When making a choice between margarine and butter, keep in mind these eye-opening facts about heart disease.

• Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the single largest killer of American males and females. About every 29 seconds, an American will suffer a coronary event and about every minute, someone will die from one. In 2000, an estimated 1.1 million Americans will have a new or recurrent coronary attack - and over 40 percent of the people who experience an attack will die from it.

• One of the enduring half-truths about cardiovascular disease (CVD) is that "heart disease is a man's disease." The fact is that CVD (e.g. high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, stroke) is devastating to women, too. As women approach the age of menopause, their risk of CVD begins to rise and steadily rises with age. In terms of total deaths, CVD has claimed the lives of more females than males in every year since 1984. These diseases currently claim the lives of more than half a million females every year - more lives than the next 14 causes of death combined.

• An estimated 39.9 million American adults have total blood cholesterol levels that are considered "high," while another 99.5 million American adults have total blood cholesterol levels that are considered "borderline-high." (Studies show that a higher percentage of women than men have "borderline-high" cholesterol levels beginning at age 50.)

• Among children and adolescents ages 4-19 years, total cholesterol and LDL (or "bad") cholesterol averages are higher in females than in males. These averages also are higher in non-Hispanic black children and adolescents when compared to non-Hispanic white and Mexican-American children and adolescents.

• It is well established that high blood cholesterol levels play a role in the development of adult coronary heart disease. Several studies have shown that atherosclerosis begins in childhood and that lowering levels of blood cholesterol in children and adolescents may be beneficial.

• Heredity, although not a controllable risk factor, does play a role in heart disease. In fact, children of parents who have heart disease are more likely to develop heart disease later in life. Because those people with a family history of heart disease are at a greater risk, it is important to focus on controlling other risk factors such as not smoking, keeping cholesterol and blood pressure within a normal range, becoming physically active and maintaining a healthy weight.

• Approximately 105.7 million American adults age 20 and older are considered to be overweight (another risk factor for heart disease), while 43.1 million are considered to be obese. In addition, an estimated 4.9 million children ages 6-17 are considered to be overweight.

• The cost of cardiovascular diseases and strokes in the United States in 2000 is estimated at $326.6 billion.

Source: American Heart Association