Day 269 - 25 Jun 96 - Page 09


     
     1        products.  Thus the proportion using McDonald's within this
     2        group at high risk to heart disease and cancer, will be
     3        greater than the average.
     4
     5        To put a figure on the percentage contribution of
     6        McDonald's and other similar take-away foods to heart
     7        disease and cancer would require a detailed survey of food
     8        intakes.  According to the Taylor Nelson Eating Out
     9        Monitor, 1,905,000 people eat at McDonald's once a week and
    10        425,000 people several times a week or more often.  So it
    11        is possible to make a stab at the quantitative question
    12        based on McDonald's own data.
    13
    14        Many factors are involved in the geographical and
    15        socio-economic contrasts in heart disease and cancer with
    16        diet being one.  Walter Willett of Harvard, Boston, has
    17        calculated that trans-isomers in the USA diet contribute to
    18        30,000 deaths a year in the USA (Willett et al, 1993 Lancet
    19        341:  pages 581-585).  Trans-isomers are biologically
    20        equivalent to saturated fats and are derived from the fats
    21        of ruminants (beef, sheep) and hydrogenated vegetable
    22        oils.  They are present in ruminant fats as a small
    23        proportion of the total (4-7%).  If, McDonald's, as I am
    24        told, used hydrogenated soya bean oil in the USA, their
    25        meals will be a major source of the trans isomers and
    26        saturated fatty acids in the diets of regular users in the
    27        USA."
    28
    29        We have been told in this case that in the UK all
    30        McDonald's products are cooked in hardened pure vegetable
    31        oils, so would that also apply to the UK?
    32        A.   Yes.  A lot depends on how far they harden it, but our
    33        own data shows that there are significant quantities of
    34        trans-isomers in a McDonald's meal.
    35
    36   Q.   "According to the studies by Ancel Keys from 1953 to
    37        present, about 70% of heart disease can be explained by
    38        saturated fats.  Epidemiological evidence as has been
    39        pointed out by Dr. Arnott, requires support from
    40        independent sources the best of which is experiment which
    41        provides a rational mechanism.  The estimate from Ancel
    42        Keys work is in accordance with the experimental data. The
    43        experimental atherosclerosis is most strongly influenced by
    44        the saturated fatty acid content of the diet.
    45
    46        Of the 1,905,000 eating once weekly at McDonald's that meal
    47        is likely to contribute a 7th of the week's saturated fat
    48        intake and a minimum of a 14th."
    49
    50        Is it basically from around a 7th of the week's saturated
    51        fat intake to a 14th?  I am not sure if there is a word
    52        missing?
    53        A.  It depends whether you have one meal a day that is
    54        saturated fat traditionally in your family or whether you
    55        have two that are full of saturated fats.
    56
    57   Q.   Right.  I am just wondering if the word "between" is
    58        missing.  It maybe does not matter.
    59
    60   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just pause a moment.  Are you agreeing with

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