ABSTRACT
I. WHY A LOW-FAT DIET? Health and nutrition research reports have heightened consumer awareness over the past three decades of the implication of dietary fat in the major causes of mortality among adults in the United States, namely cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers, and chronic diseases (1). The link between dietary fat intake (level and type) and cancer remains controversial, but there is credible evidence that dietary fat is a major risk factor in atherosclerosis (2), diabetes (1,3), stroke (4), breast cancer (5,6), and obesity (7). The relationship between dietary fat and atherosclerosis was first observed in rabbits in 1908 by the Russian pathologist lgnatowsky (8). Subsequent research involved the use of monkeys and humans.
