Day 269 - 25 Jun 96 - Page 32
1 A. Yes.
2
3 Q. Some of which have not only a nutrient benefit but actually
4 are benign?
5 A. That is correct. Some are thrombogenic and some
6 contribute more to atherosclerosis, but the reality is that
7 when you are talking about the diet or a food, that all
8 these fatty acids tend to occur together. So it is very
9 difficult to sort of separate out other than experimental
10 situations the difference between stearic acid, palmitic
11 acid or myristic acid.
12
13 Q. Am I right, if various authorities in the world say do not
14 exceed ten per cent of your energy in the form of saturated
15 fat --
16 A. Yes.
17
18 Q. -- what they are aiming at is that element within the
19 saturated fat which is perceived to be hazardous?
20 A. Yes, because in fact the elements that are responsible
21 for one thing and another and the elements that are
22 responsible for it are benign, some of the very short chain
23 fatty acids which might be used purely as an energy source
24 and burn very quickly, really all occur together, with,
25 give or take, one or two minor modifications between milk
26 fats, butter fats, ruminant, adipose fats. Generally
27 speaking, the major fatty acids that are of a saturated
28 nature are occurring together in all of these fats.
29
30 Q. Thank you. Can we turn over the page then please. I am
31 going to come back to Arnott, Professor Crawford, towards
32 the end of your paper, if I may, but I would like to ask
33 you about the North Karelia programme in Finland.
34 A. Yes.
35
36 Q. A feature of that programme, although we do not here have
37 the data about it, two features of that were, were they
38 not, that the programme involved no smoking and no drinking
39 condition. Is that right?
40 A. That is right. I do not think that the no drinking
41 provision was entirely enacted upon by the majority of
42 people in Finland.
43
44 Q. No?
45 A. It was a reduction in excessive alcohol consumption. I
46 think the Finns were rather notorious, as some of the other
47 Scandinavian countries were, for excessive alcohol
48 consumption.
49
50 Q. I mean, the onset of heart disease or atherosclerosis or
51 whatever is a multi-factorial process?
52 A. One would accept that.
53
54 Q. And diet is only one of these things?
55 A. Diet is one, but a major contributor.
56
57 Q. Now, you have written on another page that Ancel Keys work
58 suggests that saturated fat has a 70% role, if I can put it
59 that way --
60 A. Yes.
