butter, lard, beef, and eggs. It was on this television show that cardiologist Dr. Dudley White, who served as one of the panelists, made his comments objecting to the lipid hypothesis and the Prudent Diet.
“See here,” he remarked, “I began my practice as a cardiologist in 1921 and I never saw an MI patient until 1928. Back in the MI-free days before 1920, the fats were butter and lard and I think that we would all benefit from the kind of diet that we had at a time when no one had ever heard the words ‘corn oil.’”
Despite these nationally televised comments, and in spite of the numerous contradictory studies already published in the scientific literature, the lipid hypothesis had already gained enough momentum to keep it rolling. (One such contradictory study was the Anti-Coronary Club project; see sidebar, .) Both the food processing industry and the pharmaceutical industry could see the benefits of making patients out of healthy people, simply by making them afraid of cholesterol.
The following year, the food industry initiated advertising campaigns touting the health benefits of products low in fat or made with vegetable oils. A typical ad read: “Wheaties may help you live longer.” Wesson recommended its cooking oil to consumers “for your heart’s sake,” while an ad in the Journal of the American Medical Association described Wesson Oil as a “cholesterol depressant.” Mazola advertisements assured the public that “science finds corn oil important to your health.” Medical journal ads recommended Fleishmann’s unsalted margarine for patients with high blood pressure. Prominent physicians endorsed the use of vegetable oils as substitutes for saturated fat. Such claims continued well into the 1980s, after which they were quietly dropped when studies indicated that polyunsaturated oils contributed to cancer.
The American Medical Association at first opposed the commercialization of the lipid hypothesis, warning that “the anti-fat, anti-cholesterol fad is not just foolish and futile…it also carries some risk.” The AHA, however, was committed to supporting the lipid hypothesis. In 1961, the AHA published its first dietary guidelines aimed at the public. The authors, Irving Page, Ancel Keys, Jeremiah Stamler, and Frederick Stare, called for the substitution of polyunsaturates for saturated fat, even though Keys, Stare, and Page had all previously noted in published papers that the increase in CHD was paralleled by increasing consumption of vegetable oils. In fact, in a 1956 paper, Keys had suggested that the increasing use of hydrogenated vegetable oils might be the underlying cause of the CHD epidemic.
These ongoing concerns about hydrogenated vegetable oils prompted the inclusion in a 1968 statement by the AHA on diet and heart disease of a carefully worded disavowal, making clear that the types of fats thought to lower cholesterol were not the same ones present in hydrogenated fats. The AHA statement implied that proponents of the lipid hypothesis could not claim that hydrogenated fats were heart healthy.
However, that disclaimer was never released. Among the likely reasons were the shortening industry’s strong objections to the disclaimer and a letter from Fred Mattson, a researcher at Procter & Gamble, to Campbell Moses, medical director of the AHA, urging against its distribution, even though 150,000 copies had already been printed. The letter that Mattson wrote to Dr. Moses is part of the Congressional Record, for it was submitted as testimony during hearings held in 1977 by the McGovern Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs. The final recommendations to the public that the AHA did publish omitted the warning that partially hydrogenated (that is, trans) fats did not protect against heart disease.
Other organizations soon fell in behind the AHA in pushing vegetable oils instead of animal fats. By the early 1970s, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the American Medical
“See here,” he remarked, “I began my practice as a cardiologist in 1921 and I never saw an MI patient until 1928. Back in the MI-free days before 1920, the fats were butter and lard and I think that we would all benefit from the kind of diet that we had at a time when no one had ever heard the words ‘corn oil.’”
Despite these nationally televised comments, and in spite of the numerous contradictory studies already published in the scientific literature, the lipid hypothesis had already gained enough momentum to keep it rolling. (One such contradictory study was the Anti-Coronary Club project; see sidebar, .) Both the food processing industry and the pharmaceutical industry could see the benefits of making patients out of healthy people, simply by making them afraid of cholesterol.
The following year, the food industry initiated advertising campaigns touting the health benefits of products low in fat or made with vegetable oils. A typical ad read: “Wheaties may help you live longer.” Wesson recommended its cooking oil to consumers “for your heart’s sake,” while an ad in the Journal of the American Medical Association described Wesson Oil as a “cholesterol depressant.” Mazola advertisements assured the public that “science finds corn oil important to your health.” Medical journal ads recommended Fleishmann’s unsalted margarine for patients with high blood pressure. Prominent physicians endorsed the use of vegetable oils as substitutes for saturated fat. Such claims continued well into the 1980s, after which they were quietly dropped when studies indicated that polyunsaturated oils contributed to cancer.
The American Medical Association at first opposed the commercialization of the lipid hypothesis, warning that “the anti-fat, anti-cholesterol fad is not just foolish and futile…it also carries some risk.” The AHA, however, was committed to supporting the lipid hypothesis. In 1961, the AHA published its first dietary guidelines aimed at the public. The authors, Irving Page, Ancel Keys, Jeremiah Stamler, and Frederick Stare, called for the substitution of polyunsaturates for saturated fat, even though Keys, Stare, and Page had all previously noted in published papers that the increase in CHD was paralleled by increasing consumption of vegetable oils. In fact, in a 1956 paper, Keys had suggested that the increasing use of hydrogenated vegetable oils might be the underlying cause of the CHD epidemic.
These ongoing concerns about hydrogenated vegetable oils prompted the inclusion in a 1968 statement by the AHA on diet and heart disease of a carefully worded disavowal, making clear that the types of fats thought to lower cholesterol were not the same ones present in hydrogenated fats. The AHA statement implied that proponents of the lipid hypothesis could not claim that hydrogenated fats were heart healthy.
However, that disclaimer was never released. Among the likely reasons were the shortening industry’s strong objections to the disclaimer and a letter from Fred Mattson, a researcher at Procter & Gamble, to Campbell Moses, medical director of the AHA, urging against its distribution, even though 150,000 copies had already been printed. The letter that Mattson wrote to Dr. Moses is part of the Congressional Record, for it was submitted as testimony during hearings held in 1977 by the McGovern Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs. The final recommendations to the public that the AHA did publish omitted the warning that partially hydrogenated (that is, trans) fats did not protect against heart disease.
Other organizations soon fell in behind the AHA in pushing vegetable oils instead of animal fats. By the early 1970s, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the American Medical
Similar Books
