News & Information

Welcome

Jan's rant

I'm a believer...

Don't worry, I'm not proselytizing! There was a report on the Today program about crime statistics – all about how these statistics should not be used to draw the conclusions which politicians were making because the crimes had been re-classified and therefore the comparisons which were being made should not have been made. I'm sure we will have a lot more stuff like this as the election date draws closer. The reporter used the word "mendacious" during the interview and my curiosity peaked!

Having studied genetics at University I am aware of the work of Gregor Mendel, a monk who spent a lot of time growing and crossing varieties of peas and who is considered one of the forefathers of modern genetics. Though there is no doubt that his theories were ground breaking and largely correct let's say that the data which he alleged proved his theory were a little "too good to be true". So when I heard "mendacious" on the radio I made the link with Mendel.

I was wrong. The root for mendacious comes from the Latin "mendacium" which means to lie or to be untruthful. A mendacious report therefore is a report which embellishes or draws conclusions which the data do not really support. How often do we come across those every day!!

At the time of writing this rant the furore over the leaked climate change emails continues. Again the debate does not undermine the case that we humans are causing climate change, but because of the possible embellishing of conclusions based on possible in part flawed data brings the climate change science into disrepute. What or who do we believe?

In the February 2010 edition of the Health Food business magazine we have Patrick Holford concluding that it is "sugar" which is the cause of an unhealthy Britain. Further on in the same magazine Graham Keen from the HFMA presents the case for the need to enhance our diet with food supplements and then we'll be healthy. He argues that since the five-a-day targets are not met that the unfairly maligned health food industry should be listened to because it plays a vital role in supplying the supplements which help consumers become healthier. I did a (brief!) internet search on "do we need supplements" and long and behold – we do! Most of the articles suggest that we should supplement our food but these conclusions are often based on special groups of people such as the elderly or the pregnant or those who do not eat their five-a-day. But what if I do eat properly? What if I do exercise regularly and get my five-a-day?

As Graham Keen argues in his article - "consumers are confused and need more information rather than less". Let's make sure that we supply them with as much fact based information as we can.

Talking about facts ... hope you have see the article on Goodness Foods in the Health Food Business magazine. Even journalists make mistakes because Maggie assures me she said "Chunky Jack" and "Lite Jack" as being the products produced in our own Bakery, not the Crazy Jack brand as the article suggests which is of course owned by Community Foods.

Have a good Easter.

Jan

Any comments?
E-mail jan.walsma@goodness.co.uk