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.”
The results are still
preliminary, however.
Writing in an accompanying
commentary, James W.
Anderson of the University of
Kentucky notes that if the findings
are confirmed by larger and more
rigorous studies, they could have farreaching
implications for many
patients suffering from cholesterol
problems. He notes “those who are
motivated to adopt prudent diets
might achieve meaningful lipid
reductions without pharmacotherapy.”
Sarah Graham
(Scientific American – 29 July 2003)
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