Which type of diet is better for lowering cholesterol? Do you need to look specifically for foods that are lower in cholesterol or do you need to stick with a diet that is low on all kinds of fat?

To answer this question, it’s important to have an idea of what your different cholesterol numbers represent and what causes those numbers to go up and down.

LDL — Low Density Lipoprotein

This is often referred to as “bad cholesterol.” This type of cholesterol collects in your arteries and causes heart attacks. You want this number to be as low as possible, ideally less than 100 mg/dl. You can reduce it by avoiding foods that are high in cholesterol and adding foods that are high in dietary fiber. Fiber acts by “sweeping” the cholesterol out of the arteries. Exercise will also help to lower LDL.

HDL — High Density Lipoprotein

This is “good cholesterol.” You want your HDL number to be high, above 60 mg/dl, because HDL cholesterol actually helps your body remove LDL. It also helps your body transport LDL to the liver so it can be broken down. As if that wasn’t enough, HDL actively improves the condition of the walls of your blood vessels, keeping them clean and healthy. You can improve your HDL level a number of ways. The best way to raise your HDL level is through exercise. If you smoke, stop. Smoking lowers your HDL level. Maintaining a healthy weight will also help to raise your HDL.

Which diet is better?

ABC News reports that a new study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that adding specific cholesterol-lowering foods is more effective at dropping LDL levels than eating a diet low in saturated fat. The difference was significant: The diet featuring cholesterol-lowering foods dropped levels 13 percent, and the low-saturated-fat diet dropped levels 3 percent.

The cholesterol-lowering foods featured on the diet included tree nuts and high-fiber foods like oats, barley and fresh fruits and vegetables. Participants also swapped butter for margarine enhanced with plant sterols and ate soy-based products instead of meat.

Some critics of the study pointed out that the diet is vegetarian and that for many people, long-term adherence to the diet might be difficult. While swapping out meat completely might not be a choice for everyone, adding high-fiber foods and sources of healthy fats to your diet is still easy to do. Although all animal products contain cholesterol, choosing lean cuts of meat like chicken and pork over red meats and full-fat cheese is a small but significant change that will help lower LDL.

It’s not necessary to eat a low-fat diet to lower your cholesterol. A diet low in saturated fat, however, especially those that are animal derived, is a good choice for lowering your cholesterol. Fat is actually a necessary nutrient. Your body needs essential fatty acids to help your body absorb fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin E, and they help your body perform necessary functions, like producing necessary hormones. Fat also helps you feel satisfied after a meal and gives your food a better flavor. The trick is choosing unsaturated and monounsaturated fats, like olive oil, canola oil, safflower oil and peanut oil. The omega-3 oils found in fatty fish are also essential nutrients for your body.

Talk to your doctor or a nutritionist to help you decide the best diet to lower your cholesterol.

The Bad in Butter

Check the ingredients list on a package of butter and all you are going to find is sweet cream and occasionally salt. Butter also contains 30 milligrams of cholesterol per tablespoonful and most people have a hard time sticking to that when they are dressing their baked potatoes. Additionally, butter contains a whopping 7 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon — that’s 37 percent of the recommended daily allowance!

Margarine has no cholesterol because it’s made entirely from vegetable oils. Additionally, margarine has higher levels of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats — often referred to as the “good” fats. More and more brands of margarine are trading on this, and even add oils that are considered healthy, like canola oil and olive oil, to up the heart-healthy quotient of the spread. But margarine has a dark side of its own: Solid margarines like those found in tubs and sticks contain trans fats. The more solid the margarine, the higher the level of trans fats.

Margarine Mayhem

Why is this important? Trans fats, also known as partially hydrogenated oils, confuse the body. Hard fats, like butter and lard, are saturated and while they are bad for the body because they are associated with high cholesterol, they are good for cooking, especially for making foods that store longer, which is extremely important for food manufacturers. The fat chains in hard fats are straight and stiff. Liquid fats, or oils, are better for the body and some can actually lower levels of LDL, the bad cholesterol, in the body. Unfortunately, they go rancid faster than hard fats and aren’t good for cooking processed foods. The fat chains in liquid fats are loose and bendy.

To make trans fats, the chemicals bonds are changed, and the bendy fat chains are converted to hard and straight chains. While scientists don’t know for sure exactly what happens when the body processes trans fats, we do know that the body uses partially hydrogenated oils similarly to the way we use saturated fats, effectively cancelling out the previous healthy benefits of the oil. Even worse, trans fats mess with our cholesterol, raising our levels of LDL and lowering our levels of HDL, the good cholesterol.

In addition to the problem of the trans fats, margarine also contains a number of heavy metals, thanks to the process the oil undergoes to become hard. Some of the chemicals found in margarine include the toxic metals nickel and cadmium.

Reasons to Reconsider Butter

While butter contains saturated fat, our bodies are built to handle it better. Additionally, butter has nutrients, including the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. When eaten in moderation, butter can be a viable part of a healthy diet.

The final consideration… When most vegetable oils are heated, such as used for cooking at home, the molecular connections break down, releasing damaging free radicals into the body. Given that trans fats are dangerous enough to be outlawed in some states, butter may be a better option.

Previous Studies

Because chocolate has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties due to the significant number of flavonols, a type of flavonoid, within the food, scientists began to research the effects of this food on a participant’s overall health. While researchers have known that chocolate does provide health benefits to the heart such as reducing the amount of plaque that forms on the arteries, blood pressure and the levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol found in the body, now researchers are admitting that those studies did not look at concrete data in terms of heart attacks and strokes.

The New Study

The British Medical Journal published the results from a new study that analyzed seven other studies that covered over 100,000 people who had not been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. In five of the studies examined, eating large amounts of chocolate reduced an individual’s risk for developing cardiovascular disease.

Statistically speaking, the groups that ate the most amount of chocolate lowered their risk for heart disease by 37 percent and for stroke by 29 percent compared to groups of people who consumed the least amount of chocolate. While the specific amount of chocolate was not regulated, there seemed to be agreement that regular consumption was a significant factor. However, there was no significant decrease in terms of chocolate and its relation to complete heart failure.

The study was also not concerned with what form the chocolate was in, whether it came in candy bars, biscuits, drinks, desserts, cookies or other sweets. There was no differentiation between milk, light or dark chocolate. However, while consumption of chocolate has proven to have great benefits in terms of heart health, depending on the type of chocolate, some may have higher caloric content, which may lead to weight gain and therefore other serious health problems.

Not all types of chocolate are health, though, so try to stick with ones that contain high levels of flavonols such as dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate and cocoa powder that has been unprocessed; the fermentation and roasting processes are likely to reduce the anti-oxidant properties of the flavonols.

Conclusion

Although chocolate has seemingly proved to be beneficial for heart health, scientists and nutritionists believe that additional research must be done and further studies need to be conducted to fully understand whether it was actually chocolate or some other factor that they were unable to measure that caused the decrease risk for cardiovascular disease. Additionally, if researchers finally come to the conclusion that chocolate can lower the risk of heart disease and have the evidence and data to back up their beliefs, manufacturers of all chocolate products should begin to lower the amount of fat and calories that are in their products, mainly because more people will begin to consume them in higher quantities.

While researchers agree that chocolate is best eaten regularly and in moderation, other critics claim that there are better ways to lower your risk for heart disease than reaching for a box of chocolate right away.

By 2030, the World Health Organization believes that roughly 23.6 million people will lose the battle with cardiovascular disease. While chocolate may be the secret to decreasing the risk for developing the condition, other lifestyle changes and diet factors are important to preventing the disease as well.

Sources:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110829070555.htm

http://www.cbsnews.com/830^1-504763_162-20098679-10391704.html

Starches and Fibers

Starch is a long, complex carbohydrate molecule and is abundant in foods like root vegetables, rice and wheat. It’s best utilized by the body after it’s been cooked, which is why starchy foods are seldom eaten raw. Starch is the plant’s form of energy storage, much like fat in humans.

Dietary fiber comes from the parts of otherwise edible plants that humans can’t digest. Other animals like cows and deer can digest fiber in the form of cellulose. Some biologists believe that the human appendix evolved to digest cellulose, but today the appendix is now vestigial and has very little purpose.

Fiber

The task of the digestive system is to break carbohydrates into simple sugar molecules that are small enough to enter the bloodstream and provide energy for the body. These sugar molecules are mostly glucose. However, the human body can’t digest fiber and so it passes out of the body.

Fiber acts very much like a sponge. The two types of fiber are soluble fiber, and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber soaks up bile acids and cholesterol on its way through the intestines. Although fiber doesn’t absorb vitamins and minerals, it might help the body absorb them more efficiently by slowing down the digestive process. Insoluble fiber soaks up water as it passes through the intestines and makes elimination easier.

Some high fiber foods makes you feel fuller, so you they eat less. Fiber, increases pancreatic secretions and helps the beneficial flora in the intestine. It decreases blood lipid levels including LDL levels, the “bad” cholesterol. Fiber also makes bile more soluble.

Foods Rich in Fiber

A good amount of fiber for adults is about 25 to 35 grams a day. Fiber is in nearly all edible plants, yet most Americans don’t get nearly that much. You can get more fiber by choosing an unpeeled medium sized apple, which provides 3.5 grams of fiber. One half of a large, unpeeled pear, 1/4 cup of raisins, 1/2 cup of raspberries and 1 cup of strawberries, provide between 3 and 3.1 grams each. One cup of green beans provides 3.2 grams. Other good sources of fiber are broccoli, Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes and zucchini. Legumes are the best source of fiber. On- half cup of baked beans has 8.8 grams of fiber, while a 1/2 cup of kidney beans has 7.3 grams. Some breakfast cereals are also good in fiber. One third of a cup of All Bran has 8.5 grams.

Fiber Protects You from Disease

Getting enough fiber can ward off obesity, gout, kidney stones, and gallstones. Evidence suggests it can also protect against Type II diabetes, although that benefit may only come from the weight control characteristics of fiber. Fiber also protects against cardiac diseases like high blood pressure, varicose veins, deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolisms. Fiber benefits digestive health preventing constipation, appendicitis, diverticulitis, hemorrhoids, irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, as well as tooth decay, pernicious anemia, and skin diseases.

Sugars

The boy’s cells use simple sugars, or monosaccharides, for energy. When they don’t need this energy immediately, the liver and muscles store the sugars as glycogen, much like plants store starch for energy. Too much sugar stresses the body in those with blood sugar problems such as diabetes or hypoglycemia. Most healthy individuals should not worry about sugar intake except when consumed in extreme volumes. While simple sugars are not harmful to most individuals, complex carbohydrates offer many more health benefits.

How to Get the Right Carbohydrates

You can get the highest quality carbohydrates by basing your diet on fresh, whole fruits, vegetables and grains, which have more fiber than refined grains like white bread and white rice. Avoid refined foods because they are processed in ways that remove most of their fiber and nutrients. Eating foods in their natural state is an easy way to get more fiber, lose weight and gain energy.

Sources:

• http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/carbohydrates/
• http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/carbohydrates.html

Junk food, highly processed food and chemical-laced food-like substances slow our metabolism down, weaken our immune system and can cause a whole host of other physical and mental issues. Some foods however are healthier than they appear. Foods like coffee, chocolate, fatty-fish and even some fast food options can be part of a healthy diet.

Beverages

Switching your beverage of choice to tea is amazingly beneficial. Any type of tea made from Camellia sinensis, whether it is black, green, white or oolong, is good for you. The catechins, a type of antioxidant phytochemicals is the component of tea that makes it so great for you. The antioxidants found in a single cup of tea are equal to those found in one serving of a fruit or vegetable. The best, most well documented benefit of tea drinking is a reduced risk of heart disease. It is possible that consuming three 8-ounce glasses of tea each day can also help to prevent cancer and reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Coffee can also be a healthy beverage option. Caffeine not only helps you stay alert, but by stimulating the nervous system, it can help to lower the risk of diabetes, headaches and even cavities. Along with the caffeine, coffee contains the antioxidant known as chlorogenic acid that improves glucose metabolism. Magnesium is also a component of coffee that further reduces the risk of diabetes because of its effect on insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance.

Chocolate

We have heard for some time that dark chocolate is good for us, though only in small amounts. Only dark chocolate contains the antioxidants similar to those found in tea, fruits and vegetables. Aside from the benefits gained by consuming the antioxidants, dark chocolate improves blood flow and may help reduce the risk of diabetes by improving insulin sensitivity.

Fatty Foods

Fat has gained a bad reputation. Blamed for ever-increasing obesity rates, heart disease and a myriad of other health issues, we repeatedly hear warnings warned to avoid consuming fatty foods. Two fatty choices actually have health benefits when consumed in moderation. Avocados are high in monosaturated fat, which can lower overall cholesterol. They contain many other nutrients and antioxidants that bolster a healthy lifestyle. Another fatty health food is cold-water fatty fish. These fish, such as salmon, trout and tuna, contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Maintaining a proper balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids cannot only lower cholesterol and triglycerides, but also may help to regulate an individual’s moods.

Fast Foods

Not all fast food menus are created equal. Most menu items are typically high in fat, low in any real nutritional value and packed with staggering amounts of calories. Making informed choices in the drive-thru can lessen the negative impact on your health.

McDonald’s, the most popular fast-food chain, has several options for the health-conscience consumer. Many dollar menu items are lower in fat and lower in total calories.[1] These include the McChicken, a regular hamburger and a four-piece McNugget with Sweet and Sour Sauce. The best breakfast option at McDonald’s is the egg McMuffin.

Wendy’s[2] has a few good choices as well. The Jr. Hamburger and the Ultimate Chicken Grill are good choices from their menu. A large Wendy’s Chili not only has fewer calories than most sandwiches on the menu but also fills a significant portion of your daily requirements for folate, iron and fiber. For dessert, try a reduced-fat vanilla cone from McDonald’s or a Junior Frosty from Wendy’s.

Not in the mood for burgers? Kentucky Fried Chicken[3] has several options for a fast healthy lunch. For the main dish, select an Original Recipe drumstick or a Honey BBQ sandwich. Of the side dishes, the best option is coleslaw, which is not only low in calories but is high in vitamins, in particular vitamin C and high in fiber.

Taco Bell’s[4] Fresco Style menu, including the Crunchy Taco, Grilled Steak Soft Taco and Tostado are all low calorie choices with an additional benefit from the lycopene in the fresh salsa. Hungry for pizza? Choose Pizza Hut’s [5] Fit’n Delicious pizza for a vegetable-packed option with half the fattening cheese of a regular pizza. The Veggie Lover’s Hand-Tossed Pizza is a close second with plenty of vegetables and a filling crust.

Plenty of foods can bolster your health and enhance the benefits gained by pursuing a healthy lifestyle. Research and meal planning, even if it is for fast food, can help you realize your nutritional goals.

Butter is Just Better

First of all, most people prefer the taste of butter to margarine. Many shy away from this tasty condiment because it contains cholesterol and saturated fat. For years, news reports and industry advertisements have led us to believe that these substances lead to heart disease. However, studies show that eating cholesterol and saturated fat has little connection to heart disease.

Nutrient Deficiencies Lead to Heart Disease

The real link between diet and heart disease lies in several potential nutrient deficiencies and excess consumption of sugar. Many of the nutrients that promote heart health are found in animal fats such as red meat and butter. Sugar lowers the body’s resistance to microorganisms that cause inflammation in the heart and arteries.

Margarine Myths

The margarine industry leads you to believe that being a plant-based food, margarine must be better for you. However, this is the rare case in which vegetables can be bad for you. The plant oils that make margarine are liquids. They can only become solid to form a butter-like shape by a process called hydrogenation. This process creates trans fats, which are shown to carry a high risk of raising bad cholesterol in the blood, a sign of arterial damage and impending heart disease.

Trans Fats

Even when vegetable fats are not processed into solids, research shows they contain free radicals. These particles damage the artery walls. The body uses cholesterol to repair the damage, leading to hardening of the arteries and cholesterol build up. The excess levels of cholesterol in the blood are not the cause of heart disease. Instead, they are a sign of damaged arteries and the body’s attempts to repair the damage.

Trans fats have negative impacts on our cholesterol levels, however, as they raise LDL just as saturated fats do while lowering HDL. This is a sign of the body attempting to repair arterial damage by sending more cholesterol into the bloodstream. In addition, trans fats make blood platelets sticky, increasing the risk of stroke. There are no established safe levels of trans fats, but it is known that a single tablespoon of margarine in the stick form will add 3 grams of trans fat to the body.

Some Fats Are Good for You

Just as there is no known safe minimum of trans fats, there is no known maximum for other fats in the diet. One of the most famous studies demonstrating this point is called the Framingham study. Over 40 years, researchers studied 6,000 residents of Framingham, Massachusetts, comparing two groups at five-year intervals. The group on a high cholesterol diet fared better than those who ate fewer fatty foods. The study’s director noted that, “We found that the people who ate the most cholesterol, ate the most saturated fat, ate the most calories, weighed the least and were the most physically active.”¹

The Truth about Low Fat Diets

If you are now on a low fat diet targeting cholesterol and saturated fats, a change may be in order. Replacing margarine with butter and vegetable shortening with lard should have no effect on your risk of heart attack. However, it may help you feel less hungry and have more energy. A healthy low fat diet is low in vegetable fat sources. Fats from animal sources, nuts and fruits like avocado or olive are all healthy fat choices.

¹ http://sks.sirs.es.vrc.scoolaid.net/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SNY5270-0-8423&artno=0000018188&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=Atherosclerosis&title=Diet%20and%20Heart%20Disease%3A%20Not%20What%20You%20Think&res=Y&ren=N&gov=Y&lnk=N&ic=N

Diets and weight loss are big business these days.  We all want to look and feel good.  To accommodate the demand for rapid weight loss diet tips, the marketplace is filled with diet plans and information.  In this day and age, we have become accustomed to instant gratification but no matter how you slice it, losing weight just doesn’t happen without some real effort.   So the idea of a rapid weight loss diet must make us ask if they really work and are they healthy for dieters needing to lose weight.

There are plenty of rapid weight loss diet plans out there; all you need to do is look and decide which one is right for you.  These fad diets, as they are called, may help you lose weight in the short run, but they are not, however, a good idea for use as a long term diet plan.  Health experts agree that sustaining a rapid weight loss diet program for long periods of time can be detrimental to your overall health, not to mention the effects that sagging skin can have on your appearance.

Rapid weight loss diet plans involve denying your body something that it desires.  Sugar, fat and carbs come to mind.  This constant struggle often leads to yo-yo dieting.  You lose some weight, but sure enough, the weight comes back.  So you try again.  Much of the actual weight loss can be attributed to simply losing water weight which will come back.  This type of dieting is very unhealthy and can quickly lead to more complicated health issues and is certain to raise the frustration level you may already be experiencing.

For those who are serious minded about losing more than a few pounds, a rapid weight loss diet plan should be avoided.  Your first step needs to be a talk with your doctor.  Unhealthy diets and eating habits have a way of manifesting themselves years later, so maintaining your health throughout your diet is extremely important.

Rapid weight loss diets are aimed more toward a quick fix.  Don’t go hungry, feed yourself good food.  Healthy dieting is a lifestyle change.  What you eat, how much you eat and how often you eat are the three main aspects of your eating habits that you will need to rearrange for a healthy diet plan.   Dieting alone may not be enough to give you the optimal results that you are looking for.  A healthy weight loss plan should to include a certain amount of exercise to complete your lifestyle change.

Developing healthy eating patterns and a sensible exercise routine are necessary in achieving the best results of the diet plan that you choose. Studies have shown that losing weight slowly and continually is better for you and has a higher success rate at keeping the weight off.  Rapid weight loss diets may help you shed a few pounds but it is not the answer for those who need to lose more than just a little added weight.

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High cholesterol is a chronic problem for millions of individuals around the globe. It is a health hazard because it causes major health problems in the body as well as clogs the arteries. While people associate experiencing high cholesterol with an increased risk of heart attack, high cholesterol  may also contribute to other diseases and medical conditions.

There are many influential factors of having high cholesterol and experiencing the risks associated with it, and numerous factors come into play that impact your increased risk such as your diet, your weight, your activity level, your age, your gender, stress levels, and heredity.

One of the main influences of high cholesterol is a person’s diet. Individuals who consume high quantities of foods that contain vast amounts of saturated fats and cholesterol will most likely be the ones that are diagnosed with high blood pressure, heart disease, and other health problems.

A person’s age has an impact on risk for high cholesterol as well, because as a person ages their cholesterol levels naturally rise. This is emphasized when a person also consumes too much cholesterol and fat.Your weight also has an enormous impact on whether or not you have high cholesterol. Belly fat is a big indicator that a person is likely to have high cholesterol.

It is best to monitor and implement high cholesterol prevention before you get to the point of  diagnosis. This means exercising regularly, eating plenty of lean meats, vegetables, and fruits, and avoiding fried foods, foods high in saturated fats, and too many sweets.

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There are many ways to get started with a low cholesterol diet. An easy start would be to change your grocery store habits. When shopping, start paying attention to labels and focus on low-fat foods like lean meats. A terrific next step would be to focus on how to prepare the foods after you get them home. Of course, you should avoid frying your food. Fried foods add unneeded oil and grease, and in most cases, there’s a way to prepare them that is just as healthy, with all of the flavor.

Two healthy ways prepare and cook your food is to try is broiling and steaming. If you broil your meats and dishes, instead of choosing to fry them, you will gain the immediate benefit of a lower fat dish. For instance, if you choose steamed vegetables you will not only reduce the fat levels, but also enhance the flavor and gain the benefit of the vital nutrients that are not lost with frying. It’s like rediscovering what veggies are supposed to taste like.

When steaming vegetables consider selections that are fresh and raw or even organic. Although frozen vegetables are convenient, there’s a loss of both flavor and nutrients. And, to go with those veggies, purchase leaner meats like skinless chicken, fish, or well-trimmed beef. Picking a lower-fat cut of mear will help slash your fat intake and lower your overall cholesterol level.

When you are watching what you eat, your best bet is to count the calories and fat that you eat through every meal: breakfast, lunch and  dinner. Don’t forget that when dining out you should also make good choices. You might be surprised that most restaurants are also happy to make small changes that reduce the fat. Educate yourself on healthy foods, low fat diet plan foods, and monitor your sugar intake. This will improve your overall health and assist you in avoiding the diseases associated with obesity.

Some other ideas:

• Try adding a variety of nuts into your diet. Walnuts, pecans, almonds, and other nuts have been shown to reduce cholesterol. The polyunsaturated fatty acids in them are beneficial to your cholesterol numbers. In fact, the FDA recommends consuming them every day, as they reduce your risk for heart disease. Be sure to avoid sugar-coated nuts, and also watch your overall salt intake. Most nuts are available in unsalted versions.
• Eat more fish! Two to three servings of fish each week will give you the benefits of omega 3 fatty acids. These fatty acids reduce your cholesterol. If you aren’t a fan of fish, consider a fish oil supplement. Make sure the supplement contains omega-3.

The article, “Is Commercialism Controlling the Controversy Over Cho­lesterol?”, examined the motives and interrelationships of the American Heart Association (AHA) and the com­mercial interests whose profits center around food products incorporating polyunsaturated fats and oils. These manu­facturers actively promote the polyunsaturated-fat diet as a means of preventing heart attacks, as well as a treatment for existing heart disease.

According to the National Asso­ciation of Margarine Manufacturers, sales of margarine surpassed butter for the first time, with the average American consuming 8.6 pounds of margarine and 8.3 pounds of butter per year. The figures were 11.3 pounds of margarine consumed compared with only 4.8 pounds of butter per person per year. We have been misled not only by improperly designed laboratory experiments,

But also by special interest groups promoting their products under the guise of innocuous sounding pseudo-scientific committees. In their book, The Cholesterol Controversy, Dr. and Mrs. Pinckney cite the following examples: the American Health Foundation appealed to Congress to make exten­sive changes in the “average American Diet” including greater reliance on polyunsaturated fats a matter of “national policy,” in order to reduce coronary heart disease. The chairman of the foundation, David J. Ma-honey, is president of Norton Simon, Inc., maker of poly-unsaturated Wesson Oil. The foundation made grateful acknowledgment in developing its “position paper” to the director of research of CPC Interna­tional, maker of polyunsaturated Mazola Oil.

She is a member of the foundation’s Committee on Food and Nu­trition, as are others from CPC, Norton Simon and other affected interests, along with, it should be emphasized, unaffiliated scientists.

Dr. George V. Mann of Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine told the fourth annual Food Writers’ Confer­ence, “The evidence that our high-fat diet causes coronary heart disease is trivial despite the whoop­ing of the American Heart Association. They have com­mitted the nutritional disaster of the century by confusing association with causation, to the endless delight and profit of food companies that employ cholesterol-scare tactics in their advertising.”

To pursue the deception fostered by the special interest group and its involvement in the AHA and to thoroughly investigate the cholesterol myth, read The Cholesterol Controversy. Let the Pinckneys set you straight about the facts. Read how margarine manufacturers get away with making ridiculous drug claims for their product. If marga­rine did work as claimed, you would have to eat about three quarters of a pound of 100 percent polyunsaturated margarine to protect against an eight-ounce steak if steak were bad for you. That’s a lot to spread on your toast. Cooking with margarine cannot help either; it loses most of its alleged polyunsaturated activity at frying tempera­tures. Yet we are told by frequent ads that margarine is good for your heart and lowers blood cholesterol.

In the October issue of Media and Consumer, Dr. and Mrs. Pinckney discuss the important facts left out of the most flagrant magazine and newspaper ad of this nature, an ad which at this writing is still appearing: “New Prom­ise Margarine can help lower cholesterol.” The drug claim: “When hundreds of people used Promise Margarine instead of butter in clinical tests, the average cholesterol level for the group went down. In just three weeks.” Some of the facts unrevealed in the ad but uncovered by the Pinckneys include:

1. Those selected for study had very high blood-cholesterol levels, thus the greatest probability of improve­ ment.
2. Others were rejected because of low probability of achieving a reduction.
3. Of three experimental groups, one group that ate the margarine had a rise in blood cholesterol.
4. Another group that ate butter had a reduction in blood cholesterol.
5. The group that did get lower blood-cholesterol levels while using the margarine was also reducing its calorie intake by 12 percent. This alone would explain the choles­terol reduction. Members of the group also admitted they voluntarily exercised more and smoked less.

I will add to the Pinckneys’ comments

. The magazine and newspaper advertisements show a bar graph which at first looks like it indicates that people eating butter have blood-cholesterol levels twice as high as those eating Promise. At closer inspection one can see that the bar graph does not start at zero, but at 190 mg%, and the values given are butter diet, 218 mg%; margarine diet, 208 mg%. But people normally show variances of 10 to 20 percent; ‘thus the values are in the normal variance range and aren’t very significant, even if hundreds of peo­ple were used as subjects.

Other questionable procedures used are not disclosed in the ads, but the above five points should raise your eye­brows and those of the magazine editors that allowed this fraud to be perpetuated. But then again, margarine sales are profitable.

The Promise ad is not an isolated case. What about “Saffola. The change will do your heart good” or “Should an 8 year old worry about cholesterol?” The ad answers its own question by stating that parents should worry, but they can relieve their worry by feeding the child Saffola margarine. The ad claims this “reduces one important risk of coronary disease.”

“A vital message from the makers of Mazola margarine” provides a further example. The headline of its magazine advertisement implies a relationship to disease and the final paragraph states: “After all, we can’t give you the will­power to lose weight, cut down smoking or take up exercise. But we can give you a good tasting margarine that can be a useful part of your overall heart attack prevention pro­gram.” Then there is the Mazola ad showing a photo of a pre teenager with the headline, “Is there a heart attack in his future?”

If you aren’t convinced of the “drug-like” nature of that ad, how about the margarine ad with the picture of a heart composed of margarine wrappers? This ad advises us to eat the margarine “for our heart’s benefit.” If margarine helped prevent heart attacks, our heart-attack rate would only be one-third its present level, as two-thirds of all families regularly use margarine these days.