Fanatic Cook on the American Heart Association 8. June 2008 William Davis (7) The Fanatic Cook has posted a stinging criticism of the American Heart Association (AHA):American Heart Association My Fat TranslatorBeyond the nonsensical nutritional recommendations (e.g., substitute small French fries for large French fries), she lists the major financial contributors to the AHA, a Who's Who in the pharmaceutical and processed food industry."For an organization that brought in close to a billion dollars last year, you'd think they could come up with something a little more pronounced. If I was more cynical I'd say the AHA had an interest in keeping Americans fat . . . or at least dependent on a highly-processed, fast food diet, requiring drugs to tweak lab values."To be sure, the AHA does a great deal of good in funding research and educating the public about the prevalence of heart and vascular disease. But their fund raising interests have clearly subverted the honesty of their nutritional advice. Sadly, it is the AHA dietary advice that hospital dietitians use in counseling people with heart disease after their heart attack, stent, or bypass surgery. After my patients are discharged from the hospital for any reason, I tell them to please forget everything the nice hospital dietitian told them. It is not okay to eat the factory farm-raised hamburger on the sugar-equivalent enriched flour bun. Low-fat ice cream is not a healthy substitute for full-fat ice cream. The AHA is no different than the USDA and the American Diabetes Association, "official" organizations that have, in effect, sold out to industry.