Day 296 - 07 Nov 96 - Page 15


     
     1        accompanies economic development is energy dense.
     2        People-consuming these diets characteristically have a high
     3        intake of fat, especially unsaturated fat, and free sugars
     4        and a relatively low intake of complex carbohydrates and
     5        starchy fibre containing foods.
     6
     7        Clearly, the reference to dietary factors now known to
     8        influence the development of those diseases is a clear
     9        indication that in their view the relationship is causal,
    10        be it initiation or promotion of the diseases.
    11        Obviously, Geoffrey Cannon agreed with the World Health
    12        Organisation report.  The use of the word 'known' is
    13        effectively akin to the phrase in the London Greenpeace
    14        fact sheet 'accepted medical fact'.
    15
    16        There was also the evidence of Professor Michael Crawford,
    17        who, as you may recall, is an expert on dietary fats and
    18        their relation to human health.  He is also a consultant to
    19        the World Health Organisation.  When he gave evidence for
    20        us he emphasised the association between a high fat diet
    21        and increased risk of cancers of the breast, colon and
    22        prostate.  He said that that was particularly evident from
    23        population studies of different countries that had varied
    24        diets and disease rates from migration studies which showed
    25        that immigrant populations soon adopted the diet and
    26        disease rates of the country of settlement, and from the
    27        large increase of heart disease and cancer in countries
    28        such as Japan where the modern western diet is fast
    29        replacing traditional healthier diets.
    30
    31   MR. MORRIS:   If I could throw in one point, I think Japan is
    32        the place with the largest number of McDonald's outside
    33        America.
    34
    35   MS. STEEL:   Obviously, we can check their annual report for
    36        that.
    37
    38   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    39
    40   MS. STEEL:   His view was that not only are McDonald's
    41        encouraging the use of the style of food which is closely
    42        associated with the risk of cancer and heart disease,
    43        whilst at the same time health professionals are trying to
    44        reduce the risks to western populations, they are actually
    45        actively promoting the same style of use of food in
    46        cultures where at present these particular diseases are not
    47        a problem.  You will obviously remember that he had direct
    48        experience of that.  He had worked in the field and in a
    49        number of developing countries.
    50
    51        Can I just add the point, whilst we are on Professor
    52        Crawford, that he additionally said that the problem was
    53        not just with the promotion of the type of diet; it was
    54        also with the methods of agriculture that are now being
    55        used, and the marketing of these types of food and their
    56        heavy promotion, and therefore more people are eating more
    57        meat, and so on, in the diet as a result of all this
    58        marketing with the result that in order to provide cheap
    59        meat the animals are crammed into smaller and smaller
    60        areas, thus not getting sufficient exercise, and they are

Prev Next Index