Heart Disease Caused by Numerous * Factors, Physiciau Tells NLMB It is premature to uncondi tionally single out any one fact or as the cultprit in the problem of artery and heart disease, stat ed Dr. Philip L. White, Chicago, secretary of the Council on Foods and Nutrition of the American Medical Association, in an address during the 34th annual meeting of the National Live Stock and Meat Board. Dr. White spoke at noon, Thursday, June. !3. The meeting, at the Morrison 1 Hotel in Chicago, June 13-14 was j attended by 700 representatives of the nation’s livestock and meat industry from 33 states. | Dr. White said a great amount of research into the cause of heart disease is being earned out today. He urged the livestock and meat industry to “continue its generous support of funda mental research in the field of nutrition” since intensive re search is the key to solving the complexities involved in heart disease He observed that much of the current research on the subject is supported by grants from the Meat Board, service or ganization of the livestock and meat industry. He said it is virtually impos sible to make any dogmatic, ir refuptable statements, since so many factors have been suggest ed as primary or secondary in fluences on the development of artery or heait disease. These in clude heredity or predisposition to coronary artery disease, other diseases (such as diabetes, hy pertension and obesity), the per son’s age and sex, fat and fat like substances in the blood and tissues, blood clotting as well as blood dissolving processes, de fects in body chemistry, sex hor mones, hard labor and emotional tension, exercisb, condition of the arteries, and diet. “I feel that we may safely con clude that coronary and cerebral artery diseases and thrombosis have many causes and are pro bably not caused by any single factor,” Dr White stated Concerning' the relationship of diet to heart disease, Dr White quoted a statement made by Dr F J Stare of the Harvard School of Public Health at a >-e cent symposium on fats, choles terol and atherosclerosis “Adults who are not overweight, without any- family history of early death from heart disease, and with relatively low levels of serum cholesterol need make no changes in their diet assuming (they already consume a variety iof food providing a well-balanced diet.” Cholesterol is a fat-hke sub stance that is essential to the cells of the body. It is always present in the blood stream and in the body. Atherosclerosis is a condition of the arteries, mark ed by an accumulation of fat-like deposits—made 'up largely of cholesterol—on and within the artery walls. This condition can lead to heart attacks, such as the one r suffered by President Eisen hower Dr. White noted that while in creased concentrations of chol esterol in the blood' have been regarded as danger signals of ■atherosclerosis and heart disease it has not" been absolutely estat- Wished that this is true. ■He said it was once thought that the culprit in heart disease had been fpond in dietary cho lesterol—cholesterol is the foods we eat, “Then it was discovered that dietary cholesterol wa§ most likely unimportant since, the body would manufacture cholesterol when the amount in the food was limited.” “We 'cannot deny that athero sclerosis and coronary artery di sease is a freigh+ening problem in this country,’ Dr. White said. “One thing we can deny is the often repeated statement that there has been a BIG increase in incidence of heart disease in the last 40 years ” He explained that the life ex pectancy of Americans has stead ily advanced. More people are living longer and heart disease is a disease that especially hits the older folks. He said part of the apparent increase in deaths from heart disease is du» to bet ter methods of reporting the cause of death. Touching on the subject of ob esity, Dr. White said that the person who is mainlining a con- i* f • stant weight uses the fat that his body stores within a day or so. On the other hand, people who are gaming weight store fat'in their bodies for future use—but never quite get around to using it. It stays there and keeps pil ing up and then they are in trouble He said one fact that is ofteh overlooked is that some of the fat in the body is manufactured by the body from non-fat materi als, such as carbohydrate and protein. Noting that many statements have been made relative to fats IP the diet and heart disease, Dr. White said that most of the studies that have indicated that animals fats cause an increase in cholesterol have been done un der severly controlled diets in clinical conditions. “Such studies have not always been confirmed by studies of patients on regular diets,” he said. “It is extremely hazardous to make direct translation from such clinical studies to the free living man. Unfortunately, this has been done and animals fats, such as beef and pork fat and butter fat, may have been un necessarily condemned.” The only known successful means of controlling virus diar rhea in cattle depends on the segregation of infected animals, according to veterinary author ities. "i, t ” '■