Hi, Lynnet.  You wrote:
>
> I render lard slowly from pork fat scraps, making sure it does not get
> too hot, and it turns out white and very mild tasting.  I keep a jar by
> the stove for cooking...


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 receive a newspaper from New Mexico and have found myself looking at the
death notices and comparing the age at which people there die with the age
here in Michigan.  I know there are many contributing factors to the earlier
death of people in NM, but diet must also come into play somehow.  Would the
beans, corn, grains alone account for the difference?

Kath