Day 031 - 05 Oct 94 - Page 12

     
     1        and that is, to get back to Queen Elizabeth, the balance
     2        between fish and sea foods also appears to be quite
     3        important in this debate in relation to diet and heart
     4        disease and diet and cancer.
     5
     6   Q.   So the hillside rabbit, which might have provided a
     7        significant part of the diet of a Yorkshire hill farmer
     8        before myxomatosis, would come into the category of wild
     9        animal?
    10        A.  Yes, indeed.
    11
    12   Q.   Those sorts of proportions?
    13        A.  Yes, the same would apply to pheasant and venison.
    14
    15   MS. STEEL:   Is the main point that we are seeing an increase
    16        in diseases such as heart disease and cancer because the
    17        diet being eaten is one that we are not physiologically
    18        adapted to, in that it is much higher in fat and saturated
    19        fat?
    20        A.  That is a reasonable conclusion from the
         epidemiological evidence.
    22
    23   Q.   I do not know whether it would be helpful if you could
    24        briefly explain the differences between the different
    25        types of fatty acids and their place, what their place is
    26        thought to be in relation to disease, whether they are
    27        protective?
    28        A.  This is another situation where you give me my head!
    29        I will try and be brief.  There are, essentially, two
    30        types of fat in the body.
    31
    32   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I think you can be very brief because this
    33        is not the first time we have covered this ground.  If you
    34        are brief and Ms. Steel wants to ask you anything further
    35        about it or Mr. Rampton in due course, then they will do.
    36
    37   THE WITNESS:  Yes, your Lordship.  I think it is important to
    38        understand that there are two types of fat in the body.
    39        I do not know if this has been discussed in this court or
    40        not.
    41
    42   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, it has.  We have had some discussion
    43        about the different fatty acids within polyunsaturated
    44        fats, for instance, and those which are essential to
    45        building the body and nourishing it in any event, and also
    46        some discussion about the ability to ignore the
    47        differences within polyunsaturated fats because, so far as
    48        the public are concerned, they are not going to
    49        distinguish between one polyunsaturated fat and another.
    50 
    51   THE WITNESS:  Yes.  I think for the purposes, your Lordship, of 
    52        my evidence, the important points are that there are two 
    53        families of essential fatty acids.  The n-6 and n-3 fatty
    54        acids.  The n-6 fatty acids start with linoleic acid and
    55        are converted to arachidonic acid; the n-3 fatty acids
    56        start with alphalinolenic and are converted to a substance
    57        called docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA for short.
    58
    59        Now, the important point about that is that the
    60        arachidonic and DHA are essential building materials for