10—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 15, 1972
The Diet-Heart
CurtGowdy.a sportscaster, prescribed a
remedy for the nation's heart disease
problem the other week. And he told the
nation about it during a telecast of the July
1 Detroit-Baltimore baseball game.
"People just shouldn’t eat eggs," he said.
Every eggman who heard the broadcast
was undoubtedly incensed. Many
nutritionists were probably upset, too,
along with quite a few doctors. Folks at the
American Heart Association were probably
not too upset, but they should have been
blushing, at least.
The Heart Association’s propaganda
efforts at changing American eating habits
have persuaded many people that they're
in imminent danger of being killed by
balanced diets.
Diet is only one hypothetical cause of
heart disease. And it’s an hypothesis which
hasn’t stood up too well under the critical
eye of objective scientific scrutiny.
There are other possible causes of heart
disease. However, according to at least one
prominent researcher, the emphasis on
diet has side-tracked investigation of these
causes. Some possibilities which might be
studied include;
Early treatment of high blood
pressure Is it possible to prevent coronary
heart disease (CHD) by treating high blood
pressure in young people?
We each now receive over three
pounds per year of food additive sub
stances. Are they a contributing cause of
CHD 7
People who live in hard water areas
seem to have fewer heart attacks. Should
water supplies be hardened?
Finally, and most credibly, physical
fitness is a possible means of reducing the
danger of CHD What is the best kind of
physical fitness program?
Dr. George V Mann has taken the heart
people to task for accepting scientific
hypotheses as scientific facts. Mann is
associate professor of biochemistry and
medicine at Vanderbilt University School of
Medicine and career investigator of the
National Heart and Lung Institute, National
Institutes of Health. His remarks quoted
here were prepared for the U.S. Senate
Select Committee on Food, Nutrition and
Health, but were never presented there
because the select committee never met.
Here are some of the things Dr. Mann
planned to tell the committee:
"My own judgement in the Diet-Heart
debate was strongly influenced by the
following personal research. Experiments
with primates showed that atherosclerosis
was induced as readily with diets con
taining corn oil, an unsaturated fat, as with
lard
“Studies with primitive groups of people
including the Alaskan Eskimo, the Ibo
people of Nigeria, the Congolese Pygmies
and the Masai of Tanzania revealed
thousands of carnivorous people who are
taking more animal fat and cholesterol in
Secretary of Agriculture, Dr. Earl L. Butz,
explains much of the confusion over
today's food prices by telling of an incident
that he experienced while shopping at a
supermarket He relates, “The lady in front
of me at the check-out counter took from
her cart a quart of milk, a pound of bacon, a
box of breakfast cereal, a 10 pound
package of detergent, a 25 pound sack of
dog food, two pairs of pantyhose, some
kitchen towels and soap, eight hand
pamted tumblers, and a copper skillet.
When she saw the bill for $22.28 she ex
claimed, ‘Golly, food is expensive, isn’t it?”’
The furor over high meat prices that
swept the country a short time ago was as
illogical as the lady’s comment on food
prices. A release from the United States
It Ain’t All Food
Controversy
their diet than do we, but with low levels of
blood cholesterol and essentially free from
coronary heart disease.
"We concluded that only two ex
planations were possible; either diet is not
the determinant in CHD or some other
circumstance of life protects against CHD.
‘‘Subsequently we have measured
physical activity and fitness in the Masai.
Their fitness is superb. They are physically
active.
“With some difficulty, over a period of 5
years, we have collected the hearts of 50
Masai men. Surprisingly, these show
atherosclerosis but only rarely coronary
occlusions. We believe this means that
while the Masai do have atherosclerosis,
habitual exercise and fitness make their
vessels enlarge and so their atheromata
(fatty coating m the arteries) are in
nocuous.
“The implication is clear enough. The
Western epidemic of CHD is indeed caused
by atherosclerosis, but all men have this,
wherever examined. The saving trait which
prevents the lethal complications of
atherosclerosis is physical fitness. The way
to cut off the epidemic of CHD is with a
program of exercise.
“Now 1 have just formulated an
hypothesis, not a proven fact. This is not
the time for a national rush to the gym
nasium or the park to prevent CHD
because that is the kind of error the diet
protagonists are making. What is needed is
a test of this fitness hypothesis.
“The difficulty is that neither 1 nor any
other single scientist can do the test alone.
I have tried. The necessary design is too
large, too expensive, too demanding for any
but a collaborative effort, directed by some
kind of a National study center.
“but in the last 5 years the National
Institutes of Health have moved away from
this function. They have dismantled the
Chronic Heart Disease and Stroke Control
Program.
“The President’s Commission on
Physical Fitness, managed often by ex
coaches, fritters away money on magazine
and television advertising while adult
Americans are uninformed about methods
and goals in physical fitness. There is no
national fitness program beyond the in
dustrial efforts of the bicycle people and
there is very little promise."
Mann went on to say that his preliminary
studies indicate fitness could be main
tained with as little as one hour per week of
proper exercise. It’s an interesting
hypothesis, and it deserves at least as
much attention as diet
The Heart Association has a tremendous
influence on the way people think about
their health. At the moment, they’re
concentrating on making people neurotic
about diet. It’s possible the Association
could save more lives if they’d concentrate
instead on getting people into shape.
One wonders why they don’t.
Department of Agriculture states, "Farm
beef cattle prices recently reached the
level of 20 years ago, but what other prices
are just getting up to the levels of 20 years
ag0 7 ... if you deflate present beef prices in
line with today’s cheaper dollars, today’s
beef prices are a long way under the level
of 20 years ago.”
The production and distribution
efficiency of the food industry—and this
includes meat —has given U.S. consumers
more and better food than ever before in
history. This fact has been obscured by the
darkening cloud of inflation. The entire
nation should thank rather than criticize
the industries that have produced the
abundance we enjoy today.
I NOW IS
THE TIME . . .
Max Smith
County Agr. Agent
Telephone 394-6851
To Control Insects
The liberal amounts of
moisture and poor drying con
ditions have resulted in larger
numbers of flies and mosquitos in
many areas. These pests will
continue to multiply rapidly as
long as we have wet weather and
unless their breeding places are
destroyed. We have had a
number of phone calls from
flooded areas saying that the
mosquito problem is getting
greater. We suggest that
stagnant water of all kinds be
eliminated by removing empty
tin cans and other containers,
and draining water from puddles
when possible. To keep
mosquitoes from increasing
standing bodies of water may be
sprayed with Abate or with Flit
MLO to eliminate the mosquito
larvae; both of these are
relatively harmless to fish life
when used properly. Fuel Oil and
Kerosene will also kill the larvae
but will be hard on fish life. Adult
mosquitoes and flies may be
killed by frequent spraying with
malathion, dibrom, or a
pyrethrin spray. Malathion or
Methoxychlor should be used on
or around trees and shrubs for
the control of mosquitos and flies.
To Cut Alfalfa
According to the calendar it is
time to make the second cutting
of alfalfa hay or silage. Under
normal weather conditions the
second cutting is made early in
July when the plants are coming
into bloom. However this sum
mer, due to the wet weather and
to several of the fungus diseases
WHEN IN DOUBT...
Lesson for July 16, 1972
iackground Scripture Psalms 103 1 5,
104, 150
Devotienal Reading 103 6 18
Have you ever noticed how
many prayers begin and end with
expression of praise 9
Take the Lord’s Prayer, for ex
ample We begin: “Our Father,
who art m heaven, hallowed be
thy name.” Only after we have
begun in praise
do we get on to
making our re
quests “Give us
. . forgive us ...
lead us not . .
then, having
made known our
requests, we re
turn once again
Rev. Althouse to praise: “For
thine is the kingdom . ”
The missing ingredient
A friend baked a cake and for
got to put in the baking powder.
The cake was a failure; something
was obviously missing l So it is
often with our prayers. Something
we leave out keeps them from
being the vital transactions they
ought to be. Often, that missing
ingredient is praise.
Actually, it is not so much that
God needs and requires our
praise, but that we need it. When
it is missing from our prayer, it
is as if we had left out the most
important ingredient. The fact is
that when we are willing to
praise God, the act of praise
seems to put life into our peti-
such as leaf spot, the plants are
behind schedule and some may
not bloom normally due to the
fungus infection. Growers are
urged to take the second crop
from 35 to 40 days after removing
the first cutting. With improved
weather conditions it is hopeful
that the third crop will come
rapidly without some of the leaf
spot infections. Growers should
be on the alert for insects such as
leaf hoppers and spray when the
new growth is three to six inches
high.
To Control Weeds
Many corn growers are faced
with serious weed problems due
to the long period of wet weather.
When corn plants get two to three
feet high many of the normal
herbicides such as 2,4-D may
cause serious injury, especially
in hot weather. The broad leaf
weeds such as smartweed,
pigweed, lambsquarter, and
thistles may be controlled by
spraying with Vz-pint per acre of
Banvel D. Also, it is quite likely
that the old practice of
mechanical cultivation might
help get rid of grass-type weeds
such as foxtail, fall panicum, and
witchgrass. Cultivations may not
eliminate all of the weeds but will
reduce the number between the
rows and decrease the com
petition for plant food and
moisture. Shallow cultivation
(one to one-and-one-half inches)
is suggested and stay out of the
root zone of the corn plant. Many
weedy fields are evident at this
time and weed competition will
surely hurt the corn yields.
tions and intercessions
Nels Ferre, the late theologian,
in one of his books tells us of
an incident that happened in his
childhood He was having a diffi
cult tune in prayer Things were
not going his way' Overhearing
him, his mother advised him;
“Nels, just thank and praise him
Thank and praise him ” Dr. Ferre
said that she was right. Often,
when he experienced difficulty in
prayer, he found the key in fol
lowing his mother’s advice
Someone once similarly advised
me: “When in doubt, praise God.”
It seemed strange advice, for one
would think that in times of
doubt and difficulty one could
not. perhaps should not, pray
with praise and thanksgiving.
Yet, I have often found, that
when things are at their worst,
the only prayer that can see me
through is the prayer of praise
and thanksgiving As someone has
put it: “Praise God even when
you don’t feel like it, and you
soon will feel like it” Strange
advice, perhaps, but it works!
What for?
But what can we praise him for
when things are bad’ Won’t that
make us hypocritical? No, for no
matter how bad things may be,
there is always much for which
we can give him praise and
thanks In Psalms 104, for ex
ample, the psalmist praises God
as the great Creator and sustam
er of the earth: “Thou didst set
the earth on it’s foundations . .
(104:5). He praises God as the
provider for all his creatures.
“ThoO dost cause the grass to
grow for the cattle . ..” (104:14).
There is always something for
which we can be very grateful.
“O my soul, ... forget not all his
benefits.” How much he has given
us and done for us. Yes, when in
doubt, praise the Lord!
(los«d en outlines copyrighted by the
Division #f Christian Education, National
Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A*
Released by Cemmfrnity Press Service.)