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
