The Importance of the Type of Fat in the Diet

By Milton G. Crane, M.D. and Barbara G. Crane, R.D. of Weimar Institute

Does it make sense to add free fats to our food? Some sincerely think that it does. Others equally sincere, conclude from their study that more people can be helped to recover health, if they eat a total vegetarian diet, but also eliminate from their diet all refined foods, excluding the oil, margarines, shortening, sugar and syrups. Let us examine the use of free fats in the light of common sense, scientific sense, and Biblical sense.

Refining Away of Essential Nutrient: What does free fat from corn or soybean, or sesame seed, or an olive have to offer that the human body needs? Calories, and that's about all! It is true. A little vanadium and 40% to 90% of the vitamin E still remains in the corn oil; but does removing the fiber, starch, protein, natural emulsifiers, and nearly all the minerals and vitamins add anything worthwhile to the oil? The extent of the lack of those other nutrients is painfully evident when we note that it would take thirty medium-sized ears of corn to get one ounce of corn oil, and that is the average dose of fat that most Americans add daily to their food. What other food has the extra fiber, starch, vitamins, and minerals from that much corn? Did the Creator make a mistake when He left out so much extra fat from our food?

Items like free-fat and free sugar or syrup are called "empty calories." They furnish calories; but many other nutrients, that our bodies need to utilize the oil or sugar, are sadly missing. We cannot safely rely on other foods on the menu to supply those missing ingredients. What usually happens is that a hidden hunger keeps the tissues calling for the nutrients that were removed, and the person overeats calories.

Obesity is a major problem ion most "Westernized" civilizations. A few years ago I was having lunch in a cafeteria at a youth camp. In came a short, large lady who weighed about 350 lbs. She and her two children sat down at a table near mine. After serving her family and herself from the dishes, she started on the one-pound (full) tub of margarine on the table. It was an amazing sight to see. She, by herself, polished off the entire contents of the tub. She put it on her bread, vegetables, potatoes, and all. I thought, how could she suffer the work of carrying around that extra weight, realize that she was fat, and yet not put two and two together. Her appetite center was waiting to be satisfied with carbohydrates while she slathered everything with those 4,000 calories of free fat.

Why are free fats needed in the food? If it's a taste preference, taste buds can change. It only takes two or three weeks for most people to prefer the new grease-free tastes. If the fats are added to facilitate cooking, other tasty ways are available. Free fats have a tendency to mask the taste of the foods just as spices do.

One of my diabetic patients during his dietary instructions wondered, "What will I put on my roasting ears (corn) if I don't use margarine"? Since he lived in the outskirts of town and would be driving past a large corn field with a roadside stand, I asked him to get permission from the farmer to pick a half dozen ears of corn from the field. He was then to take them home, promptly put them in boiling water for three to five minutes, and eat them.

On his next visit, he said, " Doc, for the first time in my life, I know what corn tastes like. Up until now I have been tasting butter." The problem is the same for so many of us. Farmers plant the items that ripen at the right time and that can be shipped. Our "fresh" market produce has been picked several days or weeks before they are at their peak for eating. Little wonder that we add spices and oil to disguise the flavor. (Incidentally, a 1/4 segment of an avocado is shaped just right for application on corn on the cob, and it tastes great.)

Many of the Molecules that Remain in the Fat Are Modified: Not only have certain important nutrients been removed from the oil, but unwanted things have been added by the processing of the fats that have one, two, or three double bonds in their string of 18 carbons. To make it so that the fat is less likely to become rancid, or so it will be less likely to spatter in the skillet, or so the fat will not deteriorate during the deep fat cooking of French fries or doughnuts, specific changes must be made in the fat molecules. For some of the fatty acids the double bonds must be removed, by "partially" or fully hydrogenating (saturating) them. For others the relative position of the hydrogens has been changed from natural cis to the trans isomer shape. For still others it may be the translocation of the double bonds to a new, unusual site, on the fatty acid. In the process of refining fat, the trans isomers constitute up to 17% of the fats in salad oil, up to 70% in margarine, and up to 60% in shortenings. ^1-3 Garden produce has zero trans fats. These polyunsaturated trans fats interfere with cell chemistry in the manufacture of prostaglandins and thromboxanes and mitochondrial cell power generation. ^3-5 In addition to those engineered unnatural fatty acids, toxic metals may be introduced during the process of refining oil unless special care is taken. ^{6, 7}

Oxidation of Free Lipids: Within the protective walls of the plant cells the highly active, biologically potent vegetable lipids are attacked slowly, if at all, by oxygen. Natural antioxidants, vitamin E, vitamin C, and carotene, protect the oils against getting oxidized, "burned", so long as they are inside the plant cell membranes. After the fats are removed from their plant cell coating by grinding, pressure, or extraction, we can soon smell the rancid oxyfatty acids and oxysterols, otherwise known as "toxic radicals." Corn kernels, for example, can be stored for hundreds of years and will germinate when planted in the soil. Yet, after the corn is ground, the meal turns rancid, too rancid for use, in a matter of weeks. Avocados and potatoes blacken when the skin is bruised or removed. Walnuts in their state with their high content of the easily oxidized double bonds, polyunsaturated fats, turn rancid more rapidly than other nuts. Almonds and filberts turn rancid more slowly. Even olive oil is graded upon the degree of freshness and freedom from oxy-radicals. Why not leave the oil in the olive, in the corn grain, and in the soybean? Why not eat it that way?

It is very important that we decrease the oxy-radicals and retain the natural antioxidants in our food if we are to preserve cell strength and life. These toxic radicals not only take the place of safe fatty acids, they also appear to hasten the degeneration and aging of the cells. ^{8, 9} Oxygenated fats get into the low-density lipoproteins (LDL), the cell food. Then we have modified LDL, known as oxy-LDL. These are transported to the cells where the oxy-LDL becomes part of the double layer of lipids of every cell of the body unless macrophages (big eaters) of the immune system engulf them. If the oxy-LDL get into the cell membranes we have oxidized fat in our cell walls, a very serious state of affairs. Evidence indicates that these play a very important role in the development of certain types of cancer ^{8, 10} and in the plugging of the arterial bed due to atheroma from the sick or swollen macrophages. ^10-13 Why do so many processed foods need "antioxidants" of one kind or another added to them? Why not leave the plant nutrients like oil in their natural environment and depend upon the natural antioxidants, such as vitamin E, A, and C, and selenium, to do their job? Until the remaining questions of the role of toxic radicals in disease are answered, the safest policy would be to obtain fresh produce, store it properly, and leave the oil within the plant cell until you are ready to cook and eat it. The oil as it is in the olive can be pressed out in the mouth, but it gets very little exposure to oxygen inside the mouth before it is swallowed and digested.

The Role of Cholesterol and Free Fat in Atherosclerosis: In addition to the postulated role of oxygenated lipids in arteriosclerosis, cholesterol adds another dimension to the story. Cholesterol is a phenanthrene ring made up of 29 carbons with one double bind and one hydroxyl group. A budding young chemist on an exam described it as 3-hydroxy-chickenwire with one double bond. We need cholesterol, but only in proper amounts. It is important for the cell membranes, formation of insulation around the nerve fibers, and for the manufacture of steroids, and vitamin D. Our body water would leak out of our skin if it were not for cholesterol in the skin cells. ¹⁴ Cholesterol has gotten a bad name by the press because of our faulty selection of foods.

The simplified story of the build up of cholesterol n the body goes like this: (1) the intestinal tract works in a water phase and not in an oil medium. All the free fat, oily material, whether liquid or unctuous, needs to be emulsified before the digestion of proteins, fats, or carbohydrates can proceed properly. (2) The body can make cholesterol in many cells, but (3) it cannot destroy the cholesterol ring structure. ¹⁵ (4) The more oily-greasy food that we eat, the more cholesterol and bile salts the body makes in the liver to emulsify the free fats, and the more it makes de novo in the small intestines as a component part of the low density lipoproteins (LDL). ^15-17 (5) HDL, another lipoprotein, hauls the extra cholesterol from the cells to the liver where it is eliminated in the bile along with bile salts. Fiber and plant sterols (phytosterols) enable and finely tune the elimination of cholesterol in the stool. (6) Some people have a hereditary or an acquired defect, which causes them to make too much cholesterol or interferes with its removal.

The result of all the above is that a steady diet of foods that is low in fiber and high in free fat causes a few too many milligrams of cholesterol to be formed than can be removed from the body by HDL, fiber, and phytosterols. A little too much free fat or an exaggerated response to free fat in the diet combined with not enough HDL and/or fiber results in a gradual accumulation of this extra cholesterol in the cell walls, arterial beds, and the gallbladder. Day after day cholesterol gradually accumulates in the body, damages the cells, plugs the artery, induces fibrosis (thickening) of the artery, or precipitates out in the bile to form gallstones. Any extra cholesterol in the diet from cheese, meat, milk, and eggs merely speeds up this process. Arterial damage results from the combined effect of the normal pulsatile pressure applied to the arteries, which are accumulating cholesterol from a chronic overdose of the LDL lipoprotein, the otherwise normal cell food. After years of this, depending upon the faultiness of our diet, the depositaries become full, and the blood cholesterol level begins to climb, and arteries plug up.

Scientific Information Regarding Free Fats in the Diet: There may be occasions when we will need to eat foods which contain free fats because that is the best we can get, but free fats are not the best foods. It interferes with digestion. Gastric emptying is regulated by the amount of calories per gram of the food that enters the duodenum from the stomach. "The higher the concentration of carbohydrate or triglyceride (fat), the slower is the [gastric] emptying." ¹⁸ One physiologist puts it this way, "Since fats are particularly effective in inhibiting gastric emptying, some people drink milk, cream, or even olive oil before a cocktail party. The fat keeps the alcohol in the stomach for a long time…" ¹⁷ The caloric density of free fat is twenty times that of most vegetables, ten times that of most raw fruit, seven times that of most cooked grains, five times that of avocados and olives, one and a half times that of nuts and high fat seeds. Corn oil has ten times the caloric density of corn, and soy oil has nearly seven times that of cooked soybeans. While in the stomach, free fats tend to gravitate like cream to the top. ¹⁹ Protein digestion begins in the stomach, but the acid and enzymes cannot have as ready access to foods in the stomach if they are coated with free fat. In view of the fact that free fats are empty calories, may be modified during refining, delay stomach emptying, interfere with protein digestion in the stomach, and may become toxic radicals through oxidation, many health conscious persons conclude that free fats are an inferior food.

Does Lowering Blood Cholesterol Always Mean Clearing of Tissue Cholesterol? Exchanging saturated fats for polyunsaturated fats without lowering the total amount of fat in the diet will lower the serum cholesterol. But, even though that dietary change may lower the serum cholesterol, it does not consistently remove the excess cholesterol from the tissues. It only postpones the heart attack, etc. ²⁰ The epidemiological studies of Seventh-day Adventists ^{21, 22} on a lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet have shown a decreased risk of dying of a heart attack at a certain age in comparison with those who eat meat. That is good and important news. However, the other side of the coin is that they die of the same ailments; it just takes five to ten years longer. In the Ornish study ²³ the control subjects who, perhaps cut back a little, but continued on a diet with added oil and some cholesterol, had worsening or their atherosclerosis. The five of seventeen who exercised more and cut back on their calories showed very slight regression. The conclusion was, "adherence to this lifestyle program needs to be very good for overall regression to occur." We need to make plans to help those who need more than ordinary change to a low fat, high fiber diet, since 19% of his patients on the experimental diet had little or no regression or had progression of their atherosclerosis. Our experience at Weimar Institute would be consistent with that.

Selected monkeys on a diet of fruit and cereal with added oil and cholesterol developed 58% closure of their coronary arteries in 18 months. If the added cholesterol was discontinued and the free oil stopped, forty months later their arteries had opened up an average of 71%. ²⁴ In that experiment, the continued use of oil (without cholesterol) delayed reopening of the arteries. Is it worth the risk to interfere with regression by eating free fat?

Is There Danger of a Deficiency of Essential oils on the Low Fat Diet? Calculations show that a low fat diet with 10% of the calories from fat will supply adequate essential oils. The average adult should get from 1%-3% of their calories from the polyunsaturated fats linoleic or r-linolenic acids (omega-6) and a-linolenic acid (omega-3) in a ratio of two omega-6 to one omega-3. ^{25, 26} A person who eats 1200 calories daily would absorb about 1000 calories. Ten percent of 1000 calories would be 11 grams of fat. Over half of the oil in the fruit, vegetables, and grains occur as omega-6 or omega-3 oils in a ratio slightly favoring the omega-6 fats. ²⁷ Thus, there would be at least 5.5 grams of essential oils on the low fat, total vegetarian diet. This is a sizeable margin over the 2-4 grams recommended. Most animal products, including milk, have less than 15% of their calories as essential oils. Neither our group nor the Pritikin Clinic nor the Ornish group has observed any evidence of a deficiency of essential fats. They may not take vitamin B-12, which needs to be taken; they may not get enough iodine or calcium or magnesium or zinc unless they select proper foods, but fat deficiency is quite unlikely. Aboriginal tribes are known to have subsisted on a low fat diet of this degree for centuries. ^{28, 29} They are subject to the diseases of poor sanitation, but they are not plagued by the degenerative diseases of civilized societies until they change to a "civilized" diet.

What Guidance Do We Have from the Bible? There seems little question that God's original plan was that man should subsist on the natural produce of the field. There was no killing. None drank milk except from his own mother. None ate eggs of a bird; it was bird progeny/ Three things were given for food for Adam and Eve and for animals: Eseb, translated as herbs and really meant glistening green herbs or shoots; Peree, translated as fruit; and Zeroim, translated as seeds. Genesis 1:29, 30; 3:2, 3, 18; 9:3. It was only after the Flood that God permitted flesh foods to be used for food; yet the blood of the animal was excluded. Genesis 9:2-6. The results of this can be seen in that by the time that Peleg was born 99 years after the Flood, life expectancy had dropped from 900 years to about 240 years.

By the time of the Exodus of Israel, 860 years later, the life expectancy of the Pharoahs had declined to 60 to 70 years. Moses and his relatives lived nearer 120 to 140 years. At that time God restricted, not only the blood but also the fat of animals, and limited the choice of animals for food to the "clean," total vegetarian, non-scavenger animals and fish (Leviticus 3:17; 7:22-27; 11:2-47). He wanted them to be vegetarians. He provided "produce from the field, honey, that wonderful manna, and was upset with them when they craved meat" (Numbers 11:1-23). God is merciful and gave them the desires of their hearts sometimes even though He knew that they would suffer terrible consequences.

The Scriptures are relatively silent in regard to what God thinks about oil as a food. The life of Jesus shows us that some things must be done at times to teach us truths. He ate fish and honey and served His disciples fish after His resurrection. Why? Because important doctrinal and spiritual lessons were at stake. He must show them that it was He, alive in His human flesh, and that He had a commission to give them for the whole world (Luke 24:37-49; John 21:5-23). In spiritual things oil symbolizes the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Holy Spirit gives us light, strengthens us, and enables us to perform good deeds through the ministry of "Light of the world," Jesus (John 8:12; Zech. 4:6). This is the emphasis of our Lord, whose heavenly duties were foreshadowed by the priestly service in the sanctuary. These instructions in the use of oil for the sanctuary service were no more dietary instructions than were the rituals of the eating lamb by the priests. They both pointed out that Jesus, as the "Light of the world," shows us the way of salvation; the eating of the lamb meant that the priest took the sinner's guilt upon himself, as Jesus was to do to die in the sinner's place.

Moses gave us a "food frequency" list of the common foods on the diet of Israel is the wilderness (Deut. 32:13, 14). That diet included produce of the field, honey, oil, milk and cheese, and the fat of rams. (Manna was conspicuously omitted.) Moses also told us the results of their food selection – they "waxed fat" (Deut. 32:15). We can only surmise what they died from, but the Psalmist says, "the wrath of God…slew the fattest of them" (Ps. 78:31). Israel hankered for their diet while in Egypt, and God gave it to them. But they suffered the consequences. The diseases of the Egyptians (Ex. 26:15) included the common occurrence of atherosclerosis, obesity, diabetes, and degenerative arthritis.

The Bible records of oil as food are more of a historical record of the dietary rather than instructions in proper diet. Time and circumstances need to be taken into consideration. Oil was used in ancient times for fuel, for lighting, and in bread making. Mankind had to devise ways to store calories between growing seasons. Among the ancient ways was the storage of dried fruit, raisins, and olive oil. The widow in Elijah's time was in little danger of getting atherosclerosis on a starvation regimen. The widow of Elisha could sell the oil for several purposes. The sanctuary service was given to show us details of the plan of salvation from sin, but not for directions of what to eat.

Battle Creek Sanitarium, a "Conditioning Center" 100 Years Ago: One of the founders of a health-conditioning center was Ellen White, well-known leader of the Seventh-day Adventist church. After 1868 Ellen White wrote repeatedly against the use of "grease of all kind'. ³⁰ There is a difference of opinion as to whether Ellen White's statements about "grease of any kind" apply to oil as well as to unctuous grease. Others may differ, but grease is oily and oil is greasy. Oil is some kind of grease. The real question is, which is the more healthful diet to eat.

The editor of the Battle Creek journal listed simple fruits, vegetables, and whole grains that were served at a banquet he attended on July 21, 1871, at the Battle Creek Sanitarium. He then commented, "It is to be noticed that butter, grease of all kinds, tea, coffee, spice, pepper, ginger, and nutmeg, were wholly discarded in the cookery, and were not in use upon the tables." ³¹

John H. Kellogg, director of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, applied the total vegetarian diet and wrote:

"The objection is not against fat, per se, but against taking it in a free state. When taken in the form in which nature presents them, enclosed in cells in such vegetable foods as maize, oatmeal, nuts, and some fruits, fats are wholesome and nutritious elements of food. It is only when separated from the other elements and taken in a free state that they become unwholesome. When taken into the stomach in the form in which nature furnishes them, they offer no obstacle to digestion. It is only when taken as free fats that they become a means of producing disturbance of digestive functions. When taken in their natural state, vegetable fats are likely to be taken only in such quantity as can be digested….It makes little or no difference, so far as the interference with digestion is concerned, whether the fat is animal or vegetable….The persistent efforts of individuals to discover some cheap vegetable substitute for butter and lard are painfully ludicrous….We do not recommend the use of any free fat." ³²

It is interesting to note that when Ellen White writes about the use of "olive oil," it is used for making poultices, etc. But, when she writes about the benefits of oil from the olive as food, she carefully phrases each statement to say, "oil in the olive." ³³ Olive oil is a different food than olives. Even the USDA handbook on composition of foods lists them separate.

When you ask little "Olive Oil" what she has to offer, she replies, "I give you 100 calories of fat, some of which is oxidized, 1.6 mg of vitamin E, 0.04 mg of iron, and 0.008 mg of zinc, and that's about it." When you ask "olive Fruit," she says, "I give you 100 calories of unoxidized oil, 0.9 gm of protein, up to 2.0 gms of carbohydrate, 4.0 gms of fiber, 2.25 gms of sodium, 91 mg potassium, 61 mg of calcium, 22 mg of magnesium, 1.0 mg of iron, 0.23 mg of copper, 36 mg of sulfur, measurable amounts of manganese, selenium, and iodine in nanograms, 2.0 mg of vitamin E, 180 ug of carotent, trace to 0.1 mg quantities of thiamine, riboflavin, trypophan, niacin, B-6, folate, panthothenate, and biotin.

Benefits of a Total Vegetarian Diet of Natural Produce: The program of low fat, high fiber dietary and conditioning exercise popularized by Nathan Pritikin ³⁴ has been found to be of great help in patients with coronary heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and other degenerative diseases. In fact, the only diet which, when combined with exercise and stress control, has been shown to produce clinical as well as anatomical regression of atheromatous plaques is the low fat (8%-12% of calories as fat), total vegetarian, no refined food, high fiber diet. ^{23, 35} Ornish ²³ has reported regression in 81% of patients with coronary heart disease with such a program.

Over the past twelve years the staff at Weimar Institute has used this total vegetarian diet of natural produce along with the other "true remedies" that God has given³⁶ in the treatment of degenerative diseases. In addition to the exclusion of animal products, we have excluded all refined foods such as sugar, harmful spices, free fat, white rice, and refined flour. We found decided benefit in patients with coronary heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and certain other conditions, if we restricted the high fat natural foods, such as nuts, olives, avocados, and high fat seeds from the diet.

Patients, who carefully adhered to the program, obtained documented improvement as follows: Most patients got a consistent improvement inn general health. Unfortunately, some of them, those who waited too long to change their lifestyle, received little benefit. Over half of the patients with coronary heart disease have cessation of angina or definite improvement of it within two weeks. ³⁷ Furthermore, in the few that we have followed there was a gradual return of the treadmill-exercise test to normal over a period of years. Sixty-seven percent of the hypertensives had control of blood pressure to below 140/90 without medication in three weeks. ³⁸ The fasting blood sugar was controlled within three weeks to below 120 mg% without insulin or other medications in 33% of those with adult-onset types diabetes. The painful aspects of diabetic neuropathy disappeared within three weeks in 80% of such cases. ³⁹ The average obese patient lost ten pounds in three weeks without feeling hungry. Remission of the acute manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis occurred in over half of the patients within two weeks. Over half of the patients with degenerative arthritis of the back, hips, or knees improved or had complete relief of joint pain. We noticed that a "little" oil and/or a "little" sugar interfered with the symptomatic recovery. Patients with allergic states or multiple sclerosis may also require the elimination from the diet of certain natural foods to which they are sensitive. After two weeks on this program the average serum cholesterol decreased 18% or more in those with values above 180 mg%, and the triglycerides decreased by an average of 23% or more in those over 150 mg%. The exercise capability as measured by the Brice treadmill test averaged 40%-50% greater after three weeks on the program. ³⁷

It is not necessary to use free oil in the diet. If someone needs extra fat calories to maintain weight, they can get plenty of it by including foods naturally high in fat like soybeans, olives, nuts, and avocados. Peanuts and peanut butter are not the best for three reasons. They are relatively high in oxalate. They are commonly much too high in aflatoxin, a carcinogen. ⁴⁰ There is a debate on this; but since good investigators⁴¹ report that, in comparable doses, peanut oil induced atherosclerosis in the monkeys more readily than did other free fats, we advise against peanuts and peanut butter in the diet. Ellen White wrote, "Almonds are preferable to peanuts." ⁴²

Recommendations by various nutrition groups should be taken into consideration. However, while the nutritionists in general have been arguing about how low the restriction of saturated fats should be in the diet, a diet of natural produce has, all the while, supplied very low levels. Honest men of science are facing the fact that the best diet for good health is one that consists predominantly of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and grains. Only in the past ten years has the concept been more generally accepted that cholesterol can be removed from plugged arteries by diet or medication. It took the Senator McGovern committee and coronary heart disease for Americans to begin cutting back on the saturated fats and total fats to below 30% of calories. ⁴³ Now it takes cancer investigators to alert us to cut the polyunsaturated fats and total fats to below 20% of calories. ⁴⁴

A total vegetarian diet may need supplementation, but not with added fat. In the opinion of this author, care must be taken to obtain adequate vitamin B-12, vitamin D, iodine, and calcium and magnesium. Bacteria can make vitamin B-12; but neither plants nor animals can. ⁴⁵ A dietary of clean, unspoiled vegetarian produce, results in below normal levels of B-12 in half and an increase in methylmalonic acid in one-third of the individuals. ^{46, 47} Body stores can be maintained by a weekly dose of 50 to 500 micrograms of B-12, chewed, in the food. Sunshine can convert cholesterol into vitamin D, but in climate or living conditions in which regular adequate exposure to sunshine is not possible, it would be wise to take the daily recommended allowance (RDA) of vitamin D. Since many soils are deficient in iodine, our table salt, and even the sea salt should be iodized also. If our salt intake is restricted, two or three kelp pills daily can supply adequate iodine. Our best way to get calcium and magnesium would be from a couple of hefty servings of greens such as collards, mustard, kale, broccoli, turnip, or Chinese cabbage on a daily basis. (Spinach, chard, and beet tops contain good protein and vitamins, but are high in calcium-binding oxalate.) For those who cannot obtain good greens on a regular basis, it would be wise to supplement these minerals in the diet. The Hopi and Navajo natives increased the calcium in their tortillas by 300-fold by adding ashes from the root of a juniper bush, and Mexicans increase the calcium in their tortillas by 30-fold when they use lime in their recipe. 48 The use of free fats in foods only complicates the effort to obtain all the nutrients on any kind of diet, including the total vegetarian diet.

"Again and again I have been shown that God is trying to lead us back, step by step, to His original design - that man should subsist upon the natural products of the earth." 49 "Grains and fruits prepared free from grease, and in as natural a condition as possible, should be the food for the tables of all who claim to be preparing for translation to Heaven." ⁵⁰

Let us work together as nearly as possible to present a united front against disease and its causes. If the natural produce had needed more fat in it, would not the Creator have supplied it? If our salad greens had needed more fat, would not God have noticed that and added the "dressing"? Solomon wrote, "He that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich (Prov. 21:17).

The Lord has given us a very beautiful health message. Let us allow for differences of opinion, seek for greater understanding of the truth both through science and Inspiration, and work in harmony as much as possible.

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