Day 023 - 13 Sep 94 - Page 14
1 and this is why we were talking about colon cancer,
2 activity has been implicated as a factor there.
3
4 Q. One of your references was the Norwegian study?
5 A. Yes.
6
7 Q. I could not see -- I might be wrong -- but I did not
8 think there was any evidence in there that the women were
9 suffering from malnutrition?
10 A. No, but they were brought up at a time during the war
11 when obviously food was not as plentiful. There was a
12 suggestion, therefore, that that did have an influence on
13 the subsequent development of breast cancer in that group
14 of women.
15
16 Q. Right, but I have heard it said that, while there was
17 rationing, people were actually getting a healthier diet
18 than during periods when there was not rationing.
19
20 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, Ms. Steel seems to be forgetting that
21 Norway was occupied during those years by the Germans;
22 this country was not.
23
24 MS. STEEL: I am just putting a general point.
25
26 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Can you deal with that first of all? Do you
27 know of a suggestion during a period of rationing in an
28 unoccupied country like this one diet was healthier?
29 A. That has been stated but, equally, other people have
30 said, well, that is not necessarily the case. The point
31 about rationing was that there was an attempt to try to
32 provide people with essentials during the period of the
33 war when food was obviously in limited supply, and,
34 therefore, a balance to the diet was provided. So, this,
35 of course, was not something that just a particular group
36 of people ate; it was what the population as a whole was
37 being offered.
38
39 MS. STEEL: But there is not any indication in that study that
40 the Norwegian women were malnourished?
41 A. They indicated that there was, in fact,
42 nutritional----
43
44 Q. Restriction?
45 A. Restriction.
46
47 Q. Yes, but if someone restricts their calorie intake, for
48 example, that does not mean they are being nutritionally
49 deprived?
50 A. Well, it depends how they do it. You can be
51 nutritionally deprived if you restrict your calorie
52 intake. You have to be very careful. This is why there
53 is a lot of criticism about certain diets because they
54 restrict calories, but they do not do it in a sensible
55 fashion.
56
57 Q. Yes, but what I am getting at is that because somebody
58 said there were restrictions on the diet it does not
59 necessarily mean that it was a bad diet or an unhealthy
60 diet?
