VIEWPOINTS Ironically, Mann's book presents another character, Peeperkorn, who, in a more charismatic than logical way, exerts the strongest influence on those around him. He is not unlike the fad diet exponent or the quasi-scientific author of nutrition-oriented bestsellers or even the quack who thrives on personality cults and public relations expertise to popularize products and practices that may interfere with valid dietary and medical intervention. The other source I consider applicable here is Luigi Pirandello's play Right You Are (If You Think You Are). Two of the characters, a husband and his mother-in-law, offer conflicting stories concerning the status of his wife. One story is thought to be reality and one fantasy, but without documentation neither can be wholly accepted by the townspeople, who try to extract an answer from the wife/daughter in question. However, she gives credence to both stories, and the townspeople, as well as the audience, are left with their curiosity unsatisfied. Again, the reader or viewer becomes acquainted with a situation similar to one that is sometimes encountered by nutrition educators. Contradictions that are documented (the role of vitamin C in the common cold, fiber and the etiology of colon cancer, sodium intake and hypertension) come from what appear to be equally reliable sources, and the health educator is left with the thankless task of dramatically presenting information that mayor may not be completely efficacious in maintaining optimal nutrition.
And now, as humanistic educators who are trying to disseminate accurate nutrition information in an imperfect world, let us return to molybdenum and see if we can present that trace mineral in an exciting way. Actually, without molybdenum, life as we know it would not exist even though this trace mineral is one of the rarest in the universe. "For every approximately billion or more hydrogen atoms, there are a million silicon atoms and four molybdenums. So far as we know, it is the only element that can cause fixation of nitrogen, turning gaseous nitrogen into a form that can be used by living things (2)." In other words, to make protein, the sine qua non of life on this planet, we need molybdenum. This works for humans via plants where nitrogen fixation in legumes is dependent upon molybdenum. The proteins we eat and the proteins we become are molybdenum-dependent. Surely such an interesting and resourceful micromineral as molybdenum deserves to be spelled correctly. 0
UTERATURE CITED 1 Minuchin, S., B. L. Rosman, and 1. Baker. Psychosomatic families. Anorexia nervosa in context. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978, pp. 51107.
2 Davis, D. S. B. Hello, out there. The Pennsylvania Ga-
zette 79(7):33-36, May 1981, p . 36.
COFFEE CONSUMPTION, DIET, AND UPIDS Recent reports suggest that coffee consumption may be associated with increased serum cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations. A study based on 2151 adults confirmed a positive relationship between coffee consumption and total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in both sexes (American Journal of Epidemiology 122:112, 1985). Each cup of coffee raised the LDL cholesterol by approximately 1.6 mg/dl in men and 1.1. mg/dl in women. This relationship persisted after adjustment for age, ethnicity, obesity, cigarette smoking, and alcohol consumption. Ironically, neither tea nor cola consumption showed any association with serum lipids or lipoproteins in either sex, suggesting that caffeine alone does not exert a direct effect on lipid levels. In addition, decaffeinated coffee consumption showed no association with either total or LDL cholesterol, but it did show a weak positive association with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The study also considered whether the positive associations between coffee consumption and total and LDL cholest~rol might be due to a more atherogenic diet among heavy coffee drinkers . Increased coffee consumption by men was associated with increased calorie consumption from total and saturated fat, increased cholesterol intake, and decreased polyunsaturated-to-saturated fat ratio; however, no such trends were observed in women. This study, therefore, confirms that the positive relationship between coffee and serum cholesterol may be due to many variables within the diet and not to coffee consumption alone. 234
JOURNAL OF NUTRITION EDUCATION
VOLUME 18
NUMBER 5
1986
