Day 016 - 22 Jul 94 - Page 15
1 they were dieting.
2 MR. RAMPTON: I suggest, to save time, one looks at the third
paragraph on page 153.
3
MS. STEEL: That is what I was looking at.
4
MR. JUSTICE BELL: I suggest everyone just stay a little
5 calmer. It does not make the point any stronger to me if
people raise their voices. It is the content of what they
6 say that I am most interested in. Which paragraph?
7 MR. RAMPTON: The third paragraph on page 153.
8 MS. STEEL: We do not know what the questions are.
9 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Let me just read the paragraph first.
10 MS. STEEL: We do not know what the questions were, do we?
A. They are not given in this paper.
11
Q. What does it say?
12 A. I would point out that if you go on to read the next
paragraph, it says: "The risk of anaemia amongst the girls
13 was strongly associated with an attempt to lose weight and
vegetarianism, which was associated with lower levels of
14 dietary iron intake".
15 Q. Yes. Then it says: "Whilst these practices are not
necessarily harmful the present results, particularly in
16 attempting to lose weight, indicate that nutrition
education is necessary."
17 A. That is the point I am making.
18 Q. We do not know whether a lot of these so-called
vegetarians, for starters, were people trying to lose
19 weight; we do not know the questions; we do not know the
answers; at the bottom of that page it does say: "The
20 lack of specificity and predicted value indicate that the
questionnaire in its present form is not satisfactory as a
21 screening tool for identifying children at risk of being
anaemic"?
22 A. That refers to identifying individual children; it
does not mean that the basic conclusion is wrong.
23
Q. What it means, does it not, is that children were asked
24 questions about their previous diet and they were not
specific enough to draw any conclusions about making --
25 yes, sweeping generalisations?
A. It is coupled with information on the composition of
26 iron in the blood, and I accept that it may or may not
turn out to be valid, but it is certainly reasonable in
27 the light of what we know about the composition of the
different foods in the diet. So, all I am saying is that
28 here we have a situation where there is a quite serious
health risk indicated. So I am simply making the point
29 that if you are criticising McDonald's on the grounds that
people who might have many more items from McDonald's
30 stores than actually happens in practice might be at risk
of heart disease and McDonald's ought to point this out.
