A study of diet, blood lipids and vascular disease in Trappist monks.

THE idea for this study arose when one of us (E.P. McC.) was touring with friends in New Mexico. At a monastery gate on the Pecos River a simple sign read "Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance." We rang the bell, which was on a post by the door of the gatehouse. The door was opened by a young man dressed in a long, white robe, with a pointed cowl. He was Father Jerome, who took us in and explained that these monks lead a contemplative life, in silence, and eat no meat, fish, fowl, eggs, almost no butter . . .