Day 034 - 11 Oct 94 - Page 33


     
     1        from the file we already have.  Is it possible to do that
     2        one first?
     3        A.  It would make it a more logical progression to talk
     4        about the one I have listed next on my list.
     5
     6   Q.   We have just got No. 76 here.  Shall we deal with No. 76?
     7        A.  That will be fine, thank you.
     8
     9   Q.   Can I ask, are we going until ten past or something?
    10
    11   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Five or ten past one.
    12
    13   MR. MORRIS:  That is No. 76.  If it is not clearly marked, it
    14        should be.  Would you like to identify the important
    15        sections?
    16        A.  Yes.  I will try to be very brief with this one as
    17        well.  Forgive me, I hope I am not taking too long with
    18        these studies.  This is the study by de Ridder which
    19        appeared in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in
    20        1991, which is a leading nutrition journal in the United
    21        States.
    22
    23        To simply provide a sentence or two about background, this
    24        was a study in which 63 school girls were followed for a
    25        three year period in Holland, I believe.  Their diets were
    26        assessed and the age at which menarche occurs, which again
    27        is a known risk factor for breast cancer, earlier menarche
    28        is a known risk factor for breast cancer, the link between
    29        diet and the age of menarche was assessed.  I would like
    30        to read the abstract and a little bit of the
    31        introduction.  In the abstract it states:
    32
    33        "The relationships between dietary components and
    34        physical or hormonal sexual maturation in 63 pubertal
    35        girls were examined.  The effects of vegetable protein and
    36        dietary fibre on breast development" -- I will skip over
    37        the statistics for a moment but would be glad to come back
    38        to them if there is a question -- "The effects of
    39        vegetable protein and dietary fibre on breast development
    40         ... and menarche ... became more pronounced in a
    41        multivariate analysis, after elimination of the linear
    42        effects of body height and energy intake.  From the
    43        multivariate analysis with combinations of vegetable
    44        protein, polysaccharides, and fibre in the equation" --
    45        here is the part that is perhaps worth paying particular
    46        attention to -- "fibre appeared to be the most important
    47        factor.  The gonadotropin and estradiol plasma
    48        concentrations" -- simply to explain what that is,
    49        gonadotropins are two hormones that encourage the ovaries
    50        to manufacture hormones; oestradiol is manufactured in the 
    51        ovaries: "The gonadotropin and estradiol plasma 
    52        concentrations were higher in girls who consumed less 
    53        grain fibre.  We conclude that a diet rich in vegetable
    54        products, especially fibre, may affect the rate of
    55        physical and hormonal sexual maturation, possibly mediated
    56        by the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonad system."
    57
    58        The hypothalamus and the pituitary are both portions of
    59        the brain which elaborate hormones which then affect the
    60        gonads, meaning the ovaries, and cause them to make

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