Day 256 - 04 Jun 96 - Page 08

     
     1
     2   Q.   Was exercise, or lack of it, one of them?  You dealt with
     3        that in the article which we have.  Was that one, or not?
     4        A.  Yes, we tend to think of that.
     5
     6   Q.   Yes.  Thank you.  The other matter, where you say, "There
     7        is outstanding empirical and theoretical evidence which
     8        shows that the association of dietary fat and breast cancer
     9        which we observe is biologically plausible", again, can you
    10        give me the headlines which you had in mind there; or,
    11        rather, give me what you had in mind in headlines rather
    12        than elaborating in detail?  I think I know what you are
    13        referring to, but I want to be sure.
    14        A.  Right.  There are a number of studies -- particularly
    15        the cross national studies -- that have shown an
    16        association between dietary fat intake and breast cancer,
    17        as well as some other cancers.  In addition, the way in
    18        which dietary fat works, that is to say, addressing the
    19        question concerning biological plausibility, is such that
    20        this association would appear to be quite plausible.
    21
    22   Q.   Yes.  The final matter is, what do you mean by the
    23        parentheses at the very end of that paragraph: "(Especially
    24        when taking into consideration the full constellation of
    25        dietary factors and mechanisms of disease causation)"; what
    26        are you referring to there?
    27        A.  Yes.  In addition to dietary fat, there are a number of
    28        other factors in food, or missing from certain kinds of
    29        food, that also contribute to disease prevalence and
    30        disease causation; and as we study each of these factors in
    31        addition to dietary fat, along with dietary fat, we
    32        discover really a large constellation of so-called
    33        mechanisms that make all of the association quite
    34        plausible.
    35
    36   Q.   Could you give me just one or two examples of such factors?
    37        A.  Well, those that correlate with dietary fat that also
    38        contribute to these kinds of diseases are such things as
    39        protein, particularly animal-based protein, and of course
    40        what we refer to in the trade as caloric density, or energy
         density, that is contributed by the dietary fat as well.
    42
    43        In addition to those factors, there are many, many factors
    44        that are missing when high fat diets are consumed:  such
    45        things as the hundreds of different kinds of antioxidants
    46        that we are now discovering; such as the hundreds of
    47        different kinds of dietary fibre fractions that are missing
    48        when we consume high fat diets in general.
    49
    50   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Yes.  Thank you. 
    51 
    52   MR. MORRIS:  If I just finish reading off that statement, for 
    53        completeness:
    54
    55        "The principal reference on the dietary fat (breast cancer
    56        relationship) is Marshall Et al, European Journal of
    57        Cancer, 28A", et cetera, "1992, although a summary of this
    58        and related papers may be found in a new book by N. Temple
    59        and D. Birkett 1992, Western Diseases, Their Dietary
    60        Prevention and Reversibility, Humana Press."