Day 036 - 13 Oct 94 - Page 26
1 you are quite correct, the use of animal fat in many
2 Mediterranean countries is lower and, to some extent,
3 compensated for by vegetable oils such as the
4 monounsaturated oils, particularly olive.
5
6 Q. When you say "animals" you do not include fish; you mean
7 four footed animals?
8 A. I guess if we were to compare, say, Britain with -----
9
10 Q. Greece?
11 A. - with Greece, one would be particularly comparing a
12 country where there is much more use of beef to one where
13 there is much more use of olive oil.
14
15 Q. The Greeks have, I believe this to be right, one of the --
16 it has already been said in court, I think -- one of the
17 highest rates of longevity of any European country, do you
18 know?
19 A. Their overall longevity is high.
20
21 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Sorry, we have not had the comparable
22 exercise with an ovo-lacto vegetarian?
23 A. In general terms, when one looks at fat intake, it in
24 general is lowest for vegans, moderate for ovo-lacto
25 compared to omnivores or what sometimes people refer to as
26 ovo-lacto-pesco-pollo vegetarians.
27
28 Q. Fish and chicken, I suspect?
29 A. The problem we have is that these characterisations --
30 there have been no studies, to my knowledge.
31
32 Q. Can you give me any help at all on what a typical
33 ovo-lacto vegetarian diet might contain?
34 A. It may well contain somewhere along the lines of 25
35 per cent of its calories as fat, but, in many cases, it
36 has been well over 30, regrettably, which has made
37 research of that population not as easy as it might
38 otherwise be; in many cases it can be close to 40.
39
40 MR. MORRIS: Could I make a helpful suggestion -- he is asked
41 about the saturated fat content, is that relevant?
42
43 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Can you do that or not?
44 A. Well, of a vegan diet the saturated fat content would
45 be dramatically lower regardless of the total fat content.
46
47 Q. What would it be?
48 A. Well, it would be difficult again to say with
49 precision, but a typical figure might be something on the
50 order of 5 per cent of calories or even less. It depends
51 on the type of oil. For example, to follow up what we
52 were talking about earlier, say, olive oil; olive oil is
53 87 per cent unsaturated, but 13 per cent saturated. If we
54 take canola oil ----.
55
56 Q. I do not want to get too bogged down. We have been
57 banding around figures, not banding around -- I have been
58 reading figures like 30, 40, 47, and it is very difficult
59 for me to get a measure. That is why I am asking this.
60 So, if we take your typical it would be about 5 per cent;
