Ups and downs - scoop - soy products found to reduce cholesterol levels as part of the Portfolio Diet - Brief Article

Vegetarian Times, August, 2003

A new soy-based diet can lower LDL--the "bad" cholesterol--by an astonishing 35 percent, University of Toledo researchers told attendees of an American Heart Association meeting in March 2003. The Portfolio Diet, as it is called, is a low-fat vegetarian regimen that relies heavily on oats, barley, legumes, okra, eggplant, raw almonds and the bulk-fiber laxative Metamucil three times a day.

Every Portfolio Diet meal contains soy, often in the form of soy yogurt or soymilk. Within a month on the diet, participants had cut their LDL levels by more than a third, while their HDL--or "good" cholesterol--levels remained unchanged. The most that people can usually lower their LDL by dietary changes, earlier studies have found, is about 10 percent. Also boosting HDL levels is cranberry juice. Three glasses a day for 3 months raised HDL levels, reducing heart disease risks by 40 percent, showed a University of Scranton study presented that same month at a meeting of the American Chemical Society. Participants drank cranberry juice that was 27 percent pure--the same level that is typically sold in supermarkets.