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Show Doctor in the Kitchen by Laurence M. Hursh, M.D. Consultant, National Dairy Council LET'S TALK ABOUT FATS PART 2 Last week we talked about fats in the diet but there's much more to say. So here's a second chapter on that subject: From advertising, and discussions discus-sions of possible relationships between diet and heart disease, fats have gained a certain notoriety. noto-riety. Particularly, the public now hears a great deal about saturated fats and unsaturated fats. Actually, Actual-ly, it isn't enough, nutritionally, to distinguish between saturated and unsaturated fats because there are varying degrees of saturation sat-uration in all fats. Fats which are solid at room temperature are mostly saturated fatty acids but still they contain some unsaturated fatty acids as well. The reverse is true of liquid oils although they are known and advertised mainly for their content con-tent of unsaturated fatty acids. Generally speaking, saturated fats come from foods of animal origin; unsaturated fats are vegetable fats and oils, though coconut oil, notably, is an exception and is highly saturated. More Hydrogen Atoms However, the real difference between saturated and unsaturated unsaturat-ed fatty acids is that saturated fats contain more hydrogen atoms than unsaturated. When liquid oils are used to make a spread which is solid at room temperature,, tempera-ture,, they have to be "hardened" through hydrogenation. This is a process whereby the saturation of the fatty acids is increased. This makes relatively unsaturated fats more like saturated fats. Chemists have not yet found out all that happens to a fat or oil during such processing. How, the body utilizes some of the fatty products formed during hydrogenation hydro-genation is not known. The general public and particularly particu-larly weight watchers have sometimes some-times assumed, because of hearsay and inaccurate advertising claims, that salad oils may be better for them than, say, butter. This is an odd conclusion since liquid oils are 100 percent fat but butter is only 82 percent fat, plus salt and water. Salad or cooking oils supply sup-ply roughly nine calories per gram, 42 per teaspoon. Butter is seven calories per gram, or only about 33 per teaspoon. Authorities Disagree With respect to the idea that fats may have something to do with heart disease, eminent nutrition nutri-tion authorities still disagree vehemently ve-hemently on whether there is a relationship or not. To find out, a vast Federally-sponsored $50 millioD project has been proposed to study perhaps 100,000 men. If it will take that many subjects and about five years' time to determine de-termine whether controlling blood cholesterol will in fact reduce heart disease, we are, in my opinion, opin-ion, a long way from conclusive answers. One point, however, on which all authorities agree is the belief that all Americans probably eat too many calories from all sources. Thus, they advise cutting down your fat consumption somewhat. Authorities also agree that heart disease is not a single cause ailment ail-ment that many factors, even if diet is one of them, help to cause heart disease. These include smoking, lack of exercise, heredity, heredi-ty, high blood pressure, and stress. Not Enough Known Yet While answers are awaited, two of the most eminent judges of nutrition matters, the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council and the American Ameri-can Medical Association Council on Foods and Nutrition, agree that not enough is yet known to warrant drastic changes in the American diet for the general public, |