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CNN Live At Daybreak
New Diet Could be Effective in Lowering Cholesterol
Aired July 23, 2003 - 06:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: If you're looking to lower your cholesterol, listen up. You may not need medication to do it after all. There's a new diet that could be just as effective.
Dr. Sandra Fryhofer is here with that story.
DR. SANDRA FRYHOFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, this is a new study in the "Journal of the American Medical Association" and it found that a special type of vegetarian diet seems to lower cholesterol levels just as much as those expensive cholesterol lowering medications.
This small four week study looked at 48 overweight men and women. All of these people had high cholesterol levels. And they were randomly assigned to one of three vegetarian diets -- a vegetarian diet that was very low in saturated fat, the same diet plus the cholesterol lowering medication Lovastatin or a special vegetarian diet called The Portfolio Diet, which is high in soy protein, plant sterols, fiber, oats and barley and almonds, all of which are known to have cholesterol lowering properties.
And here's what they found. The low saturated fat diet lowered the bad cholesterol levels, the LDL, but eight percent. Adding the cholesterol lowering medication brought the LDL down even more, about 30 percent, which was expected. But here's the surprise. The special vegetarian Portfolio Diet lowered the LDL cholesterol level -- that's the bad cholesterol -- by 29 percent. So it worked just about as well as the cholesterol lowering medication. And similar reductions were seen in levels of C reactive protein, which is another measure of heart disease risk.
COSTELLO: OK, so tell us more about this Portfolio Diet. What would a typical meal consist of?
FRYHOFER: Well, this diet, a typical diet, meal on this diet would be something like tofu baked with eggplants, onions, sweet peppers, along with some pearled barley and vegetables. And for dessert, some fresh fruit sprinkled with psyllium, along with a glass of soy milk.
This diet has a lot of eggplant and okra and the favorite foods on this diet were almonds, ground soy, which sort of tastes like ground beef...
COSTELLO: Oh, come on.
FRYHOFER: Well, you have to pretend. COSTELLO: OK.
FRYHOFER: Oat bran cereal, oat bran bread and plant sterol margarine.
COSTELLO: Huh. So what does...
FRYHOFER: That's one of the favorite foods.
COSTELLO: Yes, I don't know, whenever you say tofu, most people just tune out.
FRYHOFER: Tofu's good and it takes on the flavor of other foods. And it's good for you. We heard this in the study, yes.
COSTELLO: It depends on if you know how to cook it properly, because if you don't, it's not so good.
FRYHOFER: Cooking lessons are next.
COSTELLO: Exactly.
What does the American Heart Association say about all this?
FRYHOFER: Well, I actually talked to one of the nutrition experts at the American Heart Association and she says that this diet is consistent with their guidelines with one exception. The Heart Association also recommends eating fish twice a week because it stabilizes the heart. But not only is this diet totally vegetarian, which isn't bad, it's very extreme. And only 40 percent of the people on this diet found the food choices acceptable. An equal number thought that a greater variety of foods was needed.
So another question would be whether or not people would be willing or able to stick to this diet for the long-term. The results, however, are quite encouraging, not just for people who don't want to take medications, but also for people who can't take these medications. Some people actually have adverse reactions to these staten drugs, things like severe muscle aches, and so they're not able to take these drugs.
So, also, you know, these drugs are expensive and some people simply can't afford them. But this diet certainly seems to be an alternative that needs further investigation and for a vegetarian, people who like tofu, go for it.
COSTELLO: Yes, you're doing the right thing.
FRYHOFER: And that plant sterol margarine, which is healthy.
COSTELLO: Definitely so.
Thank you, Dr. Sandra Fryhofer his morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 23, 2003 - 06:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: If you're looking to lower your cholesterol, listen up. You may not need medication to do it after all. There's a new diet that could be just as effective.
Dr. Sandra Fryhofer is here with that story.
DR. SANDRA FRYHOFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, this is a new study in the "Journal of the American Medical Association" and it found that a special type of vegetarian diet seems to lower cholesterol levels just as much as those expensive cholesterol lowering medications.
This small four week study looked at 48 overweight men and women. All of these people had high cholesterol levels. And they were randomly assigned to one of three vegetarian diets -- a vegetarian diet that was very low in saturated fat, the same diet plus the cholesterol lowering medication Lovastatin or a special vegetarian diet called The Portfolio Diet, which is high in soy protein, plant sterols, fiber, oats and barley and almonds, all of which are known to have cholesterol lowering properties.
And here's what they found. The low saturated fat diet lowered the bad cholesterol levels, the LDL, but eight percent. Adding the cholesterol lowering medication brought the LDL down even more, about 30 percent, which was expected. But here's the surprise. The special vegetarian Portfolio Diet lowered the LDL cholesterol level -- that's the bad cholesterol -- by 29 percent. So it worked just about as well as the cholesterol lowering medication. And similar reductions were seen in levels of C reactive protein, which is another measure of heart disease risk.
COSTELLO: OK, so tell us more about this Portfolio Diet. What would a typical meal consist of?
FRYHOFER: Well, this diet, a typical diet, meal on this diet would be something like tofu baked with eggplants, onions, sweet peppers, along with some pearled barley and vegetables. And for dessert, some fresh fruit sprinkled with psyllium, along with a glass of soy milk.
This diet has a lot of eggplant and okra and the favorite foods on this diet were almonds, ground soy, which sort of tastes like ground beef...
COSTELLO: Oh, come on.
FRYHOFER: Well, you have to pretend. COSTELLO: OK.
FRYHOFER: Oat bran cereal, oat bran bread and plant sterol margarine.
COSTELLO: Huh. So what does...
FRYHOFER: That's one of the favorite foods.
COSTELLO: Yes, I don't know, whenever you say tofu, most people just tune out.
FRYHOFER: Tofu's good and it takes on the flavor of other foods. And it's good for you. We heard this in the study, yes.
COSTELLO: It depends on if you know how to cook it properly, because if you don't, it's not so good.
FRYHOFER: Cooking lessons are next.
COSTELLO: Exactly.
What does the American Heart Association say about all this?
FRYHOFER: Well, I actually talked to one of the nutrition experts at the American Heart Association and she says that this diet is consistent with their guidelines with one exception. The Heart Association also recommends eating fish twice a week because it stabilizes the heart. But not only is this diet totally vegetarian, which isn't bad, it's very extreme. And only 40 percent of the people on this diet found the food choices acceptable. An equal number thought that a greater variety of foods was needed.
So another question would be whether or not people would be willing or able to stick to this diet for the long-term. The results, however, are quite encouraging, not just for people who don't want to take medications, but also for people who can't take these medications. Some people actually have adverse reactions to these staten drugs, things like severe muscle aches, and so they're not able to take these drugs.
So, also, you know, these drugs are expensive and some people simply can't afford them. But this diet certainly seems to be an alternative that needs further investigation and for a vegetarian, people who like tofu, go for it.
COSTELLO: Yes, you're doing the right thing.
FRYHOFER: And that plant sterol margarine, which is healthy.
COSTELLO: Definitely so.
Thank you, Dr. Sandra Fryhofer his morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
