Day 253 - 21 May 96 - Page 19
1 A. Yes.
2
3 Q. Do they seem reasonable recommendations to you?
4 A. No, they do not. All of the recommendations that are
5 made in this WHO Report -- and I think it is worth pointing
6 out the WHO Report was not a report on diet and heart
7 disease, it was a report looking at nutrient intake, it was
8 looking at deficiencies, mineral vitamin deficiency,
9 worldwide change in food pattern, one small section, or one
10 section of which was related to one of the generated
11 diseases which is cardio-vascular disease.
12
13 Now, this part of the report here which makes
14 recommendations, the values here are extreme and they are a
15 great deal more extreme than, for example, the values that
16 are proposed in the COMA Report.
17
18 Q. Relating to heart disease?
19 A. Yes. I think it is important to recognise that this is
20 a report which was put together by a panel of experts on
21 diet and cardio-vascular disease and various related
22 diseases.
23
24 Q. All corresponding diseases?
25 A. That one was not. This is a much more general report
26 and, as I mentioned earlier, was strongly influenced by the
27 views of the Chairman, I do not want to go into that, but
28 certainly the recommendations of fibre here.
29
30 Specifically in the other COMA Report, which was looking at
31 recommendations for the British population on diet, they
32 would certainly not endorse these extremely high values for
33 fibre, nor would they endorse such extreme changes in fat
34 intake or sugar intake.
35
36 Q. Right. The 30, for example, percentage of fat intake is
37 the American standard recommended level; is it not?
38 A. I believe the American level have adopted 30. I think
39 the British Committee felt that this, at this stage, was
40 unrealistic, and if we can get the value down to 35 within
41 the next 10 years then we might think about pushing it down
42 to 30.
43
44 Q. At a later stage. The 30 is not extreme, is it? It is
45 just a question of practicality?
46 A. 30 I do not think is extreme. I think that one could
47 achieve 30 per cent without a great deal of difficulty.
48
49 Q. The fibre recommendations, what you are saying is that
50 these relate to a whole range of chronic diseases, whereas
51 in terms of heart disease specifically, you do not see a
52 need for that range?
53 A. No. The point I made about the range of interest was
54 that the WHO Report is looking at nutrition in general, not
55 simply generated diseases.
56
57 Q. It says: "Diet nutrition and the prevention of chronic
58 diseases"?
59 A. Yes, or diet and nutrition is a major part of the
60 document, yes.
