<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

I've waited to post this because it was "rejected" by the Celaic list,
and I think it is very important information- even for those w/ Sprue
who are not diabetic- because the higher carb values of GF grains almost
always cause substantial weight gain, and often a significant rise in
cholesterol. Heart health is a universal concern, and even moreso for
diabetics. So here it is.....

This article appeared on the front page of the Eugene Regiter Guard
newspaper 11/20/97
exerpts:

Latest Diet Bogeyman: hardened vegetable oils

Boston AP- Ordinary stick margerine, as well as anything baked and fried
with shortening and other kinds of hardened vegetable oils, appear to be
the worst foods of all for the heart.

A large study offers the strongest evidence yet that something called
trans fat, which is a primary ingredient of standard stick margerine and
shortening, is an especially unhealthy part of the diet.
The mounting mass of scientific data contradicts a generation of advice
that switching from butter to stick margerine is a healthy thing to do.
On the contrary, the new study suggests that ordinary stick margerine,
though probably not the newer low-fat spreads, is even worse for the
heart than butter. But both should be avoided.

The worst type of fat appears to be trans fat-said Dr. Walter Willett of
the Harvard School of Public Health. That's still unknown to most
consumers. <snip>

Trans fat  is made through a process called hydrogenation, in which
vegetable oil is altered so it hardens & resists spoiling. Usually these
foods list "partially  hydrogenated" oil on the label.

Regular stick margerine is about 17% trans fat.

The biggest sources in the diet are cookies, crackers, commercial baked
goods, french fried & deep fried food.

Willett's research was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Based on a study if 80,082 female nurses who were outwardly healthy when
they filled out dietary questionnaires in 1980. Over the next 14 years
939 had heart attacks or died from heart disease.

The researchers calculated that people could reduce their risk of heart
disease by 53% if they replaced 2% of the calories they take in from
trans fat.

The study also challenges the wisdom that the less total fat people eat,
the better off they are. Instead, people might be better off forgoing
some carbohydrates and instead substituting monosaturated or
polyunsaturated fats. This could mean putting olive oil on a salad, but
eating it without bread to save the carb calories.

Trans fat appears to be especially harmful because it
raises the BAD LDL, while it lowers the GOOD HDL cholesterols.

Saturated fat is also dangerous- but not so much as trans fats because
it raises both HDL & LDL.

Health experts emphasize that the new data do not mean that foods high
in saturated fat are suddenly a healthy alternative.

Fran