Letters: Apr. 16, 1984

Cut Cholesterol To the Editors:

One look at the eggs and bacon on your cover [MEDICINE, March 26] and my husband was immersed in your report on cholesterol. For years I have been talking against fried foods without success. Now one issue of TIME has him telling me we should watch what we eat!

Joan Warner Davidson Rockville, Md.

Your story on cholesterol offers hope to millions of Americans. Why represent it with that sad face?

Richard J. Carroll Midlothian, III.

We do not need cholesterol researchers to prove the relationship between disease and diet. We need only heed Thoreau, who believed that a man can consider himself happy when that which is his food is also his medicine.

Mark Radomsky Carlisle, Pa.

Most people are epicureans and hedonists who would sell their soul for steak.

Robert G. Arthur Kings Park, N. Y.

Your article on the link between lowered cholesterol levels and the decline in the number of deaths from cardiovascular disease suggests that we should be consuming unpalatable foods. Prudent diets, which we recommend, are not punitive diets. People can limit rather than eliminate their intake of high-cholesterol foods like eggs and perhaps prolong their lives.

Claude Lenfant, M.D., Director

National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute

Bethesda, Md.

Instead of blaming red meat and eggs for their health problems, maybe people should give some thought to their gluttony. We in the livestock business have never advocated overindulgence. We produce high-quality products rich in vitamins, iron and protein. If the types of food we have been consuming for thousands of years are so bad for us, why is it that each generation is bigger and healthier and lives longer than the previous one?

Hatch C. Smith, President Livestock Marketing Association of Texas

Llano, Texas

For people over 65 who have normal cholesterol, I have been recommending consumption of an egg every day. Many older people cease to eat sufficient protein and other important nutrients. The egg a day often helps them lead an active and healthy life.

A. Edward Livingston, M.D. Bloomington, III.

To many people, cholesterol is usually synonymous with egg. I have heard people say they don't eat eggs yet hold a cigarette in one hand and a martini in the other. These same people will sit down to a meal of steak, French fries, a salad drowned in dressing, and pie à la mode. Cholesterol per se does not cause heart disease. Rather, a high cholesterol level may be a symptom that one's life-style is out of whack. Our focus should not be on eggs but on making appropriate changes in our lifestyles.

Jackie Storm, Nutritionist New York City

From the picture of the 85-year-old woman's cholesterol-laden arteries, can we assume she might have lived two or three years more if she had denied herself 80 years of enjoyable eating?

Douglas A. Darch Wake Forest, N.C.

Few Friends

The fact that many nations fail to back us in the U.N. lends strong support to the demand that this country quit the international organization [NATION, March 26]. The indignity of our position in that body makes our continued membership untenable.

John Breckenridge Englewood, N.J.