Day 279 - 12 Jul 96 - Page 21
1 significantly lower risks of CHD, and of all
2 causes mortality as well...... The importance of
3 a low-dietary cholesterol intake for prevention
4 of CHD merits emphasis." (2)
5
6 There is no reasonable doubt that dietary cholesterol
7 increases the risk of heart disease and that foods of the
8 type sold at McDonald's contain sufficient cholesterol to
9 present a genuine risk.
10
11 Dietary Fat.
12
13 Animal fats are particularly rich in saturated fatty
14 acids (SFA). Approximately fifty per cent of beef fat is
15 saturated. Bowes and Church's Food Values of Portions
16 Commonly Used (1989) reports that fat contributes 55 per
17 cent of the calories in a Big Mac, 45 per cent of the
18 calories of a cheeseburger, 47 per cent of the calories of
19 McDonald's french fries, and 39 per cent of the calories in
20 a hamburger.
21
22 Saturated fat tend to increase serum cholesterol
23 levels through its effect on the liver. The relationship
24 between saturated fat intake and tote cholesterol (total-C)
25 levels was summarised in an article drafted by scientists
26 with the National Cholesterol Education Program, published
27 in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association in
28 1988:
29
30 "... for every 1 per cent increase in the
31 SFA intake (on a calorific basis), plasma
32 total-C increases approximately 2.7mg/dL."
33
34 This means that for an average person with a
35 cholesterol level of roughly 200 mg/dL, every one per cent
36 increases in saturated fat intake would then be associated
37 with more than a 1 per cent rise in plasma cholesterol
38 which, as noted above, is associated with at least a 2 per
39 cent increased risk of heart disease. This effect of each
40 percentage point increase in dietary fat must be added to
41 the effect of the dietary cholesterol which is often part
42 of fatty foods. Together, the effect on risk is
43 substantial.
44
45 To put these figures into perspective, the average fat
46 intake in the US is approximately 37 per cent of calories.
47 As noted by Professor D. J. Naismith, the fat content of a
48 typical McDonald's meal is substantially higher than that
49 figure, at 43 per cent. A typical McDonald's meal, of
50 course, contains both cholesterol and fat.
51
52 The appropriate yardstick by which to judge foods of
53 the type sold at McDonald's and their contribution to
54 health risks is not the average American diet, but the
55 dietary guidelines recommended by health authorities. The
56 US government and most major private health organisations
57 have for many years recommended limiting dietary fat intake
58 to less than 30 per cent of calories.
59
60 If anything, this figure is overly generous.
