Go vegan and cut deadly cholesterol, say scientists

By Cahal Milmo
Independent . 23 July 2003

Never mind expensive drugs or new-fangled margarines, scientists say they have devised a simple diet that dramatically reduces cholesterol without any need for medication.

Research by Canadian experts has shown a special vegetarian diet is as effective at reducing levels of the most damaging form of cholesterol as the new generation of expensive, fat-lowering drugs.

The researchers found the vegan diet cut low-density lipoprotein cholesterol - the type that clogs arteries - by almost 29 per cent, compared with the standard anti-cholesterol drug Lovastatin, that dropped levels by 30.9 per cent. Other attempts to find a fat-reducing diet achieved only modest cholesterol reductions of between 4 per cent and 13 per cent.

The Canadian nutritionists based their recipe for cardiac health on foods such as almonds, soya, high-fibre cereals such as oats and barley and fresh fruit and vegetables. Now people showing early warnings of heart disease can improve their health without medic-ation, the study's authors say.

Professor David Jenkins, who led the project at the University of Toronto, said patients were being put on cholesterol-reducing drugs too early. "This study shows people now have a dietary alternative to control cholesterol, at least initially," he said. "These foods have an almost identical effect on lowering cholesterol as the original cholesterol-lowering drugs."

The study said the vegan diet may work because humans are adapted by evolution to foods apes eat with high fibre and vegetable protein levels. Every year, 50,000 people in England and Wales die of cardiac disease linked to cholesterol.

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