Day 296 - 07 Nov 96 - Page 42


     
     1        the cumulative effect on the diet.  That was day 33, page
     2        10.  Dr. Barnard stated that if the overall diet is to be
     3        low in fat and cholesterol and high in fibre and vitamins,
     4        as McDonald's themselves have suggested, then the
     5        McDonald's meal pushes the diet in precisely the wrong
     6        direction.  That was day 33, page 58.  (Pause).
     7
     8   MR. MORRIS:   We were, about half an hour ago, considering the
     9        effects of fat in the diet relevant to disease problems,
    10        and obesity is a very important consideration.  It is
    11        recognised to be a major crisis in the western world, the
    12        growing obesity problem and all the degenerative diseases
    13        that thereby inevitably result, including diabetes and
    14        heart disease and cancer.  The one thing that was not
    15        mentioned specifically at that time, half an hour ago, was
    16        also the displacement of fibre in the diet which is, as
    17        night follows day, the greater the fat content of the food
    18        in general the lower the fibre content, and every
    19        McDonald's witness, I think without exception, has had no
    20        problem with recognising that fibre is an important
    21        contributor to preventing cancer of the bowel and in
    22        general is a very important part of a healthy diet in any
    23        event.  So -----
    24
    25   MR JUSTICE BELL:  Just pause a moment.  (Pause) Yes.
    26
    27   MR. MORRIS:   The salt content is obviously very significant but
    28        because it is conceded by the Plaintiffs as a non-issue
    29        because of heart disease being taken out of the frame, in
    30        terms of the causal relationship between diet and heart
    31        disease, which would include the salt, it is not something
    32        that we have concentrated so much on in our submissions; it
    33        is still very relevant.  I think that sugar is very
    34        relevant too, it is relevant to obesity.
    35
    36   MR JUSTICE BELL:  At some stage I would like you to give me a
    37        reference to that, because it is easy to think that people,
    38        for instance, do eat lots of chocolates and get fat, but
    39        the thrust of the more recent stuff does not seem to
    40        concentrate on sugar, save so far as dental care is
    41        concerned.
    42
    43   MR. MORRIS:   Well, sugar certainly contributes to an excess of
    44        calories, which is the major cause of obesity.
    45
    46   MR JUSTICE BELL:  I can see that as a proposition, but that is
    47        why I am inviting you to put me right on it.  My
    48        recollection is that a lot of recent material says that,
    49        however you may think that is, they don't pick on it as
    50        actually contributing in fact to the problem.
    51
    52   MR. MORRIS:   You say a lot of the recent material.  Are we
    53        talking about one of McDonald's witnesses brought this up?
    54
    55   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   The recent COMA report, and so on.  But I am
    56        only mentioning it.  When I mention these things it is not
    57        to say you are wrong, it is just to give you the
    58        opportunity of seeing what is in my mind so you can tell me
    59        I am wrong.
    60

Prev Next Index