
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, May 16, 1994                   TAG: 9405160093
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO NOTE: BELOW 
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

REPORT BLAMES DEATHS ON `SAFE' FAT OTHER SCIENTISTS QUESTION FINDINGS

The manufactured fats that have replaced cholesterol-raising saturated fats in margarines, snacks and many fast foods could be causing 30,000 deaths a year from heart disease, Harvard researchers say.

The "trans fatty acids" in partially hydrogenated oils are just as risky or more so than the heavy natural fats found in butter, beef tallow and tropical oils, according to the editorial in today's issue of the American Journal of Public Health written by Dr. Walter C. Willett, professor of nutrition and epidemiology, and medical school professor Dr. Alberto Ascherio.

The scientists based their allegations on an analysis of studies they have made of 90,000 nurses and research from other sources.

Foods that have been prepared with partially hydrogenated fats - including cookies, chips, margarines and other prepared foods plus many of the fried foods served by the fast-food industry - should have special warning labels just as cigarettes and alcoholic beverages do, Willett and Ascherio wrote.

The doctors joined a growing movement against trans fatty acids spearheaded by the Center For Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based consumer group that has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to require that TFAs be lumped with saturated fats on new nutrition labels.

Like the saturated fats, trans fatty acids raise levels of low-density lipoproteins - often called bad cholesterol, Willett said. But the trans fatty acids also lower the levels of high-density lipoproteins - good cholesterol - to deliver a kind of double whammy and give "a greater adverse impact than saturated fats," he wrote.

Some researchers are less concerned than Willett and Ascherio about trans fatty acids. It is not known whether they impart the same risk as saturated fats, said Dr. Margo Dempke, professor of medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center for Human Nutrition.

Partially hydrogenated fats with trans fatty acids, which have been around since the turn of the century, are made by artificially pumping up unsaturated fat molecules with extra hydrogen atoms.

by CNB