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nothing in 1900 to 70 million tons in 1970, surpassing corn pro- Since Kritchevsky's early studies, many other trials had shown duction. Today, soy oil dominates the market and is used in that serum cholesterol can be lowered by increasing ingestion of almost 80 per cent of all hydrogenated oils. polyunsaturates. The physiological explanation for this is that The particular mix of fatty acids in soy oil results in shortenings when excess polyunsaturates are built into the cell membranes, containing about 40 per cent trans fats—an increase of about 5 resulting in reduced structural integrity or ‘limpness', cholesterol per cent over cotton-seed oil and 15 per cent over corn oil. is sequestered from the blood into the cell membranes to give Canola oil, processed from a hybrid form of rape-seed, is particu- them 'stiffness'. The problem was that there was no proof that larly rich in fatty acids containing three double bonds and can lowering serum cholesterol levels could stave off CHD. contain as much as 50 per cent trans fats. Trans fats of a particu- That did not prevent the American Heart Association calling for larly problematic type are also formed during the process of "modified and ordinary foods" useful for the purpose of facilitat- deodorising canola oil, yet they are not indicated on labels for ing dietary changes to newfangled oils away from traditional fats. canola oil. These foods, said the AHA literature, should be made available to Certain forms of trans fatty acids occur naturally in dairy fats. the consumer, "...reasonably priced and easily identified by appro- Trans vaccenic acid makes up about four per cent of the fatty priate labeling. Any existing legal and regulatory barriers to the acids in butter. It is an interim product which the ruminant animal marketing of such foods should be removed." then converts to conjugated linoleic acid, a highly beneficial anti- carcinogenic component of animal fat. Humans seem to utilise r he man who made it possible to remove any "existing legal the small amounts of trans vaccenic acid in butter fat without ill and regulatory barriers" was Peter Barton Hutt, a food effects. lawyer for the prestigious Washington, DC, law firm of However, most of the trans isomers in modern hydrogenated Covington and Burling. Hutt once stated: "Food law is the most fats are new to the human physiology. By the early 1970s, a num- wonderful field of law that you can possibly enter." After repre- ber of researchers had expressed concern about their presence in senting the edible oil industry, he temporarily left his law firm to the American diet, noting that the increasing use of hydrogenated become general counsel for the US Food and Drug fats had paralleled the increase in both heart disease and cancer. Administration (FDA) in 1971. The unstated solution was one that The regulatory barrier to foods use- could be easily presented to the pub- ful to the purpose of changing lic: eat natural, traditional fats; But medical research and public American consumption patterns was avoid newfangled foods made from the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of vegetable oils; use butter, not mar- consciousness took a different 938, which sated: there are cer- garine. tack—one that accelerated the tain traditional foods that everyone But medical research and public nows, such as bread, milk and consciousness took a different tack— decline of traditional foods like cheese, and that when consumers buy one that accelerated the decline of these foods, they should get the foods traditional foods like meat, eggs and meat, eggs and butter, and fuelled that they are expecting... [and] if a butter, and fuelled continued dramat- continued dramatic increases in food resembles a standardized food ic increases in vegetable oil con- ut does not comply with the stan- sumption. vegetable oil consumption. dard, that food must be labeled as an ‘imitation'." Ithough the AHA had com- The 1938 Food, Drug and Cosmetic Ans itself to the lipid hypoth- Act was signed into law partly in esis and the unproven theory that polyunsaturated oils response to consumer concerns about the adulteration of ordinary afforded protection against heart disease, concerns about hydro- foodstuffs. Chief among the products with a tradition of suffering genated vegetable oils were sufficiently great to warrant the inclu- competition from imitation products were fats and oils. sion of the following statement in the organisation's 1968 In his book, Life on the Mississippi, Mark Twain reports on a Diet—Heart statement: "Partial hydrogenation of polyunsaturated conversation overheard between a New Orleans cotton-seed oil fats results in the formation of trans forms which are less effec- purveyor and a Cincinnati margarine drummer. New Orleans tive than cis,cis forms in lowering cholesterol concentrations. It boasts of selling deodorised cotton-seed oil as olive oil in bottles should be noted that many currently available shortenings and with European labels. "We turn out the whole thing—clean from margarines are partially hydrogenated and may contain little the word go—in our factory in New Orleans... We are doing a polyunsaturated fat of the natural cis,cis form." ripping trade, too." The man from Cincinnati reports that his fac- While 150,000 copies of the statement were printed, they were tories are turning out oleomargarine by the thousands of tons, an never distributed. The shortening industry objected strongly, and imitation that "you can't tell from butter". He gloats at the a researcher named Fred Mattson of Procter & Gamble convinced thought of market domination. "You are going to see the day, Campbell Moses, medical director of the AHA, to remove it.'* _ pretty soon, when you won't find an ounce of butter to bless your- The final recommendations for the public contained three major self with, in any hotel in the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, outside points: restrict calories; substitute polyunsaturates for saturates; of the biggest cities... And we can sell it so dirt cheap that the reduce cholesterol in the diet. whole country has got to take it ... butter don't stand any show— Other organisations fell in behind the AHA in pushing veg- there ain't any chance for competition. Butter's had its day—and etable oils instead of animal fats. By the early 1970s, the National from this out, butter goes to the wall. There's more money in Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the AMA, the American Dietetic oleomargarine than—why, you can't imagine the business we do." Association and the National Academy of Sciences had all In the tradition of Mark Twain's riverboat hucksters, Peter endorsed the lipid hypothesis and the avoidance of animal fats for | Barton Hutt guided the FDA through the legal and congressional those Americans in the 'at risk’ category. hoops to the establishment in 1973 of the FDA ‘imitation’ policy Since Kritchevsky's early studies, many other trials had shown that serum cholesterol can be lowered by increasing ingestion of polyunsaturates. The physiological explanation for this is that when excess polyunsaturates are built into the cell membranes, resulting in reduced structural integrity or ‘limpness', cholesterol is sequestered from the blood into the cell membranes to give them 'stiffness'. The problem was that there was no proof that lowering serum cholesterol levels could stave off CHD. That did not prevent the American Heart Association calling for "modified and ordinary foods" useful for the purpose of facilitat- ing dietary changes to newfangled oils away from traditional fats. These foods, said the AHA literature, should be made available to the consumer, "...reasonably priced and easily identified by appro- priate labeling. Any existing legal and regulatory barriers to the marketing of such foods should be removed." But medical research and public consciousness took a different 22 - NEXUS tack—one that accelerated the decline of traditional foods like ; vegetable oil consumption. DECEMBER 1998 - JANUARY 1999