Day 252 - 20 May 96 - Page 36
1 responds much more to dietary cholesterol than somebody who
2 already has elevated blood lipids.
3
4 Q. Right, but, at any rate, it does have some effect?
5 A. Yes, it can have some effect. I think the word "can"
6 is there.
7
8 Q. If you go over to page 129 where it is dealt with in more
9 detail:
10
11 "6.2.7: Dietary cholesterol and plasma cholesterol: The
12 weight of evidence supports the view that raising
13 cholesterol levels in the diet increases plasma
14 cholesterol, primarily LDL cholesterol, although there is
15 considerable inter-individual variation in response."
16
17 Then they talk about a "threshold effect". Then in section
18 6.2.9 towards the bottom, the fifth line from the bottom,
19 it starts:
20
21 "There is some evidence that dietary cholesterol may
22 partly influence risk of coronary heart disease
23 independently of this affect on serum cholesterol and this
24 requires further investigation. We therefore recommend
25 that dietary cholesterol intakes, measured per unit of
26 dietary energy, should not rise."
27
28 I think we dealt with that this morning anyway when you
29 said that the amount of cholesterol intake had been reduced
30 over the past 10 years. That is right; yes?
31 A. Yes, that is so.
32
33 Q. In your statement, you said that the average intake of
34 sodium in the UK greatly exceeded the physiological
35 requirement and so reduction in salt intake was recommended
36 by The COMA Review Group. That was basically because of
37 concerns of finding that sodium raises the ----
38 A. It is related. Can you remind me what page this is
39 on, please?
40
41 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is page 7, the middle paragraph under
42 hypertension?
43 A. I see, yes. The Committee recommended a reduction.
44
45 MS. STEEL: Right, and if you look on page 124, the third blob:
46
47 "There is good evidence that dietary sodium intake
48 principally from common salt is important in determining
49 levels of blood pressure and in particular the rise of
50 blood pressure with age."
51
52 You would accept that?
53 A. Yes, I would.
54
55 Q. If we turn now to page 136 to carry on with sodium.
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: How does that relate to what you said about
58 salt under hypertension in your statement?
59 A. Did I mention age in this? Yes, I did not mention
60 age. If I could just say something about that. This is
