High cholesterol? Try a Big Mac with fries: [6 NSW Country Edition]
Peter Wilson Lipkoning, Sweden, John Stapleton. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 07 Mar 2007: 3.
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Abstract
In Dr [Fredrik Nystrom]'s experiment, the first to apply laboratory conditions to [Morgan Spurlock]'s experience, the subjects did not suffer depression and on average their cholesterol profiles actually improved. Like Spurlock, some of the subjects suffered signs of possible liver damage during the first two weeks of their burger- heavy diet but, unlike him, they generally saw any damage level off or reduce as their bodies apparently adjusted to their new low- exercise, high-calorie regime.
SUPER Size Me, the US documentary that attacked the nutritional standards of the McDonald's food chain, may have seriously overstated the damaging consequences of a fast food-heavy diet.
Fredrik Nystrom, an associate professor at Sweden's Lipkoning University, will this week submit for publication the first results of an experiment in which 18 healthy students reproduced the experience of filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, who lived for a month on a McDonald's diet.
Spurlock's 2004 film shocked filmgoers around the world by showing his weight balloon by 13per cent while his cholesterol profile and liver health deteriorated dangerously. He reported mood swings, depression and loss of libido.
But in Dr Nystrom's experiment, the first to apply laboratory conditions to Spurlock's experience, the subjects did not suffer depression and on average their cholesterol profiles actually improved. Like Spurlock, some of the subjects suffered signs of possible liver damage during the first two weeks of their burger- heavy diet but, unlike him, they generally saw any damage level off or reduce as their bodies apparently adjusted to their new low- exercise, high-calorie regime.
Spurlock has refused to comment on the Swedish results, with a spokesman in Los Angeles telling The Australian that the filmmaker had "moved on to other projects".
The negative publicity sparked by his film helped to push McDonald's into introducing healthier menus and putting less emphasis on encouraging people to eat large meals. Super Size Me was popular in Australia, but the Golden Arches seem to have lost little of their popularity.
Dr Nystrom, who spent an estimated $250,000 of research funds on the study, including $25,000 on fast food, said the project had no links with the fast food industry but he believed McDonald's would not be unhappy with the results.
The surprising finding that there was an improvement in the proportion of "good cholesterol" in subjects' blood meant that fast food "cannot really be called junk food," Dr Nystrom told The Australian. "On the basis of my research, you certainly can't refer to this food as junk food. It's fast food because it is a fast way of taking on a lot of calories but it is not just junk."
Features -- Page 13
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