New Soy Diets Found to Lower Cholesterol, Are as Effective as Statin Drug Intake
WASHINGTON, Nov. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Soy foods are prominent in popular new vegetarian diets that
have proved effective in lowering cholesterol, according to reports from the University of
California at Berkeley and also from Cornell University. The University of California at
Berkeley's health publication, the Wellness Letter, reports in its November issue on three
studies by Canadian researchers of the Portfolio diet which features soy food products. "Soy
foods, such as tofu and soy milk, are part of every meal," the Wellness Letter reported. The
Canadian studies compared the diet containing cholesterol-lowering foods such as soy with a
conventional low-fat diet and also with a cholesterol-lowering drug. The studies found that the
Portfolio diet featuring soy foods "worked as well as the drug and much better than the low-fat
diet, reducing total cholesterol by about one-third in only a few weeks," the California
publication said. One of the Canadian studies was published recently in the Journal of the
American Medical Association. At Cornell's Weill Medical College, the Food & Fitness Advisor has
reported on a study of 46 men and women with high cholesterol who were assigned to a vegetarian
diet containing soy protein. The study found that the test patients on the diet with soy protein
had an average decrease of 28.6 percent in their LDL ('bad'😉 cholesterol, about equal to the
loss for a group receiving a statin drug, while those on a traditional low-fat diet saw a
decrease of only eight percent. Researchers said that if further studies confirm the findings,
diets such as those containing soy "could have major implications for people with high
cholesterol who want to avoid taking medication."
SOURCE Foods for the Future