Day 279 - 12 Jul 96 - Page 20
1 individuals; about 45 per cent of the 1,500,000 Americans
2 who have heart attacks each year are under age 65. (1)
3
4 The effects of dietary cholesterol and dietary fat can
5 be separated for purposes of discussion, although many
6 McDonald's products contain substantial amounts of both.
7
8 Dietary Cholesterol.
9
10 According to Bowes and Church's Food Values of
11 Portions Commonly Used (1989) by JAT Pennington, a Big Mac
12 contains 83 mg of cholesterol, a cheeseburger contains 41
13 mg of cholesterol, and a hamburger holds 29 mg of
14 cholesterol.
15
16 The mathematical relationship between dietary
17 cholesterol and heart disease was summarised in an American
18 Medical Association Journal, called the Archives of
19 Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, in October, 1988, by
20 Jeremiah Stamler, MD, of North-western University Medical
21 School in Chicago, Illinois, and Richard Shekelle, PhD, of
22 the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston,
23 Texas:
24
25 "In humans, ingestion of dietary cholesterol raises
26 serum cholesterol, largely through its effect on
27 low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol. Over the
28 range of intake in usual American diets, this
29 effect is substantial, eg with 30 mg of
30 cholesterol intake per 1000 kcal rather than
31 100, serum cholesterol is on average about 6 per
32 cent to 7 per cent higher, equivalent to a 12
33 per cent to 14 per cent greater risk of coronary
34 heart disease." (2)
35
36 The Lipid Research Clinics Trial, one of the
37 best-known multi-centre research studies on heart disease,
38 showed that on average every one per cent increase in the
39 serum cholesterol level is associated with an increase in
40 the risk of a heart attack of two per cent or more. (3)
41 The relationships between the dietary cholesterol and
42 cholesterol levels, and between cholesterol levels and
43 heart disease risk, as I have described them here, are
44 commonly accepted by researchers and clinicians.
45
46 Dietary cholesterol also contributes to heart disease
47 apart from its effect on serum cholesterol levels, as the
48 article by Stamler and Shekelle describes:
49
50 "In addition, since 1981, four prospective
51 within-population studies have shown that
52 dietary cholesterol intake of individuals is
53 significantly related to their long-term CHD
54 risk, independent of and in addition to serum
55 cholesterol, blood pressure, and cigarette use.
56 On average, a 200 mg/1000 kcal higher intake of
57 cholesterol at baseline was associated with a 30
58 per cent higher CHD rate (95 per cent confidence
59 interval, 1.1 to 1.5). Conversely, lower
60 intakes of cholesterol were associated with
