Coconut Oil

How did local moviegoers react to Tuesday's news that popcorn coated with coconut oil can be hazardous to your heart? Like Rhett Butler, answered James Edwards Sr., founder of Edwards Theatres Circuit Inc., Orange County's largest movie chain. Several of his patrons, Edwards said, assumed Butler's cavalier attitude of "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

Hamburgers, hot dogs--and now popcorn. What's next on the killjoy list of yummies deemed dangerous to your health? The popcorn served at most movie theaters can help give you heart disease, according to a study released Monday by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit consumer group. That's because artery-clogging coconut oil high in saturated fat is used to pop roughly 70% of the corn being pushed across refreshment counters, the study found.

Canola, the Canadian oilseed that claims to be low in saturated fat, is making inroads in the salad oil market south of the border and even enticing some American farmers to plant the tiny, black oilseed. It is no coincidence that the Canola Council of Canada held its annual meeting this year in Chicago because Canadians believe that the United States holds the best potential for reviving the lagging industry. The main wedge that the canola industry plans to use to break into the U.S. market is health, which they hope will make canola oil a premium-priced product consumers ask for by name.

Phil Sokolof, a 65-year-old self-made millionaire from Omaha, Neb., is spending part of his fortune to fight heart disease and what he calls "the poisoning of America." A heart attack survivor, Sokolof--who still runs the successful metal manufacturing company that he started as a young man--contends that food giants are "poisoning" America by using palm oil and coconut oil in cookies, crackers, shortening, non-dairy creamers and many other foods.

Irvine-based Taco Bell, the nation's largest chain of Mexican fast-food restaurants, has announced that it will discontinue use of coconut oil for frying sometime this fall--a move that comes after vocal consumer group criticism of the use of the oil, among the fattiest cooking oils known.

Fish oil fed to rhesus monkeys blocks hardening of the arteries induced by high-fat foods, researchers reported at a American Heart Assn. meeting. In a finding that may have major implications for the human diet, University of Chicago scientists said their study is the first to demonstrate that fish oil directly reduces cholesterol buildup in primates, adding to a growing body of evidence that suggests a diet rich in fish can help prevent heart disease.