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OlveOil:
Healthy
Alternative
a
ccording to the American
M Heart Association,
people with elevated
cholesterol levels should
restrict fats to 20 percent of
their daily calorie intake.
For sorne, this means
cutting fat intake in half. In
the United States, for
example, typically 40
percent of the calorie intake
is fa
t.
But until now, the
tasteless tedium of low-fat
diets has kept sorne from
tackling their elevated
cholesterol problem.
Dr. Scott Grundy of the
University of Texas Health
Center at Dalias offers an
interesting alternative:
greater use of
mono-unsaturated oleic
acid-the best example of
which is olive oil.
In an article appearing in
The New England Journal of
Medicine,
Dr. Grundy points
out that both blood
cholesterol levels and
incidents of coronary heart
disease are relatively low in
the Mediterranean countries,
such as Greece and ltaly,
compared to other areas.
This, says Dr. Grundy, is
due to a traditional diet high
in olive oil.
In a study at the Veterans
Administration Medica!
Center at Dalias, Texas, Dr.
Grundy compared the
results of mono-unsaturated
and low-fat diets for their
affects on both LDL and
HDL cholesterol.
Cholesterol is transported
in the bloodstream by
substances known as
lipoproteins. Low-density
lipoprotein (LDL) increases
the risk of heart disease. but
high-density lipoprotein
(HDL) reduces the risk of
heart trouble.
The study found that both
J
ust how foolish can some areas of U.S. society
get? A 15-year-old girl wants to go on a school
field trip. She needs a parental consent form signed.
She wants to get her ears pierced¡ again she needs
parental consent. But if she wants an abortion, she
can have it without her parents ever knowlng.
•
Black Heroin
a n
unusually potent and
M dangerous new form of
heroin known as "black tar"
is becoming a big worry to
U.S. drug enforcement
officials. Black tar-it
resembles roofing tar in
color and consistency-has
extraordinary potency that
§
rapidly produces drug
~
overdoses. lt may already
o
be responsible for hundreds
~
of deaths.
The new heroin is as
~
much as 40 times stronger
o
and 1Otimes cheaper than
i
usual heroin. Unlike the
"' powdered heroin with a
: street purity of 2 to 6
g
percent, the new heroin is
8 60 to 90 percent pure. A
the low-fat and
mono-unsaturated fat diets
lowered LDL levels in two
different regimens. In both
cases. however, the low-fat
diet also lowered HDL levels
whereas the
mono-unsaturated diet did
no
t.
Use of olive oil was
therefore seen to be good
on both accounts. lt offered
a greater reduction of LDL
cholesterol than a low-fat
diet, but it did not lower
beneficia! HDL levels.
The results of this
research could bolster sales
of olive oil, which had
suffered in the past from a
·'too rich and heavy' ·
image. •
Murder in New Zealand
C
ompared with crime
levels in other
developed countries, that of
New Zealand is low.
But the chilling fact is
crime is íncreasing at an
alarming rate.
Overall crime in New
Zealand rose 6.5 percent in
1985 over the previous year.
But last year's record 61
murders represented an
increase of 110 percent
over 1984. Fewer murders
were of the traditional type,
meaning the result of
passion or domestic strife.
Much more frequent were
mindless. cold-blooded
killings, the kind most feared
by the public.
One in every five
brainwash a generation into
believing that there can be
action without consequence:
that violence is fun, even
acceptable."
The
Hera/d's
editors
offered a solution: "lf
individuals, parents. and
peers begin to care for
others there is hope that
we may treat the disease
and not just the symptoms.
New Zealand has often
shown it is a caring society
for those in obvious need.
The challenge is to instill
those feelings as an
all-pervasive code for every
citizen."
offenders was age 14 to 16
and one in three was
between the ages of 17 and
20. The March 7, 1986,
New
Zealand Herald
editorialized:
lt will be difficult to "instill
those feelings" in an age
dominated by thrill-a-minute
entertainment. Like the rest
of the Western world, New
Zealand too is affected by
the ills of these perilous last
days, during which, we are
told, individuals would
increasingly be •'without
natural affection" (11 Tim.
3:1, 3). •
"Synthetic violence served
up on video, film and
television to an insatiable
public has helped to
few years ago the new
heroin, which is produced in
northern Mexico and
smuggled across the border,
could be found in only tour
U.S. states. Now it can be
found in about 30. Black tar
sells for as little as $2.50 on
the street for an average
dose of 10 milligrams,
whereas conventional
Mexican heroin sells for
about $24 for such a dose.
In the United States,
around 500,000 persons are
believed to be heroin
addicts and perhaps two
mill ion others use the drug
occasionally. The use of
black tar "by individuals in
the middle-income and
high-income brackets," the
U.S. Government's Drug
Abuse Warning Network
says, "seems to be a
developing trend." •
nr.
PLAIN TRUTH