Day 033 - 10 Oct 94 - Page 33


     
     1        on lipo proteins, which vegetarians tend to have lower
     2        levels of in their blood.  These are speculations.  The
     3        association is real and yet these are -----
     4
     5   Q.   The mechanisms are ----
     6        A.  The mechanisms, yes, these mechanisms are
     7        speculations.
     8
     9   Q.   If we move on to hypertension.  I think we only need to
    10        deal with it briefly because the Plaintiffs have admitted
    11        links between, is it a diet high in fat and salt and
    12        hypertension?  Correct me if I am wrong -- am I?
    13
    14   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What it is, in fact, is an admission of the
    15        third paragraph in the justification as set out in the
    16        extract:  "A considerable amount of evidence of the
    17        relationship between a diet high in fat, sugar and sodium
    18        and low in fibre and diseases such as obesity, high blood
    19        pressure, heart disease and some forms of cancer".
    20
    21        So, if you are batting for more than a considerable amount
    22        of evidence of a relationship between those two matters,
    23        I think you should ask Dr. Barnard about it.
    24
    25   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.  (To the witness):  Dr. Barnard, just for the
    26        record, the links between a diet high in fat and sodium,
    27        would you say the link between that and heart disease is a
    28        causal link?
    29        A.  Yes.
    30
    31   Q.   With obesity, would you say that kind of diet -- did the
    32        admission include sugar as well?  It does not.  Do you
    33        think that the relationship between a diet high in fat and
    34        obesity is a causal relationship?
    35        A.  Yes, I think there is no question about that, yes.
    36
    37   Q.   Would you say that a diet -- what is the link between diet
    38        and hypertension and is it a causal link?
    39        A.  Yes.  There is, quite clearly, a causal link between
    40        diets that are high in fat and sodium and hypertension.
    41        One quite obvious and well accepted causal link is that a
    42        diet high in fat makes obesity more likely.  It increases
    43        body weight, partly because a diet that is high in fat is
    44        high in calories.
    45
    46        However, that is not the only reason.  Dietary fats
    47        require almost no chemical conversion in order to be added
    48        to the body fat unlike carbohydrates, which require very
    49        extensive biochemical change, if you will, within the
    50        body, if their calories are going to be stored as body 
    51        fat. 
    52 
    53        In other words, if two individuals are consuming precisely
    54        the same number of calories but one is getting those
    55        calories predominantly from carbohydrates and the other is
    56        getting their calories from fat, the one who gets the
    57        calories from fat will have a greater tendency towards
    58        obesity and a higher body weight than the one who is
    59        getting precisely the same number of calories but is
    60        getting them from carbohydrate; 23 per cent of the

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