118 THE (HINA STUDYAngeles. He started a study in 1946 (two years before the Framingham
Study) to "determine the relationship of dietary fat intake to the inci-
dence of atherosclerosis."22 In his study he instructed fifty heart attack
survivors to maintain their normal diet and fifty different heart attack
survivors to consume an experimental diet.
In the experimental diet group he reduced the consumption of fat and
cholesterol. One of his published sample menus allowed the patient to
have only a small amount of meat two times a day: two ounces of "cold
roast lamb, lean, with mint jelly" for lunch, and another two ounces of
"lean meats" for dinner.22 Even if you loved cold roast lamb with mint
jelly, you weren't allowed to eat much of it. In fact, the list of prohibited
foods in the experimental diet was fairly long and included cream soups,
pork, fat meats, animal fats, whole milk, cream, butter, egg yolks and
breads and desserts made with butter, whole eggs and whole milk. 22
Did this progressive diet accomplish anything? After eight years,
only twelve of fifty people eating their normal American diet were alive
(24%). In the diet group, twenty-eight people were still alive (56%),
almost two and one-half times the amount of survivors in the control
group. After twelve years, every single patient in the control group was
dead. In the diet group, however, nineteen people were still alive, a
survival rate of 38%.22 While it was unfortunate that so many people in
the dietary group still died, it was clear that they were staving off their
disease by eating moderately less animal foods and moderately more
plant foods (see Chart 5.2).
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zCHART 5.2: SURVIVAL RATE OF DR. MORRISON'S PATIENTS50403020100
0 3 8
Time (years)12-+-Diet
_Control