Day 256 - 04 Jun 96 - Page 71
1 A. Yes, I do.
2
3 Q. "Saturated fatty acids and cholesterol were not essential
4 nutrients and their importance relates directly to their
5 effects and increasing blood cholesterol concentrations and
6 promoting the development of coronary heart disease. As
7 noted previously, no lower level to serum cholesterol has
8 been identified below which a beneficial reduction in
9 coronary heart disease cannot be expected, so national
10 nutrition policy should seek to minimise intake of
11 saturated fatty acids. These fatty acids may also be
12 specifically involved in promoting cancers, particularly of
13 the colon and breast, although the evidence remains
14 inconsistent. The main justification for limiting
15 saturated fatty acid intakes should therefore be the
16 prevention of coronary heart disease."
17
18 Do you agree with that?
19 A. Based on the data that were available to this report at
20 that time, yes, I do.
21
22 Q. Thank you. Perhaps you would kindly put that away now.
23 A. I am sorry ----
24
25 Q. I am sorry, do you want to say something more?
26 A. Yes, I do want to say something more. It says, in the
27 previous sentence:
28
29 "Fatty acid may also be specifically involved with
30 promoting cancer, particularly of the colon and breast,
31 although the evidence remains inconsistent."
32
33 To come back to my point I made before, the inconsistency
34 is not a mixture of pluses and minuses. The inconsistency
35 is a mixture of pluses and zeros. That is a major point
36 here. Where as this committee chose to call that
37 "inconsistent", I do not. I am really quite confident, as
38 confident as I can be about any association, that an
39 increase fat intake will increase these cancers and I am
40 also confident that the same committee would come to that
41 same view if I presented that argument that way. I do not
42 think we are in disagreement on this.
43
44 Q. Can I turn to one last thing then, please.
45
46 MR. MORRIS: Sorry?
47
48 MR. RAMPTON: You would expect, Professor, would you not, within
49 countries that those countries whose populations, I am now
50 talking about the population comparisons, consume more fat
51 in the diet, and specifically saturated fat, to have higher
52 rates of both coronary heart disease and cancer of the
53 breast and colon?
54 A. That is generally true.
55
56 Q. When I say "rates", I mean rates of mortality because, as
57 you rightly said earlier, they are much easier to measure?
58 A. Right but as well rates of incidence because they have
59 been actually measured.
60
