My son received great medical care — and junk food

MY young son was hospitalised recently for reconstructive surgery. I experienced the anxiety and tension shared by all parents on such occasions. To our immense relief and with our sincere gratitude to the skilled medical team involved in his care, he is hopefully on the road to a full recovery.

As a parent and practising nutritional therapist, I was utterly dismayed however at the food offered by the hospital to my son during his stay.

In one of the main hospitals in this country, my child was offered deep-fried chicken nuggets, spicy wedges, white bread and a sugary drink for supper, chocolate-coated cereals and white toast for breakfast, and sugary ice pops in between.

On a day-to-day basis my job is to inform and advise people of the therapeutic properties of natural foods in the prevention and management of illness.

Many of my clients are recovering from cancer treatment, heart surgery, orthopaedic surgery or are carrying long-term chronic illnesses such as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s, Crohn’s disease, etc. Hundreds of scientific publications confirm the power of consuming natural foods in speeding recovery, improving immunity and reducing inflammation. Whether in acute or chronic illness, proper nutrition can complement prescribed medicine while improving the effectiveness of, and reducing dependency on, those medicines.

Diet plays a key role in improving gut function and liver detoxification after general anaesthetic. At no point was my child offered fresh fruit, wholegrain cereals or salad. In failing to provide optimum nutrition to my child during his hospital stay our health service conveyed a contradictory and wholly erroneous message with regard to food and its fundamental importance to health.

It is unbelievable that given the extraordinary knowledge and skill that undoubtedly exists on the clinical side in our hospitals, the influence of food (good and bad) on the healing process is all but ignored.

Just as we stopped selling cigarettes in the hospital shop and progressed to legislation to ban all smoking in public places, we need to look carefully at the messages we send out to ensure the food we serve in our hospitals to patients, staff and visitors is wholly consistent with public health policy.

Where is the consistency in encouraging healthy nutritious lunches in schools while at the same time when a child goes to hospital, we tell him indirectly that toxic food is acceptable? In this era of spiralling healthcare costs, surely someone in the HSE has done or is capable of carrying out a cost/benefit analysis which would, without doubt, indicate the advantages of vigorously promoting the need for healthy nutritious eating for the entire population?

Is it not past time that those on hospital waiting lists were challenged to begin to help themselves by looking seriously at their eating habits thus improving their chances of successful treatment? Why is the medical profession so vocal on the latest clinical breakthrough and so silent on the causes of disease? This is not quantum physics, it is simple biology. We become what we eat and the closer to nature we eat, the healthier we become.

As a practising nutritional therapist, scientist and mother, I suggest to any hospital that is genuinely interested in the link between nutrition and the avoidance or management of disease that serving wholesome, health-giving food is not only possible but can be done within existing budgetary constraints.

All that is required is leadership, will and a little effort.

Helen O’Dowd

Oysterhaven

Kinsale

Co Cork