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.

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