Day 269 - 25 Jun 96 - Page 84


     
     1        comparison with us, what is the explanation for the fact
     2        that they are running as low as that compared with us?
     3        A.   I think that you have to look at the data where people
     4        have actually studied the contrasts within these countries
     5        between those people that have the high saturated fat
     6        intakes and those people that have the low saturated fat
     7        intakes because we are looking at so many cultural
     8        differences and so many behavourial differences that could
     9        impinge on this data, together with the historical
    10        influences which are not recorded here.  This is a snapshot
    11        in time, and I think when people do these studies such as
    12        was done in Belgium; such as has been done in France, such
    13        as has been done comparing Sweden and Scotland.  When
    14        people do these studies they consistently come up with the
    15        fact that the people that within a country of country
    16        comparisons that have the high saturated fat intakes, are
    17        the ones that have the high risk factors for cardiovascular
    18        disease and the same applies to trans-isomers.  There is a
    19        paper by Kattan for Holland showing very similar kinds of
    20        principles.  So I think one can look at this disappearance
    21        data as an interesting exercise.  I think the reality is so
    22        far as trying to identify it in terms of its relationship
    23        to the real mortality problem, you have actually got to go
    24        further than beyond this.  This is the sort of data that we
    25        had, you know, at the beginning of the fifties and we no
    26        now gone beyond that to looking at the intimate
    27        relationships between the whole range of dietary factors,
    28        including the long chain Omega 3 factors which come from
    29        fish and marine oils.  The Omega 3 factors which come from
    30        pulses and legumes which you more or less dismissed.
    31
    32   Q.   No, I did not dismiss them.  I said it was not significant
    33        for this exercise since we, the French and the Germans, eat
    34        roughly the same?
    35        A.   Yes I mean but if one wants to compare for example
    36        Portugal and Greece which I think are also very good
    37        comparisons to make then these become significant.  But the
    38        point I am making really is that this crude data,
    39        disappearance data, is really nothing like as strong as the
    40        studies that have been done within countries where they
    41        have compared mortality and where they have looked at
    42        individual risk factors in different sectors of the
    43        population within a single country.  So that you have the
    44        same criteria for assessment of mortality or assessment of
    45        risk factors and the similar sort of genetic pool of the
    46        population.  So when you look that the data it is very
    47        hard.  When you look at this data it is very soft, but then
    48        data starts off being very soft.
    49
    50   Q.   We do not know these are disappearance foods.
    51        A.  I was merely taking your word for it, Mr. Rampton.
    52
    53   MS. STEEL:  It says at the top "consumption estimates based on
    54        food supplies for E C countries, USA and Australia?
    55        A.   Food supplies?
    56
    57   Q.   Yes?
    58        A.  So that is disappearance probably.  Well, food
    59        supplies; not necessarily even disappearance data.
    60

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