practice should be implemented globally.
The NGOs call for the clear distinction of roles and responsibilities for the various sectors (NGOs, government, and industry) in the process of developing policies to protect against death and disability from diet-related diseases. They highlighted the risks of government working in partnership with the food industry and allowing the food industry undue influence over the policy making process. While recognizing the important role of industry, the Platform should address conflicts of interest.
Physical activity is an important part of the solution and requires significant changes in city planning, transportation and exercise, matters that are beyond the remit of the food industry.
Bruce Silverglade, Legal Director, Centre for Science in the Public Interest
Lori Dorfman, Director, Berkeley Media Studies Group,
Larry Cohen and Leslie Mikkelsen, Prevention Institute,
Elizabeth Imholz, Consumers Union of US., Inc
Patti Rundall, International Baby Food Action Network
Susanne Logstrup, European Heart Network
Prof Claude Bouchard, President, International Association for the Study of Obesity
Prof Peter Kopelman, European Association for the Study of Obesity
Prof Philip James, Neville Rigby, International Obesity Task Force
European Commission information about the Conference:
he EU-US Conference on Diet, Physical Activity and Health took place in the Commission’s Charlemagne building, with closing addresses by Commissioner Kyprianou and US Deputy Secretary for Health and Human ServiTces Alex Azar.
As part of a wide range of initiatives to tackle obesity, including a Green Paper on Nutrition, proposed legislation on health and nutritional claims and a review of food labelling legislation, the Commission is working in partnership with the EU Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, which was launched in March 2005. The Platform brings together 34 key players from the food industry and civil society to boost voluntary initiatives across the EU. The Platform has released summaries of its 2005 baseline and 2006 commitments for action. These represent a first set of 96 pledges its members have made to tackle obesity across the EU, including information campaigns to promote healthy lifestyles, reducing amounts of sugar and salt in food, improving nutritional information on packages and pledging not to market directly to children. The Commission has welcomed these commitments as a significant first step and will evaluate how closely they are put into practice.