Dr Raphael,

Your information on trans fat is dated and in my opinion, inaccurate.  There
is published evidence that goes well beyond the summary of the one
epidemiological study that is the basis of the summary offered by the
junkscience website in 1999 - and that you now use for your letter to the
Globe and Mail.   Even the junk science site has more information.  This
site provides a journalist's review - not an analyis by a trained scientist.
Do a medline on "trans fat" or  "elaidic acid," which is the 18:1 trans
fatty acids made during the partial hydrogenation process.    There is so
much more than this one population study.   Couple this with the fact that
the data bases that assess the level of trans fat intake are way off.  There
wasn't data on many food categories and products so the level of inate was
underestimated.  The USDA is only now beginning to do the requisite analyses
so that we can get a more accurate picture.   For a more recent journalistic
perspective - at least from the U.S., you should read the award winning
article at:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/01/30
/FD40307.DTL


Regards,


EB


-_____________________________
Ed Blonz, Ph.D.
001 510-525-6925 (phone/fax)
[log in to unmask]
Website:   http://blonz.com










-----Original Message-----
From: Health Promotion on the Internet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Dennis Raphael
Sent: Friday, December 12, 2003 7:00 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Trans-fats


Dear Editor of the Globe and Mail

Thank you for expending many ounces of ink and yards of space to the health
threat of trans-fats in our diet.  Unfortunately for your readers -- and the
reputation of the Globe and Mail -- the evidence for this new "public health
threat" is nil. I would direct your attention to the website "Fear of
margarine: The trans fat myth" http://www.junkscience.com/nov99/transfat.htm
that points out the following regarding the only study -- the Nurses study
-- that showed a relationship between trans fats and health:

"It reports no statistically significant association between total fat
intake and risk of coronary heart disease. It reports no statistically
significant association between animal fat intake and risk of coronary heart
disease. It reports no statistically significant association between
saturated fat intake and risk of coronary heart disease. It reports no
statistically significant association between cholesterol intake and risk of
coronary heart disease.

"The reported association between trans fat and coronary heart disease is
only statistically significant for the highest consumption of trans fats --
but it's still a very weak statistical association.  This study basically
reports that all we've been told about the association between fat
consumption and heart disease is not supported by data collected from 90,000
nurses over a period of 20 years. So either the study data is wrong or the
public health establishment has been wrong about fat consumption being
associated with heart disease risk. If the study data is wrong, then I doubt
the trans fat result. If the public health establishment is wrong then why
should we believe it about trans fat when it has been generally wrong about
fat consumption for the last two or three decades? "

I would add that the Nurses sample is unrepresentative of the general
population as their heart disease rate was exceptionally low. Additionally,
numerous other studies have showed NO RELATIONSHIP between transfat intake
and heart disease.


Dennis Raphael, PhD
Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Director
School of Health Policy and Management
Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies
York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3
tel: 416-736-2100, ext. 22134
fax: 416-736-5227
email: [log in to unmask]
website: http://quartz.atkinson.yorku.ca/QuickPlace/draphael/Main.nsf/

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