Day 033 - 10 Oct 94 - Page 54
1
2 Q. Is there nothing new in terms of that report?
3 A. The One thing that might be worth mentioning is that
4 what I described earlier regarding fat elevating levels of
5 oestrogen in women also occurs in men with testosterone.
6 If one looks at men who consume high fat diets,
7 particularly meat based diets, their testosterone levels
8 are higher, their levels of a protein called sex hormone
9 binding globulin which is a protein that keeps
10 testosterone in check and stops it from having any
11 biological activity, levels of sex hormone binding
12 globulin are reduced in meat eaters. The net result of
13 that is that one has increased testosterone stimulation of
14 the prostate cells which is believed to be the mechanism
15 by which a high fat diet increases the risk of prostate
16 cancer in men, and the intestinal recycling that
17 I described earlier also occurs.
18
19 Q. Let me ask one final question, then maybe we ought to have
20 our break after that. On this subject of plausible
21 mechanisms, what you said there, it was touched on before,
22 what is the role of plausible mechanisms in gathering
23 evidence?
24 A. I am sorry. Could you repeat that? I was a bit
25 distracted.
26
27 Q. What is the role of developing plausible mechanisms in
28 terms of judging the evidence of links between diet and
29 disease?
30
31 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Is that not just a matter of general sense?
32 If you can find a plausible mechanism that may, depending
33 on all the circumstances, add cogency to a case which you
34 started by some association, some evidence of association.
35
36 MR. MORRIS: Yes.
37
38 MR. JUSTICE BELL: When you say "it is believed", do you mean
39 that that is common belief or that the author of a
40 particular paper believed or put forward a case for it?
41 A. Well, was there a particular sentence which I stated
42 that, forgive me?
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think it is a phrase you have used more
45 than once. I cannot find it on the CaseView transcript at
46 the moment. I think it was part of the answer "evaluating
47 levels of oestrogen in women also occurs in men". You
48 went on then with what one might call a mechanism.
49 I thought you used the words "it is believed that".
50 I cannot find the words "it is believed that".
51
52 MR. RAMPTON: Mrs. Brinley-Codd suggests it may be line 14.
53
54 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I will rise now. Perhaps someone could show
55 Dr. Barnard on their CaseView screen the whole of that
56 answer which comes after Mr. Morris's question: "Is there
57 nothing new in terms of that report?" When he comes down
58 to line 14 "it is believed to be the mechanism", that is
59 what I was asking - who believes that?
60
