Day 297 - 08 Nov 96 - Page 06
1 Professor Wheelock gave, but he did say -----
2
3 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do they help you? I mean, remind me of them
4 if you think they do help you.
5
6 MS. STEEL: Some of them do and some of them do not. I thought
7 it was a bit vague, personally, but just make the point
8 that he did say that the ordinary citizen ought to become
9 concerned at 5 to 6 on the scale out of 10, and since he is
10 McDonald's consultant, they ought to take this very
11 seriously and act accordingly and they would be under a
12 duty to pass on that information to the public.
13
14 Professor Wheelock gave the association between an intake
15 of saturated fat and cardiovascular disease at 8 out of 10,
16 which is very high; that is, even on his terms. That was
17 on day 14, page 17.
18
19 So, clearly, at the minimum, based on the advice of their
20 own consultant, McDonald's should be warning their
21 customers about that association between saturated fat and
22 cardiovascular disease.
23
24 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Since you are reminding me of that, did he
25 give a figure for cancer of the breast or bowel?
26
27 MS. STEEL: Yes, I was just about to say, he put the
28 relationship between fat and cancer at 3 out of 10.
29 Obviously, we would disagree with that and our witnesses
30 certainly did. But, in any event, even on his scale of
31 things, given the seriousness of cancer and the general
32 public's real fear of it, it is a real risk. Well, that
33 figure would be considered a real risk by the public.
34
35 Professor Wheelock agreed with the extract from Good Food
36 Nutrition McDonald's, when it was put to him by
37 Mr. Rampton, that total fats and saturated fats in diet are
38 linked to the incidence of coronary heart disease. He said
39 it was true for 1985. He said it was a perfectly
40 reasonable.... No, actually, this is later on. He was
41 then asked about.... This is on day 30, pages 74 and 75.
42 It starts at the bottom of 74. It is day 14, not day 30,
43 sorry.
44
45 He was also asked about the statement about there is a
46 considerable amount of evidence to suggest that many of the
47 diseases which are more common in the western affluent
48 world, such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure,
49 heart disease, stroke and some forms of cancer are related
50 to diet, and the typical western diet is relatively low in
51 dietary fibre and roughage and high in fat, salt and sugar,
52 and he said that he thought that was a perfectly reasonable
53 statement of the state of knowledge in 1985. I think he
54 agreed about it as a state of knowledge now as well.
55
56 But he went on to say: "I would emphasise that it is just
57 commenting on the relationship between these diseases and
58 diet, it is not making any comment on the role of different
59 constituents in the diet."
60
