Day 296 - 07 Nov 96 - Page 39
1 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Well, it may be more palatable to take X
2 calories of fat from animal foods than from the very large
3 amount of vegetable foods, I will call them, which would be
4 required to produce the same amount of calories.
5
6 MS. STEEL: Right. That it would be easier to exceed your
7 calorific recommendations if you are eating a diet high in
8 animal products and thus high in fat rather than one that
9 was high in vegetable and grain products. Obviously, that
10 would encourage over-eating or over-consumption of calories
11 because of also the bulk factor.
12
13 Obviously, in terms of the effect that has on the
14 likelihood of obesity, that in turn, as we have heard from
15 just about all the witnesses that gave evidence about
16 cancer, that the more obese you were, the greater the risks
17 of cancer and obviously heart disease. But I should think
18 that is accepted all round. I think through the admission
19 McDonald's have made themselves, that is accepted from the
20 word go.
21
22 The evidence of Professor Keene in relation to that, he was
23 giving evidence about diabetes and, you know, he accepted
24 that obesity was -- about the causal relationship between
25 obesity and diabetes or the increased risk factors.
26
27 Dr. Lobstein referred to the, I think it was a British
28 Market Research Bureau survey - in actual fact this was the
29 one I mentioned earlier - where figures quoted included 87
30 percent of fast food eaters, and again it is listed as
31 McDonald's, Wimpy, Kentucky Fried Chicken and fish and chip
32 shops, eat fast food at least once a week and that, more
33 significantly, 31 percent eat it every day. That is day
34 32, page 24. And that 49 percent of those surveyed ate
35 fast food between one to five times per week. That was day
36 32, page 25.
37
38 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Can you remember what the survey was, what
39 sort of people?
40
41 MS. STEEL: I -----
42
43 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I will just put a query.
44
45 MS. STEEL: Right. We have got to bring our transcripts back.
46
47 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is obviously significant whether, like
48 grazing in Peckham, they are actually coming out of a fast
49 food outlet.
50
51 MS. STEEL: I don't think that one was, actually. We have got
52 to bring our transcripts back in. The figures for the
53 Peckham fast food survey was that of the people coming out
54 of McDonald's, which was one of the places where the survey
55 was taking place, the people coming out of McDonald's on
56 average ate fast food 4.21 times per week.
57
58 I think that whilst these statistics are not the be all and
59 end all, and I am not just referring to the ones by Dr.
60 Lobstein but the ones produced by the company as well, they
