Day 296 - 07 Nov 96 - Page 44
1 wanted something regarding sugar in McDonald's food?
2
3 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Well, you can do that. I mean, do you
4 remember, you pursued the amount of sugar in cake and
5 things like that at one time?
6
7 MS. STEEL: Yes.
8
9 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The birthday cake, or the chocolate cake.
10 What I particularly had in mind was not so much that,
11 because one can imagine, or can no doubt turn up quite
12 quickly some evidence, that certain of McDonald's foods are
13 high in sugar, for instance, their thick shakes or their
14 cakes or whatever. The picture I have with all these
15 things -- animal fats, saturated fats, sodium, sugar, fibre
16 -- as various articles and publications come out, they
17 move up and down the register of causes for alarm (if I can
18 put it in that general term), or causes for concern is a
19 better way of putting it; and sugar seemed to be moving
20 down the scale recently, save in so far as one is concerned
21 with dental caries, which I am not really concerned with in
22 this case.
23
24 MS. STEEL: I think certainly, in comparison to fat, that would
25 be true.
26
27 MR JUSTICE BELL: Do not pick it up now, because the easiest
28 thing is to come back with a reference and say, "Look, we
29 would point to this particular bit."
30
31 MS. STEEL: At the very minimum -- and I think that there is
32 evidence about the harmful effects of the sugar -- at the
33 very minimum, it is the same argument as with fat, that the
34 more sugar that you have got in your diet, the more you are
35 displacing the more useful parts of the diet that you need
36 to get in order to ensure good health; so you are going to
37 get more of your calories from sugar rather than
38 carbohydrates, proteins, and foods containing a lot of
39 vitamins and minerals.
40
41 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just pause a moment. (Pause) Yes.
42
43 MR. MORRIS: Just a few additional points. The saturated fat
44 content, the World Health Organisation recommends something
45 between nought and 10 percent. It is not necessary in the
46 diet; basically, it is going to be a negative contribution
47 because of its health risks. That should be borne in
48 mind. I think Professor Crawford dealt with that on day
49 31, page 38.
50
51 On the subject of the general high risk profile of the
52 population in western countries, we have the additional --
53 sorry, we will do that tomorrow.
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
56
57 MR. MORRIS: I am trying to see if I have any other points that
58 arose today. (Pause)
59
60 Just on the subject of craving -- just in case it does not
