Day 033 - 10 Oct 94 - Page 05


     
     1        other chronic problems.  It has quite a number of
     2        scientific references, I guess about 325.
     3
     4        My goal in writing all of these was to provide materials
     5        that lay persons could understand, but, at the same time,
     6        provide those with an interest in the scientific
     7        background to be able to go through and look at the
     8        original source material.  I have also some scientific
     9        studies that I am engaged in currently that will be
    10        published a bit later on, two of which are with Dr. Dean
    11        Ornish, in dietary changes, particularly in cardiovascular
    12        disease predicated on material that I published with Dr.
    13        Ornish.
    14
    15   Q.   Would you elaborate about this study?  Could you explain
    16        it?
    17        A.  There are actually a couple of different studies.
    18        I published a journal called the Journal of
    19        Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation, a study on the topic of
    20        how easy or difficult is it to change the diet.  It is
    21        quite well known and quite well accepted that dietary
    22        changes are important to prevent serious illnesses such as
    23        cancer.  Reducing fat intake is quite well accepted in the
    24        United States as an important step; increasing fibre,
    25        increasing vegetables and fruits.
    26
    27        The challenge that faces my profession is how to assist
    28        people to do that, to make those changes, and that was the
    29        subject of that study with Dr. Dean Ornish.  Dean Ornish
    30        is quite a well known cardiovascular researcher from the
    31        University of California.  He invited me to do a study on
    32        the process of dietary change.  As I said, that has
    33        already been published.  We are doing a long-term follow
    34        up study, which I expect to submit for publication early
    35        next year.
    36
    37        I am doing an additional long-term study that is part of a
    38        multi-centre trial with eight clinical centres involved in
    39        changing the fat and overall dietary fat content and
    40        overall diet of a population and assessing its effects
    41        over the long run.  I am doing a study on adherence and
    42        acceptance factors as well as examination of physical and
    43        psychological changes in the participants.
    44
    45        We do not expect to have results on that for quite a
    46        number of years, because it is a long-term trial with
    47        probably about 600 subjects, or perhaps even more.
    48
    49   Q.   Have you done any other practical studies?
    50        A.  Well, one of our concerns we had was to what extent is 
    51        the public aware of the links between diet and cancer.  It 
    52        has been our concern that by and large the American 
    53        public, and perhaps individuals in other countries, are
    54        not aware of research showing that dietary factors play an
    55        important role in cancer.
    56
    57        We did a carefully conducted survey of American women to
    58        assess whether they were aware of links, particularly
    59        between dietary fat and breast cancer.  The results,
    60        regrettably, showed that only 20 per cent of women would

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