AHA

"Despite the limitations of the tools and procedures used in this study some provocative findings have been produced. There appears to be a real difference in risk of developing severe manifestations of CHD for farmers as contrasted with other occupations as a group. The explanation for this difference deserves more intensive study. Some comments should be made on the lack of apparent differences in recent dietary patterns of coronary cases in comparison with controls. This does not necessarily mean that dietary factors may not be important in the development of coronary heart disease. Mean dietary intake will have to be assessed in relation to height-weight-activity characteristics. Even this may not reveal differences between coronary cases and controls since the fat consumption in the population studied was surprisingly uniform. As is shown in Table 6, the calories from fat ranged only between 40 and 50 per cent in two-thirds of the men studied. Under such conditions, considering the potential inherent error in dietary interview procedures, it seems unlikely that any relationship between diet and CHD can be established. These dietary findings suggest the probable importance of factors other than diet in determining why, in populations on relatively high fat diets, some males develop CHD and others do not."

By 1960, it had more than 300 chapters and brought in more than $30 million annually. With continued support from P&G and other food giants, the AHA would soon become the premiere heart disease group in the United States, as well as the largest not for profit group of any kind in the country. 

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By 1960, the AHA was investing hundreds of millions of dollars in research.The group had become the authoritative source of information about heart disease for the public, government agencies, and professionals alike, including the media."-Nina Teicholz - The Big Fat Surprise - Page 48

CURRENT available knowledge is sufficient to warrant a general statement regarding the relation of diet to the possible prevention of atherosclerosis (Appendix I).

A heart attack, also called coronary thrombosis or myocardial infarction, or just plain "coronary," is almost always caused by atherosclerosis (arteriosclerosis or hardening of the arteries). Stroke, or apoplexy, is often caused by the same condition. The problem of preventing or retarding these diseases is, then, one of preventing or retarding atherosclerosis.

How Does Atherosclerosis Develop?—  Athero-Atherosclerosis is a complex disease of the arteries. It is known that a number of factors influence or are related to its development. Among these factors are a high content in the blood of a type of fat called cholesterol, elevation of blood pressure above normal, presence of diabetes, obesity, and a habit of excessive cigarette smoking. Age, sex, and heredity are also important.

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"The AHA committee swung around in favor of Keys,Stamler's ideas, and the resulting report in 1961 argued that "the best available evidence available at the present time" suggested that Americans could reduce their risk of heart attacks and strokes by cutting the saturated fat and cholesterol in their diets.
The report also recommended the "reasonable substitution" of saturated fat with polyunsaturated fats such as corn or soybean oil. This so-called "prudent diet" was still relatively high in fat overall. In fact, the AHA would not stress the reduction of total fat until 1970, when Jerry Stamler steered the group in this direction. For the first decade, however, the group's focus was primarily on reducing the consumption of the saturated fats found in meat, cheese, whole milk, and other dairy products. The 1961 AHA report was the first official statement by a national group anywhere in the world recommending that a diet low in saturated fats be employed to prevent heart disease."

-Nina Teicholz - Big Fat Surprise - page 50

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"Less than four years later, the evidence hadn’t changed, but now a sixman ad-hoc committee, including Keys and Jeremiah Stamler, issued a new AHA report that reflected a change of heart. Released to the press in December 1960, the report was slightly over two pages long and had no references.*6 Whereas the 1957 report had concluded that the evidence was insufficient to authorize telling an entire nation to eat less fat, the new report argued the opposite—“the best scientific evidence of the time” strongly suggested that Americans would reduce their risk of heart disease by reducing the fat in their diets, and replacing saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats. This was the AHA’s first official support of Keys’s hypothesis, and it elevated high cholesterol to the leading heart-disease risk. Keys considered the report merely an “acceptable compromise,” one with “some undue pussy-footing” because it didn’t insist all Americans should eat less fat, only those at high risk of contracting heart disease (overweight middle-aged men, for instance, who smoke and have high cholesterol)."

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-Gary Taubes - Good Calories Bad Calories - Chapter 1

Event Rich Text

In 1965, the AHA president worked closely with Congress to establish the Regional Medical Programs Service as part of the NHI, which, through a contract with the AHA, went through an elaborate process to set up standards for cardiovascular care across the country.

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Ten months later, in October 1965, from legislation introduced by Senator Lister Hill of Alabama and Representative Oren Harris of Arkansas, the Heart Disease, Cancer and Stroke Amendments became law (Public Law 89-239). The act authorized the establishment and maintenance of Regional Medical Programs. Its purpose was " to encourage and assist in the establishment of regional cooperative arrangements among medical schools, research institutions, and hospitals for research and training, including continuing education, and for related demonstration of patient care . . . . " (Sec. 900, Public Law 89-239). Fifty-six regions were established, covering the nation, including Puerto Rico. In December 1965, the National Advisory Council on Regional Medical Programs met to initiate the program, and in February, Dr. Robert Q. Marston was appointed first Director of the Division of RMP, an NIH office. Dr. Marston served as Associate Director of NIH, under Director James A. Shannon. The National Advisory Council awarded the first planning grants in April 1966, followed by the first operational grants ten months later, in February 1967. By the end of that year, sixty-one Regional Medical Programs had been designated and four of these were operational. Most programs were located at or near university medical schools.