Day 269 - 25 Jun 96 - Page 83
1
2 Q. That is based, as I said to you earlier, is it not, on the
3 assumption that it has not made an appearance, it does not
4 have a prevalence, if you like to call it that, in, let us
5 say, France and Germany?
6 A. It is not assumption. I think that the Europeans have,
7 and I am quite sure there will be reports on this, the
8 Government will certainly have them, that the Europeans
9 have a much lower -- it is not a question that there is
10 none. The occasional case occurs from time to time in
11 France.
12
13 Q. Reported cases.
14
15 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Anyway, whether you are right about this or
16 not?
17 A. Yes.
18
19 Q. You would suggest that a possible compounding factor, if
20 the French eat more meat than we do but have a lower
21 incidence of heart disease is related to the way they
22 relate they rear and look after their livestock?
23 A. And the way they butcher it.
24
25 Q. And the way they butcher it. What, trimming, you mean?
26 A. Yes.
27
28 MR. RAMPTON: And you are not proposing, I suppose, that French
29 butter is lower in saturated fat than British?
30 A. No, indeed I am not. French butter is no different;
31 it is unsalted.
32
33 Q. Or German butter.
34 A. No.
35
36 Q. Some French butter is unsalted. Now, having been through
37 that little exercise so far, the other one that I would ask
38 you to notice is total vegetables and fruit. You could
39 notice in passing that the French and the Germans, eat
40 roughly the same amounts of pulses and nuts. So far the
41 purpose of this exercise we can forget them, but you will
42 notice that the French and the Germans, roughly speaking,
43 eat just about or under 500 grammes per person per day of
44 vegetables and fruit, whereas we come out just under 400.
45 Do you see that?
46 A. Yes, I do.
47
48 Q. If you then go back to the blocks on the left-hand side of
49 the picture; forget the French for the moment or indeed,
50 for the purposes of your evidence forget them entirely, and
51 look at the West Germans?
52 A. Yes.
53
54 Q. Bottom right-hand corner, who, for these years 1968-1990
55 mortality from heart disease appears to have been roughly
56 half of ours?
57 A. Yes.
58
59 Q. Given the quantities that we have just looked at of
60 saturated fat that the Germans must be consuming in
