Day 033 - 10 Oct 94 - Page 26


     
     1        That entire cancer can be removed surgically.  It is for
     2        patients of that type -- or polyps that have not yet
     3        become cancerous can be removed.  One would then be
     4        particularly interested in assuring that such patients had
     5        followed a diet that was high in fibre.
     6
     7   Q.   Moving next to immune systems of vegetarians.  Do you want
     8        to say something about immune systems in general and then
     9        why you specifically looked at vegetarians?
    10        A.  Yes.  Intermixed with the red blood cells which course
    11        through one's arteries and veins to carry oxygen, there
    12        are white blood cells which are, if I may say so, sentries
    13        that the body employs against bacteria, viruses and also
    14        against cancer cells.  The white blood cells -- if the
    15        white blood cells are functional, they can recognise a
    16        cancer cell and, through a variety of very complicated
    17        mechanisms, destroy that cancer cell, and they are a line
    18        of defence against cancer.
    19
    20        If the immune system is impaired, all that simply means is
    21        that the white blood cells are not able to recognise or to
    22        engulf or to destroy a cancer cell or an infected
    23        organism, as happens, for example, in Acquired Immune
    24        Deficiency Syndrome.  Individuals lose the normal
    25        functioning of their white blood cells to a degree and
    26        they then have a much higher incidence of cancer.
    27
    28        Researchers have investigated whether high fat diets may
    29        impair immune defences against cancer, because here again
    30        we are beyond the point of finding associations; we are
    31        looking at what are the causes (and there are clearly a
    32        multiple).  One of these seems to be that high fat diets
    33        impair immunity.  There are several lines of research,
    34        some of which I have mentioned here in my statement.
    35
    36        In fact, some of the studies that have been done have
    37        acquired somewhat heroic participation on the part of
    38        subjects.  Some subjects have been hooked up to
    39        intravenous lines in which fat has actually been dripped
    40        into their blood system and the function of their white
    41        blood cells is then assessed.  One common way of assessing
    42        the function of white blood cells is to put them in a dish
    43        with standardised cancer cells to see how quickly the
    44        white blood cells can destroy the cancer cells.
    45
    46        If one does an experiment of the type I have described,
    47        where you actually have lipid infusion, fat infusion, if
    48        you will, studies have shown that, in fact, immunity is
    49        impaired, suggesting that if there is more fat in the
    50        blood one will have reduced defences against cancer. 
    51 
    52        However, researchers have not stopped there.  One has also 
    53         -- researchers have also examined whether a high fat diet
    54        alone, without any intravenous equipment, can of itself
    55        impair the function of white blood cells.  In fact, one
    56        sees exactly the same thing, that white blood cells are
    57        less functional against cancer cells.
    58
    59        This also occurs simply in a test tube.  If you add fat to
    60        cultures of cells, some of the white blood cells are

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