Medicine: Oil for Troubled Arteries?

There is mounting though far from conclusive evidence that 1) high amounts of cholesterol in the blood may increase the likelihood of heart attacks, and 2) the intake of unsaturated fatty acids, e.g., linoleic acid, derived mostly from vegetable oil, lowers the amount of cholesterol. With these facts in view, three pharmaceutical firms are rushing to market preparations containing such acids. All use safflower oil, which contains about 80% linoleic acid, is extracted from seeds of a thistlelike plant long grown in Africa, India, the Middle East. First marketers: San Francisco’s Safflower Products Corp. (Saffola), North Chicago’s Abbot Laboratories (Saff), Chicago’s Armour Laboratories (Arcofac). Saffola is offered as a salad or cooking oil; the others are emulsions to be taken as medicine.