Day 022 - 12 Sep 94 - Page 36
1 the others in any particular respect.
2
3 MR. MORRIS: Yes. That is what I mean really. That is an
4 example of the advantage because within, for example,
5 America where a lot of studies are done, or Britain,
6 virtually nobody has a diet of 10 or 15 per cent fat as
7 calories, or whatever it is. So that would be one
8 advantage of comparing one population with another
9 population, would it not?
10 A. It would certainly give you an interesting comparison,
11 yes.
12
13 Q. I believe some critics have said that of that nurses
14 study, that the contrasting of fat intakes was not great
15 enough?
16 A. That is correct.
17
18 Q. That is correct. Another thing about a population study
19 is, is it not, that the diet in a population overall, the
20 traditional diet, for example, would not change -- if you
21 are studying diet, it may be fair to say that this kind of
22 diet has been eaten by these people for a long time. If
23 they are relatively unaffected by modern western diet, for
24 example, would it not be fair to say that we can probably
25 deduce that if they are eating this diet now, they were
26 eating that kind of diet 30 years ago, 100 years ago,
27 whatever, whereas, say, for example, in western countries
28 there have been very dramatic changes in diet over the
29 last 100 years?
30 A. You know, without further evidence, I would not say
31 that you can necessarily conclude that the diet has
32 remained unchanged; even in these rural communities the
33 diet may have changed. Obviously, one would need further
34 information about that. In most population groups diet is
35 constantly changing. I think it is wrong for us to assume
36 that diet is something which is constant; I do not think
37 it is.
38
39 Q. Do you feel that could be a feature of population studies
40 though, that as long they did it responsibly, do you think
41 they would be more easily able to identify diet over a
42 long period of time which, of course, in the study of
43 cancer is very important?
44 A. They may be to do that, but, as I said, without
45 looking at the study that you are quoting, you know,
46 I could not really comment on that because you are asking
47 me in many ways to comment in a general way and I cannot
48 do that.
49
50 Q. Right.
51 A. What I am saying is, you see, going on from your
52 point, that these population studies do provide broad
53 brush strokes and it is interesting to look at communities
54 where the intake of fat is very low and see if, you know,
55 there are identifiable differences between the two groups
56 of population. This is certainly very interesting, yes.
57
58 Q. If one other advantage of population studies, could it not
59 be, that you have the corollary which is migration studies
60 of people that move from one culture to another?
