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The larger of this study themselves concluded as follows: but it is only fair to have the warning that
question, “. . . we consider our own trial, with or without with the use of polyunsaturated fats the
the support of other published data, to have fallen
gun probably contains live ammunition.
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however, short of providing a definitive and final answer
is whether, concerning dietary prevention of heart disease.” MYTH 2: ARACHIDONIC ACID
These studies leave many questions to be IS A "BAD FAT"
given all this answered. Are the effects of vegetable oils with The second myth is that animal fats pro-
uncertainty, different proportions of omega-6 and omega-3 mote inflammation because they contain a small

we should fatty acids different from one another? What amount of the omega-6 PUFA arachidonic acid,
make is the effect of vegetable oils over a lifetime, found primarily in liver and egg yolks with
beginning in youth? Are there certain dietary smaller amounts in butter and meat fats. This
ourselves contexts that make vegetable oils harmful, and hypothesis emerged in the scientific literature
guinea pigs others that make them safe? The larger question, in the 1980s and 1990s as researchers began

for these however, is whether, given all this uncertainty, attributing the low rate of heart disease among
we should make ourselves guinea pigs for these traditional Inuit to their consumption of large
newfangled newfangled foods. No one has yet offered a better amounts of omega-3 fatty acids from marine
foods. summary of the issue than that offered by the late oils. Researchers argued that these omega-3
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endocrinologist Broda Barnes in his 1976 book, fatty acids were protective precisely because
Solved: The Riddle of Heart Attacks: they counteracted the inflammatory effects of
arachidonic acid. Barry Sears popularized this
Everyone should have the privilege of idea in his best-selling 1995 book The Zone
playing Russian Roulette if it is desired,
FIGuRe 4. Vegetable Oil Increased the Risk of Cancer in the Los
Angeles Veterans Administration Hospital Study. 19

The solid line represents the incidence of cancer in the group
fed vegetable oils while the dotted line represents the incidence
of cancer in the group fed traditional animal fats. The increased
incidence of cancer in the group fed vegetable oil did not begin to
appear until after two years and the difference became especially
large after five years. The difference between the groups reaches
the border of statistical significance at P=0.06, meaning we can
be 94 percent confident that the difference is not due to chance.

FIGuRe 5. Vegetable Oil Increased the Risk of Non-Cardiovascular
Mortality Only After Seven Years. 17

The graph represents survival after excluding deaths from
cardiovascular disease. Thus, as the lines fall, non-cardiovascular
deaths increase. The solid line represents the survival in the group
fed vegetable oils while the dotted line represents the survival in
the group fed traditional animal fats. Non-cardiovascular mortality
increases rapidly in the vegetable oil group only towards the end of
the study, after seven years have passed. Analyzed over time, the
difference only reaches borderline significance as indicated in the
figure, but when the time points are pooled together the difference
between the two groups is statistically significant.

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