Day 298 - 11 Nov 96 - Page 07


     
     1        of good quality plant-based foods the lower the risk of
     2        those diseases which are commonly found in western
     3        countries; for example, cancers, cardiovascular diseases
     4        and diabetes.  He said that based on these and other data,
     5        they hypothesise that 80 to 90 percent of all such diseases
     6        could be prevented before the age of 90 years.  That was
     7        the China survey.  Did I give the page number for that?
     8        Anyway, it is all on page 16.  I did mention that.
     9
    10        He mentioned on page 24, line 21 that the average fat
    11        intake in China was about 14.5 percent of the calorific
    12        intake.
    13
    14        Just on the point about the age of menarche.  On page 19,
    15        line 28 he said that breast cancer, although it was low in
    16        China, was nevertheless greater with the consumption of the
    17        typical western diet, high in animal based foods and fat,
    18        low in plant based foods.  (Pause).
    19
    20   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  There has been the possibility of having a
    21        two minute silence in certain courts.  Without any
    22        disrespect to those who suggest it, I propose to continue
    23        with the hearing.  Yes?  You were page 19, line 28 - age of
    24        menarche, though low in China.
    25
    26   MS. STEEL:   Yes.  Nonetheless was greater with consumption of
    27        typical western diet high in animal based foods and fat and
    28        low in plant based foods, which encourages body growth
    29        rates to be too rapid and sexual maturation to occur too
    30        early, which he then went on to say that there was a lot of
    31        evidence that that was associated with a higher risk of
    32        breast cancer later in life.
    33
    34        On page 20, he refers to the fact that the developing
    35        countries should continue to use traditional plant based
    36        diets and says that the optimum diet for people residing in
    37        all countries of the world appears to be virtually the
    38        same, and that the present dietary guidelines mostly
    39        focused on the effects of dietary fat when reduced to 30
    40        percent of the calories is not likely to yield to disease
    41        prevention benefits originally inferred.
    42
    43        Obviously, that would go with our point that it should be
    44        the lower end, the 15 or 20 percent of calories from fat,
    45        that should be the figure that is being aimed for.  Yes,
    46        that is the maximum figure.
    47
    48        In relation to the diet as a whole, he said that there
    49        appeared to be no threshold of plant food enrichment or
    50        minimisation of fat intake beyond which further disease
    51        prevention does not occur.  Obviously, that is relevant to
    52        the last point.  And that the findings of the China study
    53        suggest that small intakes of foods of animal origin were
    54        associated with significant increases of plasma cholesterol
    55        concentrations which in turn are associated with increases
    56        in chronic degenerative disease mortality rates.
    57
    58        He goes on -- this is on page 22 -- to explain that the 30
    59        percent of energy target levels that have been chosen as
    60        recommendations have generally been based on estimates of

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