Day 030 - 03 Oct 94 - Page 25


     
     1        cancer.  I think probably rather well advisedly so,
     2        because from the public point of view one of reasons why
     3        the public alas is rather confused on the issues of diet
     4        and public health is that the public has the impression,
     5        for a variety of reasons, that the advice on cancer is
     6        different from heart disease, is different from diabetes,
     7        is different from obesity, and usually at that point a
     8        sensible member of the public will say to hell with it,
     9        they will just eat what they feel like.
    10
    11        WHO, I think, was well advised to commission a report, as
    12        it has turned out, "Nutrition and the Prevention of
    13        Chronic Diseases", because the evidence on a whole range
    14        of chronic diseases, western diseases, if you will, is
    15        strong enough as a public health recommendation, but also
    16        the dietary causes of those diseases and therefore the
    17        dietary recommendations are themselves broadly similar to
    18        each other.  There are differences in emphasis, but they
    19        are broadly similar.
    20
    21        If your sole concern was to prevent constipation, your
    22        recommendation would be different than if your sole
    23        concern was to prevent tooth decay.  That is true.  But if
    24        your concern was to prevent heart disease, the dietary
    25        recommendations you would make would be much the same as
    26        the recommendations to prevent a series of cancers.
    27        Breast and colon cancer are the two most often mentioned
    28        because, lung cancer aside, they are the two most
    29        prevalent cancers in this country.  The same could be true
    30        of prostate cancer as well, which is also a common cancer
    31        among middle aged and elderly men.
    32
    33                            (Short Adjournment)
    34
    35   MR. MORRIS:  Just working through your statement -- that seems
    36        to be the most efficient way of doing things -- you have
    37        just said that these kind of bodies, such as the US
    38        government and the World Health Organisation, make
    39        recommendations when the evidence is overwhelming; is that
    40        correct?
    41        A.  I think that would be rather over-stating it.  I would
    42        say when they regarded it as a sufficient basis for
    43        recommendations to the general public -- overwhelming,
    44        I think, would be pushing it a little hard.  In some
    45        cases, yes, sometimes that word is used -- I think usually
    46        the words used are a little less strong than that.
    47
    48   Q.   Apart from the US government and the World Health
    49        Organisation, do you want to give some examples of the
    50        kind of bodies that have made similar recommendations? 
    51        A.  On? 
    52 
    53   Q.   We are talking about diet and cancer.
    54        A.  Specifically diet and cancer?
    55
    56   Q.   Yes.
    57        A.  Well, in the US, I think I have mentioned the main
    58        ones, which is the National Academy of Sciences in 1982
    59        and again in 1989; the National Cancer Institute; the
    60        American Cancer Society in a series of statements

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