Day 033 - 10 Oct 94 - Page 07
1 a magazine called Good Medicine. So we have initiated a
2 lay member category in which individuals who are not
3 physicians can subscribe do our materials. We have,
4 perhaps, 60,000 lay subscribers to Good Medicine.
5
6 Q. Do you have a medical panel that oversees the work of this
7 committee?
8 A. Our advisory panel has 25 physicians who serve in that
9 capacity. We also have a group of dieticians and other
10 physicians as contacts and as employees who we call upon
11 as needed.
12
13 Q. So the thrust of that -- well, is a major area of work of
14 that committee and your role in it prevention?
15 A. We do a considerable amount of work reviewing the
16 research literature on the links between nutritional
17 factors and disease, and have launched a number of
18 programmes that might assist the public in making dietary
19 changes.
20
21 Q. So how would you sum up your area of expertise?
22 A. My particular area of expertise is in nutritional
23 factors that affect chronic disease, in research that
24 supports those factors and in assisting people to make
25 dietary changes.
26
27 Q. I think it is time to go to your statement. It may be
28 helpful if we take his statement as read?
29
30 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. I have two statements, Dr. Barnard.
31 Your original one, then a supplementary one. I will not
32 identify them by date. You are content that they stand as
33 part of your evidence, are you?
34 A. Yes, I am, your Honour.
35
36 MR. MORRIS: Would it be helpful if the witness has the
37 statement in front of him?
38
39 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, it would.
40
41 THE WITNESS: I have it, thank you.
42
43 MR. MORRIS: If we move to the bottom section of the first
44 page, The Products Sold at McDonald's Restaurants, what
45 are the problems with these kinds of products?
46 A. There are several problems with McDonald's products.
47 The first is that they are high in fat. They are
48 particularly high in saturated fat, although they are also
49 high in total fat, they are high in cholesterol as well.
50 They tend to be low in fibre and, because they are meat
51 based, they tend to be low in certain vitamins as well.
52
53 Q. When you say "they", you do not mean all the products; you
54 mean as a whole?
55 A. Yes. In general, their offerings are high in fat,
56 high in total fat and saturated fat, high in cholesterol
57 and low in a number of vitamins.
58
59 Q. You give some figures on that page: Fat content of
60 cheeseburger 45 per cent, 41 milligrams cholesterol, other
