To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org, RGod2 AT aol.com
Cc:
Subject: [Homestead] Diet works as good or better than statins
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 14:50:41 -0500
This diet is hardly what you would call as intuitive, and you will have
to hunt for the ingredients, but if you want to avoid the side-effects
of statins, this is the way to go.
CURRENT EVENTS TOPIC:
"A diet rich in fiber and vegetables lowered cholesterol just as
much as taking a statin drug, Canadian researchers reported on February
7, 2005. They said people who cannot tolerate the statin drugs because
of side-effects can turn to the diet, which they said their volunteers
could easily follow. David Jenkins of St. Michael's Hospital and the
University of Toronto and colleagues created what they called a diet
"portfolio" high in soy protein, almonds, and cereal fiber as well as
plant sterols -- tree-based compounds used in cholesterol-lowering
margarines, salad dressing and other products. They tested their diet on
34 overweight men and women, comparing it with a low-fat diet and with a
normal diet plus a generic statin drug, lovastatin
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A diet rich in fiber and vegetables lowered
cholesterol just as much as taking a statin drug, Canadian researchers
reported Monday.
They said people who cannot tolerate the statin drugs because of
side-effects can turn to the diet, which they said their volunteers
could easily follow.
David Jenkins of St. Michael's Hospital and the University of Toronto
and colleagues created what they called a diet "portfolio" high in soy
protein, almonds, and cereal fiber as well as plant sterols --
tree-based compounds used in cholesterol-lowering margarines, salad
dressing and other products.
They tested their diet on 34 overweight men and women, comparing it with
a low-fat diet and with a normal diet plus a generic statin drug,
lovastatin.
Each volunteer followed each regimen for a month, with a break in
between each treatment cycle.
Writing in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Jenkins and
colleagues said the low-fat diet lowered LDL -- the low-density
lipoprotein or "bad" cholesterol -- by 8.5 percent after a month.
Statins lowered LDL by 33 percent and the "portfolio" diet lowered LDL
by nearly 30 percent.
The portfolio was rich in soy milk, soy burgers, almonds, oats, barley,
psyllium seeds, okra and eggplant. The Almond Board of California helped
fund the study, as did several food makers and the Canadian Natural
Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
They also included a plant sterol margarine product. Several of these
have been proven to lower cholesterol.
The researchers said nine volunteers, or a quarter of the group, got
their lowest LDL levels from being on the portfolio diet.
The volunteers all felt full on the diets although the "portfolio" diet
resulted in more bowel movements, the researchers said.
[Homestead] Diet works as good or better than statins,
tvoivozhd, 02/17/2005