Day 031 - 05 Oct 94 - Page 35
1 Health Organisation Report. I think it has already
2 probably been discussed here, so there is not much point
3 going into it in any detail, but the World Health
4 Organisation simply said: "A review of the evidence
5 indicates that a high intake of total fat in some case
6 studies, also saturated fat, is associated with an
7 increased risk of cancers of the colon, prostate and
8 breast. The evidence is strongest for cancer of the colon
9 and weakest for breast cancer. The epidemiological
10 evidence is not totally consistent, but is generally
11 supported by laboratory data from studies on animals".
12
13 I think the other point I would draw attention to, which
14 is at the top of page 33, the report says: "In
15 conclusion, although several lines of evidence indicate
16 that dietary factors are important in the causation of
17 cancer at many sites and that dietary modifications may
18 reduce cancer risk, the contribution of diet to total
19 cancer incidence and mortality cannot be quantified on the
20 basis of present knowledge. Nevertheless, evidence
21 indicates that a diet that is low in total and saturated
22 fat, high in plant foods, especially green and yellow
23 vegetables and citrus fruits, and low in alcohol,
24 salt-pickled, smoked, and salt-preserved foods is
25 consistent with a low risk of many of the current, major
26 cancers, including cancer of the colon, prostate, breast,
27 stomach, lung, and oesophagus." That is the World Health
28 Organisation's view.
29
30 The Scottish view appears on page 81. It is in the fourth
31 paragraph where it says: "The adoption of the 'prudent'
32 diet described in Chapter 5" -- the prudent diet being a
33 diet low in total fat and particularly saturated fat and
34 high in fibre, to condense it into a nutshell -- should --
35 the emphasis from the BNF Report which said "may" is
36 replaced by "should" here -- "reduce the cancer burden but
37 it would be unrealistic to expect tangible evidence for
38 perhaps 20 years." I think that is a fair statement of
39 what most of us believe at this point in time in 1994.
40
41 Q. It might be worth going back to page 33. The very first
42 line, at the end of the line, it mentions causation of
43 cancer at many sites. Does it appear from that then they
44 are not just concerned about promotion of cancer?
45 A. That has to be true because they use the word
46 "causation". This is the World Health Organisation, and
47 there is a view, which is harder than my own view, that
48 actually the high dietary, the high fat intake is actually
49 itself an intrinsic cause of cancer.
50
51 I, as I think I have indicated in my evidence, have given
52 what is my personal view and tried to sort of mix that
53 with the distillate of the view of other experts such as
54 these, but, in this particular case, there is a view that
55 says that high dietary fat intake causes cancer
56 intrinsically, although it is not the view that I take
57 personally.
58
59 Q. That is the view of the World Health Organisation?
60 A. Well, those are the words they have written.
