Day 033 - 10 Oct 94 - Page 58
1 occurring where individuals adopt an extremely low fat
2 diet and have a tendency simply to stay there, unless they
3 do so consciously from a health or ethical standpoint.
4 There are researchers -----
5
6 Q. That implies there is something in the fat or in the
7 eating of it that ---
8 A. People do tend to ----
9
10 Q. -- habituate.
11
12 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think Professor Wheelock said that fat is
13 palatable to us as a species. He used the word
14 "palatable". He did not use the word "species". Is that
15 really what you are saying as well?
16 A. Well, yes, basically. Regrettably, there are many
17 things to which, when human beings are exposed to them,
18 become highly palatable in spite of the fact there are
19 health consequences associated with them, and in spite of
20 the fact that they may have no nutrient value. Caffeine,
21 for example, is one. Then there are others as well.
22 Caffeine is physically addicting. I am not suggesting
23 that
24 ----
25
26 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I wonder whether you have to add anything to
27 it in the light of what I have told you Professor Wheelock
28 said. By "palatable" he just meant most people find them
29 tasty, I think?
30 A. I am trying to suggest something.
31
32 Q. What they find tasty, they are going to want to eat?
33 A. Yes, although I think I am suggesting something
34 perhaps slightly in addition to that. Whereas a person
35 might find ice cream or some other food tasty and may want
36 it as an occasional treat, high fat meals or high fat
37 foods, for whatever reason, do tend to be adhered to on a
38 daily basis; not simply as a treat.
39
40 If I might mention, in Birch's paper they describe in some
41 detail where if children find the experience of eating
42 high fat foods related to rewards, perhaps to the type of
43 toys and so forth that McDonald's might offer, that does
44 tend, for whatever reason, to cause the fatty foods to be
45 consumed more commonly later on, even if those foods were
46 not considered more palatable than other foods at the
47 onset.
48
49 MR. MORRIS: So the type of products sold at McDonald's -- what
50 is your verdict on their contribution to the diet?
51 A. If the overall diet is to be low in fat, high in
52 fibre, high in protective vitamins and minerals, if it is
53 to be low in cholesterol, specifically low in saturated
54 fat, the McDonald's meals push the diet in precisely the
55 direction we are attempting to avoid and they encourage --
56 and that type of diet, if consumed habitually, leads to a
57 higher risk of heart disease, of cancer, of diabetes and
58 other serious and chronic diseases we have described, that
59 are not only a tremendous economic burden but a very
60 serious personal burden as well.
