Day 279 - 12 Jul 96 - Page 22


     
     1        International comparisons, such as those from various
     2        sections of China, clearly show advantages to reducing fat
     3        intake to levels that are substantially lower than those
     4        currently recommended by US health authorities.  Those
     5        advantages include a reduced risk of heart disease and
     6        cancer.
     7
     8             Diet and Cancer Risk.
     9
    10             In addition to the extensive information I have
    11        already submitted regarding the links between foods of the
    12        type sold at McDonald's and cancer risk, I would like to
    13        provide a few additional comments.  These particularly
    14        relate to Professor Naismith's reference to cohort studies.
    15
    16             Cancer remains a serious and growing problem, and
    17        there is no question that diet plays a substantial role in
    18        cancer risk.  More than 1.2 million Americans are diagnosed
    19        with cancer (excluding basal and squamous cell skin cancers
    20        and in situ carcinomas except bladder) annually, and more
    21        than 500,000 die of the disease, accounting for one in
    22        every five deaths in the US. (5) The most common forms of
    23        cancer in the United States are prostate, breast, lung and
    24        colorectal.
    25
    26             As noted in my testimony, international and
    27        case-control studies have shown a strong relationship
    28        between fat intake and breast cancer risk, while most
    29        cohort studies have not shown a relationship.  This same
    30        observation was recently made by Hunter et al. in the New
    31        England Journal of Medicine. (6) This observation is not
    32        new; rather it reflects the limitations of cohort studies.
    33        First, they have typically investigated only a narrow band
    34        of fat intake.  Secondly, they do not generally account for
    35        fat intake during adolescence, which may be the time when
    36        fat exerts its greatest effect on breast cancer risk.
    37        Third, their follow-up periods are typically short.
    38
    39             It has long been apparent that a substantial portion
    40        of the risk for other cancers is attributable to dietary
    41        factors. (7)  Colorectal cancer, for example, is diagnosed
    42        in 152,000 Americans and kills 57,000 annually (5).  Women
    43        and men who consume meat frequently have 2.5 and 3.6 times
    44        the incidence of colon cancer, respectively, compared to
    45        those who consume these products rarely or never. (8-11)
    46        The elevated colon cancer risk from diets high in animal
    47        products is believed to be caused by the higher levels of
    48        cholesterol and bile acids, particularly secondary bile
    49        acids,  that these products cause in the intestinal tract.
    50        (12-16)
    51
    52             Medical consensus holds that an increased consumption
    53        of high-fat, low-fibre foods affects the composition of the
    54        diet in such a way that there is a very real risk of cancer
    55        of the breast or bowel or heart disease as a result.  When
    56        the dietary composition is altered in this way, it adds a
    57        very real risk of obesity, which, in turn, increases the
    58        risk of breast cancer and coronary heart disease; such
    59        increased risk is established beyond any scientific doubt."
    60

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