Day 269 - 25 Jun 96 - Page 15


     
     1        policy which meant fast growth in all directions.  There
     2        was a rise in the fat intake of the diet and this was
     3        recorded by some of the earlier COMA committees that
     4        discussed the relationship between diet and fats and heart
     5        disease.  So without any question the diets of people are
     6        changed by the sort of foods that are made available to
     7        them.
     8
     9   Q.   Right.  That change in increased fat intake after the war,
    10        has that remained the same or has that been influenced by
    11        subsequent dietary recommendations?
    12        A.  Well, I mean, I think I make the point later in my
    13        statement, if you go through it, that in fact there have
    14        been -- part of the industry has been responsive to the
    15        recommendations that have been made by scientists and the
    16        medical profession, particularly the Food and Agriculture
    17        Organisation's report in 1978 conjointly with the World
    18        Health Organisation and the Royal College of Physicians'
    19        report in 1976 which was a sort of landmark report.  And
    20        there was no doubt that these precipitated and encouraged
    21        changes by the industry in the direction that were being
    22        recommended.
    23
    24        Now, Unilever, as I mention in my report later, was, in the
    25        vanguard, was a leader in this respect, and there are
    26        several examples of the way in which the food industry
    27        responded, quite dramatically, it was almost a volt fast so
    28        far as Unilever was concerned, to change from saturated fat
    29        margarines to polyunsaturated fat margarines.  So yes, the
    30        industry played a very important part in changing the
    31        diet.
    32
    33        And I think if you look at the British Heart Foundation's
    34        mortality statistics, it is quite interesting to see that
    35        since the end of the '80's mortality, and certainly in
    36        England, has been falling from heart disease.  So this is
    37        really a welcomed change.  Now, there are people, it is
    38        difficult to say at this stage just what the causes of that
    39        fall are, but there are people who are claiming, and
    40        certainly Unilever would be one of them, that there has
    41        been a significant contribution by the changes that the
    42        industry have made in response to the kind of
    43        recommendations that have come from science and medicine.
    44
    45   Q.   OK.  Were we on indirect --
    46
    47   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Just pause.  You got to 2.2, indirect
    48        effect, and then I asked my question about the figures in
    49        the paragraph above, so carry on from there.
    50
    51   MS. STEEL: "2.2 Indirect effect.
    52        2.2.1 Does McDonald's influence habitual eating?  May I
    53        suggest that the possibility of an indirect effect on
    54        peoples's eating habits induced by the high profile
    55        advertising campaigns and inducements to children and
    56        customers."
    57
    58        I think maybe the word "that" should not be in there.
    59        Would that be right?  "May I suggest the possibility of"?
    60        A.   You can remove the word "that".  I am happy with that.

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