irsday, August 31,1989
The Battalion Page 5
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esearchers seek
low cholesterol beef
to boost steak sales
95
SH
UBBOCK (AP) — Researchers
ini this stretch of beef country are
looking for ways to create “healthy
fat” so people concerned about their
cholesterol intake can enjoy steak
again.
|In the cattle-ranching plains sur
rounding Lubbock, signs exhort
people to eat more beef, vegetarians
art looked upon with suspicion and
Bolesterol is considered more of an
i economic than a health threat.
|Many ranchers believe the furor
|er cholesterol and low-density li
poproteins is overblown and un-
faii lyhas harmed their industry.
■“Seventy-five percent of the peo
ple out there can consume choles-
ol with no problem,” Steve Bartle,
cattle researcher at Texas Tech
iversity said. “It’s unfair for 25
percent of the population to dictate
culty/St! 1 ! everyone else’s diet.”
itl.D. HMany doctors believe cholesterol
y with av ajM LDLs contribute to heart disease
Hd hardening of the arteries. Al-
pugh there is no hard scientific
oof that reducing one’s intake of
olesterol will lessen one’s chances
of suffering a heart attack, the quar-
te: of the U.S. population with high
{< levels of cholesterol in their blood
IfKis been urged to cut down on red
meat, including beef .
Blnstead of fighting the anti-cho-
lesierol and LDL trend, Texas Tech
pimal science professor Rodney
Mrs ton decided to see if it is possible
i t| reduce those apparently harmful
? c6raponents of beef fat.
Preston, director of Tech’s Bur
nett Center for Cattle Research and
Instruction, fed whole cottonseed to
a few dozen cattle.
Sure enough, the animals’ back fat
had less cholesterol and LDLs than
normal back fat. Instead, the fat con
tained more stearic acid, which is not
considered as harmful.
It was only a preliminary study,
but researchers believe it indicated
the oil inside the cottonseed altered
the composition of the animals’ fat
so it would be more healthful to eat.
“Using whole cottonseed isn’t
new,” said Bartle, who co-wrote a pa
per on the study that Preston wms de
livering at a conference in Japan last
week. “The idea of trying to alter the
fatty acid composition of animal fat
is relatively new.”
P j
cI 7 -
not a full-blown experiment with
controls and large numbers of cattle,
but was designed to see if it would be
worthwhile to run such an experi
ment. “I would say yes, but the ques
tion is when,” Bartle said.
Preston next wants to analyze the
marbling fat on cottonseed-fed cattle
to see if it, too, shows a decrease in
cholesterol and LDLs. If it does, it
could mean good news to beef pro
ducers. It also could mean good
news for cotton farmers.
Agency liquidates S&L
offers exotic
to run-of-mill homes
J!
I
HOUSTON (AP) — If you’re
looking for an unfinished luxury
« home with no utilities but such ex
tras as graffiti declaring “Led Zeppe
lin Rules,” Frank Norris has just the
iplace for you.
Norris and an aiTOy of bu-
aycrats like him are ready to deal,
hey work for the Resolution Trust
Corp., an agency created Aug. 9
Iwhen President Bush signed legis
lation bailing out the savings and
an industry.
Norris, 55, manages Common-
lealth Savings Association, a Hous
ton thrift institution with $1.6 billion
in assets and $600 million in red ink.
B Along with others working for the
RTC, he’s trying to sell thousands of
repossessed properties the govern
ment is inheriting from as many as
600 failed thrift institutions.
I The properties range from run-
of-the-mill to the exotic; from apart-
ent buildings, shopping centers
and office towers to a windmill farm,
a buffalo sperm bank and the entire
own of Lehigh Acres, Fla., popula-
lon 25,000.
j No one knows for certain how
much it’s all worth. The govern-
enfs own estimate — $300 billion
to $500 billion — leaves a wide mar-
|n for error.
But even at the low end of the
pige, the RTC, when running at
Jill capacity, will in effect be the
largest financial institution in the
untry, twice as large as Citicorp,
the nation’s biggest bank.
Already, lawyers, accountants and
al estate specialists are swarming,
jping to secure contracts as consul
tants helping regulators manage and
sell the property. Speculators are cir-
ing, hoping to buy cheap.
Consumer watchdogs warn the
isk is so mammoth and so difficult
that scandal is inevitable, dwarfing
the troubles now plaguing the De
partment of Housing and Urban De
velopment.
Whether or not these dire predic
tions prove true largely depends on
Norris and other federal agents ma
naging 260 of the most deeply insol
vent S&Ls already under govern
ment control in 33 states.
They are the antithesis of the
high-fliers who drove the S&Ls into
the red by making fraudulent loans
and spending depositors’ funds on
lavish parties and corporate jets.
They drive rented cars, live out of
suitcases and eat in cafeterias for
lunch.
How well they perform likely will
be the critical factor in deciding
whether the government success
fully completes the S&L bailout
without turning to the taxpayers for
more money.
If the RTC sells the property it is
inheriting too fast or too cheaply, it
could rum real estate values across
the oil-producing regions of the
Southwest, further narrowing the
taxpayers’ chances of recovering
part of their contribution to the bail
out, estimated at $ 1,000 each.
If it keeps the property too long,
maintenance and other costs could
quickly pile up, offsetting any gain
realized by holding out for a higher
price.
The problem is that much of it is
virtually unsellable at any price.
Commonwealth’s contribution to
the real estate mess is about $670
million in repossessed property.
Multiply Commonwealth’s problems
30-fold to get an idea of the magni
tude of the S&L mess in Houston.
Multiply Commonwealth 700-fold
to get an appreciation of the prob
lem nationally.
105 FM
featuring:
David Naster
& Taylor Mason
o
Friday - Sept. 1st, 1989
Texas A&M University
Rudder Auditorium
8:00 RM. - 10:30 RM.
KETS IKI- OM.Y £2.1*0?
Tickets Available at the MSC Box Office For more Information call 845-1234
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UNIVERSITY
BOOKSTORES
Northgate Culpepper Village
Shopping Center Plaza Shopping Center
Yes, it's now an Aggie tradi
tion! Cooke Cable Vision is
again offering a deal that no
good Ag can refuse. Get the
first month of The Movie
Channel absolutely FREE
when you sign up at our
24 to September 1) or at Post
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