Not just low-fat

Nutrition Action Healthletter, July-August, 2005

A low-fat diet that's rich in vegetables, beans, and whole grains lowers LDL ("bad") cholesterol more than an equally low-fat diet without those extras.

Researchers supplied 120 adults who had high cholesterol with one of two diets. Both were low in fat (30 percent of calories) and saturated fat (10 percent of calories).

However, the ordinary Low-Fat diet included no whole grains or soy, only five daily servings of fruits and vegetables, and lots of prepared foods (like lower-fat versions of cheese, snack foods, and frozen lasagna). In contrast, the Low-Fat Plus diet relied on more vegetables (10 daily servings), beans and nuts (4 servings), whole grains (3 1/2 servings), and fruits (3 1/2 servings), and fewer prepared foods.

After four weeks, LDL dropped more (14 points) on the Low-Fat Plus diet than on the ordinary Low-Fat diet (7 points).

What to do: It's not clear whether the fiber (40 grams a day), soy (16 grams per 2,000 calories), garlic (1 1/2 cloves a day), or other components of the Low-Fat Plus diet accounted for its impact on cholesterol. Either way, it makes sense to eat more vegetables, beans, and whole grains.

Annals of Internal Medicine 142: 725, 793. 2005.