Science Article: The Soft Science of Dietary Fat

[Laura Larsson]

Friends:

The following article has recently appeared in Science magazine:

Taubes, Gary. The Soft Science of Dietary Fat. Science, 291:2536-41,
2543-2545, March 30, 2001.


>From the Summary at the Science Online Website:


"Mainstream nutritional science has demonized dietary fat, yet 50 years
and
hundreds of millions of dollars of research have failed to prove that
eating a low-fat  diet will help you live longer. Indeed, the history of
the national conviction that dietary  fat is deadly, and its evolution
from hypothesis to dogma, is one in which politicians,  bureaucrats, the
media, and the public have played as large a role as the scientists  and
the science. It's a story of what can happen when the demands of public
health  policy--and the demands of the public for simple advice--run up
against the confusing ambiguity of real science".

This is a long document and appears to be well researched.  This article
is likely to be one you may be questioned about by your clients and
others.

The full text of this article is available at:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/291/5513/2536

(Note: I'm not sure if this article is open to everyone. I'm coming in
through the University of Washington IP address and may have access
through the UW's licensure agreement. Try clicking on the link or
cutting and pasting the URL into the Location box to try to see if you
can get in).

If you can't get the online version talk to colleagues or contact your
local medical or state library. Failing that, your local public library
will be able to get it on InterLibrary Loan.

--
Regards,

Laura Larsson
NLM Informatics Fellow, OHSU
and
Clinical Faculty
Health Services, Box 357660
University of Washington
Seattle, WA  98195
larsson at u.washington.edu
Listowner: PHNUTR-L, PHSW, PHNURSES, PNWHEALTH, HSR-L, BIRTH23MH

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read
and
write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. "  Alvin
Toffler