Day 034 - 11 Oct 94 - Page 09


     
     1        as well and the two are compared.
     2
     3        Here again, much the same pattern holds true.  There are,
     4        how many studies -----
     5
     6   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just pause there because I need some
     7        assistance, Dr. Barnard, so think about what you want to
     8        say next.  Can you remember where you were or do you need
     9        a prompt?
    10        A.  Yes, I think I can pick it up.  Again, the Surgeon
    11        General in his introductory paragraphs said that there are
    12        inconsistencies in the data, but that there is evidence
    13        that the relationships here may be causal.  He described
    14        that evidence as strong.
    15
    16        Under case-control studies there are 11 studies that have
    17        looked at various aspects of fat; two in the left-hand
    18        column under "total fat".  There are two studies that
    19        found a positive relationship between total fat and breast
    20        cancer.  There were four that found no relationship.
    21        There were no studies that examined the relationships and
    22        found it to be inverse.  In other words, in no study was
    23        there any protective value of fat, but in four they were
    24         -- they specifically looked and were unable to identify
    25        at least a statistically significant association.
    26
    27        However, three studies which are reported in the second
    28        column looked specifically at animal fat.  All three of
    29        those studies found associations.  Now, the footnotes here
    30        may be helpful in describing exactly what they did find;
    31        on the first of these, which makes a reference to letter
    32        H, the specific association was for dairy products.  In
    33        the second of those there was a positive relationship
    34        again for cheese and milk fat.  However, yoghurt appeared
    35        to be protective and there was no association for butter.
    36
    37        In the third of those references the study was positive
    38        for gravy, beef and pork.  However, fish appeared to be
    39        protective in that study.  So, of the three studies that
    40        looked at types of animal fat all three found an
    41        association, albeit with particular types of foods.
    42
    43        Moving to the next column, specifically looking at meat,
    44        five studies examined the relationship.  Two of them were
    45        unable to find a statistically significant
    46        relationship and three found a statistically significant
    47        positive association, meaning a direct correlation between
    48        meat consumption and breast cancer.  Apparently, no
    49        case-control studies have looked at eggs.  However, one
    50        did look at vegetable fat; again, vegetable fat was found 
    51        to be directly correlated with breast cancer. 
    52 
    53   MR. MORRIS:  Just to point out there, they have (d) which says
    54        in the key:  "Meat, milk and animal protein".  Helen
    55        points out that is probably a mistake because ----
    56
    57   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It would make total nonsense of the column
    58        it is in.
    59
    60   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.  There is no (f) in the chart, so it probably

Prev Next Index