Drug Medical Information

EATING TO YOUR HEART CONTENT: PUT THE DIAPER SET ON DRUGS?

What other industry can create new business so easily? Late in 1988, the American Academy of Pediatrics, perhaps feeling left out, posed questions no one else had thought to ask: "Should children be tested for cholesterol levels? And when?"
Not surprising, they answered the questions themselves in a way that assured them a share of the cholesterol pie: "Any child two years or older should be tested if any close relative has high blood cholesterol or an 'early heart attack."
And then what? They recommend a stringent low-fat diet, or a lifetime of cholesterol-lowering drugs.
"Wait just a minute!" says Dr. Stare.
"The idea of suggesting that a child of two years of age placed on a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet... is incomprehe sible. How on earth can small children benefit from such diet?"
Benefit? How about the potential for harm? A recent study in the American Journal of Diseases of Children reported growth failure and severe weight loss in children placed on low-fat diets. No one knows how much damage might ultimately result from putting toddlers on so restrictive and artificial an eating regimen. Some alarmed scientists have warned of the possibility of brain damage.
Clearly the stakes are high when prudent voices are silenced. Even more alarming is that for the first time in history, Madison Avenue has taken charge of America's health. Slick ad agendes are the newly licensed authorities who have put the entire nation on a diet - the very diet, by the way, which was tried and FAILED as a heart disease prevention strategy back in 1971.
Who's paying the bill for all this advice? Not a hard question to answer: it's the companies with something to sell, of course. Open your paper and read a food-industry sponsored Sunday supplement entitled The Truth About Cholesterol. How inspiring. That's the 'truth' from the same wonderful corporations which once insisted smoking was sexy, sophisticated and safe. The major food conglomerates have spent millions of dollars to tailor and promote products for health-conscious shoppers. First they softened the market with anti-cholesterol propaganda; then they cashed m with products designed for consumers motivated to avoid the 'Big C\ A great marketing plan and one sure to benefit stockholders, but not much profit in it for innocent targets.
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