Day 014 - 20 Jul 94 - Page 38
1 essential.
2 Q. Is it essential?
A. Oh, yes.
3
Q. It is essential?
4 A. Oh, yes.
5 Q. To what kind (do you know, and if not, say so) of
degenerative or other conditions can a sodium deficiency
6 lead?
A. To be honest, I could not tell you because I think it
7 is fairly uncommon.
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It would be impossible to eat at all
without taking on board sodium, would it not,- to eat any
9 kind of what people in this country might consider to be
normal food?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. I.e. Not just surviving on alcohol or chocolates?
A. Yes, is that right. The presence of sodium in foods
12 in this country is very widely distributed.
13 Q. I am not talking about added salt, but sodium actually in
the chemical makeup of the ----?
14 A. Again, sodium is present in milk; it is present in
meat; it is present in a range of plant and animal foods.
15
MR. RAMPTON: Can I, if I may, read the whole of the section
16 25.3 on page 153 which is headed Requirements? Do you
have that?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. "25.3.1 Healthy adults maintain balance on intakes as low
as ----" Can I use milligrams per day as that is what we
19 shall use later on?
A. Yes.
20
Q. " ---- (69- 460 mg/d), and some healthy populations have
21 daily intakes of less than 920 mg. The role of higher Na
intakes in the pathogenesis of hypertension has generated
22 much interest, but the evidence supporting this or
indicating the relative importance of Na intakes is
23 unclear." That is at, probably, 1991. Have matters moved
on since then or not?
24 A. Yes, I think they have.
25 Q. In which direction?
A. There is growing awareness of the links between
26 dietary sodium and hypertension and the incidence of
strokes.
27
Q. So, might it be for once in a way that in this regard
28 American concern has led the way and we have followed
behind?
29 A. That would be fair comment, although what I should say
is that my earlier answer related to the publication of
30 recent studies on this topic which I suspect will be taken
into account when this part of the report would be
