Questions about diet and its relationship to health are major pre-occupations of Australians, so much so that there is now a big industry dispensing popular advice. The problem is that many 'experts' seem to contradict one another, making it difficult to sort fact from fad.
This film examines the connections between diet and health, and argues that the scientific study of human nutrition is the only source of reliable information. The film focuses on the work and words of Australia's leading nutritional scientists, and through them, persuasively demonstrates that it's possible to lead a long and healthy life, free from the major 'diseases of affluence' - cancers, cardio-vascular disease and diabetes.
Some of the film's main sequences are set in remote north-west Australia. The traditional diet of nomadic Aboriginal people can provide clues to the nutritional imbalances in modern society, since we are all still biologically adapted to be hunter-gatherers.
A Melbourne scientist describes her work with town-based Aboriginal people in the north-west, many of whom had succumbed to typical Western diet-related diseases, particularly diabetes. She persuaded a group of them to revert temporarily to their traditional lifestyle, and after only seven weeks, the symptoms of diabetes disappeared and the people's general health improved remarkably.
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