Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1966, Side 62

Effect of Dietary Whale Fat
in Serum Cholesterol Levels
By Constantin Lygonis.
In studying the dietary factors which influence the serum
cholesterol level, several workers (Groen et al. 1959, Kinsel
et al. 1952, Arhens et al. 1954, Bronte-Stewart et al. 1956)
have found that the quantity of the ingested fat, is as impor-
tant as the quality. Those studies showed that certain fats
increase the serum cholesterol levels and certain decrease it.
Most of these investigations were made in Hospitals in special
units where the subjects were fed diets according to the for-
mula of the investigator. Those diets and the manner of
application, is far from natural and cannot be used for a
long time; and they are not practicable to be applied in a large
number of the population.
I was fortunate enough to work in a community where
whale fat is consumed in the daily diet, and still constitutes
the main source of fat in certain families in the villages. The
diet is mainly dried meat, fish, mostly dried, potatoes and
salted whale meat and whale fat (blubber). (Pilot whale or
Grind).
It was therefore easy to find volunteers to consume for a
period of time only whale fat, while at the same time I had
to find a number of people who did not eat it.
The experiment was carried out in the small island of
Sandoy in the Faroe Islands.