European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 24, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tongues firmly in Cheek researchers examine scottish diet by Harold m. Schmeck or. New York times the British medical journal weekly publication famous forts science but Little known for whimsy has broken new ground in both Fields. In a recent Issue the scholarly journal carried a report on the health effects of Haggis the scottish National dish that includes a variety of meats mixed together and boiled in a sheep s stomach. The researchers concluded that scots should continue to eat it in spite of its High fat and Salt Content. Whether foreigners should do so was left unclear but the authors suggested that the Haggis tolerance test May be  the scientists described their work modestly As ill conceived and badly designed but brilliantly  conforming with current Standard practice they said the project used Only statistical tests that produced significant results. We studied 16 healthy male volunteers that is conscripted medical colleague including six expatriate scots and 10 Sassen Achs the report said. Sass Enach is a somewhat pejorative scottish word for the English. Each Volunteer ate 200 Grams of Haggis for breakfast with Apple or Orange juice to help swallowing but whisky was withheld until the end of the study the report said. The experimental dose of Haggis was made from a traditional recipe. It contained lambs heart and lungs pigs liver beef suet and coarse Oatmeal. The mixture is cooked minced and seasoned with Salt Black Pepper coriander and Ginger then boiled in a sheep s stomach. The volunteers blood was tested periodically for fat Content after eating. The tests indicated that within 90 minutes of the meal the level of certain blood fats Rose sharply in the Sassen Achs. But the scots seemed resistant the researchers said adding that the reasons Are now the subject of intense  the Scot who showed the greatest postprandial fall in triglyceride concentration spent the interval Between the 30 and 90 minute samples performing cardiac surgery which suggests that this May have a protective effect the report said. But the practice of cardiac surgery could hardly be advocated As a mass preventive  have scots developed genetic tolerance to Haggis their National dish is file photo the authors Are Alan g. Fraser Alan Rees Stephanie Matthews and Geraint t. Williams of the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff. Their project bore the formal title of the Cardiff heart Alveoli gut and Grain ingestion study or Haggis. The authors speculated that scots May have evolved a genetic tolerance to Haggis and that this might be implemented by Auto regulation of intestinal Haggis receptors should they exist or de repression of alternative Catabolic pathways for  they suggested that epidemiological studies of trends in Haggis consumption and heart disease Over the centuries would be valuable. Ethical approval was not sought and informed consent could not be obtained As so Little is known about the consequences of eating Haggis the scientists noted adding there was no control group because we deemed it unethical to withhold Haggis from any  hostility can be medically hazardous by Janny Scott los Angeles times cynicism mistrust and anger toward others Are the toxic Core of Type a behaviour the precise forms of hostility that place Many workaholics at increased risk of heart disease and Early death new research suggests. The research conducted at Duke University and discussed at an american heart association forum in Monterey calif., found that lawyers who fit a Broad definition of hostility while they were in Law school were More than four times As Likely As others to die during the ensuing 25 years. At especially High risk were those inclined to Harbor a cynical mistrust of the motives of others and who openly and frequently expressed their anger their death rate Over the 25-year period was 5.5 times As High As that of More trusting attorneys in the study. Trusting hearts last longer concluded or. Redford b. Williams jr., a professor of psychiatry at Duke University medical Center in Durham . Williams said his research is helping refine the Long controversial hypothesis that ambitious impatient Type a people Are More prone than others to heart disease. Williams also offered a theory to explain that link. He suggested that hostile Type a people May be endowed with a weak parasympathetic Branch of the autonomic nervous system the Branch responsible for exerting a calming effect after the fight or flight response triggered in people faced with emergencies. In a recent study of the effects of a drug that stimulates the fight or flight response Williams said the calming parasympathetic Branch seemed to kick in sooner in Type b men. That study and others suggest that the fight or flight response is blunted More quickly in non hostile Type b men than in Type a men he said. The Type a hypothesis emerged during the 1970s As a result of a Long Range study that found impatient ambitious and hostile men were twice As Likely As their More easygoing counterparts to suffer some form of coronary disease. Those conditions included the blocked coronary arteries that Lead to heart attacks. But More recent studies have challenged those findings suggesting the link Between personality and health is More Subtle and Complex. In recent years researchers have focused on hostility As perhaps the most pernicious Quality in Type a behaviour. The findings presented monday Point to what specific aspects of hostility Are most harmful. In his most recent study to be published this Spring Williams studied 118 lawyers who had undergone psychological testing in Law school. Twenty five years later the death rate among those with High hostility scores was 4.2 times higher than the rate among the others. Tuesday january 24, 1989 the rate was even higher among those who were especially cynical and mistrustful the Type of people Williams said inclined to blow up Over slow elevators and Long Bank lines and at supermarket shoppers entering express Check out lines with one item too Many. We re talking about attitudes and beliefs Williams said. He said such people think the worst of others. For example they think to themselves someone s holding up the elevator. Why Don t the people in the Bank line have their checks ready Williams findings Drew a Cool response monday from or. Meyer Friedman one of the two san Francisco cardiologists who first developed the Type a theory in the 1960s. While Friedman said he agreed that hostility is a component of Type a behaviour he said a sense of time urgency is equally important. The countries that Are fighting the pressures of time Are the countries that Are fighting heart disease Friedman said in a Telephone interview. He noted that while there is much hostility in prison systems there is no sense of time urgency and therefore no increased rate of heart attacks he said. Friedman now medical director of the Meyer Friedman Institute at mount Zion Hospital and medical Center in san Francisco also challenged Williams emphasis on cynicism. He said he believes that inadequate self esteem and insecurity Are More significant personality characteristics leading to increased heart disease. The stars and stripes Page 17