Day 253 - 21 May 96 - Page 14


     
     1        bulky this would somehow fill the stomach of the consumer
     2        and he would be less inclined to eat more food.
     3        Unfortunately, it does not work in that way so there is no
     4        clear evidence that a high fibre diet does prevent obesity;
     5        certainly, if one is talking about traditional high fibre
     6        diets.  For example, somebody who is a total vegetarian,
     7        vegans, for example, I understand tend to have lower than
     8        average energy intakes and they tend to be fairly slim,
     9        obesity is not all that common amongst vegans, I think it
    10        is simply because of the sheer volume of the food they are
    11        consuming, but that is a very unusual example.
    12
    13   Q.   The study that you were talking, the adding fibre to
    14        people's diets, would that include the, sort of, throwing
    15        on branflakes or adding bran to what people are eating?
    16        A.  No, one can modify one's diet without having to add
    17        things to it.  As you say, having cereal bran for breakfast
    18        or something like that would be useful.  The point about
    19        bran and about fibre in the various claims that have been
    20        made for it is that we are not talking about a dose related
    21        bran, the more fibre you have the better.  There is clearly
    22        an upper limit beyond which additional fibre in the diet is
    23        not perceived to have any great benefit and this is around
    24        20 or so grams of what is now called "non-starch
    25        polysaturates".
    26
    27   Q.   Right?
    28        A.  My only reservation about fibre is in particular with
    29        regard to growing children where high fibre diets might
    30        well restrict energy intake and so restrict growth.
    31
    32   Q.   We dealt with that yesterday?
    33        A.  Yes.
    34
    35   Q.   The point I am asking you is, I have not read the study
    36        that you are referring to, so I do not know whether when
    37        you say, "they added fibre to their diet", they were
    38        basically eating their normal diet but just adding extra
    39        bran and things like that.  I do not know whether you are
    40        familiar with this book?
    41        A.  Yes, I am.
    42
    43   Q.   Dietary Reference Values for Nutrients for the United
    44        Kingdom and it is on page 63 of that book.  It is just one
    45        sentence which is 4.4.1.
    46
    47   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, I do not have it.  (Handed)
    48
    49   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Page 63?
    50 
    51   MS. STEEL:   Yes, paragraph 4.4.1.  It is under "Appetites"? 
    52        A.  Yes. 
    53
    54   Q.   And "Energy Intake" and it says:
    55
    56        "NSP rich foods are generally less energy dense, more bulky
    57        and may induce greater .... than NSP free foods."
    58
    59        Would you agree with that?
    60        A.  Yes.  This is a typical COMA comment.  That means that

Prev Next Index