Nexus - 0903 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

THE HEALTH-SUPPORTING BENEFITS OF COCONUTS HEALTH-SUPPORTING THE COCONUTS BENEFITS Scientific research proves that the saturated fatty acids and derivative compounds found in coconuts and coconut oil have significant benefits for a healthy immune system and metabolism. Part 2 of 2 The following is the second part of a talk and paper, "'Coconuts: In Support of Good Health in the 21st Century", presented by Dr Mary Enig at the Asian Pacific Coconut Community (APCC) meeting held in Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia in 1999. Note that it does make several references to animal experiments, and that NEXUS does not condone animal experimentation. Editor. VI. THE LATEST ON THE TRANS FATTY ACIDS oth the United States and Canada will soon require labelling of the trans fatty acids, which will put coconut oil in a more competitive position than it has been in the past decade. (In 2001, Canada published examples of the labels it plans to use, while the US is still to finalise its labels.) A fear of the vegetable oil manufacturers has always been that they would have to label trans fatty acids. The producers of trans fatty acids have relied on the anti-saturated fat crusade to protect their markets. However, the latest research on saturated fatty acids and trans fatty acids shows the saturated fatty acids coming out ahead in the health race. It has taken a decade, from 1988 to 1998, to see changes in perception. During this period, the trans fatty acids have taken a deserved drubbing. Research reports from Europe have been emerging since the seminal report by Mensink and Katan in 1990 that the trans fatty acids raised the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and lowered the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol in serum. This has been confirmed by studies in the US (Judd et al., 1994; Khosla and Hayes, 1996; Clevidence, 1997). In 1990, the Lipids Research Group at the University of Maryland published a paper (Enig et al., 1990) correcting some of the erroneous data sponsored by the food industry in the 1985 review of the trans fatty acids by the Life Sciences Research Office of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (LSRO-FASEB) (Senti, 1985). In 1993, a group of researchers at Harvard University, led by Professor Walter Willett, reported a positive relationship between the dietary intake of the trans fatty acids and coronary heart disease in a greater than 80,000 cohort of nurses who had been followed by the School of Public Health at Harvard University for more than a decade. Pietinen and colleagues (1997) evaluated the findings from the large cohort of Finnish men who were followed in a cancer prevention study. After controlling for the appropri- ate variables including several coronary risk factors, the authors observed a significant positive association between the intake of trans fatty acids and the risk of death from coronary disease. There was no association between the intake of saturated fatty acids or dietary cholesterol and the risk of coronary death. This is another example of the differ- ences between the effects of the trans fatty acids and the saturated fatty acids, and a fur- ther challenge to the dietary cholesterol hypothesis. The issue of the trans fatty acids as a causative factor in cancer remains underexplored, but recent reports have found a connection. Bakker and colleagues (1997) studied the data for the association between breast cancer incidence and linoleic acid status across European countries, since animal and ecological studies had suggested a relationship. They found that the mean fatty acid composition of adipose did not show an association with omega-6 linoleic acid and breast, colon or prostate cancer. However, cancers of the breast and colon were positively associated with the trans fatty acids. Kohlmeier and col- leagues (1997) also reported that data from the EURAMIC study showed adipose tissue by Mary G. Enig, PhD, FACN ©1999, 2001 Director Nutritional Sciences Division Enig Associates, Inc. 12501 Prosperity Drive, Suite 340 Silver Spring, MD 20904-1689, USA Telephone: +1 (301) 680 8600 Fax: +1 (301) 680 8100 Email: marye@enig.com APRIL — MAY 2002 NEXUS ¢ 31 www.nexusmagazine.com