Day 021 - 29 Jul 94 - Page 47


     
     1        nutrient.  As I say, the Doll and Peto is the best --
              well, I have given it.  They say that diet in total, that
     2        the role of diet in cancer, I think, is of the order of
              about 35 per cent per cent, and that has everything to do
     3        with diet.  It is not necessarily making any judgment on
              what it is in diet that is responsible for, or at least it
     4        makes a contribution towards the causation of cancer.
 
     5   Q.   OK. I will not carry on pressing you for a figure,
              although I am not sure why you cannot answer.  But looking
     6        at page 1 of your statement you say:  "While it is now
              generally accepted that diet does play an important role
     7        in the development of the so-called degenerative diseases,
              which include coronary heart disease and some cancers, the
     8        precise role of the different components in the diet are
              very difficult to elucidate."
     9        A.  Yes.
 
    10   Q.   What type of cancers are you referring to there and what
              dietary factors?
    11        A.  Well, the main ones I would have in mind there would
              be cancer of the bowel and cancer of the breast in women.
    12
         Q.   Right.  What dietary factors in relation to those then?
    13        A.  Well, there would be a number, I think.  First of all,
              the total amount of concentration of fat; secondly, or
    14        perhaps first of all, I should say cot, the total amount
              of calories in the diet because it has been -----
    15
         MR. JUSTICE BELL:  We have heard about that, the total calorie
    16        intake?
              A.  OK, yes.  Secondly, the concentration of fat in the
    17        diet; thirdly, the amount of fibre in the diet and,
              fourthly, the amount of concentration of antioxidants in
    18        the diet.
 
    19   MS. STEEL:   That is things like vitamin C?
              A.  Yes, that would be one of them.
    20
         Q.   Those are dietary factors that you think play an important
    21        role in the development of cancer?
              A.  Again, with the provisos that I have made here, that
    22        it is extremely difficult to pinpoint precisely the role
              of diet and different dietary components in the
    23        development of cancer, because you have different types of
              cancers; you have got the initiation stage; you have the
    24        promotion stage and, of course, above all, you have the
              fact that there is (or there can be) a very long
    25        time-scale between the introduction of a factor in the
              diet and the manifestation of the disease.  So that when 
    26        you are trying to work out relationships between dietary 
              components and a disease, such as cancer, where it can 
    27        take 20, 30, 40 years to develop, then I am sure you will
              appreciate there are great difficulties in being able to
    28        work out these relationships precisely, not to mention, of
              course, that there are lots of other factors that can
    29        complicate the matter.
 
    30   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If you are going through your notes, sit
              down and read them.

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