Day 023 - 13 Sep 94 - Page 14


     
     1        and this is why we were talking about colon cancer,
     2        activity has been implicated as a factor there.
     3
     4   Q.   One of your references was the Norwegian study?
     5        A.  Yes.
     6
     7   Q.   I could not see -- I might be wrong -- but I did not
     8        think there was any evidence in there that the women were
     9        suffering from malnutrition?
    10        A.  No, but they were brought up at a time during the war
    11        when obviously food was not as plentiful.  There was a
    12        suggestion, therefore, that that did have an influence on
    13        the subsequent development of breast cancer in that group
    14        of women.
    15
    16   Q.   Right, but I have heard it said that, while there was
    17        rationing, people were actually getting a healthier diet
    18        than during periods when there was not rationing.
    19
    20   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, Ms. Steel seems to be forgetting that
    21        Norway was occupied during those years by the Germans;
    22        this country was not.
    23
    24   MS. STEEL:  I am just putting a general point.
    25
    26   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Can you deal with that first of all?  Do you
    27        know of a suggestion during a period of rationing in an
    28        unoccupied country like this one diet was healthier?
    29        A.  That has been stated but, equally, other people have
    30        said, well, that is not necessarily the case.  The point
    31        about rationing was that there was an attempt to try to
    32        provide people with essentials during the period of the
    33        war when food was obviously in limited supply, and,
    34        therefore, a balance to the diet was provided.  So, this,
    35        of course, was not something that just a particular group
    36        of people ate; it was what the population as a whole was
    37        being offered.
    38
    39   MS. STEEL:   But there is not any indication in that study that
    40        the Norwegian women were malnourished?
    41        A.  They indicated that there was, in fact,
    42        nutritional----
    43
    44   Q.   Restriction?
    45        A.  Restriction.
    46
    47   Q.   Yes, but if someone restricts their calorie intake, for
    48        example, that does not mean they are being nutritionally
    49        deprived?
    50        A.  Well, it depends how they do it.  You can be 
    51        nutritionally deprived if you restrict your calorie 
    52        intake.  You have to be very careful.  This is why there 
    53        is a lot of criticism about certain diets because they
    54        restrict calories, but they do not do it in a sensible
    55        fashion.
    56
    57   Q.   Yes, but what I am getting at is that because somebody
    58        said there were restrictions on the diet it does not
    59        necessarily mean that it was a bad diet or an unhealthy
    60        diet?

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