Day 035 - 12 Oct 94 - Page 41
1 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just wait until the reference is put to you
2 and then see what you make of that, Dr. Barnard.
3
4 MR. RAMPTON: This is awfully difficult, I know, and you are in
5 a confined space. Do you still have a copy of the
6 document that we made for you, it is the green bundle,
7 page 64. This section, Dr. Barnard, which starts on page
8 59 is part of the chapter on Cancer and Immunity. It
9 deals with breast cancer. On page 64, having proposed fat
10 as the principal villain and fibre as being possibly
11 protective, you go to other risk factors in small print on
12 pages 64, 65, 66 and 67, do you not?
13 A. Yes, I do.
14
15 Q. You mention hormones; you mention overweight or, if you
16 like, obesity; you mention radiation; you mention
17 genetics; toxic chemicals; time between puberty and first
18 pregnancy. Can we take it, Dr. Barnard, that we agree
19 that the later the age of first pregnancy, at any rate on
20 an epidemiological basis, the greater the risk of breast
21 cancer in later life. In other words, early pregnancy is
22 thought to be better than late pregnancy -- I think that
23 is really what you are telling us here in this section.
24 A. Yes.
25
26 Q. By "late" I mean what you mean, the time interval between
27 the onset of menarche and first pregnancy because, of
28 course, "late" is a comparative term. We notice from this
29 section of your book that you do not mention the number of
30 children, parity, which has a correlation
31 epidemiologically with the incidence of breast cancer,
32 does it not?
33 A. It may. This is a book about how to eat food, not how
34 many children people should have. And, from my reading of
35 the literature, what is certainly important
36 epidemiologically has to do with the interval between
37 puberty and first pregnancy.
38
39 Q. But the number of children you decide to have has nothing
40 do with your diet, has it?
41 A. Correct.
42
43 Q. Nor has the height to which you may eventually aspire has
44 or may have something to do with diet, yes?
45 A. It may.
46
47 Q. It may.
48 A. It also has obviously a lots to do with intrinsic
49 pituitary function.
50
51 Q. Yes, which in turn may be a function of heredity, may it
52 not?
53 A. I cannot tell that those factors have really been
54 elaborated.
55
56 Q. But height is certainly recognised as a factor, a positive
57 factor, in the risk of getting breast cancer?
58 A. Taller women do ------
59
60 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Did it actually come to that, or might it
