KATHRYN P ROSENTHAL wrote:

> I'm going back to southern New Mexico shortly and will be in an area where
> there is very high bean, grain, corn consumption...people there also eat a
> LOT of lard.  I've always assumed that the lard had something to do with the
> very early heart problems many of the people there suffer from; is it not
> the lard but, rather, the combination of lard with beans, etc. that is
> contributing to the problem????

I think it is the very high use of wheat flour and corn, and also the extremely
high incidence of diabetes in the population with the switch from native to
modern foods.  There is also a lot of poverty in the area, causing people to
eat high-carb diets and fill up on cheap sweets.  Beans are benign in
comparison.  If you don't use lard to fry breads and breaded stuff or beans,
or in baking, you aren't going to be using much.  I don't think it's a bad
fat, when carefully rendered, and used in small quantities.

BTW,
Native Seeds/SEARCH is a wonderful nonprofit org in the area working
on restoring the native foods, preserving the seeds, and reducing the
incidence of diabetes.  And they have the best chile powder I have ever
tasted.  URL: http://www.azstarnet.com/~nss

Lynnet