Day 296 - 07 Nov 96 - Page 44


     
     1        wanted something regarding sugar in McDonald's food?
     2
     3   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Well, you can do that.  I mean, do you
     4        remember, you pursued the amount of sugar in cake and
     5        things like that at one time?
     6
     7   MS. STEEL:   Yes.
     8
     9   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  The birthday cake, or the chocolate cake.
    10        What I particularly had in mind was not so much that,
    11        because one can imagine, or can no doubt turn up quite
    12        quickly some evidence, that certain of McDonald's foods are
    13        high in sugar, for instance, their thick shakes or their
    14        cakes or whatever.  The picture I have with all these
    15        things -- animal fats, saturated fats, sodium, sugar, fibre
    16         -- as various articles and publications come out, they
    17        move up and down the register of causes for alarm (if I can
    18        put it in that general term), or causes for concern is a
    19        better way of putting it; and sugar seemed to be moving
    20        down the scale recently, save in so far as one is concerned
    21        with dental caries, which I am not really concerned with in
    22        this case.
    23
    24   MS. STEEL:   I think certainly, in comparison to fat, that would
    25        be true.
    26
    27   MR JUSTICE BELL:   Do not pick it up now, because the easiest
    28        thing is to come back with a reference and say, "Look, we
    29        would point to this particular bit."
    30
    31   MS. STEEL:   At the very minimum -- and I think that there is
    32        evidence about the harmful effects of the sugar -- at the
    33        very minimum, it is the same argument as with fat, that the
    34        more sugar that you have got in your diet, the more you are
    35        displacing the more useful parts of the diet that you need
    36        to get in order to ensure good health; so you are going to
    37        get more of your calories from sugar rather than
    38        carbohydrates, proteins, and foods containing a lot of
    39        vitamins and minerals.
    40
    41   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Just pause a moment.  (Pause)  Yes.
    42
    43   MR. MORRIS:   Just a few additional points.  The saturated fat
    44        content, the World Health Organisation recommends something
    45        between nought and 10 percent.  It is not necessary in the
    46        diet; basically, it is going to be a negative contribution
    47        because of its health risks.  That should be borne in
    48        mind.  I think Professor Crawford dealt with that on day
    49        31, page 38.
    50
    51        On the subject of the general high risk profile of the
    52        population in western countries, we have the additional --
    53        sorry, we will do that tomorrow.
    54
    55   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Yes.
    56
    57   MR. MORRIS:   I am trying to see if I have any other points that
    58        arose today.  (Pause)
    59
    60        Just on the subject of craving -- just in case it does not

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