Day 021 - 29 Jul 94 - Page 20
1 I am wrong, we have this difficulty. As many as ten per
cent of the population may have a genetic susceptibility
2 to sodium related hypertension, that is 25.3.3. Another
variable is the large difference in rates of excretion,
3 25.4 -- certainly in children anyway, an enormous
difference between 18 and 150 milligrams.
4 A. That is right.
5 Q. Some children excreting nearly ten times as much as others
are at extremes of the band?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. And the panel felt unable to offer guidance on high
consumption; it saw no physiological advantage in going
8 above the levels. As you say, I do not really see a
conclusion there.
9 A. That is right.
10 Q. Your evidence then was you thought that because of the,
may I say, shadow which has been cast over sodium from
11 some quarters, you thought it sensible, prudent, to reduce
from the figures which ---?
12 A. That is right.
13 Q. 3376 taking men for instance, but not below the 16
hundred, which is the LRNI, namely the amount which is
14 enough for only a few people?
A. 16 hundred is the RNI at the top end rather than the
15 bottom end.
16 Q. Which should be enough?
A. Something like 98 per cent of the population.
17
Q. Is there anything there to suggest to us, for instance,
18 that 2,500 would be a sensible aim? There is nothing like
that when it comes to sodium, is there?
19 A. No, they have not reached that conclusion.
20 Q. Whatever they felt able to say about total fat or ----?
A. They have not really addressed the issue in the same
21 way as they have with total fat and saturated fat.
22 MS. STEEL: I am still pretty confused. Are you saying that
1,600 milligrams, you are saying that is the maximum?
23 A. No.
24 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No. Can you just turn back to page V,
Ms. Steel, the RNI is the Reference Nutrient Intake. It
25 is the amount that is enough, or more than enough, for 97
per cent of the people. In other words, if you have that
26 at least, unless you are one of the 3 per cent, you are
going to be getting enough of that to sustain you
27 physiologically. The figure for that is the 16 hundred;
provided you get your 16 hundred, unless you are one of
28 the 3 per cent, you will be getting enough to sustain your
need for salt.
29
MS. STEEL: What is the lower figure then where you would be
30 getting enough to sustain your need?
