Day 032 - 06 Oct 94 - Page 44


     
     1
     2   THE WITNESS:  Can I make a different comment here, which is
     3        that there is an awkwardness about the use of word
     4        "balance" anyhow.  If you eat food that is not nutrient
     5        dense, that has -- as, for example, I have tried to
     6        indicate here -- a large amount of fat and quite a lot of
     7        the calories for the amount of nutrients in it, then,
     8        obviously, it is desirable to try and compensate in some
     9        way by eating food that is low in fat and very rich in
    10        nutrients to "balance".
    11
    12        On the other hand, the opposite does not apply, which is
    13        that if you are eat a food which is rich in nutrients and
    14        low in fat, it is not essential to balance it with a diet
    15        such as this.  So the word "balance" is rather an odd -- I
    16        would prefer not to use the word "balance", but simply to
    17        suggest a greater consumption of healthier foods.
    18
    19   MS. STEEL:   Would the meals suggested here fit within the
    20        description of a healthy meal?
    21        A.  As I have tried to indicate, the nutrient density here
    22        tends to be rather low.  There is an excess of fat and
    23        calories for the other nutrients, so I would not classify
    24        it as something on the positive side of nutritious.
    25
    26   MR. MORRIS:  Just one last point on that:  McDonald's have said
    27        their food can be eaten as part of a balanced diet.  Have
    28        you any comments on that?
    29        A.  I would say that in a sense you could eat a role of
    30        sellotape as part of a balanced diet.  It is not a very
    31        meaningful phrase to say "part of a balanced diet".  It is
    32        obviously the proportion of the whole diet that is being
    33        met by these sorts of foods that is of significance.
    34
    35        In other words, if you are eating foods such as this
    36        frequently, then that is an enormous part of the diet and
    37        would have a major impact and should be looked at
    38        carefully.  If you are eating foods such as this once a
    39        year, then I would say it is a very tiny part.  So I find
    40        the phrase meaningless.
    41
    42   Q.   Is there a better way of looking at diet rather than
    43        looking at it in terms of balance?
    44        A.  Well, I would reemphasise that you cannot balance bad
    45        against good in quite the same way as one might balance
    46        left wing parties against right wing or other ways in
    47        which the word "balanced" is used in the media.  I would
    48        suggest here that the promotion of healthy foods means the
    49        promotion of foods that have a high level of nutrients for
    50        the calories and particularly high levels of nutrients for 
    51        the calories derived from fat. 
    52 
    53   Q.   If we go back to your statement, page 3 of your statement,
    54        it is the second supplementary statement.
    55
    56   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Can I put that away now?
    57
    58   MS. STEEL:   Yes.
    59
    60   MR. MORRIS:  You have said in that third paragraph that you

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