There is a killer in our grocery stores and restaurants that
each year kills more than 20 times as many people as the War in
Iraq and you probably don't know what it is, even when the
research comes from the leading Medical Journal and foremost
Medical School. The message has not been communicated
because most people do not know what "trans fats" are. 

   The following information could prevent between 72,000 and
228,000 heart attacks and strokes each year. It is from the
Harvard Medical School, New England Journal of Medicine,
and from four studies including the Nurses' Health Study of more
than 120,000 nurses that began in 1976. It reveals a shocking
change by modern medicine regarding heart disease and fats in
the diet. It is, in fact, almost opposite from what we have been
told for 50 years to prevent heart disease.

      You can stake your life on this research because of the large
number of people followed for 30 years. It was not done to sell a
drug and the conclusions are not going to change next month.
There was no ulterior motive and no vested interests.

      What the research revealed is: "Just 5 grams of trans fatty
acids (from margarine, vegetable shortening, hydrogenated
or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil) per day increases the
risk of heart disease by 25%." (Two servings of margarine weigh
more than 5 grams.)

      The Harvard School of Public Health reports: "Trans fats are
even worse for cholesterol levels than saturated fats because they
raise bad LDL and lower good HDL. While you should limit your
intake of saturated fats, it is important to completely eliminate
trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils from your diet….Ounce
for ounce, trans fats are far worse than saturated fats when it
comesto heart disease."

      So no one will misunderstand the above statement, I will
restate it: Margarine, vegetable shortening, hydrogenated peanut
butter, hydrogen-nated and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils are
far worse than butter, cheese, eggs, lard, and saturated fat from
meat when it comes to heart disease.

      Such trans fats are found in nearly all bread and baked goods,
cookies, crackers, chips, peanut butter, and even ice cream. They
are also used in the food of all restaurants.

     The New England Journal of Medicine reports: "On a per-calorie
basis, trans fats appear to increase coronary heart disease risk more
than any other micro-nutrient, conferring a substantially increased
risk at levels aslow as 1% to 3% of total energy intake. In a meta-
analysis of four prospective cohort studies of nearly 140,000
participants, a 2% increase in energy intake from trans fats was
linked to a 23% increase in the incidence of coronary heart disease.

   On the basis of the reported relationship between trans fat intake
and coronary heart disease 10% to 19% of coronary heart disease
events in the U.S. could be averted by reducing the intake of trans
fats. Given the 1.2 million annual myocardial infarctions and deaths
from coronary heart disease in the U.S., near-elimination of trans fats
might avert between 72,000 (6%) and 228,000 (19%) of coronary
heart disease events each year."

    Even the current legislation requiring the listing of trans fats on all
products may not help. It will deceive most people. According to the
FDA, a product claiming to have "0 trans fat" can actually contain up
to a half gram per serving. (Canada set a different standard of zero as
under 0.2 grams.) So you must read the ingredient list for "partially
hydrogenated vegetable oil" and look for another product.

    Food and peanut butter companies are using the above ruling to
get away with the same thing as always that has killed so many
thousands.  They now advertise "0 trans fats per serving, as always."
Per serving allows up to a half gram of trans fats.

    Almost all food made with hydrogenated vegetable oil has always
had less than a half gram per serving. Nothing has changed. The
"as always" peanut butter, plus eating margarine and foods made
with hydrogenated oils, is what causes more than 72,000 heart attacks
and strokes each year.

     A report from the Institute of Medicine has concluded "there is
no safe level of trans fats in the diet." To prevent heart disease, we
should reduce saturated fat and completely eliminate all transfats
from the diet!             

     The near elimination of trans fats alone could prevent from 72,000
to 228,000 coronary heart disease events each year and save more
than 20 times as many lives as the number of U.S. soldiers killed in
war in Iraq.
   
    To be even more explicit, we have been told for fifty years that to
prevent heart disease, we sould eat margarine instead of butter and
use vegetable shortening instead of saturated animal fats. Now we
know, from one of the largest medical studies ever done, that such
advice was profoundly and totally wrong.   And our grocery stores
are still full of margarine, shortening, hydrogenated peanut butter,
and foods made with trans fats.

      "We live in a world where it is easier to break an atom
than a preconceived idea" - - Einstein

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