Volume 4
WHAT’Snew
Fat
For more than a few decades the medical community told us that fat was bad. Much maligned, fat was deemed enemy number one of hearts and brains as well as waistlines. What’s New spoke with Dean G. Karalis, MD, FACC, FNLA, director of Preventive Cardiology, at Pennsylvania Hospital, and a clinical professor of Medicine at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, to explore recent research showing how the tide against some fats is turning — and what it all means for both physicians and patients. It had been thought that saturated fat — animal-based fats such as those found in dairy products and red meat — was the enemy of all circulatory systems. Thus, the medical community recommended a low-fat diet to prevent cardiovascular disease for decades. Now, this no longer holds true. In 2005, a huge Harvard study — nearly 80,000 U.S. women over 20 years (1980 to 2000) — was published in The American Journal of Epidemiology in which specific types of dietary fat were examined for their association with coronary heart disease. Results showed a benefit of polyunsaturated fats (olive, soybean, corn and sunflower oil and fatty fish like salmon and mackerel) in preventing coronary disease.
Inside Penn Medicine Patient Experience Week Events........................................... 2 Please Welcome................................... 3 Fat – No Longer a Dietary Dirty Word (cont’d)................................ 3 New Knowledge Link Training Opportunities.......................... 4 Nominations for Master Clinicians.... 4 Giving is Penn’s Way............................ 4
At the opposite end, the study showed the intake of trans-fat, man-made trans fatty acids created by adding hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to solidify them (think margarine sticks, coffee creamers, cookies, cakes, pie crusts, ready-made frosting, and other junk foods), were found to increase the risk coronary heart disease in women. While the Harvard study didn’t venture into the arena of “saturated fats,” it certainly reflected a trend recognizing the rise of the “good fats.” / / / Continued on page 3
October 2, 2015
Pennsylvania Hospital
No Longer a Dietary Dirty Word
Open Access to Families and Visitors of Critical Care Unit Patients............... 2
Number 20
PAH Cardiologist Named President Elect of the NE Chapter of the NLA Dean G. Karalis, MD, FACC, FNLA, director of Preventive Cardiology, at PAH, and a clinical professor of Medicine at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, has been named the president elect of the Northeast Chapter of the National Lipid Association (NLA), and takes office in May 2016. The NLA consists of a total of five regional chapters representing more than 3,500 members from the U.S. It is a multidisciplinary specialty society including physicians, allied health clinicians, researchers, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists and dietitians. The NLA was formed in 2000 to promote the specialization of clinical lipidology, a fairly young yet rapidly growing integrative branch of medicine focusing on lipids (molecules of fats, oils, waxes, some vitamins, and hormones), their metabolism and associated disorders. Associated disorders such as heart attack and stroke account for approximately one-third of all deaths in the U.S. “Lipid management involving lifestyle, dietary and pharmacologic interventions has shown to be a most way to treat cardiovascular disease, yet the number of specialists with expertise in lipid management is lacking in proportion to the number of patients facing cardiovascular and metabolic disorders,” said Daniel J. McCormick, DO, FACC, FSCAI, an interventional cardiologist at PAH and long-time colleague of Karalis. Board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease and Lipidology, Karalis is also a fellow of the National Lipid Association. He received his medical degree from Albany Medical College of Union University. He completed a residency at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and North Shore University Hospital and a fellowship at Hahnemann University Hospital.
Honoring Our ICN Graduates.............. 4
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