Day 030 - 03 Oct 94 - Page 62
1 Q. Would that be the standard approach in terms of diet
2 rather than exercise?
3 A. The reason I hesitate in my reply is that this is
4 another whole subject, if what you are referring to is
5 people that I might describe as ordinarily overweight and
6 not grossly obese, and if you are referring to people who
7 are able bodied, then the generally accepted advice in
8 this country and internationally whose scientific bases
9 came originally from the report of the Royal College of
10 Physicians in 1993 called Obesity, is that what you should
11 do is to shift from a calorie dense diet to a nutrient
12 dense diet and to be reasonably physically active
13 throughout your life as a means of avoiding becoming
14 overweight and obese, and as a means to reduce excess
15 weight. If you are obese, certainly grossly obese, that
16 is a different story.
17
18 Q. If we move to the next document it is headed: "Europe
19 against Cancer Fact Sheet 52, 1992 - Cancer in the
20 European Community." Is there anything you specifically
21 want to refer the court to in those charts on that page?
22 A. What we are referring to here is the so-called Ten
23 Commandments, the 10-point European Code against cancer
24 referred today. There are 10 recommendations, five of
25 which are to do with prevention, two of which are to do
26 with diet; one of which says: Eat fresh fruit and
27 vegetables and other foods high in fibre; the other says
28 avoid obesity and cut down on fatty foods. The status of
29 that, as I say, that is the European Union position which
30 is generally accepted by member states, as will be evident
31 in this country next week, if not before. Indeed, it is
32 evident in this country before. You have already
33 yourselves pointed that out by showing a document I have
34 not seen before.
35
36 Q. While we are on that page it might be worth noting the
37 actual incidence of cancer. In the middle chart at the
38 bottom of the table "UK" it says that in the UK there is
39 160,589 annual cancer deaths; is that correct? Am I
40 reading that correctly?
41 A. Yes.
42
43 Q. Sorry in 1988 out of 797,600 in Europe as a whole?
44 A. That is true, but, if I may, I would say the more
45 salient table is the one on top. This particular table,
46 these admirable fact sheets produced by the Cancer
47 Research Campaign, happens to be about the EC, refer to
48 the EC or EU, as now is generally. The Cancer Research
49 Campaign has issued other tables to do with the UK. The
50 point of referring to these tables is that if you look at
51 the top three cancers, no, the top four cancers in men,
52 the most common cancer in terms of incidence is lung, but
53 then that is followed in men by prostate, stomach and
54 colon.
55
56 If you go over the table to women, the most common cancer
57 is breast followed by colon and stomach. I have mentioned
58 eight cancers in men and women taken together. Three of
59 those cancers, the second, third and fourth in men and the
60 first, second and third in women, are now reliably known
