Cholesterol & Diet

July 29, 2003

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July 23, 2003

Diet May Cut Cholesterol As Much As Drugs Do

Eating a diet similar to that of our ape ancestors can have as much of an

effect on cholesterol levels as modern medicine does, a new study suggests.

Results published today in the Journal of the American Medical

Association indicate that a strict, low-fat vegetarian diet high in

specific plant products can lower levels of bad cholesterol as much as

widely prescribed statin drugs can.

A number of foods, soy protein and oats among them, have known

cholesterol-lowering effects. David J. A. Jenkins of the University of

Toronto and his colleagues tested a specific vegetarian diet that combined

many of these food groups into one menu that contained high amounts of

plant sterols, fiber, nuts and soy protein. Of the 46 patients with high

cholesterol levels that the team studied, 16 ate this diet for a month. A

second group of 16 ate a regular low-fat vegetarian diet and 14

participants consumed the low-fat diet and took 20 milligrams of

lovastatin, a standard cholesterol-reducing drug. At the end of the study

period, those patients who ate the special diet lowered their levels of

LDL cholesterol (the " bad " type associated with clogging coronary arteries)

by 29 percent whereas the patients taking lovastatin reduced their LDL

levels by 31 percent. The low-fat dieters, in contrast, showed just an 8

percent decrease in the amount of LDL present. " As we age, we tend to get

raised cholesterol, which in turn increases our risk of heart disease, "

Jenkins explains. " This study shows that people now have a dietary

alternative to drugs to control their cholesterol, at least initially. "

A dog has the soul of a philosopher.

--Plato

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