In the light of the recent post by Mary and Sally regarding
saturated and monounsaturated fat and heart disease, I wonder
if Mary and Sally or someone else would care to comment on the
Harvard study that was published in the New England Journal of
Medicine last November (11/20/97) (sorry, I don't have the citation;
I only have a short description of the study from Andrew Wiel's
Feb 1998 newsletter).

According to the summary, the study involved 80,000 women over a
14-year period. It found a 17% greater risk of heart disease from
saturated fat in comparison to the same caloric intake from carbohydrates
(not clear to me why results reported in this way), and a 19% lower
risk associated with monounsaturated fat.
(There was a 93% higher risk associated with TFAs! --
and a 38% lower risk associated with TFA-free polyunsaturated fat).
As usual, it's not clear to what extent other factors that might account
for development of "heart disease" were accounted for in the study.


Steve Meyers