Day 269 - 25 Jun 96 - Page 51
1 stake and I would suggest to you that really we are looking
2 at two things in this evidence of the Finnish. The Finnish
3 population is rather unique in this respect and we are
4 looking at two things: The fact that they had a very high
5 milk consumption, and secondly that they do have this
6 rather interesting fibre and this protector. And I think,
7 as scientists, one has always got to be alerted to the fact
8 that there are going to in different circumstances be
9 different situations which are going to end up with a
10 similar kind of result.
11
12 Q. With that in mind, can I ask you to look at what Sir
13 Richard Dhol himself said ten years after that Finnish
14 paper, which you will find in the same orange volume at tab
15 16.
16 A. Yes.
17
18 Q. Which comes, I think, from the Journal of Cancer Research
19 and Clinical Authority in 1988. And it is again by Sir
20 Richard Dhol, headed epidemiology and prevention of cancer,
21 some recent developments. Can I ask you to look over the
22 page at page 448 under the heading, in the left-hand
23 column, "Dietary Factors"?
24 A. Can you say again the page number?
25
26 Q. Sorry, 448, top left-hand corner.
27 A. Yes, I see.
28
29 Q. There is a bold heading: "Dietary Factors"?
30 A. Yes.
31
32 Q. Can I ask you, again because everybody has heard me read
33 this a number of times, just to read that single entry
34 under Dietary Factors to yourself and tell me when you have
35 finished?
36 A. Yes, I have read that.
37
38 Q. Now, is there anything as of eight years later in that
39 which you disagree with?
40 A. Yes, I think so. I think Willett has published his
41 data on colon cancer since then.
42
43 Q. Yes?
44 A. And I think that Willett has come to the conclusion
45 that both colon and prostate cancer are related to dietary
46 fats and particularly to animal fats and in the case of
47 prostate cancer to meat. He is consistent with, I think,
48 the contemporary evidence when he talks about large amounts
49 of betacarotene protects against a wide range of cancers.
50
51 Essentially the betacarotene, as I think I explained to the
52 court earlier, is one of the major anti-oxidants that
53 occurs in fresh fruit and vegetables, particularly fresh
54 green vegetables, and that is associated with again several
55 other protective agents. And the point that I again made
56 and made in my submission in writing is that the diets in
57 general and indeed the meals in general that are rich in
58 saturated fats and high in fat tend to be those that are
59 poorest with regard to these protective agents. So by and
60 large, I agree with what he says.
