Day 252 - 20 May 96 - Page 52
1
2 You have mentioned one target, the suggestion that we might
3 get down to 15 percent fat as something to be aimed at. I
4 certainly would not agree with that. I think it is
5 extremely unlikely. I cannot see the advantages of doing
6 so, and I doubt if many scientists working in this field
7 would accept that figure of 15 percent, even 30 percent, I
8 think, is quite optimistic.
9
10 Q. Yes. You said "optimistic" but you accepted that in China,
11 for example, that levels are much lower than even the
12 targeted recommendations in, say, Britain, and accepting
13 there a billion people live there, then there is no reason
14 in the world why people should not have achieved healthy
15 targets of nutrients.
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I do not think he has accepted that such part
18 of the billion people in China as live in rural China which
19 may have very low fat are necessarily healthy. Maybe he
20 will if you ask him but ----
21
22 MR. MORRIS: Well, we have evidence coming on that.
23
24 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I know but you are putting to it this witness.
25 You have raised it twice now, you see.
26
27 MR. MORRIS: (To the witness): Are you aware of the incidents of
28 heart disease and cancer in Chinese rural populations?
29 A. Yes, I understand it is very variable going from one
30 community to another in China. A point is certainly made
31 of this in the document on cancer, but I am certainly aware
32 that the Chinese diet, as a whole Chinese food is
33 relatively low in fat and the Chinese method of cooking
34 requires less fat than is used in westernised cooking, and
35 if everybody was happy eating Chinese food, I personally
36 would be, there are no problems with that and fat intake
37 would decline.
38
39 MR. JUSTICE BELL: So there is no down side there?
40 A. I am not aware of any down side but I do not think one
41 can say that as a result of nature of this cuisine, Chinese
42 people live a lot longer than people do in Western
43 society. They may have a lower instance of heart disease
44 but they may have a much higher instance of other things.
45 I do not know what the mortality figures for the Chinese
46 are.
47
48 Q. The Committee that produced this report or met out of which
49 this report was written, have you got that on page 6? Do
50 you have the list of committee members and representatives
51 of organisations and the secretariat?
52 A. Yes.
53
54 Q. I will not read out the names. There may be 40 people
55 identified there from various organisation and various
56 Professors. Would you accept that is an authoritative body
57 of people to be concerned with the production of a report?
58 A. They were concerned with the report, yes.
59
60 Q. Can I just ask if the Judge can look at page 108, if that
