LETTERS: HEART DISEASE LINKED TO DIET IS PREVENTABLE

To the editor:

Thanks to the Southeast Missourian and Jayette Bolinski for announcing the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine heart disease prevention campaign. Cardiovascular disease kills about 1 million Americans each year and costs about $300 billion. According to the American Heart Association, Missouri has the second highest death rate in the United States for coronary heart disease. Cardiovascular disease is closely linked to diet and is largely preventable. Clearly, we are doing something wrong.

Meat and saturated fats function as the building blocks of heart disease. The Framingham study and other large, high-quality research projects have shown that lipid profiles typical of a low-fat vegetarian diet are simply not seen in patients who develop heart disease. Since the study began in 1949, no one in Framingham, Mass., with a cholesterol count of 150 or less has had a heart attack.

People do not need meat or animal products to have a healthy, complete diet. For more information, visit www.pcrm,org.

STEPHEN W. STIGERS M.D.

Missouri Spokesperson

Physicians Committee

for Responsible Medicine

Cape Girardeau