> All I wanted to know was about the Nurses' Health Study, and Hu &
> Willett, because I don't have any (indexed) books on cholesterol books
> handy.
> 
> Am I forbidden from asking that?
> 
> Ashley

If you do a little digging into anti-fat and anti-saturated-fat claims and
read the full studies instead of just the titles or abstracts, you find most
of these claims are groundless. 

Unilever's website that you referenced states: "More recently, the Nurses'
Health Study (a prospective study involving 80,082 women) reported that each
5% increase in saturated fat intake was associated with a 17% increase in
CHD risk...."

This initial analysis of 14 years of data did find a higher risk for heart
disease associated with saturated fat intake versus carbohydrates. This is
the analysis that tends to get quoted by the diet dictocrats and
multinational food and agribusiness corporations like Unilever...

Dietary Fat Intake and the Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in Women (in
Nurses' Health Study data)
Frank B. Hu, M.D., Meir J. Stampfer, M.D., JoAnn E. Manson, M.D., Eric Rimm,
Sc.D., Graham A. Colditz, M.D., Bernard A. Rosner, Ph.D., Charles H.
Hennekens, M.D., and Walter C. Willett, M.D.
NEJM
20 Nov 1997
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/337/21/1491

The results from "analyzing repeated measures of dietary data" over 14 years
of follow-up were: "Each increase of 5 percent of energy intake from
saturated fat, as compared with equivalent energy intake from carbohydrates,
was associated with a 17 percent increase in the risk of coronary disease
...."

HOWEVER, a later analysis of 20 years of data did not find any correlation
between saturated fat intake and heart disease. This one is newer than the
version that Unilever called recent...

Dietary Fat Intake and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in Women: 20 Years of
Follow-up of the Nurses' Health Study
Kyungwon Oh1, Frank B. Hu1,2,3, JoAnn E. Manson2,3,4, Meir J. Stampfer1,2,3
and Walter C. Willett
American Journal of Epidemiology 2005
http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/161/7/672

"Intakes of saturated fat and monounsaturated fat were not statistically
significant predictors of CHD when adjusted for nondietary and dietary risk
factors. However, the ratio of polyunsaturated fat to saturated fat was
inversely associated with risk of CHD" [but that could be accounted for by
the positive effect from polyunsaturated fat that the study found].

"Intakes of total fat, saturated fat, and monounsaturated fat had no clear
relation to CHD regardless of age group"


Also, Hu and Willett found that a high protein diet, whether from animal or
plant sources, reduces the risk of ischemic heart disease...

Reply to TC Campbell
Frank B Hu and Walter Willett
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 71, No. 3, 850-851, March 2000
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/71/3/850

"By analyzing repeated measures of dietary data over 14 y of follow-up, we
firmly rejected the hypothesis that high protein intakes increase the risk
of ischemic heart disease. In contrast, our data suggest a modest inverse
association for both animal and vegetable protein intake. This finding is
compatible with results of metabolic studies indicating improved blood lipid
profiles when protein replaces carbohydrates (Wolfe BM. Potential role of
raising dietary protein intake for reducing risk of atherosclerosis. Can J
Cardiol 1995;11(suppl):127G-31G.)."


Not surprisingly, all reference to the politically incorrect 20-year results
on saturated fat was removed from this later report...

Low-Carbohydrate-Diet Score and the Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in Women
Thomas L. Halton, Sc.D., Walter C. Willett, M.D., Dr.P.H., Simin Liu, M.D.,
Sc.D., JoAnn E. Manson, M.D., Dr.P.H., Christine M. Albert, M.D., M.P.H.,
Kathryn Rexrode, M.D., and Frank B. Hu, M.D., Ph.D. 
Volume 355:1991-2002		November 9, 2006		Number 19
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/355/19/1991#related_letters


Jimmy Moore discussed the latest report on the study here...

Study: Long-Term Heart Health Issues With Low-Carb Diets Unfounded
Thursday, November 09, 2006
http://livinlavidalocarb.blogspot.com/2006/11/study-long-term-heart-health-i
ssues.html

Jimmy talks about how Tom Halton expected the study to show a higher risk of
heart disease among those who ate a low-carb/high-fat diet, but it didn't.
It did show a high risk for high-glycemic diets: "The way Americans are
going low-fat is very unhealthy," he said in an interview with Reuters.
"They have a very high glycemic load. They're taking sugar. They're taking
white bread. They're taking white rice and pasta. That certainly isn't the
answer."

When vegetable sources for both fat and protein were selected instead of
animal sources, those in the low-carbohydrate-diet score group experienced
another "30 percent reduction in the risk of heart disease over 20 years,"
according to Halton. My guess is that dairy is the culprit in the poor
numbers for animal fat and protein. Plus, Dr. Hu said that "the adverse
effects of animal products might be counterbalanced by reducing refined
carbohydrates."


Walter Willett is still bad mouthing saturated fat, despite the results of
his own study finding no correlation between heart disease and total
saturated fat... 

Interview Walter Willett, MD
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/diet/interviews/willett.html