Day 015 - 21 Jul 94 - Page 23
1 again with sodium, it varies.
2 Q. So, if people were eating this kind of food and also
eating at McDonald's, would that concern you?
3 A. Of course it would.
4 Q. Right. If people were eating more than one meal a day at
McDonald's or at a similar outlet, comparable outlet,
5 would that concern you?
A. Again we go back to the question of what do they
6 actually eat at McDonald's and what do they eat the rest
of time? All I am saying is that if people choose to eat
7 one or two Big Mac's a day, or if choose to eat one or two
pork pies a day, or if they choose to have bacon and eggs
8 once or twice or three times a day, then they are going to
have a problem in meeting the dietary recommendations. It
9 is as simple as that.
10 Q. You said -- if you want the reference for this, it is at
page 13 of this statement -- that "the type of products
11 sold at McDonald's play a critical role in the diet".
What do you mean by that? Are you talking about the
12 potatoes and -----
A. Well, what I am referring to there is the fact that in
13 order to achieve the requirements for protein, minerals
and vitamins we need to have a variety of different foods,
14 and that the foods that are available in McDonald's
provide some of those requirements.
15
Q. Right.
16 A. But they do not -----
17 Q. "Critical" requirements?
A. Well, again as we demonstrated yesterday, a number of
18 different products make a substantial contribution to the
dietary requirement for thiamine and niacin and vitamin
19 B12 or whatever. I mean, at the end of the day, what is
important is that people have a variety of foods in their
20 diet in order to be able to meet the different targets and
the different requirements for minerals and vitamins.
21
Quite frankly, the more one focuses in on a small number
22 of foods, the greater the risk that either we will exceed
the requirements for fat, saturated fat and salt and all
23 the rest of it, and at the same time that we will not meet
the requirements for many of the other essential nutrients
24 that are needed in the diet, such as the B vitamins and
calcium phosphorus, vitamin A, vitamin D -- you name it --
25 and this is why -----
26 Q. Lots of fat, sugar and salt is not necessary in a diet, is
it?
27 A. Look, we have to look at this in relation to the total
requirements. Let us not get obsessed with fat, sugar and
28 salt. I mean, these are important, of course, that we
should try and reduce the amount that is present in a
29 typical British diet, but do not forget until maybe 20
years ago the concern in this country was that we had
30 sufficient protein, minerals and vitamins in -- and
possibly at one point there was even concern that we were
