0:00:10.543,0:00:11.910
I’m from Ireland.

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I grew up in the Lake District in Ireland.

0:00:15.413,0:00:17.220
And here we are in the Lake District -

0:00:17.220,0:00:18.353
in Italy.

0:00:19.710,0:00:23.160
I grew up with six brothers;[br]we are one of seven sons.

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Our mother was a teacher,[br]our father a musician,

0:00:26.093,0:00:29.370
and we lived on a fifty-acre farm.

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Now, the reason I’m telling you this story

0:00:32.301,0:00:34.738
is because back then[br]there was a certain way of life

0:00:34.738,0:00:37.440
that I would like you[br]to capture in your mind

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and hold onto it throughout this talk.

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We grew our own food;[br]it was natural, homegrown.

0:00:44.780,0:00:46.880
Wild fish ran through the river.

0:00:47.060,0:00:48.501
We were good at catching them.

0:00:48.501,0:00:49.668
We still are.

0:00:50.280,0:00:52.000
Every animal had a name.

0:00:52.000,0:00:53.125
The cows had names.

0:00:53.125,0:00:54.520
They lived in the nature.

0:00:54.520,0:00:57.880
They provided us with meat and milk.

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Nutrition.

0:01:01.337,0:01:02.440
How about lifestyle?

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The farmers were busy[br]from early morning, in the afternoon,

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and they worked physically[br]until after sunset.

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I want to leave that with you,[br]and I want to talk about health.

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And more specifically,[br]chronic disease killers.

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Okay, the reality is, today in Europe,

0:01:27.570,0:01:33.440
over 86 percent of deaths[br]are due to chronic disease.

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These people are living devastating lives;

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their loved ones, suffering.

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It's a terrible situation.

0:01:41.880,0:01:44.213
In fact, by the time I finish this talk,

0:01:44.213,0:01:49.030
12 people in Europe will have died[br]because of chronic disease.

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Chronic disease deaths are premature.

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But yet, we are living longer;[br]the longevity line is going up.

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But how about the quality-of-life line?

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The quality-of-life line[br]is not staying with the longevity line.

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What it means is that people[br]spend maybe up to 20 years in poor health

0:02:10.840,0:02:13.550
before they die prematurely.

0:02:14.700,0:02:19.840
Oh yes, we're busy talking[br]about terrorist attacks, aviation safety,

0:02:19.840,0:02:22.620
the weather, the economic situation.

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Let’s talk about the elephant in the room.

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It’s time to talk about that.

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Okay, it is now time to introduce you[br]to these chronic disease killers,

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chronic disease killers[br]that lie within each and every one of us -

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let’s make no mistake about it.

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So, number one chronic disease killer -[br]cardiovascular disease.

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Cardiovascular disease[br]claims 40 percent of lives in Europe,

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and by the way, these numbers[br]are similar - maybe even worse -

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throughout the rest of our planet.

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Let's take number two: cancer.

0:03:06.930,0:03:09.630
Cancer is a disease[br]involving abnormal growth

0:03:09.630,0:03:12.188
which invades and takes over the body.

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We all know about formidable cancer.

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In the European Commission,

0:03:17.148,0:03:19.400
we have the European[br]Cancer Information System,

0:03:19.400,0:03:22.000
and we can tell you[br]that this year, in Europe,

0:03:22.000,0:03:27.040
there will be 3.9 million[br]new cases of cancer.

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Over 1.9 million people will die.

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Let’s take number three:

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diabetes.

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Diabetes is a group of metabolic disorders

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which involve high levels of sugar[br]in the bloodstream

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over prolonged periods of time.

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Ladies and gentlemen,[br]they are the three big killers,

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contributing to 86 percent of deaths.

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So, what do we do?

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What do we do to defuse[br]these chronic disease time bombs

0:03:58.670,0:04:00.160
that lie within us?

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Oh, hang on!

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Maybe some of them are preventable.

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Would you like to find out[br]how preventable these diseases are?

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Let’s go back then to number one:[br]cardiovascular disease.

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Evidence tells us that - wait for it -

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90 percent of cardiovascular[br]disease is preventable.

0:04:21.320,0:04:23.400
90, not 9 - 90.

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Take cancer.

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Between 40 and 45 percent[br]of cancers are preventable.

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And let’s take diabetes.

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80 percent of diabetes cases[br]are preventable.

0:04:35.040,0:04:37.350
Well, this is just fantastic news!

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It’s amazing. It's fantastic!

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But if we look at the reality,[br]what's happening today,

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if we look at health[br]expenditure in Europe,

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it's about ten percent of GDP.

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That doesn't mean millions,[br]it doesn't mean billions;

0:04:53.590,0:04:55.515
it means trillions of euros.

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But the reality is,

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of all that money we spend on health,

0:05:00.441,0:05:06.640
less than one percent goes to prevention.

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So, we are not here to name,[br]to blame, or to shame.

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It is what it is.

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We as humanity[br]have created that situation,

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but I have more good news.

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If we talk about prevention,

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there are two main ways[br]to prevent disease.

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Number one -

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and now I want to bring you back[br]to that image of my six brothers and I,

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back in Ireland.

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Number one - nutrition.

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What we eat every day.

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And number two is lifestyle.

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Let’s talk a little bit about nutrition.

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Do you know how much sugar, salt, and fat[br]you have put through your system today?

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Have you eaten at least 400 grams[br]of fruit and vegetables today?

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That’s about five portions.

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How about your red meat consumption?

0:06:01.080,0:06:04.070
In Europe, we’re eating double[br]the amount of red meat we should

0:06:04.070,0:06:05.976
and half the amount of fish we should.

0:06:05.976,0:06:08.900
How about your legumes? Your fiber?

0:06:10.600,0:06:12.010
Then lifestyle.

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Lifestyle - we all know it -

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smoking, it's very bad.

0:06:16.460,0:06:19.475
In the European Code Against Cancer,[br]it’s the number one killer.

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And the number two[br]cause of cancer in the Code

0:06:21.842,0:06:23.181
is passive smoking.

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So, if you don't smoke,

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do not accept to inhale[br]other people's passive smoke.

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Alcohol? Limit it.

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Limit it as much as you can.

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And the big one - physical activity.

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Remember the farmers years ago?

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From morning to night?

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What are we doing all day?[br]We are doing this.

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And then we go home, and we do this.

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And then we go to bed.

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So basically, they’re the main things.

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Now, 40 years or more have passed on.

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Today, I’m in the Lake District in Italy,

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and I love it here.

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I’m a JRC scientist.

0:07:00.080,0:07:03.960
I am a scientist working[br]in public health on chronic disease

0:07:03.960,0:07:06.478
for the European Commission’s[br]Joint Research Centre.

0:07:07.234,0:07:08.340
Now, I need to tell you

0:07:08.340,0:07:12.610
that the EU and the Commission[br]does not have a legal mandate

0:07:12.610,0:07:17.480
to impose legislation on the member states[br]to help the situation.

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That is up to the member states,[br]the countries of the European Union.

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But we do, and we can do,

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and we do a lot of very good work[br]on spearheading projects.

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Let me give just one or two examples,

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and then we will go[br]on towards the end of the talk.

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In the Joint Research Centre,[br]we have mapped school food policies.

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The children are the future.

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When children learn good habits -

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and the school is a controlled setting;[br]it's an excellent setting -

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they will keep those good habits,

0:07:47.042,0:07:50.738
just like if they learn bad habits,[br]it would be difficult to change.

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With those school food policies,

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we then got the member states together,[br]and they all exchanged practices:

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What do you do?

0:07:57.827,0:07:59.210
How can we fix the situation?

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How can we improve the situation?

0:08:01.524,0:08:02.607
We’ve looked to see

0:08:02.607,0:08:08.280
how to improve the uptake of fruit,[br]vegetables, and water in schools.

0:08:09.360,0:08:12.200
We’ve even looked[br]at national dietary requirements,

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and I can give you some[br]shocking statistics now - let's do it.

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If you take plain rice -[br]plain rice in its natural form

0:08:19.773,0:08:24.730
should contain, or does contain,[br]about 0.5 grams per 100 grams.

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That's a half a percentage.

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But if you look what's on the market,[br]what are people buying and eating?

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Some of those products[br]contain over 30 grams -

0:08:35.200,0:08:36.799
it's added sugar -

0:08:36.799,0:08:38.599
30 grams per 100 grams.

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So that’s like 60, 70 times more sugar.

0:08:42.160,0:08:44.120
We looked at breakfast cereals,

0:08:44.120,0:08:48.250
breakfast cereals all over Europe,[br]the various categories.

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There’s a chart from[br]0 to 35 grams per 100 grams.

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It was red, especially for the children:

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the children's cereals are full of sugar.

0:09:00.120,0:09:01.520
They're going to school

0:09:01.520,0:09:05.320
having already exceeded,[br]maybe, their daily dose.

0:09:06.197,0:09:08.250
We’ve also looked[br]at front-of-pack labeling.

0:09:08.250,0:09:09.251
I asked you earlier:

0:09:09.251,0:09:12.132
do you know how much sugar,[br]salt, and fat you've eaten today?

0:09:12.132,0:09:15.286
Well, to be honest you'd be a genius[br]to be able to find that out

0:09:15.286,0:09:17.000
because it is very difficult.

0:09:17.000,0:09:18.130
Front-of-pack labeling.

0:09:18.130,0:09:21.248
When you buy something[br]and you want to it eat it or drink it,

0:09:21.246,0:09:24.450
can you look at the back of it[br]and read and understand what's there?

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We are looking to improve that situation.

0:09:27.160,0:09:30.400
We are mapping all of [br]the front-of-pack labeling techniques,

0:09:30.400,0:09:33.366
and we will spearhead a project[br]to hopefully change that.

0:09:33.366,0:09:35.578
If we cannot communicate[br]this to the people,

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then the people won’t make the change.

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Okay, there were[br]some examples of what we do.

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We could go on,

0:09:43.016,0:09:45.378
but I need to come[br]towards the end of the speech.

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Now, this is not just -

0:09:48.250,0:09:51.050
if you take a step[br]on nutrition and lifestyle,

0:09:51.050,0:09:55.960
it is not just about reducing[br]your risk of chronic disease.

0:09:56.200,0:09:59.620
There are two other fantastic advantages.

0:10:00.210,0:10:01.457
Number one.

0:10:02.230,0:10:03.230
Think about it:

0:10:03.230,0:10:07.550
if 86 percent of us are dying[br]because of chronic disease,

0:10:07.880,0:10:10.960
how many of us are already toxic?

0:10:12.680,0:10:15.840
How do we feel? Do we feel good?

0:10:15.840,0:10:19.960
If we take a step in this direction,[br]we will feel better.

0:10:19.960,0:10:21.340
We will think better.

0:10:21.450,0:10:22.840
We will sleep better.

0:10:22.910,0:10:24.670
We will move better.

0:10:24.760,0:10:26.600
We will do everything better.

0:10:26.600,0:10:30.360
Before, when you thought,[br]"This is a burden; this is a stress" -

0:10:30.360,0:10:34.680
that will suddenly become[br]"It's a challenge; I will get over this."

0:10:35.520,0:10:38.280
Our wellbeing should not[br]be underestimated.

0:10:38.280,0:10:41.840
That is for you:[br]this is really for all of us.

0:10:41.840,0:10:47.050
And there's a second big advantage:[br]our precious environment.

0:10:47.520,0:10:50.880
Imagine if millions of people[br]make this little move,

0:10:50.880,0:10:55.000
towards eating and their lifestyle.

0:10:55.000,0:10:56.780
Just making that change.

0:10:56.780,0:11:00.090
Cycling, walking to work - leave the car.

0:11:00.283,0:11:01.815
The air would become cleaner.

0:11:02.286,0:11:04.279
Take the stairs, not the lift.

0:11:04.279,0:11:05.620
You save energy.

0:11:05.620,0:11:08.630
Energy, climate change -[br]we know the story.

0:11:08.720,0:11:11.301
These are a lot of factors that we can do.

0:11:12.040,0:11:14.396
So there are so many advantages,

0:11:14.396,0:11:18.920
and looking at these figures and numbers[br]and saying, “I’m going to do something."

0:11:18.920,0:11:21.730
And now, we're almost at the end.

0:11:21.730,0:11:26.310
And I am looking at you[br]because I have one request:

0:11:26.310,0:11:30.190
to please take away[br]even one thing with you.

0:11:30.640,0:11:32.370
That maybe from tonight or tomorrow,

0:11:32.370,0:11:36.080
you will go for a walk after dinner[br]before you go to bed.

0:11:36.080,0:11:38.396
Maybe look at your fruit and veg uptake.

0:11:38.760,0:11:40.413
Maybe drink more water.

0:11:40.860,0:11:42.501
Please take that with you.

0:11:42.700,0:11:44.309
You will feel better.

0:11:44.440,0:11:46.440
Your loved ones will really appreciate it.

0:11:46.922,0:11:48.320
And maybe then,

0:11:48.320,0:11:52.200
we can turn the tide of chronic disease.

0:11:52.200,0:11:54.500
(Applause)