Heart flutters at health farms

Press, 9 July 1980, Page 14

Heart flutters at health farms

By

WILLIAM SCOBIE

“Observed,” London

Cholesterol wars, triggered by r. hew report on the role of diet in heart disease, are raging in California, where health foods, “fat farms” and diet fads have created a multi-mi’-lion dollar industry. ■ “It’s a disgraceful document that turns the clock back 20 . years,” says America’s favourite diet guru, Dr Nathan Pritikin, head of California’s famous “Longevity Centre.” But a University of California nutritionist has called the report, prepared by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences, “a useful warning against fad diets that reminds us we don’t yet have all the answers on the cholester-ol-coronary connection.” Coming from the agency that sets United States dietary standards, the report’s challenge to two decades of conventional cholesterol wisdom has caused a national uproar. Have millions of Ameri-

cans skimped on eggs, steaks, shrimp, butter and othe delightful, cholester-ol-loaded foods to nd purpose? Quite probably, declared the 15-member panel, whosd research • was directed at establishing the relationship between cholesterol intake and cholesterol concentration in the body. So there’s no heed, says the board, for the average healthy American to go on a lowC diet. That pronouncement could change American eating habits, weaken food-labelling standards and put a ser'mtg dent in the diet industry’s annual take. The food industrv is, of course delighted. Some have even charged that food industry lobbyists had a hand in the report: “It’s no secret tbat several people on that NAS board are paid spokesmen for the industry,” says Dr Pritikin. In fact, two members of the panel have ackriowL edged that they . get 10 per cent of their income as consultants to such bodies as the American Egg Board and California Dairy’ Council. Two others have received research grants from the food industry. Argument over cholesterol has raged since the turn of. the century, when Russitin expenihents first showed that animals fed a

fatty, high-C diet developed the waxy, arteryclogging deposits that cause heart. attacks, But some scientists dismiss eivdence that the same occurs in humans as circumstantial.

In countries with high-C habits such as the United States and Finland, heart disease is the number one killer. In countries where low-fat, low-C diet prevails, coronary incidence is far lower. Nevertheless, says NAS board member, Dr Roslyn Alfin-Slater, a University of California biochemist, her own studies, backed by other recent research, show that absence of dietary cholesterol does not reduce blood cholesterol levels in the elderly. Cholesterol, which is produced by the liver, increases in the blood with age “and we don’t yet know why.” Critics of the report are legion. The American Heart Association, which has been urging a low-C

diet since 1961, insists that there is a link between dietary cholesterol and heart disease. Other scientists complain that the board overlooked a mass of epidemiological data on world populations and thousands of animal studies.

.“They’ve ignored so much scientific evidence it would be laughable if they weren’t confusing the American public.” says Dr Pritikin, who has no high opinion of the American Heart Association either. “The AHA's low-fat, low-cholesterol diet has been a failure for 19 years because the levels are ridiculous —- they let you eat the equivalent of Jib steak and Jib of-butter daily.”

There is none of that at Pritikin’s Los Angeles “Longevity Centre,” where the faithful pay around $4OOO a head for a 26-day “Third World” regime of abstinence. No fats of any kind, no butter, cheese, salt, booze. . . nearly 5000 have passed through this costly . Loufdes of the health food industry, arid most swear by it.. ■

The Pritikin centre’s results with a diet that all but eliminates cholesterol intake have impressed many scientific bodies. Imitators have sprung up, among them the University of California’s Centre for. Health Enhancement Education arid Research (CHEER), which runs an

almost identical 26-day programme and charges similar fees. If cholesterol is let off the hook, such establishments could be in trouble. Meanwhile, hope for a resolution of. the cholesterol conflict lies in a massive study known as “MR FIT” (for Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial). It involves 12,000 men considered prime coronory risks, and it is under way at a cost of $2OO million at a dozen medical centres around the United States. Results will not be known for another two years. — Copyright, London Observer Service.