People counseled to eat food that lowers cholesterol, such as soy and nuts, had lower cholesterol than those on a low-fat diet, researchers in Canada say.
Dr. David J.A. Jenkins of St. Michael's Hospital and the University of Toronto compared the two diets for a six-month period. The control diet emphasized high fiber and whole grains but lacked components of the cholesterol-lowering portfolio diet, which emphasized dietary incorporation of plant sterols, soy protein, viscous fibers and nuts.
The study involved 351 participants with hyperlipidemia from four participating academic centers in Canada - Quebec City, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver - randomized from June 2007 and February 2009.
Participants received dietary advice for six months on either the low-saturated fat diet or the cholesterol-lowering portfolio diet, UPI.com reported.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, says those who ate the cholesterol-lowering diet had a 13 percent drop in their LDL, "bad," cholesterol levels, while those who ate a diet low in saturated fats experienced a 3 percent decrease in LDL.
Another study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, found that daily consumption of two industry-standard eggs - high in omega-6 - caused a 40 percent increase in low density lipoprotein, the "bad" cholesterol oxidizability in participants.
However, eating two per day of a specially composed eggs, with both high antioxidant and low omega-6 levels, LDL oxidation levels were similar to the control group eating only two to four eggs a week, the study said.
Eggs high in omega-6 fatty acids heighten cholesterol's tendency to oxidize, which forms dangerous plaque in arteries, Shapira said.
