Day 266 - 20 Jun 96 - Page 11
1
2 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is this?
3 A. Yes, around 35 per cent of cancers are related to
4 diet. I am aware there is currently a big European study
5 on diet and cancer which would firm up, but all the current
6 evidence is that it is around 35 per cent.
7
8 Q. What was the word you used -- 35 per cent of cancers, what,
9 to diet?
10 A. 35 per cent of cancers are diet related. In other
11 word, as change of diet would reduce the incidence of
12 cancer by that amount. I did bring a new pamphlet from my
13 department, which is a health promotion department, which
14 distributes leaflets to health professionals within the
15 NHS, and that is the figure they are working at there, the
16 change of diet, and it the same type of dietary change
17 recommended for cancer reduction as it is for heart disease
18 reduction.
19
20 Q. Yes. All I am saying is, I do not think you need refer to
21 Professor Doll because the figure is familiar and whether
22 or not the article published by the Nutrition Society was
23 in exactly the same form as another article written by him
24 to the same effect probably does not matter?
25 A. I can give you the reason why I picked on that
26 particular paper at the time. It was because it was a
27 review of other papers. So, it was reviewing all papers
28 that had been, it seemed as though it sort of crystallises
29 the state of research on cancer and diet at the time.
30
31 MS. STEEL: Reading on:
32
33 "The World Cancer Research Fund dietary advice to minimise
34 cancer risk is reduce intake of dietary fat and increase
35 consumption of fruits, vegetables and wholegrains. The
36 incidence of bowel cancer has been strongly linked to meat
37 consumption (Willett published in the New England Journal
38 of Medicine Volume 323 page 937-41) carried out a study of
39 over 88,000 women aged 34-59 years. Women eating red meat
40 daily ran over twice the risk of developing bowel cancer
41 than women eating red meat less than once a month. As a
42 result of the numerous studies published demonstrating the
43 links between diet and health many bodies promoting
44 healthier eating have published guidelines aimed at the
45 public giving guidelines on what to eat. The consensus of
46 opinion for a healthier diet is to reduce total fat
47 consumption, particularly saturated fat, reduced sugar and
48 salt, and increase consumption of dietary fibre and fresh
49 fruit and vegetables."
50 A. Can I add to that paragraph that would explain it a bit
51 further, that in terms of the calories that people
52 consumed, if you reduce the fat consumption then the
53 advice, going back to the NACNE Report and current reports,
54 is to increase the carbohydrate content. In other words,
55 to increase the starches, the grains, the pulses, the
56 bread, the cereals, the potatoes to compensate for that
57 decrease in fat. The Government has recently produced
58 something called the 'wheel of good health' and that
59 demonstrates how people need to increase their consumption
60 of starchy foods, particularity the high carbohydrate foods
